Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of Professor John W. Webster ..., 1850, Image No: 240 Enlarge and print image (52K) << PREVIOUS NEXT >> |
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Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of Professor John W. Webster ..., 1850, Image No: 240 Enlarge and print image (52K) << PREVIOUS NEXT >> |
231 they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns And push us from our stools." Ay, Gentlemen, to push you from your stools, which you occupy, the seats of justice and the law. But the attempt will fail. I read it in your countenances -I read it in the proof which carne from that witness-stand-that you have no more doubt. that those were the remains of Dr. George Parkman, than that this which I am now utter- ing to you is my living voice. Upon this part of the case there is not left a particle of doubt. But we are to consider, what was originally intended to be present- ed as leading to this conclusion, but which, upon the strength of the proof, has now been tortured into making the foundation for another hypothesis-the evidence of the alibi, so to speak, of Dr. Parkman. What was the original purpose and object of the Cou:isel, in under- taking to show here that Dr. George Parkman was seen on Friday afternoon, the 23d of November, after two o'clock, and so along till five o'clock of that day? What was the original purpose of this ev- iderice ? Look back to the statement of the opening Counsel for the defence, and you will see what it was. Did an intimation fall from the lips of my learned friend, the junior Counsel, that their evidence was to satisfy you-what the senior Counsel undertook to maintain as his hypothesis-that there was a separation of Dr. Parkman and Dr. Webster, which reconciles the testimony of both the Government and the defence ? That was for the purpose of -satisfying your minds, or rather of raising a reasonable doubt, whether the remains were proved to be those of Dr. Parkman. That was the object of it; for that was really the great point in the defence. Dr. Web- ster had started it very early in these proceedings, and under circum- stances which made the declaration pregnant against him, that that was no more Dr. Parkdran's body than it was his body. So they went over this community to find witnesses who could testify to having seen Dr. Parkman. And I venture to say, that from the fifteen or twenty whom they might have presented here, they selected the five whose stories most neaily agreed. Yet can you doubt that they might have had fifteen more ? But it would have placed him in so many places at the same time, it would have been impossible for the evidence to be correct, without making, him ubiquitous. They have presented to you the testimony of Mrs. Hatch, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Wentworth, Mr. Cleland, Mrs. Rhodes and her daughter, and Mrs. Greenough. I shall examine, not only to show how fallacious it is with regard to his separating from Dr. Web- ster, but also with regard to the main proposition, that those were the remains of Dr. Parkman found in the laboratory of Dr. Web- ster. Mrs. Hatch is the first witness. She places Dr. Parkman in Cam- bridge-street, going up towards Court-street, at about a quarter before two o'clock on Friday afternoon, Nov. 23d. This is all consistent with the statement of the Government. It was some time in the course of the afternoon she spoke of meeting 1• Chin," as she called him. Sup- pose a mistake of only five minutes; and Dr. Parkman, being in Cam- bridge-street,turns upon his track, while she passes on; - he turns again, |