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TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER. 305
street ten or fifteen minutes after two. Mrs. Greenough testifies that
she saw him about ten minutes before three in Cambridge street, going
towards the bridge; Mr. Wentworth, that he saw him in Court street,
opposite Mrs. Kidder's, between half-past two and three, going towards
Bowdoin Square; Mr. Cleland, in Washington street, going towards Rox-
bury, between a quarter and half-past three; and Mrs. Rhoades and her
daughter, that they saw him in Green street at a quarter-before five,
going east, towards Bowdoin Square.
Then what evidence is there in the case opposed to this? You will
remember, that notice of Dr. Parkman's disappearance was pretty exten-
sively communicated in the west part of the city on Saturday; that it
appeared in the public papers on Saturday afternoon; and that, on Sunday
and Monday, a thorough search and extensive inquiry were instituted.
The public mind was excited and aroused to the most active vigilance.
It is, perhaps, Gentlemen, somewhat peculiar to our country, but it
is well known to all men of observation and experience, that, when a
great and appalling event of this kind occurs among us, the public mind
and sensibilities are so aroused that the whole community resolves itself
into a voluntary inquest. Every one inquires of every other person
what he has seen or heard respecting the one absorbing subject; each
taxes his recollection, and reports every circumstance, however trifling,
which may seem to bear on the question: Many statements no doubt
are made, and honestly made, which come to nothing; but, in the mul-
titude of reports and representations, some clue is fallen upon, opening
a line of inquiry which leads to the true result. In this manner the mem-
ories of all are taxed to remember what they have seen or heard within
the last twenty-four hours, or two or three days; and thus many cir-
cumstances may be recollected and impressed upon the mind by the great
subject which interests every body.
Nearly every one of the above-named witnesses states, that, when
the disappearance of Dr. Parkman was made public, the circumstances
testified of were brought to their minds. This is quite natural. But
the same circumstances which would awaken their attention and impress
their memories, would naturally affect the minds of others also. The
argument on the other side is, that thousands would have been thus put
upon their recollection to say whether they had seen Dr. Parkman abroad;
when, where, and under what circumstances.
Perhaps no man of his age and situation was better known in the
city, personally, than the deceased. It is obvious, that, if he was seen
by these witnesses at the times and places stated by them, he must
have gone from one of those places to the other in the intermediate
times, and must therefore have been in some of the most public streets of
the city, from two to five o'clock in the afternoon; a time of day when, at
that season, the streets are perhaps as much thronged as at any other.
The question then is, if he had been thus passing through those thronged
streets, whether hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons would not have
seen him, many of whom would have recollected the fact when it became
so early a subject of general inquiry, and who would have come forward
to declare it. Judge for yourselves. If you think, under the circum-
stances, that this would be the case, the absence of such testimony is to
be weighed and considered, and the natural inference drawn from it.
This, however, would be negative testimony; and it is said that nega-
tive testimony is less to be relied on than positive. This is in general
true, when the witnesses are equally trustworthy; and the reason is, that
they are not necessarily contradictory, and that both may be true. One
may have noticed and may recollect the fact, and the other not. But
where two persons have been placed in such a position, that, if the fact
had occurred, they would have had equal means of knowing it, and
their attention is equally called to it, and one asserts and the other
denies
its existence, they are in their nature contradictory; one or the other
must be mistaken in his observation or recollection, In such cases of
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