Report of the case of John W. Webster, indicted for the murder of George Parkman, before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts : including the hearing on the petition for a writ of error, the prisoner's confessional statements and application for a commutation of sentence, and an appendix containing several interesting matters never before published / by George Bemis.

  • Webster, John White, 1793-1850.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the case of John W. Webster, indicted for the murder of George Parkman, before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts : including the hearing on the petition for a writ of error, the prisoner's confessional statements and application for a commutation of sentence, and an appendix containing several interesting matters never before published / by George Bemis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Thursday afternoon, March 21st. The Court resumed its session at three and a half o'clock. Lester Noble.— Direct, resumed. — It was in the early part of my studies, that I worked on Dr. Parkman's teeth. The first operation towards a set of teeth, is to take the impression in wax. 1 made the metallic moulds, myself. As there were quite a number of sets of teeth, in process of manufacture at the time, I cannot tell precisely how much time I spent upon this set, in particular; but it must have amounted to a number of days, altogether. I have made the experiment of putting mineral teeth into the fire without muffling, and then heating them suddenly, and never knew them fail to crack. I coincide with Dr. Keep, in his state- ment of the greater danger of those cracking, which have been in wear, and imbibed moisture. This set of Dr. Parkman's had to be annealed again, after being once fitted to his mouth. Some accident happened to them, —I should think, about a year, after they were first fitted in. The lower set got bent together, and it became necessary to bind them down, and anneal them to the plate. The mark of the blow-pipe is still visible, on the blocks. [Shows it.] Cross-examination waived. Jeffries Wyman, sworn, — examined by Mr. Bemis. I am a Professor of Anatomy in Harvard College ; have been a teacher of anatomy for the last eight years. I was called, in company with other medical or scientific gentlemen, to examine the remains found at the Medical Col- lege, in November last. I first went there, Sunday. Decem- ber 2d. Some of the gentlemen had been there before, I be- lieve. The duty of making the examination was divided. I had given into my charge, the fragments of bones found in the furnace, of which I have made a catalogue, and detailed description. The box before me, contains the fragments of bones found at the College, so far as I can judge from a gen- eral view of them. [The box produced by the City Marshal, and placed on a table before the witnesses' stand, was here referred to by the witness.] My attention was not especially called to the fleshy por- tions ; though I saw them, when I entered the room at the College, in the process of being examined by Dr. Lewis and his associates. I have drawn a diagram, exhibiting the posi- tion, in the skeleton, of the bones found, and showing, (in some degree,) what would be necessary to complete the body;