The twelve days' trial of Dr. John W. Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman : comprising the addresses of the counsel engaged, the examination of the 121 witnesses, the prisoner's singular defence, and the chief justice's charge to the jury, and his sentence on the prisoner.
- John White Webster
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The twelve days' trial of Dr. John W. Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman : comprising the addresses of the counsel engaged, the examination of the 121 witnesses, the prisoner's singular defence, and the chief justice's charge to the jury, and his sentence on the prisoner. 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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![round to the other door and broke it open. They then wished the door of the back private room opened, and Dr. Webster made the same answer as before as to the key ; it was broken open. The key of the privy was then wanted, and Dr. Webster said, there is the key up there. The key given to us would not open that door, and Doctor Webster said, on looking at it, that is the key of my wardrobe, but the right one was up there somewhere. But w^e could not find it, and the door was broken oper.. Before we broke open the door of the little room I looked for a hatchet, which usually hung up with a ring, by the stove. I asked the Doctor for it, he said it wfis down in the sink, in the laboratory, where we found it. It was a shingle hatchet. We found another in a drawer, in the private room, done up in a paper. As the officer was undoing it, the Doctor said, that is a new hatchet, never used. When we got down into the laboratory the Doctor asktd for water, which I brought to him. In raising it, he snapped at it, but was unable to drink, until assisted by one of the officers. Some one asked me where the furnace was where the bones were found. We w^ent to it, and took off both covers. I took out a piece of bone as long as my finger— part of a socket. Mr. Pratt was there and directed us not to distuib them. We then went under the privy and brought up the remains on a board, which were placed in the front cellar. Dr. Webster was brought in. S. D. Parker, Esq., asked Dr. Gay if they were the remains of a human body. Dr. Webster was agitated, and his face was covered with tears and perspiration. The officers remained in the college that night—Adams, Fuller, Rice, and Trenholm. [The witness here identified Dr. Webster's slippers, which he said had been in the building for two years.] I never had seen the fine saw [produced] until the Saturday after the arrest. [The jack-knife found in the tea-chest with the thorax was shown to the witness.] Dr. Webster showed the knife to me the Monday after the dis- appearance of Dr. Parkman. He said, see what a fine knife I have got; I got it tc cut corks with. I told him I thought it just the thing, and returned it to him. Tht Doctor's usual working dress was a pair of blue cotton overalls, and an old coat. 1 ha^e never seen these since the arrest; but he had them on Monday or Tuesday before. I can't say whether they were new last Autumn. The Doctor had keys tc his own doors, and of the dissecting-room ; but none others that I know of. Abuncl of skeleton keys was foimd in the drawers of his back private room, on the Saturday o the arrest. A diaper roller, and a crash rowell were found in the vault. Tlie lattei was marked W. I saw the roller towell on the Friday when I was unable to ge! blood at the Hospital for him. I wiped my hands upon it, after having washed somt glasses for the Doctor. I have never known parts of a human subject in the Doctor's apartment, unless when he asked for a small part of a muscle, or a joint, for his experiments. [The roller towell (with others) was here exhibited, and identified by the witnes! as that found in the vault. He said that it w^as found eaten through when taken out He had never seen it from the day he wiped his hands upon it, until the day it was taken from the vault.] FIFTH DAY. Mr. LiTTLEFiELD, cross-examwed.—Monday, 19th of November, I had an inter' view with Dr. Webster. It was not dark. I saw Dr. Parkman come it;to the uppei laboratory. When he came in I was standing by the stove; Dr. Webster was read- ing. He accused Dr. Webster of selling something that was mortgaged to him. As he stood in the door he raised his hand and said, Dr. Webster, something must b( done to-morrow!'' I went away in half an hour. Friday morning, Nov. 23rd, I took the broom to sweep the floor. I cannot tel. where I took it fiom; but I put it behind the door, where I saw the sledge, whicl:](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21083630_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
