New York Globe report of the Webster Case, 1850,
Image No: 39
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New York Globe report of the Webster Case, 1850,
Image No: 39
   Enlarge and print image (100K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
ss School street, got a coach; took in Officer Starkweather and proceeded',to the Boston side of Cam- bridge Bridge; There I took in' officer Spurr ; we drove over to Cambridge to the house of Prof. Webster; we stopped the coach when within five or six rods of his house, and went up and knocked at the door and inquired for the Professor; he came forward to see what we want- ed; we told him that we wanted huu to go with us and assist at one more search of the Medical College in North Grove street; he said something about its having been searched two or three times before, but was very willing to accompany us; he put off his slippers, drew on his boots and came out; just as we started lie remarked that he had forgotten his keys and that he would' go back and get them: I told him that we had keys enough to unlock all the rooms in the Col- I e, and that it would not be necessary for him to go back for them; he said it was very well, Lgd got into the coach; the driver turned toward Boston, and as we rode away, Prof. W. con- versed on indifferent subjects; he talked of the Greenbush Railroad, 8,c. ; the conversation finally turned on the disappearance of Dr. Parkman ; Prof. W. then said that a Mrs. Bent, of Cambridge, had seen Dr. I'. at a very late hour'on Friday evening when he disappeared, and he said, as she lived near the Bridge, we might call and see her ; I declined to go, saying we could go some other time; in coming over the bridge, Prof. W. asked if anything further had been done in the search for Dr. P. ; I said that the hat of Dr. P. been found in the water at Charles- town, and that the river had been dragged above and below the bridge. as we came along the coachman drove past the street leading to the Medical College and proceeded up toward the jail; Prof W. remarked that he was going in the wrong direction'; I replied that he was a new coach- man and somewhat green, but that lie would doubtless discover and rectify his mistake; this rea- son satisfied him; the coachman still drove on anll shortly after arrived at the jail; I got out of the coach and went into the jail, in order ton see if there were any spectators there ; found there were not, and then went back and said to the officers and the prisoner, " I wish, gentlemen, you would alight here for a few moments. The officers got out of the coach and the prisoner followed. We passed into the outer office, find I then said, `1 Gentlemen, I guess we had better walk into the inner office." We went in, and then Prof. W. looked at me and said, " What is the meaning of all this ?" I said to him, °° Prof. W., you will perhaps remember that in coming over Cambridge Bridge, I told you that the river above and below it had been dragged-we have also been dragging in the College, and we are done looking for the body of Dr. P., and you are now in custody on the charge of being his murderer." He uttered two or three sentences which I did not distinctly understand, but which I supposed at the time to refer to the nature of the crime with which he was charged. He finally spoke plainly and said, he would like his family to be informed of his arrest. I told him if his family were told as he requested it would be a sad night for them, and told him further, as he was beginning to talk, that he had better not say anything to me or any one else at that time. I afterward left the prisoner in custody and made out a mittimus directed to Mr. An- drews, who was absent at that moment, the jailer, directing him not to commit the prisoner to the cells until he heard from me. I went down to the College after this and looked about the laboratory and shortly afterward the prisoner was brought down there:-.-He was greatly agitated and looked as though he did not know what was going on about him.-He ap eared to .nick to act precisely like persons whom I have seen in delirium tremens; some one hallTed him water, but Xe could not drink, and snapped at the glass like a mad-dog. I broke open the privy door, and the lock fell off. At the jail I searched the pockets of the prisoner, and took from him a wallet containing papers, a gold watch, two dollars and forty cents in. money, an omnibus ticket, cases and five keys--one of the keys, the one now exhibited, fits the lock of the privy. My search at the house of the Professor, in Cambridge, did not amount to much. Here the Court adjourned until 81 o'clock P. 11 I. Afternoon Session. The Jury came in at 25 minutes past 3 o'clock. The Court entered at 20 minutes before 4 o'clock, and the proceedings commenced.' DERASTUS CLAPP recalled.-Cross examined.-When we went down stairs to the Laboratory we held the doors of the privy and private room; I think the doors were tried; Prof. W. went down ahead of us; saw some mineral on the furnace; when we arrived at Prof. W.'s house, at Cambridge, we told him we wanted to make another search of the College; Prof W. said that he should not be the loser if Dr. Parkman hadn't discharged the mortgage; think he said also that he believed 1)r. P. was an honest man; he said something about .the Rail-road and about Dr. Parkman having been seen at several places by different people since his disappearance; the conversation between us was very free and it was my endeavor to ;peep it so; we arrived at the jail at 1® o'clock ; know the hour because I looked at my watch. Thirty-3eftWh Witnevs.-CHARr.ES W. LITTLE called.-Am a resident of Cambridge, and a student at Harvard College; knew Dr. P. by sight; I met him on Thursday, the day before that on which he disappeared, near the Mount Auburn road; He was in a chaise, and inquired of me where Prof. W. lived; I pointed out to him his residence, and he rode on; I met him about #th or +th of a mile from Prof. W.'s house; I fix the first day from the fact that I went to New York the next day; I returned the next Sunday; Dr. Parkman was riding alone. The cross-examination of this witness was declined. Thirty-eighth. Witness.-SETH PETTES called.-I, do business in this city; am Clerk in the New England Bank; I collect the funds of the medical faculty; I began this last office the'7th of November, 1849 ; I sold 56 tickets to Prof. W.'s chemical lectures at $15 per ticket-amounting