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largely, why were not Littlefield's de]4$ ; , d language on the
occasion more particularly inquired into ? 4' en Littlefield handed
him the reed pen, how came he to say-`' You can't write with it ? "
Where was Littlefield cross-examined on this point ? Was the-fact
of the dissecting-room being found unbolted the morning- after the
disappearance, when it was bolted the night before, of so little im-
portance that it would not bear a quarter hour's examination? Why
was there not instituted a close investigation upon that matter of the
sledge-hammer which so miraculously disappeared, and which de-
pended for existence solely upon the verabity of Littlefield, when
the fact was glaring, that if the hammer ever figured in the bloody
tragedy it was more bulky than the knife which so singularly re-
mained to be a witness ? Why was not Littlefield's behavior about the
dissecting vault diligently investigated; or his means of access to
the laboratory through windows at one time as well as another ;
or the whole tenor of his mind almost minute by minute froth Friday
to Friday brought into confessional ; or his neglect to sooner investi-
gate the mystery of the privy; or .whether the key was not hanging
there when he was about ; or why he desisted in his masonry demoli-
tion ; or how he came to exactly hit upon the place for demolition
most contiguous to the spot where the remains were found ; -or
whether it was not easier to fit a key to the privy, unnail the seat
and lower a lantern than to knock down the wall of a vault? Why
was not his life raked over from beginning to end; his ways of life
investigated that his credibility might be securely known ? Were
the counsel fearful of a libel suit; or of an assault and battery; or
a loss of popularity ?
When Dr. Francis Parkman testified on his direct examination
that Dr. Webster in the Sunday interview " displayed much ner-
vous excitement in his demeanor," but not more than is usual with
him, why was not this whole matter of demeanor and sympathy
rolled into strips and plates as a gold-beater would expand the pre-
cious ore ? Were the counsel fearful from this quarter of a pulpit
anathema ?
Why were the police officers treated so tenderly? Why was not
their motives in deceiving Dr. Webster at the start from Cambridge,
and on the road to Boston, more fully investigated? Why was it
not traced to a cause readily suggested, that of a desire to manu-
facture testimony? Why did they not explain the reason that he
was got informed of his arrest at his house, and duly cautioned in
his conduct ? Was the Professor a desperate man, who would sum-
mon. a crowd to release him ; would he have escaped from three men ?
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