as possible that the purpose of their errand was
to capture him, they told him no more than that
the search was that night to be renewed at
the college, and that, he was wanted to be
present. He went up the steps for his hat,
and readily accompanied them to the coach.
He talked freely by the way on the general
news of the day, as well as the all-absorbing
topic of Dr. Parkman, and it was only
when he reached the city jail, between eight
and nine o'clock, that he was informed that
he had been brought there a prisoner, charged
with murder.

The effect on him was fearful; his first
thought was for his children. He entreated
that word might be sent home to his family,
and he complained piteously that he had been
torn away from them without the power to say
farewell. "Oh, my children!" he exclaimed,
in agony. "What will they do? What will
they think of me?" He submitted helplessly to
the usual search of his person, and in his pocket-
book were found his two promissory notes to
Dr. Parkman, with signatures not cancelled,
but rudely defaced, as if smeared by a brush.
The officer in whose custody he was, said that,
at this stage, he thought he saw Dr. Webster
take his hand from his pocket and put it to his
mouth, and in a moment he had a spasm, as if
in a fit. His mental sufferings were pitiable.
He flung himself on a pallet in the lock-up,
buried his face deep in the cushion, and lay
in utter prostration. When called on to rise,
he declared himself unable, without assistance.
He was lifted to a chair, but his head hung
down, his eyes flowed with hysterical tears, and
perspiration poured from every pore, although
the wind blew and the night was cold. He
asked for water, but, when handed to him, he
choked and could not drink, let the glass fall
from his hand, and spilled the contents over his
dress. When somewhat more composed, he
re-entered the coach, and, about ten o'clock at
night, accompanied the public officer to his rooms
in the Medical College. He was taken to the
laboratory, the mangled limbs were brought
up from the vault below, and placed upon a
board a few feet from him. He looked at them
and shuddered, but made no remark, and was
carried back to the prison.

The following morning the examination of the
apartments proceeded, and fresh discoveries were
made of dreadful import. An old tea-chest, so
packed as to appear to contain mineralogical
specimens only, was upset and examined, when
it proved to be filled with tan, in which was
concealed the trunk of a man without head or arms.
A sharp hunting-knife, stained with blood,
fell out from among the tan, and a perforation
which such a knife would make was
seen upon the left breast, severing the ribs
and penetrating to the region of the heart.
The public carrier remembered that, two days
after the murder of Dr. Parkman, he, by order
of Dr. Webster, had brought that empty tea-
chest, together with a sack full of tan, from his
private residence at Cambridge to the lecture-
room in the Medical College. A butcher's
saw for dividing bones was found in the same
place, and there were traces of fire upon the
pieces, as if an unsuccessful attempt had
been made to burn the limbs before they had
been thrown into the vault or concealed in the
box of tan. A pair of overalls, or loose
pantaloons, were taken from a press in the same
room, which were stained with blood; and the
spots presented this suggestive peculiarity:
that instead of being of an oval or elongated
shape, as they would have been had the drops
fallen downward from a table, they were
circular, as would be the case if blood were
spouting upwards from a body lying on the
ground.

The ashes of the assay furnace were mixed
with fragments of calcined bones, and amongst
them were minute particles of gold and a
mother-of-pearl shirt-button. Portions of the
skull showed that the head had been cloven
before it was committed to the fire. Of all
the fragments found no one was a duplicate
of any other, and those portions still missing
showed that the head, the arms, hands,
and feet had been destroyed, as well as the
right leg from the knee downwards.

In proportion and dimensions these mangled
limbs were all in conformity with the height
and size of Dr. Parkman. But an extraordinary
occurrence supplied the most irrefragible proof
of their identity. The form of his jaw, it has
already been stated, was peculiar; it projected
so much, that amongst his familiars he was
known by the sobriquet of "Chin." His teeth
were decayed, and he wore a false set,
consisting of a mineral block mounted in gold.
Amongst the cinders and scoriæ of the stove a
block of mineral teeth was found resting on the
bottom of the grate, and these an experienced
dentist at once recognised as the identical set
which he had made for Dr. Parkman three
years before, and had repaired only a
fortnight since. From the singular formation of
the jaw, the fitting of these teeth required
more than ordinary care. An unusual number
of casts, moulds, and trial-plates had to be
prepared; all of these the artist was enabled to
produce; and with startling distinctness he
demonstrated their identity with the fragments
now discovered. The calcined portions had
pieces of bone still adhering to them—a proof
that the artificial teeth had been attached to
the head when both were flung together into
the furnace.

A singular implement found in the laboratory
was a grapnel, made out of a number of
large fish-hooks, tied on to a long wooden
handle; and the twine by which they were
made fast proved to be a portion of the
same marlin cord with which the thigh was
compressed into the hollow of the ribs. A
ball of this twine was found in the doctor's
room.

The conduct of Dr. Webster, from the
moment of his committal, showed an absolute
hopelessness of escape. The janitor was