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969
Dr. Parkman was seen by her on Friday ! « Are you sure it was not
on Friday?" And even after she bad given him reasons, and even
after he goes to the door, he repeats the question-°° Are you sure it
was not on Friday ? "- trying to impress her with that idea.
Then, that night, on that week. or some one of the nights on that
week, without .his family, upon the evidence of Mr. Sanderson, the
watchman, he went out in the late omnibus, between eleven and
twelve o'clock.
I have thus traced him, and shown that he did all that was
competent for him to do; that he went to Mr. Treadwell's, not by
invitation, but a casual call; that he played whist, which is all con-
sistent with his subsequent conduct, and with that which he has shown
here. It required nerve. He has it, and enough of it; excepting,
and only excepting, when fear fell upon him, and the dread of im-
pending exposure made him afraid.
Gentlemen, I have but a word to say in relation to these anonymous
letters. The Counsel has called your attention to one single feature,
which was spoken of by Mr. Gould as characteristic generally of Dr.
Webster's writing. He has called your attention to it in this letter,
as being of a different character. That is, the figure 9. Look at
that figure 9, and see if it is not evidently disguised.
Then, there are some other circumstances in connection with this.
I do not profess to be an expert; but, when I find a respectable man, like
Mr. Gould, who has paid fifty years' attention to this matter, and
another, Mr. Smith, who has had, perhaps, thirty years' experience,
coming upon that stand, and saying to a Jury, that they have made a
thorough examination, and that they have no doubt that the hand-
writing is that of Dr. Webster, I think their testimony is entitled to
some respect. If a mechanic should come and tell me, as a lawyer,
that such a thing could be, and such a thing could not be, and it was
exclusively within the province of his art-if I believed him to be an
honest man, I should defer to him. If a ship-master should come
upon the stand, and undertake to tell me, as a lawyer, that, under
certain states of the wind, and of the ship, such a result would hap-
pen, I should believe him, because he has experience, and is compe-
tent to instruct me.
And, when a man comes and says, that, having had fifty years' ex-
perience in the examination of hand-writing, that he has no doubt,
and that is confirmed by the testimony of another witness, who also
has no doubt, that it was written by Dr. Webster, then it is entitled
to consideration. That letter is written by a man accustomed to
composition. It is signed °1 Civis," the Latin word for !' Citizen."
It was written by a man who had some knowledge of the Latin
ton(yue. Who would be likely, in a matter so interesting to the pub-
lic, to have undertaken to communicate with the City Marshal under
an anonymous signature ? If it were Dr. Webster, and he was inno-
cent, would he not have done it personally, making such-suggestions
as he considered important? Then, other letters are not. testified to
so positively, namely, the '° Dart " and what I have called the '° Sans-
crit " letter. But you will find that the latter is written on a fine,
delicate note-paper. It was not written with a pen. That there was
an instrument found in Dr. Webster's laboratory, which is fitted to
make this, is proved; and that instrument is such an instrument as
might have made those erasures upon the notes, which were not made
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