scarcely had the door closed upon his back, when these cowardly
murderers fell upon him from behind, and, like the miscreants they
were, beat out his life.

"Oh, gentlemen, what savagery and brutality is palmed off for
patriotism! Many and many a hot and rash act has brought calamity
and suffering and shame to the face of the Irish people, but in all
their history in the past, and in all the history that they can
make in the future, this will stand out as the one conspicuous
monument of shame, casting its dark shadow upon the reputation and
character of an honorable and generous race--a race who, as a rule,
sympathize with the suffering, sympathize with the weak, and are
rarely, if ever, cowardly. But that honorable and courageous
sentiment, when it is perverted, and when it is violated, the
higher the height of generosity from which it fails, the more
calamitous the break and the greater the destruction that it
causes."

Speaking of the discovery of the body and its condition, the orator
said: "The 'Agnus Dei,' the emblem of his faith and his religion,
was around his neck. I suppose that these men thought that they
were prompted by a religious sentiment, when they saved from touch
and left upon his remains the 'Agnus Dei,' the symbol of his faith.
I suppose these men think that there is a religious sentiment in
that. A sentiment that can beat out the life and violate the ten
commandments, and the divine decree issued from the mountain, 'Thou
shalt not kill,' and still leaves a religious emblem around the
neck, is but superstition; it is not faith; it is not religion; it
is not morality. And, gentlemen, do not think that it represents
the conscience of the Catholic. It does indicate one thing; that
the men who killed Dr. Cronin, stripped him of his clothes, and put
him in the catch-basin, had some respect for that emblem. That is
all that it indicates, and it simply helps to identify the men who
committed the murder. They would not desecrate it upon his neck by
tearing it from his dead body; they would give him that advantage
after they had killed him, as they thought. But they could bury
that emblem, that they thought sacred in a sewer."

Mr. Hynes concluded his speech in this form:

"Oh, there is no conspiracy behind! There is no citadel