Chapter 2 chapter 2

Both John West and George Peckman belonged to this high-society circle.It's just that Dr. Peckman often visits the "high class of the upper class" - the "Bacon Club" in Bacon Hills; while Professor West and his wife mostly visit parties or banquets held by colleagues and friends.But in any case, like all members of high society across the United States, they live a life of affluence, comfort and dignity, living a decent, comfortable and self-confident life.But Boston's high society has its own uniqueness-at least their members think so-they advocate culture, wisdom and education, and call themselves "the purest moral pure land in American society".They also have a lot of capital to be proud of - the world-renowned universities they founded, the social reforms they advocated, such as the emancipation of slaves, the fight for women's rights, and self-cultivation and abstinence, including the later "temperance" Movement", which in turn earned them the reputation of "the pioneers of modern civilization".They like to call their city "the cradle of the United States" (in the second half of the 18th century, the first shot of the American people against the British colonists was fired in Boston - the author's note), "the thought center of the universe", "the American Athens".

However, around 1845, a deep crack was created in Boston's stately appearance, or "a wound left by life on the beautiful and luxurious face".With the entry of a large number of Irish immigrants, Boston began to appear slums, beggars and prostitutes, disease and plague, violence and crime.By 1849, as many as 37,000 Irish immigrants had settled in Boston, accounting for nearly 40% of the city's total population.There are two figures that are more telling. In 1849, 2,450 of the 5,031 babies born in the city were of Irish descent, and more than half of the prisoners in the prison at that time were from Ireland.A month before Dr. George Peckman's disappearance, a year-long cholera epidemic had just ended in Irish immigrant areas, killing more than 1,300 people, all Irish.

I don’t know when, people in the upper-class salons of Boston’s west city began to discuss immigration, poverty, and those unmanageable “inferior races” with anxiety and trepidation, as well as the tension and potential crisis facing their own city .They exclaimed that "Athens in the United States is becoming Dublin in the United States (Ireland's capital - the author's note)", and the trend of the world is declining, and the city will not be a city. So, on November 23, 1849, when the "noble and decent" "Doctor of Medicine" George Peckman inexplicably disappeared from the streets of Boston, the city that had begun to shake felt an immeasurable shock.

According to Francis Tucker, the chief of the Boston Police Department, who told the press, he first instructed the police on the West Side to learn about the situation "as quietly as possible" in the area of ​​​​Harvard University, and then led them straight to the Irish Quarter. .In the past, it was always like this when handling cases, but whenever there was something to do, they would go to the Irish slums to catch a few "scapegoats", because the first definition of the police's duty by the Boston aristocrats was "to watch out for those low-class people who don't know the rules." .But this time, they grabbed nothing.

Immediately afterwards, Director Tuke and Inspector Delasta Colap directed their troops to search all warehouses, basements, etc. under the name of Dr. Pikeman, as well as countless public sewers, and even sneaked into Boston Harbor and The section of the Jolls River that flows west of the city is underwater. "We have searched in and out of town," said Commissioner Tooke, "everywhere within a radius of forty to sixty miles from Harvard University, in the suburbs and in every town on the coast, on both sides of Cape Cod. We have searched On land, in water, and under water." Still, Dr. George Peckman refused to show his face.

At this time, there are rumors circulating in the society, saying that the secret of Dr. Pikeman's disappearance lies in the place where he was last seen alive - Harvard Medical School.So the police returned to Cambridge and searched every corner and every inch of the medical school including the basement and Professor John West's chemical laboratory, but they returned empty-handed and without success. At that time, Harvard Medical School was a two-story building standing on the banks of the Joels River—it could be said to be three floors, if you count the basement that is less than four feet (about 1.2 meters) high—it was the same as the Massachusetts President. The hospital is adjacent.Half of the building is built on the beach, and the base is suspended in the air, supported only by dozens of huge wooden piles.In this way, when the tide in the Atlantic Ocean rises, the rising river water can wash away the silt on the shoal at the bottom of the building, and also wash away the garbage thrown from the laboratory waste port and sewage pipes.The anatomy laboratory of the School of Medicine and Professor West's chemistry laboratory are arranged in the building next to the Joels River, so that the river wind can take away the odor and exhaust gas from the laboratory.

Among the citizens of Boston, Harvard Medical School is a controversial place.On the one hand, Harvard scholars and other high-spirited people are very proud of the achievements of the medical school and the contribution of medicine to Boston.However, in the eyes of ordinary people, that building is a "dirty place full of stench and rotting corpses".Rumor has it that Harvard Medical School has "dead bodies in every room, to be cut up, dismembered, and mutilated by professors and students who have no fear of God." , and even throw the whole body into the river.”Neighboring adults warned their children to stay as far away from Harvard Medical School as possible, because the building was no different from a ghost house in a cemetery, a symbol of "heresy, ominous and sinister".

According to Professor John West himself, he read the news of the disappearance of Dr. George Peckman in the evening paper on Saturday, November 24, and went to the doctor's brother, the Reverend Frances Peckman, the next day. At home, tell him that he and Dr. Peckman met on Friday.The professor said that that morning, he first went to Dr. Pikeman's home to make an appointment with him, and after class at 1:00 p.m., he waited for the doctor to visit him in the laboratory. Here, prepare for the next lab class "Properties of Wood". At around 1:45, the doctor arrived at the professor's laboratory at Harvard Medical School as scheduled.