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'° Ptofessor Webster, something must be accomplished to-morrow" Dr. Parkman
left the roots
and'Ihave not seen him since ; the following day about one o'clock, as I
was standing outside the
Medical College, Professor Webster came to the door, and asked if I was
busy; if not he wanted
me to carry a note to Dr. Parkman, and said if I could not he should have
to carry it himself ; f,
took the note and gave it to my boy, John Baxter.; I told him to take the
note to Dr: Parkman as
soon as he could ; Dr. Parkman was at the College on the forenoon of the
same day.of the inter- .
view in the evening alluded to above ; Professor Webster asked me if the
vault used to put
the remains of subjects for dissection in was repaired, and that the
faculty jiad said something
about having a new one made.
He asked me bow the vault was built under his coal bin between his
laboratory and the dis-
secting-room; told him there was a leak in the coal bin that let the scent
all over the building
and that the vault had been all filled up with dirt; he asked how I got
down to it; told him that,
I had taken up the brick floor, and then cut up the wooden floor beneath.
He asked me if that was all the vault in the building; he asked me if he
could get a light into
that vault; told him no; he asked me if I were sure; I replied that I was,
for I had already,
endeavored to get a light into the vault a day or two days. before; he said
he wanted to get some
of the g&s out of it.
To the Court-The foul air would put a light out. Dr. Ainsworth had given me
a skeleton to
put into the vault a little while before to macerate. I attempted to put
alight down thereto find i
it, but the foul air put out the lamp. He told me he wanted to get some gas
out of there to try an
experiment. I said to him,,, How will you get it out afterwards "--said it
would be a good time
then, for the tide was up, and was pressing the gas up -
He said he had an apparatus to do it with, and said when he wanted the gas
he would let me
know. That was the last I ever heard of it. On Thursday Prof. W. said he
wanted me to get him
some blood for his lectures. Took a glass vial, holding about a quart, from
one of the shelves,
and asked him if that would do to get it in. He replied, " Yes, get it full
if you can, from the
Massachusetts Hospital."
I saw a student who attended in the apothecary shop in the Hospital, and
told him that there
was a glass jar Dr. W. wanted some blood in it; he replied, °` I-thank
likely we shail bleed some ,
one to-morrow morning, and I'll save the blood; on Friday morning I went
over to the hospital
and saw the student; said that he hadn't bled any body, and so couldn't get
any blood; I went
to Prof. W.'s room about 11J o'clock, and told him I could not get any
blood; he said he was
sorry; don't recollect that anything further was said about it; don't
recollect any further inter-
view on that day; in the morning (Friday) after I had.made the fire in his
back room, I took a
brush and swept the floor, and threw the dirt into the fire; went to put
the brush behind the
door of the laboratory, and there I saw a sledge hammer; had seen the
sledge in the lower rooms,
but never up there before; the handle was about two feet long, and of white
oak; should think
that it would weigh six or seven pounds.
To the Court-The sledge was about as large round on the face of it as an
ordinary orange .
cut in two; never saw the sledge anywhere but in the lower room before; I
took it down stairs
into the laboratory and set it up against the large vault where he makes
gases.
[Here the plan of the laboratory was exhibited, and the position of the
vault shown to the
Court and Jury.]
Have never seen the sledge., since.; Pt about 2 o'clock Z-was standing in
the front entry looking
out of the front door; I thought when I testified before the Coroner's Jury
that it was about
half-past one o'clock, but I think now I was mistaken; I saw Dr. P. coming
down Grove street
very fast,-he was opposite Fruit street; I laid down on the settee nearest
the furnace, or regis-
ter and the door, waiting for Dr. Holmes' lectures to finish; didn't hear
any one go into or
come out of Prof. W.'s rooms; laid on the settee' until a few minutes
before 2 o'clock, and then
went up stairs; always wait at the door of the lecture-room until the
leoture is out. I went
down stairs and shut the front door just after Dr: Holmes went out.
Afterwards went down
stairs, cleared out the furnaces and left the materials for building the
next morning's fire, then
wbnt up stirs into Prof. Webster's back room, and cleaned out the stove; I
then went to the
medical lecture-room, and cleaned the furnace out there. [Here the wooden
model was exhibited,
and Littlefield pointed out the position of the settee on which he had
laid.] I then went down to
Prof. W. 's Laboratory to ,clean up there; went to the door of the
Laboratory, under the privy
stair-way leading to the private room; this was the door under the
Laboratory stair-case ; found
that the doors were bolted on the inside; I then went round to the other
door of the Laboratory,
on the same floor, and found that locked or bolted. [Here the model was
again brought into
requisition.] Thought I beard them in there walking, and the Cochituate
water running.
I then went up stairs to the door that leads into the lecture-room, in the
front entry, put the
key into the lock to unlock it. I found that it was unlocked and bolted on
the inside. I after-
wards went down stairs into my kitchen and laid down. About 4 o'clock, a
lady who was from
Medford, and staying at my house, came into the bed-room, and said a
gentleman wanted to see
me; went to the door and found that it was Mr. Petty.
He had come to fill out a ticket for a student named Ridgeway who was going
away; we filled
out for him all but one for Prof. W.'s lectures; that I gave him myself; I
had some of Prof. W.'s
lecture tipkets after Petty went away; he staid about 15 minutes.
I again went to the door of the Laboratory ; found the doors all .fastened
as at first; I went
then to fix his fires and clean the room up; he (Prof. W.) used to leave on
his tables the glasses
and vessels used in his lectures, and always requested me to clean them up.
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