Maxwell apologized and promised not to be so inquisitive again. Dingfelter then said:
"Now, Maxwell, after I am on the outside and away from this place, if I can do anything for you consistently I shall be glad to do it."
"You can do a whole lot for me," Maxwell answered, "by getting two of your friends to come here when my trial is called and have them testify that they met Preller and myself in Boston, and that they accompanied us to the depot when we were leaving Boston; that at the depot I proposed that the party take a parting drink; that Preller, these two men and myself, went to a cafe, and that I ordered two bottles of champagne, and that when I paid for it I displayed a roll of seven one hundred dollar bills; that I explained that I wanted to change one of these hundred dollar bills so that I might have some smaller change to pay expenses on my way to St. Louis. If they will testify to this it will account for the six one hundred dollar bills I took from Preller."
Dingfelter asked, "Are you sure that your lawyers will not get these friends of mine into trouble or let the police get next to them if I can get them to come?"
Maxwell assured Dingfelter that his friends would be perfectly safe in coming to St. Louis, and that the police would not get next to them, providing, of course, that the parties were not already known to the police. He took a card bearing his name from his pocket and tore it in two halves, giving one half to Dingfelter and retaining the other himself, saying, "Be sure and give these witnesses half of the card, which will serve to identify them to my attorneys when they arrive here, as that half of the card will match the half that I will retain, the edges of the torn card will match and will answer the purpose of an introduction."
It was about five o'clock in the evening when Dingfelter was released from jail on bond, and at that hour the courts in the building had adjourned for the day, and the newspaper correspondents and all others had left the building except the few attaches who were on duty. Thus Dingfelter left the jail unobserved. On his release from the jail he came to my house by a circuitous route, where he remained until a late hour that night, when he left to take a train for New York. I instructed him to open a correspondence with Maxwell on his arrival in New York, so as to get positive instructions from Maxwell as to what the witnesses were to testify to when they appeared on the stand in his defense. He carried out these instructions to the letter. His letters reached Maxwell through his attorneys, and Maxwell's letters reached him through the same source, and in due time, all the letters were sent to me with his report. They kept up this correspondence at intervals until Maxwell's trial was called. I told Dingfelter to appear in St. Louis on the morning of the trial, which he did. On arriving here he went to a private lodging house, and being a stranger in the city, his presence was unknown to any person but himself and the circuit attorneys, Clover and McDonald.
When his trial was called, Maxwell took the stand in his own defense, and testified that he had administered chloroform to his friend Preller on the fatal evening at the Southern Hotel for the purpose of allaying the pain that he was suffering from, as both Messrs. Clover and McDonald had predicted he would testify. Maxwell went on to state that Preller's suffering was caused by an acute attack of stricture, from which he had been suffering more or less for some time.
On hearing this testimony from Maxwell, it was decided to again exhume the body of Preller so that the two doctors could make another examination of the remains, and either corroborate or disprove Maxwell's testimony, as this was one of the most vital points in the trial. When the body was exhumed the doctors removed the organs, taking them to their laboratory, where the examination was made, and they later came into court and testified that their examination had shown beyond a doubt that Preller had never suffered from stricture.
Frank Dingfelter was among the first witnesses called by the prosecution. In answer to his name, he entered the court room from the private office of the circuit attorney, and after being duly sworn, took his seat on the witness stand. After sitting down he turned his face towards Attorney McDonald, who was conducting the prosecution for the state. Maxwell got a full view of Dingfelter for the first time since he had seen him in the jail. From where I was sitting I could get a good view of Maxwell's countenance. I was watching him closely, and when he saw Dingfelter he recognized him instantly. He turned ashy pale and nearly fainted, and would have fallen out of his chair were it not that he was partly supported by one of his attorneys who was sitting beside him. He hurriedly communicated to his attorney that he had recognized Dingfelter, whereupon the attorneys for the defense became very much excited. Dingfelter was asked by Attorney McDonald the following questions:
Question: What is your name? A. John F. McCulloch.