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bat i' the other Professors came, to let them in, but not to disturb me;
then I got a pair of
gloves and went to work at the wall; did not make much progress, and
finally came up and went
over to Fuller, and asked for a cold: chisel; he gave me just such a one as
I wanted; went back
to work, and got along for a short time very fast, but presently heard four
raps above; I ran up,
and my wife said, °1 I saw two gentlemen pass, and thought one of them was
Dr. Webster, but
they were only Mr. Kingsley and officer Starkweather ; they came to the
door and inquired for
you."
I went out, and Mr. Kingsley asked me what private place there was in the
College that had
not been searched. I told him, and he said, " Let me go into hig
(Webster's) room." I replied,
those rooms were all locked up, and we could not get into them. They then
went away; do not
'know which way; I saw officer Trenholme standing in the street, and told
him that in half an
hour, or twenty minutes, I would give him the result of my labors, and I
then went into the
house, and my wife said, 11 You've just saved your bacon coming up, for Dr.
Webster has just
now come in."
[Objected to by the defense, as incompetent.]
I didn't go to work again immediately; didn't see Prof. W. go in, but saw
him come out; he
came outof the shed, and spoke to me and Mr. Trenholme; said that an
Irishman on the other
side of Cambridge Bridge offered a $20 bill to pay his toll of one cent; he
said they had kept the
bill, and the City Marshal bad asked him if he had offered that bill; he
(the Irishman) had re-
plied that he could not swear to it; Webster then went off; I returned to
my work at the wall,
and using the crowbar, got a hole clear through in five minutes.
[To the Court.]-I had got a small hole punched through before I came up;
when my wife
knocked, there was such a strong draft that I like to have lost my light
but I shaded it with my
hand, and put my head and light through at the same time, and the draft
stopped; the first thing'
I saw was the pelvis of a man, and the two parts of a leg; the water was
running down from the
sink, and I knew that was no place for those parts to be; I went up stairs
and told my wife to
go for Dr. Bigelow, and to fasten the cellar so that no one could go down;
my wife spoke to me
first when I came up.
Question by Attorney General-What was your own condition when you come up,
out of .the
cellar? Objected to by the defense-but was sustained by the Bench. =
Answer-I was very much affected; I locked the cellar door, and went down to
Dr. Bigelow's;
the old gentleman's girl came to the door; I asked for Dr. B. ; he was not
at home, and Mrs.
Bigelow came to the door; I told her I must find Dr. Bigelow; she asked, `°
What was the mat-
ter with me?" calling me by name; I then ran down to young Dr. Bigelow's,
Chauncey place,
and told him what I had discovered; we then went together to R. G. Shaw's,
Jr.; the City Mar-
shal shortly came in, and I told him what I had found; he told me to run
right down to the Col-
lege, and he would. follow on directly; I went to the College, and arrived
there before the rest
of them; I found Mr. Trenholme at' my house; he (Trenholme) told me that he
had been down
to the cellar; the City Marshal came in about ten minutes afterwards ; did
not hear the City
Marshal's testimony; the hole was near the north corner of the wall; we
could stand up straight
near-the wall; the ground slanted from the hole of the privy down to the
sea wall.
[Here the plan of the building was shown to the Jury, and the nature of the
ground plan was
illustrated.]
I here examined the foundation of the walls next the privy, and I do not
think any solid sub-
stances could have floated into the vault; there is cement piled up all
round; the tide flows into
the privy every day ;the vault where the offal from the dissecting room is
thrown, was tight, un-
til about two years since, and for that space of time the tide flowed in
and out; but there is
not sufficient space for anything solid to float out'; I was in the vault
with Mr Trenholme when.
we heard the steps overhead; I have since found out that the noise was made
by my wife and
children running from the cellar overhead; Marshall Tukey ran up to get his
revolver; we then.
went up to the Laboratory, and found the bones in the furnace; Officer
Trenholme was left in
charge of the College until after the arrest of Prefessor W.; sometime
afterwards, Officer Spurr
came to my door, and said they had Professor W. out there, and that he was
very faint; I open-
ed the door and let them in; Professor W. came in between two men, who
seemed to support him
entirely; Webster said to me: " Littlefield, they have arrested me, and
taken me away from
my family without allowing me to say good bye;" he was much agitated,
aud,sweat much; I
thought he trembled some; we went to the lecture-room, and we went to the
laboratory; the
doors were locked, and we asked Professor W. for the keys; he said they had
taken him away
so suddenly that he didn't have time to get his keys; the officers broke
down the door; we gof
in the lower laboratory through the cellar door, the way I always did;.
Prof. W. had left that
en; when we got into his private room we asked where the. key of the little
room was; he
~.) made the same answer that he did before; the officers asked where the
privy key was ;
Webster said to me: °' You know where the key is;" I told him that I did
not; then he said
"° there it hangs on the shelves."
W e took down the key, but found that it would not fit the door; the door
of the little room
was broken open; I looked for a hatchet which used to be in the room, to
break the door open;
it was a shingling hatchet; 1 could not find the hatchet at first, and
asked Prof. W. where it
was; he replied, °1 In the sink;" I went down and found it there; returned,
broke open the
door of the little room; we next broke open the privy door, and-then went
into the laboratory,
and while there, he asked, for some water; I got him a glass, and he took
hold of it, l?ut could,
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