XLVII. MURDER OF DR. GEORGE PARKMAN, A NOTED MILLIONAIRE OF BOSTON, BY PROF. JOHN W. WEBSTER, OF HARVARD COLLEGE.-1849. High Social Position of the Parties.-Instantaneous Outburst of Surprise, Alarm, and Terror, in the Community, on the Discovery of the Deed.-Remarkable Chain of Circumstances Leading to the Murderer's Detection -Solemn and Exciting Trial-Account of the Mortal Blow and Disposal of the Remains. Similar Case of Colt and Adams.-Parkman's Wealth and Fame -Mysterious Disappearance, November 23-Appointment with Professor Webster, that Day.-Their Unhappy Pecuniary Relations. Search for the Missing Millionaire.-Webster's Call on Parkman's Brother.-Explains the Interview of November 23.-No Trace of Parkman after that Date.-The Medical College Explored.-Scene in Webster's Rooms.-The Tea-Chest, Vault, and Furnace.-Human Remains Found There.-Identified as Dr. Parkman's-Arrest of Webster at Night.-Attempt at Suicide on the Spot.-Behavior in Court-His Atrocious Guilt Proved.-Rendering the Verdict.-He Boldly Addresses the Jury.-Asserts His Entire Innocence.-Final Confession of the Crime -Hung near the Spot of His Birth.-The Similar and Tragical Case of John C. Colt, Murderer of Samuel Adams. "It doth seem too bloody. First, to cut off the head, then hack the limbs;- M PROF. WEBSTER'S MURDER APPLIANCES. EMORABLE, almost beyond a parallel, in the criminal annals of America, is the great crime which finds its record in the following pages. The position of the parties, in their social and professional relations, the nature of the proof, and, indeed, all the circumstances of the case, invest the deed with a universal and permanent interest. On Friday, the twenty-third of November, 1849, Dr. George Parkman, one of the wealthiest and best known citizens of Boston, of an old family, and highly respected, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Medical College there, about sixty years of age, of rather remarkable person and very active habits, was walking about the city, and transacting business as usual-one of his last acts, on that day, being the purchase of some lettuce for the dinner of his invalid daughter; the only other members of his family being his wife, and one son, who was then traveling on the continent of Europe. Being one of the most punctual of men, his absence from the family table at half-past three o'clock excited surprise; and on the evening of the same day there was serious apprehension, his absence still continuing unexplained. It was thought best to postpone all public search until Saturday after furniture, his books, and all his minerals, and other objects of natural history. That cabinet, however, he secretly disposed of, so that all that was left to secure that mortgage was the household furniture, and what books he may have had. From a memorandum, prepared in April, 1849, it was shown that the amount of Professor Webster's debt to Doctor Parkman was, at that time, four hundred and fifty-six dollars, being made up of three items due at different times. Doctor Parkman had for some time pressed urgently for the balance due to himself, and there were frequent and by no means friendly communications between the parties on the subject. noon; at two o'clock, therefore, there being | covered all Professor Webster's household no tidings of him, a most vigorous and minute search was instituted by his friends, with the aid of the police force of Boston and of advertisements offering large rewards for such intelligence as should lead to his discovery. He was described as sixty years of age, about five feet and nine inches high, gray hair, thin face, with a scar under the chin, light complexion, and usually a rapid walker; he was dressed in a dark frock coat, dark pan- | taloons, purple silk vest, dark figured black stock, and black hat. The search was continued without intermission until the following Friday, men being sent in all directions for fifty or sixty miles, on all the railroads, to all the towns on the coast; they searched over land and water, and under water. It was known the next Sunday following his disappearance, that on the previous Friday, at half-past one o'clock, Doctor Parkman had, by appointment, met with Dr. John W. Webster (Professor of Chemistry in Harvard University, and Lecturer on Chemistry in the Medical College, Boston,) in his rooms at the Medical College, and no further trace could be found; the fact of this interview having been first communicated by Professor Webster. The nature of this interview, and the circumstances under which it took place, may be here stated. In 1842, Doctor Parkman had lent Professor Webster, on his promissory note, four hundred dollars, and in 1847 a further advance was made to Professor Webster by Doctor Parkman and some other parties, in acknowledgment of which there was a promissory note given Doctor Parkman for two thousand four hundred and thirty-two dollars, payable by yearly installments in four years; a balance due on a former note, to the amount of three hundred and thirty-two dollars, being included. Doctor Parkman had held two mortgages; one to secure the four hundred dollar note, which was given in 1842, and another which secured that note, and the other large note given in 1847. The mortgage which was given in 1847, The account given by Professor Webster to the Rev. Dr. Francis Parkmanwith whom he was on intimate terms, having formerly been a member of his congregation, and having very recently received from him pastoral offices,—of the last interview with his missing brother, was, that he called upon Doctor Parkman at half-past nine o'clock on the morning of Friday, November twenty-third, and arranged that the doctor should meet him at the college at half-past one; that Doctor Parkman came at that hour, having some papers in his hand, and received from Professor Webster four hundred and eighty-three dollars, and some odd cents, upon which Doctor Parkman took out one of the notes, and hurriedly dashing his pen across the signature, went away in great haste, leaving the note behind him, saying, as he left the room, that he would have the mortgage canceled. On the last interview between them in the presence of any witness, and which took place in the college on the previous Monday, Doctor Parkman indignantly complained to Professor Webster that the cabinet of minerals, which was mortgaged to him in security of the advances he made, had been afterwards fraudulently sold to his brother-in-law, Mr. Robert G. Shaw; and to another person he made some very severe remarks in relation to this transaction, substantially, if not in express terms, charging Professor Webster with dishonesty. At parting, Doctor Parkman is reported to have said with much energy, "something must be done to-morrow!" The following day, Professor Webster sent a note to Doctor Parkman, in response to which the doctor went out to Cambridge, on Thursday, to Professor Webster's house. Every clue discovered led the searchers back to the medical college in Boston, and there ended; no person being to be found who had spoken with Doctor Parkman after his interview with Professor Webster. Along with other buildings, the college was searched; first on Monday-slightly, and merely by way of excuse for searching other houses in the neighborhood, and again upon Tuesday, but with no serious suspicions and with no discovery, Professor Webster cheerfully accompanying the officers through his own apartments. In the meantime, another investigation had been going on in the hands of Littlefield, the janitor of the college, who had as early as Sunday evening begun to entertain suspicions, which all his subsequent assiduous watching increased, and which led to the discovery, upon Friday, in the laboratory, and in a vault connected with it, of certain human remains, believed to be those of Doctor Parkman, and to the apprehension and ultimately to the trial of Professor Webster on the the charge of murder. It was a case, in comparison with which, those of Hare, Avery, Robinson, Strang, Ward, Washburn, Thomas, and Rogers, appear but ordinary. The premises in the medical college used by Professor Webster, consisted of a lecture-room in front; an upper laboratory behind the lecture-room, furnished with a stove, water and a sink, and a small room adjoining, where chemical materials were kept. These were on the first floor. On the basement story there was a lower laboratory, reached by a staircase from the upper one; this contained an assay furnace, was provided with water and a sink, had a store-room adjoining, and a private closet, with an opening into a vault at the base of the building, into which vault the sea-water had access through the stones of the wall, which had been some years before slightly pushed out of their original position. Into this vault there was no opening except that in the private closet. After all the other parts of the college had been repeatedly searched without success, the janitor resolved to make an examination of this vault, which he effected by secretly breaking a hole through the brick and lime wall, at a point almost directly under the private closet, taking care to work only during Professor Webster's absence. On the afternoon of Friday, the thirtieth of November, exactly a week after Doctor Parkman's disappearance, the opening was made; and there were discovered, lying in the vault, parts of a male human body. These consisted of the pelvis or hip bones, the right thigh from the hip to the knee, and the left leg, from the knee to the ankle. In consequence of this disclosure, Professor Webster was immediately apprehended; and a more careful search was made in the laboratory on the next and the following days, which resulted in further discoveries. Buried among tan in a tea-chest, and covered with specimens of minerals, there were found a large hunting-knife; a thorax or chest, with both clavicles and scapulæ attached, and having a perforation in the region of the heart; and a left thigh, to which a piece of string was fastened. In the ashes of the furnace, also, were found grains of gold, a pearl shirt button, a human tooth, blocks of mineral teeth, and about fifty fragments of bone belonging to the skull, face, and other parts of the human body. There was also found in the laboratory a large double-edged sheath-knife-called also a Turkish knife-a small saw, a hammer, and some other articles. In arresting Professor Webster, three of the Boston police proceeded at night, under the direction of Mr. Clapp, in a coach, to his residence in Cambridge, on knocking at the door of which and inquiring for the professor, the account of what transpired is as follows: That he came forward to see what was wanted; we told him that we wanted him to go with us and assist at one more search of the medical college. He said something about its having been searched two or three times before, but was very willing to accompany us, and putting off his slippers, drew on his boots, and came out. Just as we started, he remarked that he had forgotten his keys, and would go back and get them; he was told that they had keys enough to unlock all the rooms in the college, and it would not be necessary for him to go back after them-he said it was very well, and got into the coach. The driver turned toward Boston, and on the way Professor Webster conversed on indifferent subjects. The conversation finally fell upon the disappearance of Doctor Parkman. Professor Webster remarked that a Mrs. Bent, of Cambridge, had seen Doctor Parkman at a very late hour on the Friday evening when he disappeared, and he said as she lived near the bridge, it might be well to call and see her; this was declined, with the reply that they could go some other time. On the party coming over the bridge, Professor Webster asked if anything further had been done in the search for the doctor; he was told that the doctor's hat had been found in the water at Charlestown, and that the river had been dragged above and below the bridge. As the coach went along, the driver passed beyond the street leading to the college, and directed his way up towards the jail. Professor Webster remarked that he was going in a wrong direction. To this, policeman Clapp made reply, that the coachman was a new hand and somewhat green, but he would doubtless discover and rectify his mistake. This reason satisfied him. The coachman still drove on, and shortly after arrived at the jail. Clapp got out of the coach and went into the jail, to see if there were any spectators there-found there were not, and then went back and said to those in the coach, "I wish, gentlemen, you would alight here for a few moments." The officers got out of the coach, and the professor followed. They passed into the outer office, and Clapp then said, "Gentlemen, I guess we had better walk into the inner office." Looking strangely at Clapp, Professor Webster said "What is the meaning of all this?" "Professor Webster," replied Mr. Clapp, "you will perhaps remember that in coming over Cambridge bridge, I told you that the river above and below it had been dragged; we have also been dragging in the college, and we have been looking for the body of Dr. Parkman. You are now in custody, on the charge of being his mur derer!" On hearing this announcement, he uttered two or three sentences which were not distinctly understood, but which were supposed at the time to refer to the nature of the crime with which he was charged; he finally spoke plainly, and said he would like his family to be told of his arrest. Mr. Clapp replied, that if his family were informed, as he requested, it would be a sad night to them, and advised him farther as he was beginning to talk—that he would better not say anything to anybody at that time. On afterwards carrying the prisoner to the college and laboratory, he was greatly agitated, and looked as though he did not know what was going on about him. He appeared to act precisely as some persons are known to when in delirium tremens; some one handed him water, but he could not drink, and snapped at the glass like a mad dog. Concerning this period, Professor Webster states, in his own words: When I found the carriage was stopping at the jail, I was sure of my fate. Before leaving the carriage I took a dose of strychnine from my pocket and swallowed it. I had prepared it in the shape of a pill before I left my laboratory on the twentythird. I thought I could not bear to survive detection. I thought it was a large dose. The state of my nervous system probably defeated its action partially.' After a long investigation of the case, the grand jury found an indictment against JW Webster the prisoner for the murder of Doctor Parkman, which came on for trial at Boston, before Chief Justice Shaw and three associate justices, Wilde, Metcalf, and Dewey, of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, upon the nineteenth of March, 1850. Some time before the judges took their places upon the bench, Professor Webster,-until now the intimate companion of senators, judges, divines, men of literature and scienceentered, and immediately took his seat in the felon's dock. His step was light and elastic, in crossing towards his place, and his countenance betrayed a marked degree of calm and dignified composure. On sitting down, he smiled, as he saluted several of his friends and acquaintances, to some of whom he familiarly nodded; and a stranger would have taken him for an ordinary spectator. He wore his spectacles, and sat with ease and dignity in the dock, occasionally shaking hands with friends. The countenance of Professor Webster indicated strong animal passions, and irascible temperament. ble temperament. The cheek-bones high, and the mouth, with compressed lips, betrayed great resolution and firmness of character. The forehead inclined to angular, rather low, and partially retreating. Standing below the middle height, and by no means a man of muscular strength, his general appearance made no very favorable impression. On the reading of the indictment, by the clerk, the prisoner stood up in the dock and listened with marked attention. Almost every eye was turned towards him at this time, but he exhibited the same self-possession and determined control as from the first, pleading 'Not Guilty,' in a strong and emphatic tone of voice. Ex-Governor Clifford was his senior counsel. The trial lasted during eleven days, there having been no fewer than one hundred and sixteen witnesses examinedforty-seven of them being called on behalf of the accused, including his professional friends and neighbors, Presidents Sparks and Walker, Professors Peirce, Bowen, Hosford, Palfrey, and Wyman. Scientific testimony was also given by Prof. O. W. Holmes, and others; and the court sat eight or nine hours each day. The testimony was of a most deeply interesting and exciting character. The various parts of the body found in the vault, furnace, and tea-chest, were, by the marvelous and beautiful science of anatomy, under the skillful hand of Prof. Jeffries Wyman, reintegrated, and found to constitute a body, positively recognized by some of Doctor Parkman's intimate associates as his. Doctor Keep identified the mineral teeth as the set made by him for the doctor. The general figure and appearance indicated by the remains, including a very peculiar hairiness of the back, corresponded perfectly with Doctor Parkman's; the |