"--pickpockets, cracksmen and ne'er-do-wells who had
been the associates of Dick Cronk in one way or another, off and on,
for years.
The plea of self-defense was ably presented by a great lawyer, but it
was shattered by the State quite as easily as he had anticipated. He
made an eloquent, impassioned appeal for clemency. The jury was out
not more than an hour. Their verdict was an acquittal for Ernest
Cronk, a conviction for murder in the first degree against Richard,
with the recommendation that he be hanged by the neck until dead.
Following the conviction came the application for a new trial, which
was not granted. The record in the case was so clear of error and the
proof so conclusive that Mr. Prull declined to carry the matter to the
higher courts, realizing the hopelessness of such a proceeding. Then
began the systematic, earnest effort to induce the governor to commute
the sentence to life imprisonment. He declined to interfere.
Dick Cronk was doomed.
At eleven o'clock on the morning of a bitterly cold Friday in January
a grim, sullen group of men, evil-faced fellows whose eyes were heavy
with dread, and whose lips hung limp with dejection, crowded around
the stove in a squalid, ill-smelling basement room.
Pages:
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598