d reference
to this secret committee that had been appointed by John F. Beggs;
and to show you that he had appointed it, on the 29th day of April,
over on the South Side of this city, as is testified to by his
friend Spelman, the district officer--on the 29th day of April what
did he say? He said, 'That matter has all been amicably settled.'
How settled? At the hour he spoke the cottage had been rented; at
the hour he spoke the arrangements had been made; at the hour he
spoke the sentence had been fixed; at the hour he spoke it had been
'amicably' settled--that was on the 29th day of April. Is there
anything in the camp that shows it was amicably settled? Has there
been a man to come here to say they visited Dr. Cronin's camp to
investigate why he read this report! Has there been a man that dare
come to the front and say that any investigation had been
made--that anything had been done? No. Then, why was it that this
man, Beggs, said that it had been amicably settled? Because the
committee had agreed that certain things had to be done, and that
they would be done, and therefore there was no occasion for any
further investigation. That is why he told Spelman on the 29th of
April that this matter had been amicably settled. It had been.

"Following that, when he says, 'That committee reports to me
alone,' it is no wonder he made that remark, knowing in his heart
what had been done; knowing the results that were to follow, no
wonder he said 'That committee reports to the senior guardian
alone.'

"Now, if he made that remark--that it was to report to him
alone--where is the man that will assert that there was no
committee appointed? We do not contend that there was a committee
appointed as provided by the constitution in a legitimate way in
their order. There is no such contention here; but that they
assumed to appoint a committee; that they did appoint a committee,
and that that committee was a committee of three. We contend that
that was done for the purpose of covering up the deeds of these men
that followed the appointment of the committee. You remember. There
is nothing said about the appointing the committee to try Dr.
Cronin--nothing is said about the appointing the committee to do
anything except to find out how it was that this was done.