Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 257
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Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 257
   Enlarge and print image (55K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
2413 ceived a suspicion, which, in me opei)inff statement I put before you, he conceived as early as Sunday ni,,,ht. The fall,icy of the argu- ment of the Counsel will be shown. i'i commenting upon Mr. Little- fiekl's testimony. fl:, asked why lie did not do this, or that. "Extraordiuary conduct," lie exclaims, "that Littlefield should have gone to Webster's room Friday niLht, after coming home late in the ev=,niug!" He took that fact, withou; considering the others,-that he went, at the same time, according to his custom, round into the dissecting-room and the entries, to fasten up the building. Why should he not try Webster's rooms also ? There are other objections to his testimony : - °~ receiving the tur- key ; " '° heat of the fire felt on his .face, as he passed throu;rh the entry." Are these suspicious arid extraordinary actions ? The whole fallacy of the argument is, that the Counsel proceeds upon the as- suncption that Mr. Littlefield's suspicion, on Sunday night, was a settled conviction. Mr. Littlefield has not the command of language. When he says he has a suspicion, what is it? Consider the rela- tions of the two men. Here was Littlefield, conceiving, on grounds which I think you will justify, suspicions against his superior, upon whom he w~,s dependent, in some degree, for his daily bread. Those were checked by his wife - " For mercy's sake, don't ever say or think of such a thing again." But he could not help thinking of it. Orivinally, when Dr. Webster told him, with his downcast eyes, that he had paid Dr. Parkman, and that Dr. Parkman grabbed the money, and ran off without counting it,-when he found, in connec- tion with this, that Dr. Webster pursued the unusual course of keeping his doors closed against him,-why should he not entertain the suspicion? When Dr. Webster went on, through the week, in the same way; when he was learning that public sentiment was settling down, decisively, upon the idea that Dr. Parkman's remains would be found in that College, and nowhere else ; when it came to the point that that College might have been the scene of a riot and a mob,-then he commenced a search in the only place unexam- ined - acting upon that honest suspicion, early conceived, honestly entertained, but still cautiously acted upon,-cautious, because, if it should turn out to be erroneous, where would he be ? Suppose he had undertaken to have broken through the door of that privy; what would Dr. Webster have done, if he had caught him there, and his suspicion had turned out to be unfounded? It is not a conviction that lie is to find anything, not a probability, not an expectation, perhaps, but a suspicion, arisici~ out of Dr. Webster's conduct. Was he the only one? Were there not suspicions from others, who bad interviews with him ? What was Mr. Samuel Parkman Blake's feeling, when he came from that interview? And yet, Mr. Little- field is denounced, for having entertained a suspicion which he did not consistently act upon. I maintain that he did act upon it con- sistently, when you consider the relations between him and the Pro- fessor; and that he should have gone, in the manner he did, to Dr. Jackson and Dr. Bigelow, shows the confidence of his suspicions at that time. That he should have created no disturbance, and have made a very cautious, hurried, and imperfect examination, when he went in on Wednesday. is perfectly natural. I rnay as well answer, here, the objection of the Counsel, that he