The trial of Prof. John W. Webster, indicted for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, at the Medical college (North Grove street) on the 23d of November, 1849 : Supreme judicial court, before Chief Justice Shaw, and Associate Justices Wilde, Dewey, and Metcalf. Counsel for the government, Attorney General J.H. Clifford, and George Bemis, esq. Counsel for the defence, Hon. Pliny Merrick, and E.D. Sohier, esq. / Reported for Boston journal.
- Webster, John White, 1793-1850
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The trial of Prof. John W. Webster, indicted for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, at the Medical college (North Grove street) on the 23d of November, 1849 : Supreme judicial court, before Chief Justice Shaw, and Associate Justices Wilde, Dewey, and Metcalf. Counsel for the government, Attorney General J.H. Clifford, and George Bemis, esq. Counsel for the defence, Hon. Pliny Merrick, and E.D. Sohier, esq. / Reported for Boston journal. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![lege, in the laboratory. The colJecfe was removed about tlie year 1846. The knife was shown ine at tlie Medical Collejie ill Grove street. We found indicatioii.s of whitins and oil upon it—the oil was still fresh. I do not know whether it was Monday or Tuc.^iday. I scraped oiF tlie whitin.^ and carried the knife home, but did not rej^ard it as oi' any importance. I did not notice the handle par- ticularly. Dr. rarkman was nearly my height—think that he was a little taller if he stood s<raiji;ht. My height was 5 feet 11 indies the last time 1 was measured. If flesh had been consumed iu tlie furnace the draft is .suliicient to carry oil'all odor. The draft is very great, and the cover is tijrht enough for al) purposes. I think that there is still some gold among the cinders. We only used the middling sized cinders. There was about half a peck of ashes and a quart of cinders. Cross Examined.—Any other salt of copper would have the taste of copper. Should not have su])posed that the remains were those of Dr. Parkman, if I had not known }ie was dead. The flesh did not appear as if it had lieen boiled—the hair was curled as if it had been subjected to the action of fire. The body did not appear to be de- comjiosed, except where the potash had acted. The pot- ash had not acted all over the body. The left side was aifected by potash. I did not e.xaminethe interior of the thorax to ascertain if potash had been applied. 1 did not find any potash ex- cept upon one side and both ends of the thorax and the back. The head of the thigh bone was smoked, and the skin was softened Jrom the effidct of potash and heat. The time of dissolving flesh in nitric acid de[)ends entire- ly upon the division of the part*; if cut up, a lew hours would suffice; if the bones were taken out, I should think that they could all be dissolved in half a day. The liquid would be thick and yellow after the dissolution was ef- fected. The specific weight of nitric acid is 1 4 10. I saw a wash boiler at the laboratory; there was nothing in it when we saw it. The green fluid may have been upon the walls for sev- eral days before we saw it—say two weeks. The whiting was upon the blade near the handle of the knife. Upon examination of the slag of the furnace I know that an- thracite coal was used. The potash did not appear to have been on the thorax for any great length of time; a few minutes of the action of potash and fire would soften the flesh as we found it. There was \ery little effluvia from the body. An alkaline smell attracted our atten- tion and cau.sed us to look for potash. Direct resumed.—Nitrate of copper upon Norway Pine produced the same brown stains that we found upon the stairway. [Witness exhibited a piece of pine and pieces of the staircase to the jury.] It was perfectly obvious from jiieces of charcoal that wood had been burned in the furnace. , KicHARD Crossly, called and sworn.—I am an assistant of Dr. Jackson in his laboratory; have attended tochem istry for thirteen years. Have experimented on blood- vessels at request of Dr. Martin Gay, to ascertain if they had been injected with arsenic acid or chloride of zinc. I did not discover the presence of arsenic or zinc. On Mon- day last, at request of Dr. Jackson, I made still more thorough experiments. I examined the green iluid, and agree with Dr. Jackson that it was nitrate of copper. Dr. N. C. Keep, called and swoin. 1 am a surgeon dentist; have practised nearly thirty years. I aui a neighbor of Dr. Lewis. I have attended to artifi- cial or mineral teeth as well as to natural teeth.— J have known Dr. Parkman ever since the year 1822. While I was a student of Dr. Randall, Dr. Park- man was there, and I formed an acquaintance with him. I knew him in an official capacity ; in 1825 he employed me as his family dentist; and since that time, so far as I know, he continually employed me. Dr. Lewis showed me a block of mineral teeth, on the Monday after Thanks- giving. He called on me between one and two o'clock. I recognised the block as a piece 1 had made for Dr. Parkman in 1846. [Witness identified the block which was produced to him by Mr. Bemis ] These are the same blocks I received from Dr. Lewis.— Dr. Parkman's mouth was a very peculiar mouth in ma- ny respects—a diflerence in the relations between t he up- per and lower jaws, marked it so particularly that the impression left on my mind was very di.stinct. I remem- ber the peculiarities of the lower jaw with great exact- ness. The circumstances connected with the orde ring ot the teeth were somewhat peculiar. [Mr Sohier, junior counsel for the defence, objected to witness going into tlie circumstances, but the Court over- ru'pd tVie objection.] The first question asked by Dr. Parkman, was—how long will it take to make these teeth? Upon telling how long, I asked him why he was so piarticular ? He said the Medical College was going to be opened on a certain day, and he was exjiected to speak, and if he had histeetli Jie wanted them at tjiat time—and if he could not have them at the 0])ening, he did not wish to order them at all. That ti me was rather short. The peculiarities of his mouth made it a ditlicult case, requiring as much skill as could be used. I began the case as soon as possible, and gave my atten- tion to it almost constantly. Saw Dr. Parkman frequent- ly while it was in progress. In consequence of these cir- cumstances, shortness of time, the difiiculty of mouth, I remember with more distinctness all connected with the teeth. I proceeded in my uf-ual mode to take impressions. The first step was to take a/ac simile of each jaw, each by itself. The impression is mude by soft wax placed in a case and applied to the mouth, and held there until it hardens. When the impression is taken out it is oiled, and liquid plaster poured into it. After remaining a few minutes the plaster hardens, and gives an exact cojiy of the jaw, if no error is committed. 'The impression of the upper jaw is taken in the same manner. [Witness produced the plaster cast of the lower jaw of Dr. I'arkman.] This is the cast of the lower jaw of Dr. Parkman. Tlie natural teeth were cut off—there were four natural teeth and three stumps. 'J'he next step after taking the iilaster cast is to place it in a box, and cooling sand is thrown over it, and piessed dovpii tofoi-m aniould. The plaster is removed and melted metal is poured into it —zinc or bra,ss, I am not certain which. Then a fac sim- ile iu metal is obtained of the plaster cast. Then a soft metal is cast to give a male and female die and puncli.— Then a plate of metal is placed between the dies struck down, and it assumes the shape of tlui gums, accommo- dating itself to all their irregularities. lieVeis the metidlio plate first struck, and applied to the mouth of Dr. Park- man to see if the work was properly done. The upper jaw was done in the sa'ine way. The copper plate I fitted to the mouth of Dr. Parkman. The reason of making a trial plate is to determine the exact size of the gold plate, which is ultimately to be applied to the mouth. The upiier gum of Dr. Parkman had no natural teeth. The lower plate shows wiiicli were roots and which were teeth; the I'oots were covered ; the teeth pertbraved the plate. Having got thus far, I made the gold plate, wliich was tried in tlie mouth of the doctor. The next step was to ascertain the relations between the upper and lower jaw. The lower plate w-as fitted to the lower jaw with wax upon it, somewhat softened ;—so with the up- per plate. I then requested the doctor to close his mouth until I supposed it was in a right position.— The plates were then removed and the necessary steps taken by which the relations of the two jaws we're established, and the right length of the artificial teeth de- termined. The receding of the upper and the protuber- ance of the lower jaw, very strongly marked the mouth of Di'^ Parkman. Other individuals exhibit the same pecu- liarities, but those of Dr. Parkman were very distinct. The teeth were made in block, out of a mass of soft mate- rial cut into shape, holes made for the springs, and then baked or vitrified. There was great irregularities of the leftside of the lower jaw of the mouth of Dr. Paikman. The teeth, made whole at first, are usually cut iuto.three pieces before baking, and each piece is called a block. The upper teeth ot Dr. Parkman were in three blocks- The lower teeth of the Doctor were not whole, in conse- quence of the natural teeth which remained. On the left side of the lower jaw the block was peculiarly formed— tnen there was a block on the right side—both being blocks of back teeth. The front teeth of the lower plate were completed, and all three blocks were fastened to one gold plale, and could be removed singly or together. The up- per teeth were fastened to one gold plate. There were spiral springs attached to the set of teetli, to facilitate their use. The teeth were fastened vvith pins of platina, instead of gold pins. There is nothing pecu- liar about the fastening. I only mention it as a fact which I remember. Just belore the teeth were complet- ed an accident happened, the repairing of which caused us to work nearly all night, the night before the college was opened. The teeth were completed, and there were thirty minutes to spare before the college was opened.— Mr. Noble, my assistant, and myself were at work with the utmost assiduity to complete the job. [At 12 M a recess was granted by the Court, at the re- quest of the Attorney General, a tire having occurred at the Tremont House, and that oflicer wishing to go and secure his papers. Dr. Webster was busily engaged iu conversation with various friends during the recess, and appeared by no means depressed with the evidence, as it accumulates against him. Dr. N. C. Keep's examination resumed. When the teeth were completed and put into Dr. Parkman's mouth, he had thirty minutes to spare to reach the Medical Col- lege. When I next saw the doctor, he remarked that he felt as if he had not room enough for his tongue. To ob- viate this difficulty, I ground the blocks of the lower jaw on the inside to increase the room for the play of the tongue. The grinding was done with difficulty, as the teeth were upon the plate, and a small stone had to be used. The grinding removed the color and the enamel from the inside of the teeth, and defaced them. The shape left after grinding was very peculiar, on account of the size of the wheel with which it was done. 1 saw frequently Dr. Parkman as slight changes were needed. The last time 1 saw him in regard to his teeth was about two weeks previous to his disappearance. He then called late in the evening, having broken the spring. It was about 10 o'clock at ni^ht. Mot being well, I had](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21083629_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
