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179
See the condition in which Dr. Webster has been placed in reference
to the discovery of these witnesses! -Alone in his cell; with no great,
opulent fami!y around him, of large connections, to aid and assist
him-with a wife, and the three daughters whom you have seen
upon this stand, occupying his mansion in a neighboring city-these
witnesses have sprung up, as it were, by their casual recollections ;
and we have been enabled to discover these proofs, and bring them to
your attention.
Gentlemen, the number of witnesses is not large; but, contrasting
it, even in this aspect, with the number of witnesses whom the Gov-
ernment, with all their search, with the aid of the municipal govern-
ment here-its police officers searching night and day, their agents
employed tracking Dr. Parkman's footsteps-compare the number of
witnesses we have brought here, who have seen Dr. Parkman in the
afternoon, with the number whom the Government brought here, who
saw him in the morning, when he was engaged in his ,ordinary pur-
suits- and, even in that light, our proof does not stand in a disad-
vantageous position, in comparison with that of the Government.
We have presented to you the testimony of Mr. Thompson, Mr.
Wentworth, Mr. Cleland, and Mrs. and Miss Rhodes. We have also
Mrs. Greenough and Mrs. Hatch. I shall not, at this moment, dwell
upon the testimony of Mrs. Hatch. She testifies-to speak simply
of her testimony-that, at a quarter before two o'clock, on Friday,
the 23d of November, she saw Dr. Parkman in Cambridge-street,
going toward Court-street. At ten minutes before two, according to
the Government's testimony-that is, five minutes after he was seen
by Mrs. Hatch-he was seen going to the Medical College; and that
he turned from Cambridge-street into one of the streets leading to the
Medical College, furnishes the explanation that the Government may
give to this. Of this testimony I shall have occasion to speak here-
after, in a connection of the highest importance, most pregnant of
suggestions, and worthy, as I think evidently will be found, of the
highest moment and consideration.
But, passing from her testimony to the testimony of others, Mr.
Thompson says that he came in from Cambridge that afternoon, and
that about twenty minutes after two o'clock, at an hour confessedly
much after Dr. Parkman entered the Medical College, he met Dr.
Parkman in Causeway-street. He knew him very well. He had
seen him many times before. He had known him ten years. For
the last five years, as a clerk in the Registry of Deeds, in East Cam-
bridge, he had had occasion often to see Dr. Parkman ; and knew him,
I suppose, vastly better than I know any one of you. He knew him
perfectly well, as he says. He asserts that he passed Dr. Parkman,
that he recognized him; and passed his way; that he transacted his
business, and returned home. If this is true, these parties did sepa-
rate. Why is it not true ?
I did not know, from the cress-examination, but that an attempt
would be made to show that this witness had given, at another time,
a different account-said something which would be calculated to
create a distrust of the accuracy of the statement which he has given
here-that he had made a different statement somewhere else. And
when the Attorney General cross-examined that witness from a paper
subscribed to by that witness, I did not know but what you thought
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