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TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER. 111
the hole, at the time. I said, that I supposed that the knife I had, would
fit the hole; but I did not try it. [Witness identified the tea-chest in
which .the remains were found.]
I found one of the kidneys, in the ash-hole, on Sunday. In the lower
laboratory, on the table, were found a comforter, and two woollen blan-
kets, done up in a newspaper. The table was near the window. I
should think that they had never been used, either one of them; but
were entirely new.
I remained at the College, from the first of December, until the third
of January, 1850, from seven o'clock in the morning, until eight at night.
No one was allowed to enter the rooms without a permit from the Mayor,
or Marshal.
The privy-hole was nine and three quarters inches across, 'each way.
We tried .the experiment of getting the thorax through it, but found
that it would not go; the hole was not large enough. The pelvis would
go through, by turning it up edgeways, as I should call it.
Another person, (who, I do not now recollect,) and myself, have also
made some experiments in regard to overhearing noises from Professor
Webster's rooms, in Dr. Holmes's room, and vice versa. We would
place ourselves in the two professors' rooms, and then shout, having first
shut the doors. Nothing could be overheard.
To the Chief Justice. -I was both above, and below. 1 was below,
while the other person went up stairs, and then he came down, and I
went up. I could hear nothing, myself; only know, as to his being able
to hear, by what he ,told me.
[A small china, or earthen plate, with some dried coloring matter,
(apparently ink,) upon it, and a pine stick, about five or six inches long,
and about as large round as a goose-quill, with a small wad of cotton, or
other fibrous substance, tied round the lower end with a thread, (the
instrument having been apparently dipped into the coloring-matter,
and used for marking or writing,) were here shown to the witness, by
the Attorney General, and he was asked, When and where, if ever, he
had seen them before?]
Mr. Fuller, resumes.-I have seen the plate, and the stick with
cotton on it, or the cotton-pen, before, in the Doctor's upper laboratory;
first saw them, on Saturday, the day after his arrest. The plate was
on the bench, some five or six feet from the lecture-room door, and the
cotton-pen lay under the table.
Cross-examined, by Mr. Sohier.-I measured the privy-seat, after
it was taken up. The seat was up, when we tried the experiment
with the thorax. Littlefield, Butman, and myself, tried the experi-
ment. Littlefield held the thorax, and also the pelvis. The latter went
through very easily. W e found tan in barrels, about half a bushel.
We found a bag of tan, about eight or ten feet from the door which
led into Littlefield's store-room. The bag was very nearly full.
I did not see the tea-chest on Tuesday; that is, to take any notice
of it. The knife was shut, when I took it from the tea-chest. I can't
say whether I put it upon a shelf; at any rate, it was in my pocket, a
few moments afterwards. I have kept it ever since.
Mr. Tarlton, Mr. Butman, Mr. Starkweather, Mr. Rice, and Mr.
Littlefield, I believe, were there, when the tea-chest was emptied. The
Officers were there, who were put on duty by the Marshal. When the
thorax fell out, it fell back up, precisely as it laid in the chest. I
had looked at the thorax, four or five minutes, when I discovered the
hole in the breast. I turned the thorax over, myself. I drew the
thigh,, part-way out, myself, and let it lay in the tan, until the coroner
came. The string was tied round the lower joint of the thigh-bone,
but not round the thorax.
No one was allowed to meddle with the thorax, until the coroner's
jury came in the afternoon, a little past four o'clock. They had not
met, when we found the tea-chest. Butman said, that he was going to
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