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264 TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER.
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 unexamined, acting upon
that honest suspicion, early conceived honestly entertained but still
cautiously acted upon; cautiously acted upon, because, if it should turn
out to be erroneous how could he justify himself for having entertained
it? Suppose he had undertaken to break 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 he is to find anything, not even an expectation,-perhaps not so
much as a probability,-but a suspicion arising out of Dr. Webster's
conduct.
Was Mr. Littlefield the only person who suspected Dr. Webster? Were
there not suspicions on the part of others who had interviews with him?
What was Mr. Samuel Parkman Blake's f6eling, when he came from that
interview? And yet Mr. Littlefield is denounced for having entertained
a suspicion which he did not consistently act upon! I maintain that he
did act upon it consistently, when you consider the relations between
him and the Professor; and that he should have gone, in the manner he
did, to Dr. Jackson and Dr. Bigelow, shows the confidence of his sus-
picion at that time. That he should have created no disturbance, and
have made a very cautious, hurried, and imperfect examination when he
entered the laboratory on ednesday, is perfectly natural.
But it is objected against him by the counsel, that he took the turkey.
Why should he refuse it? Should he refuse the only present ever given
him by Dr. Webster, and thus tell him his suspicions? It don't appear
that he ate it. But it does appear that he did not dine at home on
Thanksgiving-day; so that all the pathos and poetry of my learned
friend, about his eating that consecrated meal received from a murderer,
is entirely lost.
Then the warmth of the fire felt on the face! Why should he not
feel it? As I understand it, when there is an intense heat in that fur-
nace, the wall would be heated after the fire had gone down; and the
heat of the wall need not have been very great to be perceived by a
person passing through that narrow passage. Is there anything in that
objection? At all events Mr. Littlefield swears to it, and he is an unim-
peached witness, and-I feel authorized to say of him, as the counsel did
of another witness,-an unimpeachable one.
Then the search made in the laboratory! "Why didn't he break into
the privy-door?" I reply, because he had alluded to it once, already, in
the presence of the police, and they did not choose even to ask Dr.
W ebster to open it. He was not going to expose himself to the male-
dictions of Dr. Webster, if he should find nothing there. But, when the
cloud thickens round the College, he communicates his suspicions to the
Professors, and one of them tells him to go through the wall before he
sleeps. hy should not objections a's well be made to the conduct of
my friend Dr. Bigelow, here [who sat beside the Attorney General], or
to Dr. Jackson? Why didn't they say, Go into that privy, and put a lan-
tern down, and discover what you can? You are not to assume that
something decisive had already been discovered about Dr. Webster, and
that Littlefield knew that the remains were there; or that he suspected
that they were there, to the degree that the counsel seems to believe.
He held the suspicion cautiously, as a man in his situation naturally
would, and acted accordingly. Then there was secrecy pledged on the
part of Dr. Jackson. Of course, secrecy! Secrecy all through, until
something was discovered! And when those suspicions ripened into cer-
tainty, as they did when the remains were found, then, if Mr. Littlefield
were not an honest man and an honest witness,-if he had a purpose to
implicate Dr. Webster, why did not he point out the tea-chest? Why did
not he point out the bones? Did he do either?
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