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41
they had seen my brother on Friday afternoon, at a quarter past one
o'clock. Their names
were Fessenden and Ireland; they both stated that they had seen him at a
distance.
The Court adjourned here until 9 o'clock to-morrow morning.
SEVENTH DAY.
t
The Jury entered at five minutes before nine o'clock, and the Court
followed at ten minutes pas
nine o'clock. The names of the.Jury having been called, the. proceedings
commenced.
lbrty-third Witness-RALPH SMITH called-Am in the liquor business; my place
of business
is in Exchange street; am acquainted with Professor Webster; had some
business with him on
the 15th of October, 1849 ; I do not know that the letter now exhibited is
the one I received from
him on the 15th of October, 1849; it is not marked as I usually mark
letters ; he was owing me at
that time, and I wrote to him for payment; the letter received by me was
his reply; the letter
was read and was as follows:
CAMBRIDGE, Oct. 15, 18=19.
T. K. SMITH, Esq
Dear Sir:-I will call and pay your bill on receiving my fees from the
medical students, until
when I ask your indulgence. Respectfully yours,
J. W. WEBSTER.
Forty fourth Witness.-SAMUEL B. FULLER, Policeman, called.-I am one of the
Policemen;
have been for some time; know the prisoner by sight but have no
acquaintance with him; had
an interview with him in Cambridge on the Sunday after the disappearance of
Dr. P ; I went over
to Cambridge to the Registry of Deeds, to see if Dr. P. had been over there
to cancel the mortgage ;
the Clerk of the Registry Office looked over the books finding the mortgage
readily; he said it
would be better to go and see Professor W. and get the, original papers; we
therefore went to Prg-
fessor W.'s house to get these papers.
The Professor was at home, and we informed him of the object of our visit :
he took a book acid
turned over. the leaves of it for some minutes, and then got up and left
the room; I thought he was"
Somewhat agitated ; he shortly returned and looked in a trunk under the
table, but did not find wh*t
he was looking for,, he held some conversation with the clerk, who was
withme, and told him,
finally, that the mortgage was on personal property, and not real estate ;
I then said : " We will
go to the City Clerk's Office and see if Dr. Parkman has been there;"
didn't see Prof. W. again that
night; I was at the College on the Tuesday after the disappearance of Dr.
P., in company wifI
Mr. Kingsley and some others i we went down stairs to the laboratory and
knocked at the door, but
no one came ; we all then went up to the lecture room, and having knocked
at that door it *is
opened to us by the Prof, himself; at that interview I asked him who was
with him at the time he
paid Dr. P. the money; Prof. W. replied : `° No one- there was no one
present but Dr. P. and
myself."
I asked Professor W. if he would point out to me where Dr. P. stood, when
he (W.) paid him
(P.) the money ; Prof. W. said, '° he stood on that side of the table or
counter and I on this ; we
then went down into thdlaboratbry and Prof. W. said '1 gentlemen this is my
private laboratory;'
Mr. Kingsley or some one else looked at the privy and said, °` here,
gentlemen, is a room that you
haven't looked at yet," meaning his private back room ; I 6bserved his
demeanor at that time and
it excited my attention ; Prof'. W. spoke rather loud and earnestly.
After looking over the laboratory, Mr. Littlefield and myself tools a lamp
and went down stairs
into the cellar under the building, and as far ay the wall would let us go
; I asked Littlefield
whether this was the outside wall which stopped our progress : be said it
was not the outside wall
but the center wall, separating the privy vault from the building ; we
afterwards came up and
went away; I have examined the walls of the cellar under Prof. W.'s
laboratory, and am satisfied
that nothing solid could float through them with the tide.
I was at the College again on Saturday, the 30th, after the arrest of Prof.
Webster, and in com-
pany with six or eight others; had been searching in the laboratory from
half past eight o'clock:,
A.,,M. until four o'clock, P. M.; had remarked the tea-chest in the corner
of the laboratory, which
appeared to be filled with minerals; and as we were searching every thing I
thought I would look
into that; so I began taking out the minerals; I found them all wrapped in
papers like those
found in other parts of the laboratory; but thoy appeared to me to have
been newly labeled; I
went on taking out the minerals and presently discovered a hunting-knife
laying among the speci-
mens of minerals; took it out and opened it; looked at the blades, shut and
put it in my pocket;
went on a little further, and presently found the chest or thorax of a
human being, and a thigh
inside of it; I remarked that I guesd I had a knife in my pocket that would
fit the hole exactly ;
didn't brush off the tan from the thorax myself, and forbid the others
doing it; I had orders to watch
Littlefield closely and not let him get out of my sight; the seat of the
privy is 94' inches both ways.
It (the seat) was taken off after the remains were found in the vault. We
tried Mr. L. and myself,
to put the thorax through the privy seat, but we could not get. it through.
$aving tried expeii-
ments to see whether noises i Prof. W.'s laboratories or lecture rooms
could be heard in other
parts of the building, found that they could not. I saw a plate on a bench
in the lower laboratory.
Cross examined.-Littlefield and myself tried to put the thorax through the
privy seat ; we could
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