Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-08-15


which he had never been known to do
before.
1t was still more remarkable that,
though he had directed the servants
not to light fires in his rooms on those
days, fires of more than ordinary size
and intensity had been burning every
day, which the Professor must have laid
and lighted himself The doors were
kept locked, and the key of one, which
led to a sink attached to the laboratory,
was carried away every evening by DR..
Webster. Saturday was the usual day
for cleaning anddusting the apartments,
but the Professor had locked the doors,
and spoken to the servants through the
key hole, desiring them to go away.
Littlefeld had accidently overheard
Parkman on one occasion charge the
Professor with fraud and threaten legal
proceedings; and he remembered that,
on the same day, the Professor asked
him how access was had to the vault be-
low the School of Anatomy, into which
the human remains from the dissecting
table were cast, and whether light
would burn there. Littlefield replied
to the latter query in the negative, add
ing that he had recently hung the head
of a negro to macerate, but the cord rot
ted and the skull fell, and the foul air
extinguished the lamp when he tried to
recover it.
On the day before Parkman disap-
peared, DIR. Webster had asked the por-
ter to procure him a jar of human blood
from the hospital, saying that he re-
quired it for experiments in the lecture
of the following day; but as none of the
patients were bled on that day, he was
unable to procure it. He had q mis-
giving that this blood might have been
intended to account for any stains of
blood that might have been discovered
in the laboratory when it was visited by
the detectives.
He remembered, too, that he had
seen heavy hammer in DR.. Webster's
room on the day Parkman disappeared,
and that, though missed from its ac-
customed place in another apartment,
it had not been seen since. On the
same day, at the time for extinguishing
the fires and clearing up the laboratory,
he found all the Professors rooms
locked, and could get no reply from
within, though he heard some one
moving about, and water running from
the tap over the sink. The doors had
been locked, too, when DIR. Webster
left, contrary to his usual custom, which
was to leave them open.
Remembering all these things,
| Ephraim Littlefeld suspected that DIR.
| Webster had murdered Parkman and
disposed of the corpse in the college.
The only place which had not been
searched by the police was the vault,
! and the Professor had; since the day on
| kew of the door leading to it in his
pocket. But Littlefield's suspicious
had became so strong that he did not
hesitate to make an opening in the
outer wall, creep under the floors upon
his hands and knees until he reached
| the wall of the vault, and make an
| aperture therein large enough b to admit
| his head and one arm. He then saw,
by the glimmering light of lantern, a
thigh and the lower portion of the
trunk of human being lying upon the
ground.
1t was on the evening of the fourth
day after Parkman's disappearance that
this horrible discovery was made. Lit
tlefield imme lately communicated
with the relatives of the missing man
and some of the professors, and these,
accompanied by an officer of police, de-
| scended into the vault and raised there
| from the CHASTITY remnants, which there
was too much reason to believe were
those of DIR. Parkman.
| A warrant was Immediately issued for
| the arrest of DR.. Webster; but the officer
who executed it merely informed him
that the search at the college was to be
renewed, and that his presence at the
time was thought desirable. The Pro
fessor accompanied them without be
traying the slightest uneasiness or re
luctance, and it was not until the vehi
Gle in which they rode stopped at the
city Jail that he was informed that he
was prisoner.
| He seemed to be struck Immediately
with horror and despair. He neithel
protested his innocence nor 2cknowl
edged his guilt, but begged that hi
family might be informed of his posi-
ton, and then fell into state of phys
ical and mental prostration painful t.
witness. He asked, in a gasping tone
for water, but he could not swallow
, and his hand shook SO that he spille'
the water and dropped the glass upol
the floor.
On the following day the upper POI
, tion of the trunk was found, imbedde
! in tan, in an old tea chest, so packe
as to appear to contain only -mineralos
ical specimens; and this chest wa
: prov, to have been brought by th
: carrier from DIR. Webster's residence g
Cambridge, together with sack of tai
A large and sharp knife, stained wit
blood, and butchers saw, wero foun
, in the tan; and on the left breast was
? perforation such as knife would hay
made. A pair of overalls, stained wit
= blood, were found in a press in tt
. same room. Among the ashes of tt
assay furnace were found fragments ,
calcined bones, a mother-of-pearl shi
j. button, and some minute particles
+ gold, : - -
,f Not only did the remains correspor
1t With the height and proportions of tt
v missing man, but some fragments
a lower jaw were marked by the pee
e liar form for which that of DR.. Parkms
D. was remarkable. He wore false tee
s. mounted in gold, and the teeth foun
j. with portions of bone adhering to the1
n, owing to the skull having been Gle
20 before it was cast into the furnac
/, were recognized by a dentist as tho
o which he had made for DR.. Parkman, al
d which he had repaired only fornig
e. before.
n Before the magistrates the -accus
of displayed unexpected calmness, but
c. offered no explanation of the horrit
q, circumstances relied upon by the pr,
ut ecutiOn. When brOu pht to trial in T.