|
sl;
asked where it was built. I told him it was built right under his
coal-bin, which was between his laboratory and the dissecting-room.
In the bin we put about eight tons of coal. I told him the weight of
this coal sprung the wall, so as to make it leak, and caused an offen-
sive odor to be sent to all parts of the building. I told him it had
been fixed. He asked me how it was fixed. I 'told him the vault had
been all kivered up with dirt, and there had been no smell since. He
asked me how I got down under the building to lover it up, or how
any one could get down, I told him we took up the brick floor in
the dissecting-room entry, and then took up the board floor, about six
feet long. He asked me if that was all the way to get down under
the building. I told him it was, under his laboratory or the front
room, and told him how the Walls run. He asked me if we could get
a light into that vault; end I told him °° No." He asked if I was sure
of it. I told him I was, for I had tried, a few days before, to get a
light into the vault. He said he wanted to get some gas out of the
vault. I had tried to get a light in, to find something which Dr. Ains-
worth had lost, and the foul air put it out. Dr. Ainsworth had let
down an African skull, to macerate in the vault, and the rope had
rotted off. I attempted to put a light down, and it went out. Dr.
Webster told me he wanted to get some gas to try an experiment.
I told him then would be a good time as it was high tide, and the
water would press the gas up. I asked him how he was going to
get the gas into any vessel. He said he had apparatus that he could
do it with. He told me when he wanted to get the gas, he would let
me know. And that is the last I ever heard of it.
I do not recollect) any other interview with Dr. Webster, before the
day of the disappearance. But now I do recollect a message to the
Hospital. He said he wanted me to get him some blood, for his next
day's lecture. He said he wanted as much as a pint. I took a glass
jar off from his shelf, holding nearly a quart, and asked if that would
do to get it in. He said 1° Yes; get it full, if you can, over at the
Hospital." Just before two o'clock, I carried the jar to the front entry,
and put it on the top of the case, where I put up notices. I went to
Dr. Holmes' lecture before it finished. At Dr. Holmes' lecture-room
I saw the student (John E. Hathaway) who attends the apothecary's
shop in the Hospital. I told him there was a glass jar, in which Dr.
Webster wished to get a pint of blood. He replied, "° I think we shall
bleed some one to-morrow morning, and I will save the blood." Fri-
day morning, I went to the apothecary's shop at the Hospital, and the
student said he had no blood, as they had bled nobody. I told Dr.
Webster, about eleven and a half o'clock, Friday, that we could get no
blood. He said he was sorry, as he wanted to use it in his lecture.
That is all I know about the blood.
I have no recollection of having any interview on that morning with
Dr. Webster, after the one mentioned. In the morning, Friday, No-
vember 23, after I made his fire, swept the room, and went to set the
broom behind the door leading from his back-room to the laboratory, I
saw the sledge-hammer behind the door. It was usually in the labo-
ratory. The handle was about two feet long, of white oak, and would
weigh six or seven pounds. I never saw it in his back-room, or any-
where, except in the laboratory, before. One side of the hammer
was about as large round as half an orange, and it was rounded on
|
