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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    science of chemistry, and its practical application, for many- years. I was called to the Medical College after the discovery of the remains. I went there, on Saturday afternoon, Decem- ber 1st, with the late Dr. Martin Gay, and met Dr. Winslow Lewis, Jr., with whom we made an arrangement for con- ducting the examination. Dr. Gay and myself, undertook the chemical part. There were shown to us, parts of a hu- man body, and the contents of a small assay-furnace, about ten inches square. The parts of the body, were turned over to the other gentlemen. I am, myself, acquainted with anatomy, having had a med- ical education. I took some notice of the remains. I saw no indication of their having been used for anatomical purposes. 1 thought, also, that they indicated the possession of anatom- ical knowledge, on the part of the person who had dissected them. The manuer of opening the body, and the separation of the sternum, showed some skill on the part of the operator. This latter had been done by a clean cut. There was no hacking, also, about the thighs ; they had been disarticu- lated neatly. I have heard the report made upon the remains, by Drs. Lewis, and others, and coincide generally with their conclusions. I knew the late Dr. George Parkman, very well. He was frequently at my office. He was a tall, slender man, of some- what peculiar figure ; rather flat in the chest, and broad across the pelvis. At side-view, he seemed thin; but not so much so, in front. I saw nothing in the remains dissimilar, from, what I should suppose, was Dr. Parkman's formation. I should call them parts of a dry, muscular subject. [The written report of the witness's experimental exami- nation, made to the coroner's jury, was here put into the case, by consent, and read by Mr. Bemis, as follows:—] I, Charles T. Jackson, being duly sworn, depose as fol- lows : I am by profession, a physician and chemist. On the first day of December, 1849, I was requested by Mr. James H. Blake, to accompany Dr. Martin Gay, in making some chemical, and other examinations, at the Massachusetts Medi- cal College, in the city of Boston ; and, on four o'clock of the afternoon of that day, I went with Dr. Gay to the Medi- cal College, and there met Dr. Winslow Lewis, Jr., and others, with the coroner of the County of Suffolk, and the jury of inquest. We made a general examination, that afternoon, and adjourned till Sunday morning, when we resumed our ex- amination ; Dr. Jeffries Wyman being associated with us, and 7