|
7
the"beds, &o. ; we did not know but that we might find some papers or
documents belonging to
Dr. arkman.
afterwards went down into the cellar through a trap door, and then to the
apartments of
Prof- W. Prof. W. came to the door. Mr. Clapp stated to him that we had
come to make a
search of the whole building, and also of the neighborhood. Mr. -Clapp said
that, as an officer,
he was obliged to go where he was sent, but that no suspicion rested on any
one attached to that
institution. We then entered the Laboratory. Mr. Clapp, after looking
through the Laboratory,
approached a small private room, upon which Prof. W . told him that he kept
his valuable- and
daneroua articles there, and so he did not go into the room, contenting
himself with merely
looking in throughtrhs half open door. I looked into the furnace of that
room and perceived ,&
com3iderable quantity in there. We afterwards went down into the lower room
on Sa=turday,
and on looking into the furnace I perceived a bright fire burning, but no
ashes beneath the
grate; it appeared as though it had been lately swept. _ -
In another room we saw a tea-chest filled with tan, with some minerals
thrown on the top';
Messrs..Clapp and Webster did all the talking; while we were going through
the rooms, we took
notice of the miRerala on the tan; some inquiries were made concerning the
privy, which had
not as yet been entered; Mr. Webster said that the key of it was lost ; on
going down stairs, I
noticed several spots on the stairs, which appeared as though made by
water; my attention was
directed to them the more particularly, as I had noticed them there the day
before, and they did
not.agpear to have dried any;- the officers and myself did not at the time
make a very critical
exam ion, as Mr. Clapp had remarked to Prof. Webster, on entering, that
there was no sus-
picion resting on any one attached to the Medical College; we did not think
much at that tame
of the remarks we made or of 'the conversation; the first reward offered,
was to the amount of
$1,000 for the recovery of Dr. Parkman,,and afterwards a reward of $3,000
was offered; I
carried some of the hand-bills to Chelsea myself; I went to the Hospital on
Friday night, a week
from the time of Dr. P.'s disappearance; I inquired for Mr. Littlefield,
and.found him in about
16 minutes; he had borrowed some tools for the purpose of breaking through
the walls; as-I
stood .knocking at the front door of Littlefield's house, and while I stood
there, I heard a dull _
sound as though some one was pounding on a wall; this was after the #rrest
of Prof W. ; I was
at the jail that night about ten o'clock, and there I saw Prof. W. ; -he
was lying on the floor
in the lower lock-up, face downwards; he did not seem.to be tbfe -to raise
of hold ~ head up;
the officers managed to get him up and-carry him up-ete;irb.;-w1fen mot
there he asked for
water; some was given him, and he attempted to take it in his lrand; but he
trembled so that he
shook the water all over himself. - . -
The attendants afterwards held the glass of water to him and he stooped
down his head as if
to drink, but he did not appear to do so. I never saw a man in such -a
condition before. We
asked him if he would go to the College and explain appearances there. He
said he would go
there, but he had no explanation to make. He was perspiring very freely at
this .period, and
Mr. Barker, County Attorney, asked him.if he was ill. He said his
extremities were freezing.
Prof. W. was carried to the College in a carriage, and was led from it to
hislaboratory by two
officers, one each side of him, Ongoing into the. room, I asked where the
key to the privy was.
He said that it ryas at the end of the shelves-it was not to be found
however, and we were
obliged to go down to the lower Laboratory and break. open the douz. I did
not notice the de-
meanor of Prof, W. Tor some time, as my attention was directed elsewhere.
We went down
through a trap door to where the hole was made in the central wall through
to the privy; after
we entered, we found the right thigh and right leg of a human being.
Here the defense presented the question whether it was the right thigh and
leg, or left thigh
and leg, inasmuch as the Government Attorney had stated in his argument
that it was the-left
leg and thigh. '
I did not notice anything peculiar in the behavior of Prof. W. at that.
time and place; we stood
looking at the fragments of the body for about fifteen minutes, and then
left the College; on the
following day (Saturday) I was, at the College with officer Fuller and some
others. Mr. Fuller
discovered in the tea chest before mentioned, the thorax and left thigh of
a human body; I was
up stairs at the time, and came down at their request, and saw the officers
dragging a cheat from
the shelves to the center of the room; we took them out of the chest, and
from the bottom of it
there fell a large sized jack-knife, as I should call it; we afterwards
found in a closet a pair of
pantaloons.and a pair of slippers, upon which were some drops of what we
took for blood; Dr.
Charles T. Jackson was present at this time.
An officer took charge of the pants and slippers, and wrapped them up in a
piece of paper; - I
saw the saw which they took down from the nail on which it was discovered
hanging; we found
on the handle of it some marks which we supposed were made with blood;
while at the Laboratory,
I asked for a pen, and Littlefield handed me two, one of which appeared to
be made of a reed,
and Mr. Littlefield remarked, when he handed it to me, that he didn't think
I could write with
it; I was not present when te towels were discovered; the general
appearance of the parts of
the body found was those of Dr. Parkman's ; he was a very slim man; don't
know what his
weight was; knew it 13 years ago; there was some peculiarity in his jaw;
should not like to say
positively that the parts of a body found at the College were those of Dr.
P.; $a•e heard Dr. P.
use severe language on some occasions, but never heard him use profane
language; I was not at
Prof. W's. house in Cambridge at the time the notes were found.
Cross examination.-I went out to Prof. Webster's house I think on the 18th
of December;
went to Cambridge in the hourly, and then took a carriage; did not have a
search-warrant oa
nr ;
|
