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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    chisel. I worked an hour, or an hour and a half, but found that I could not make much progress, with the tools I had. I got out two courses of brick, and then gave up the job for the night. Nothing further occurred, on that day. I was out that night, until four o'clock the next morning, at a ball, at Cochituate Hall, given by a Division of the Sons of Temper- ance. There were twenty dances, and I danced eighteen out of the twenty. On Friday, I got up, a little before nine o'clock. My wife had called me, a little before eight, and wanted me to finish digging through the walls. I did not, however, get up, when she called me. While we were at breakfast, Dr. Webster came into the kitchen. He came in, and took up a newspa- per, and asked, Is there any more news?—do you hear anything further of Dr. Parkman ? He said, that he had just come from Dr. Henchman's apothecary-shop ; that Dr. Henchman had said, that a woman had seen a large bundle put into a cab, that she had taken the number of the cab, and that they had found the cab all covered over with blood. I said, There are so many flying reports about Dr. Parkman, that we do not know what to believe. Dr. Webster then went up stairs. Some time in the forenoon, towards noon, I was up under the anatomical lecture-room, helping some men carry some plaster-busts, from Dr. Warren's museum, into Dr. Holmes's lecture-room, when I had some conversation with Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, about digging through the wall. [Mr. Bemis here stated, that he proposed to ask the witness, If he had sought, or had received any directions from the Professors having charge of the College, in regard to digging through the wall, before so doing ? Objected to, by coun- sel for the defence ; but ruled admissible, by the Court.] I asked Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, if he knew, that there was a suspicion about Dr. Webster. As near as I can recollect, he said, that he did. I told him, that I had commenced digging through the wall; and I understood him to say, Go ahead with it. I told him all about Dr. Webster's keeping his doors shut from me. In a few minutes, I went into the de- monstrator's room, and there found Dr. J. B. S Jackson, alone, at work. He is a Professor, also. I told Dr. Jackson, that I was digging through the wall; and he said, Mr. Littlefield, I feel dreadfully about this; and do you go through that wall, before you sleep, to-night. He did not give me any direc- tions about secresy. He asked me, If I found anything, what I intended to do ? I told him, that I should go to Dr.