|
245
in the Merchant's Exchange, at mid-day, with the intention of com-
mitting a secret homicide.
Then, we come to the next hypothesis. Was Dr. Parkman killed
outside of the College, and his body brought into the apartments of
Dr. Webster ? If so it must have been brought there for one of three
purposes : - Concealment; to be consumed and destroyed; or to fix the
charge of murdering him upon Dr. Webster. The last I have already
considered. With regard to the first, concealment, it is obvious that
it could not be accomplished, because Webster or Littlefield must know
it. The idea of going into his laboratory, to burn a body in his fur-
nace, and to conceal it from him, is as absurd as it would be for him to
come into this crowded Cqurt-roorn, and undertake to do it here.
Was the body to be consioned and destroyed? All the evidence
shows that this could not be done without his knowledge. Drawing
off the water, burning up the fire-kindlings, so that only a small quan-
tity was left, packing his knife in the tea-chest, using up his tan,
spilli~ig his nitrate of copper upon the stairs, penetrating into his pri-
vate room to get the twine, -and the fact of that twine being kept in
Dr. Webster's private room my learned friend found it convenient not
to remember-the grapplings and twine being all together in that
private room, in a drawer, -now, I ask you, if any stranger could
have done this, and Dr. Webster not have known it? I put it even
upon a possible hypothesis. I anticipate your answer. The idea of
fastening suspicion upon Dr. Webster -what is that? It is not
shown to you that he had an enemy even in the world ; it is impossi-
ble to imagine that any man should have possessed the temerity of
fastening the charge of murder falsely upon such a man. And yet, if
that had been attempted by anybody, what would have been the natural
course ? Why, he would have taken the dead body there, and left it
in its unmutilated state. Found under these circumstances, it would
have been conclusive. What was the probability of its being found ?
Suppose this hypothesis to be true-the man who killed him outside
the College, in order to fix it on Webster and get the reward, did
nothing to discover it.
Mr. Littlefield found those parts under the vault; officer Fuller
those in the tea-chest; and Coroner Pratt, or Marshal Tukey, the
bones in the furnace. If that is true, this unknown, possible person
took the jnost incompatible modes of carrying out his intention, and
adopted the most efficient means to defeat its fulfilment. I am ad-
dressing reasonable men. My learned friend, pressed as he was by
the strength of the circumstances, was driven into these inconsistent
propositions, absurd and ridiculous as they are; and he had the ability
and skill to present them in a most impressive manner.
My duty is to call you back to the testimony. There are, in this
case, two or three great, overshadowing facts, which, long ere this,
would have sent any common culprit a doomed.convict from the pris-
oner's dock. Before adverting to them, let us consider the other prop-
osition, which has not been made - not in terms been made - but
which has been indirectly attempted to be maintained; -I mean, the
proposition that Mr. Littlefield is not to be believed. And why?
Because, as the Counsel was compelled to say, that, if he was be-
lieved, it did make this case a strong one against the defendant.
Gentlemen of the Jury, why is he not to be believed? By what rule
|
