Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 273
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Dr. James W. Stone. Report of the Trial of
Professor John W. Webster ...
, 1850
,
Image No: 273
   Enlarge and print image (55K)           << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
264 examination of one of the Government witnesses, that, on the 17th of November, that knife was over at Cambridge, and afterwards, be- tween the 17th and 23d, was brought over to the Medical College. Now it is said that that is evidence of design to fasten suspicion upon Dr. Webster, in connection with the remains ; and that the minerals, which were not entirely covering the tan, on Tuesday, when Kingsley saw the fire and tea-chest, were not put there by Dr. Webster. The very fact, of that search, that Mr. Kingslev's attention was called to that-would it not prompt. him to have piled on more minerals, and was not that done, evidently? And the knife was found there. It had been in his possession. And who, pray tell me, if I hhve not utterly failed in making myself understood, who could have done this, but Dr. Webster himself? And, Gentlemen, it may very well be said, that, if that hammer, the disappearance of which is one of the marked facts in this case, had been got rid of, he might also have been equally anxious to be rid of the knife. The yataghan was there-a murderous-looking instrument- recently cleaned, as Dr. Jackson testified. As you will see, it is enough for me to say that here were murderous instruments connected with him, and with no other human being. Why, too, did he have that tan sent over here in that suspicious way? Why not let Mr. Sawin have admission to his laboratory, as he had done two hundred times a year before, as he swears to you? Whether it was to be used for the tea-chest, or the tin chest, neither you nor I can tell. It is an anti-putrescent, and would stifle odor. And what is most significant, although Mr. Sawin brought over for him two empty boxes, the fagots and the bag of tan, the bag of tan was taken into the laboratory by Dr. Webster, and the others left outside ! If anybody else had done this, after his direction to Sawin to leave them all outside the door, would not Dr. Webster's eye have discovered it? There was charcoal, and anthracite coal, and pitch- pine kindlings, which disappeared in considerable quantities, during that week. The process was slow; and I will tell you why it was slow. He had those clothes to get rid of. The minutest circum- stances are sometimes most important. The report of the physicians shows that there was among the remains a shirt-button; and if he separated the body from the clothes, remember that he had the clothes to get rid of as well as the flesh, thus accounting for the time expended. Then the blood upon the pantaloons and the slippers! These were treated of in a very summary way by the Counsel, as being of no consequence. I submit whether they are, or not. If they were drops of blood falling from above, then I agree that it must have had much less weight than it will have, as the facts are shown by the testimony of Dr. Wyman, that it was probably spattered from beneath. And then those stains upon the stairs! They were there when Littlefield saw them, tasted, and found them acid. His testimony is abundantly corroborated by Dr. Wyman, who says that they were fresh. Kingsley saw them also. It turns out that they were nitrate of copper; arid I defy any man to look upon them, as you have looked at them, and believe that they have not been thrown there by design, spattered, as they were, up against the perpendicular sides of the stairs. If my eyes did not deceive me-and you have had the