The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-17 00:00:00

present—to apologise for those things in my
conduct which had offended him—to throw myself
' upon his mercy—to beg for further time and in-
dulgence, for the sake of my family, if not for my-
self, and to make as good promises to him as I
could have any hope of keeping. I did not hear from
him on that day nor the next (Wednesday), but I
found on Thursday he had been abroad in pursuit of
me without finding me. I imagined he had forgotten
the appointment, or else did not mean to wait for it.
I feared he would come in upon me at my lecture
hour, or while I was preparing my experiments for
it ; therefore I called at his house on that morning
(Friday), between eight and nine o'clock, to remind
him of my wish to see him at the college at half-past
one, my lecture closing at one. I did not stop to talk
with him, for I expected the conversation would be
a long one, and I had my lecture to prepare for, for it
was necessary fir me to have my time, and els° to
keep my mind free from other exciting matters. Dr.
Parkirein agreed to c 411 on me as I proposed. He
came, accordingly, between half-past one and two
o'clock, entering at the lecture-room door. I
was engaged in removing some glasses from my
lecture-room table into the room in the rear, called
the upper laboratory. He came rapidly down the
step, and followed rue ir:to the laboratory. He im-
mediately addressed me V 1 ith great energy, "Are you
ready for me, sir! Have you got the money ?"
f replied, " No, Dr. Perlman," and I was then be-
ginning to state my condition, and my appeal to
him, but he would not linen to me, and interrupted
me with much vehemence. He called me a scoundrel
and liar, and went on heaping on methti los
he tbivittaers
taunts and opprobrious epithets. While
speaking he drew a handful of papers from his
pocket, and took from. among them my two notes,
and also an old letter from Dr. Hossack, written many
years ago, congratulating him on his successs in get-
ting me appointed professor of
.chemistry. " You •
see,' he said, "I got you into your office, and now I
will get you out of it." He put back into his pocket
all the papers except the letter and the notes. I
cannot tell how long the torrent of threats and invec-
tives continued, and I can recall to memory but a
small portion of what he said. At first I kept inter•
posing, trying to pacify him, so that I might obtain
the object for which I sought the interview, but I
could not stop him, and soon my own temper was
up; I forgot everything, and felt nothing but the
sting of his words. I was excited to the highest
degree of passion, and while he was speaking and
gesticulating in the most violent and menacing
manner, thrusting the letter and his fist into my
face, in my fury I seized whatever thing was handiest
(it was a stick of wood), and dealt him an instanta-
neous blow with all the force that passion could give
it. I did not know, or think, or care, where I should
hit him, nor how hard, nor what the effect would be.
It was on the side of his head, and there was nothing
to break the force of the blow. He fell instantly upon
the pavement. There 'was no second blow; he did
not move. I stooped down over him, and he seemed
to be lifeless. Blood flowed from his mouth, and I
got a sponge and wiped it away. I got some ammonia
and applied it to his nose, but without effect. Per-
haps I spent ten minutes in attempts to resusciate
him, but I found he was absolutely dead. In my
horror and consternation I ran instinctively to the
doors and bolted them, the doors of the lecture-room
and of the laboratory below. And then, what was I
to do? It never occurred to me to go out and de-
clare what had been done, and obtain assistance. I
saw nothing but the alternative of a successful move-
ment and concealment of the body on the one hand,
and of infamy and destruction on the other. The
first thing I did, as soon as I could do anything, was
to draw the body into the private room adjoining,
where. I took off the clothes, and began putting
them into the fire, which was burning in the upper
laboratory. They were all consumed there that
afternoon, with papers, pocketbook, and whatever
they contained. I did not examine the pockets, nor
remove anything, except the watch. I saw that, or
the chain of it, hanging out. I took it, and threw it
'over the bridge as I went to Cambridge. My next
move was to get the body into the sink, which stands
in the small private room ; by setting the body par-
tially erect against the corner, and by getting up We
the sink myself, I succeeded in drawing it up there.
It was entirely dismembered. It was quickly done,
as a work of terrible and desperate necessity. The
only instrument was the knife found by the officers
in the tea chest, which I kept for cutting corks. I
made no use of the Turkish knife, as it was called at
the trial. That had long been kept on my parlour
mantelpiece in Cambridge, as a curious ornament.
My daughters frequently cleaned it ; hence the marks
of oil and whiting found on it. I had lately brought
it into Boston to get the silver sheath repaired. While
dismembering the body a stream of Cochituate water
was running through the sink, carrying off the blood
in a pipe that passed down through the lower labo-
ratory There must have been a leak in the pipe,
for the ceiling below was stained immediately around
it. There was a fire burning in the furnace of
the lower laboratory. Littlefield was mistaken in
thinking there never had been a fire there. He had
probably never kimilkd one, but I had done it myself
several times. I had done it that day for the purpoile
of making oxygen gas. The head and vi%cera were
put into that furnace that day, and the fuel heaped
on. I did not examine at night to see to what degree
they were consumed. Some of the extremities were
put in there, I believe on that day; the pelvis, and
some of the limbs, perhaps, were all put under the lid
of the lectureroom table, in what is called the well—
a deep sink, lined with lead ; a stream of Cochituate
was turned into it, and kept running through it all
Friday night; the thorax was put into a similar well,
in the lower laboratory, which I filled with water,
and threw in a quantity of potash, which I found
there. This disposition of the remains was not
changed till after the visit of the officers on Monday.
When the body had been thus all disposed of, I
cleared away all traces of what had been done. I
think the stick with which the fatal blow had been
struck proved to be a piece of the stump of a large
grape vine—say two inches in diameter, and two feet
long. It was one of several pieces which I had car- ,
tied in from Cambridge long before, for the purpose
of showing the effect of certain chemical fluids in
colouring wood, by being absorbed into the pores.
The grape vine, being a very porous wood, was well
adapted to this purpose. Another longer stick had
been used as intended, and exhibited to the students.
This one had not been used. I put it into the fire
I took up the two notes either from the table or the
floor, I think the table, close by where Dr. Parkman
had fallen. I seized an old metallic pen lying on the
table, dashed it across the face, and through the sig-
natures, and put them in my pocket. Ido nut know
why I aid this rather than put them in the fire, ter I
had net considered for a moment what effect either
mode of disposing of them would have on the mortgage,
or toy indebteduess to Dr. P. and the other persons in •
terested, and I had not yet given a single thought to the
question as to what account I should give of the ob-
ject or result of my interview with Dr. Turkmen. I
never saw the sledge-hammer spoken of by Little-
field; never knew of its existence, at least I have no
recollection of it. I left the College to go home as
late as six o'clock. I collected myself as well as I
could, that I might meet my family and others with
composure. On Saturday I visited my rooms at the
college, but made no change in the disposition of the
remains, and laid no plans as to my future course.
On Saturday evening I read the notice in the Trans
cript respecting his disappearance. I was then
deeply impressed with the necessity of immediately
taking some ground as to the character of my inter-
view with Dr. Turkmen, for I saw that it must be-
come known that I had had such an interview, as I
had appointed it first by an unsealed note on Tuesday,
and on Friday had myself called at his house in open
day, and ratified the arrangement, and had there been
seen, and had probably been overheard by the man
servant, and I knew not by how many persons. Dr. P.
might have been seen entering my rooms, or how
ninny persons he might have told by the way where
he wes going—the interview would in all probability
be known, and I must be ready to explain it. The
question exerci,ed me much, but on Sunday my
course was taken. I would go into Boston and be that
first to declare myself the person, as yet unknown,
with whom Dr. P. had made the appointment. I
would take the ground that I had invited him to the
college to pay_ him money, and that Ihad paid it.