Gilland, from his hospital bed, sent wordthrough the woman that the attack on him camesilently and without provocation. For his part,Gilland offered only a few desperate pleas inreturn for the blows he received.

"They crossed just to get to us," the womanrecalled. "One stood guard while the other beat Edreally badly. One guy just beat him up terriblybecause he wanted to. I threw down my purse, butthe guy pushed him over a car and started kickingand punching him hard. I was yelling but there wasno one around."

"I started yelling, 'What are you doing? Whatare you doing?' I was thinking about hitting theguy in the back but there was the other manstanding there. It was very fast," she said.

"It was like I wasn't even there. Nobody saidanything to me, nobody touched me," the womansaid. "They didn't say anything. It was apredatory attack."

"I feel like it's important for people who workaround there to know," adding that the site of thebeating was close to the Yard and near sciencebuildings in which people often work late intonight.

Gilland now remains in "terrible pain,"according to friends who have visited him sincethe attack.

"A crushed bone in his face was pressing on anerve," the woman said. "He has been on morphinefor two days. He won't be able to use his handsfor six weeks. He's in really bad shape. It'sawful to see him."

Gilland, 37, is a teaching fellow in Biology21, "Structure and Physiology of the Vertebrates."The course is taught by A.W. Crompton and C.Richard Taylor, neither of whom returned phonecalls yesterday.

Gilland's teaching duties have been assumed bysomeone else, according to friends. In laboratorysections, Gilland primarily aided dissections andpreparations of anatomical models, which require alarge amount of manual function, the woman said."And that's hard to do when your hands are incasts," she said.

The woman has lived near the Harvard campus ather apartment at 52 lrving St. for the last fourto five years, she said. Gilland lives at 1200Mass. Ave., next to the Inn at Harvard.

"I've never had anything bad happen in allthose years," she said