|
TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER. 75'
to the door, not to let him in,unless she first went into the kitchen, and
gave four raps on the floor to warn me; if anybody else came, not to
disturbe me.
I went down under the building, and went to work; probably,
worked half an hour. Having blistered my hands with the crowbar,
I went to the kitchen, got a pair of thick gloves to put on, and went
down again. I then worked a spell longer; and, finding that I could
not make much progress with the crowbar, I went to Mr. Fuller, and
got a cold-chisel and a hammer. Both Fullers were present, and
appeared disposed to accommodate me. I went to work again, and got
along pretty rapidly. I got out three and a half courses, in length,
of the bricks. Soon I heard a running, and a rap four times upon the
floor, and I came up, as soon as I could, from under the building.
When I got up into the entry, I met my wife, and she said. "I have
made a fool of you this time. Two gentlemen called here, and I
thought that one was Dr. Webster; but they are Mr. Kingsley, and Mr.
Starkweather. They are at the door now."
I went out, and talked with them, on the front steps. Mr. Kingsley
asked me, what private place there was, that had not been searched?
I told him where the place was; and Mr. Kingsley said, "Let us go into
his laboratory." I told him that it was locked up, and that we could
not get in. They then went away. I saw Mr. Trenholm, the police-
officer, and, being well acquainted with him, I told him what I was
doing, and that I should get through, in twenty minutes, or half an
hour; and that if he would come back, I would tell him the result. As.
I was going into my shed, I met my wife, and she said, "You have just
saved your bacon, as Dr. Webster has just passed in."
I stood talking with Mr. Trenholm, some time, until Dr. Webster
came out, which was a little before four o'clock. He came out into the
shed, and spoke to both of us.. He said, that an Irishman, had offered
to change a. $20 bill, on the Cambridge side of the bridge, to pay his
toll of one cent.-They thought that it was an extraordinary thing, for
an Irishman to have a $20 bill, and so they kept it. He said, that the
Marshal had been to him, to ascertain, if he knew to whom he liad
paid such a bill, and that he could not be positive as to the matter.
Upon this, he went off.
I left Mr. Trenholm; he was to come back in twenty minutes, or
half an hour. I went under the building, again requesting my wife to
keep a close watch on the door. I took the crowbar, and knocked the
bigness of the hole right through. I did not use the chisel and hammer.
I had drilled a hole with a crowbar, before I went up, when Mr. Kingsley
called. There are five courses of brick in the wall. I had trouble with
my light, as the air drew strongly through the hole. I managed to get
the light, and my head, into .the hole, and then I was not disturbed
with the draft. I held my light forward, and the first thing which I
saw, was the pelvis of a man, and two parts of a leg. The water was
running down on these remains from the sink. I knew that it was no
place for these things. I went up, and told my wife, that I was going
down to Dr. Bigelow's; and told her what I had discovered. I locked
the cellar-door, and took the key in my pocket, so that no one could
get down until I returned.
My wife spoke to me first, when I came up, after I discovered the
remains, and asked me, what the matter was? [The witness being here
checked, by the counsel for the prisoner, the Attorney General
insisted, that the statement of the witness's condition was proper, and
he desired the ruling of the Court upon the point. Mr. Merrlck saic:,
that his objection was not to that bare fact, but to the repetition of
conversation. The witness was directed, by the Court, to confine him-
self to his own recollection, and the description of his condition.] I
was very much affected.
I locked the door, and went as soon as I cou?,9, to Dr. .Jacob Bige-
low's, in Summer street. He was not at home; the girl carne to the
|
