Trial of Professor John W. Webster : for the murder of Dr. George Parkman in the Medical college, November 23, 1849. Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk, March term. Present Chief Justice Shaw, Associate Judges Wilde, Metcalf and Dewey. Counsel for the Commonwealth - Hon. John H. Clifford, George Bemis. Counsel for the Defence - Hon. Pliny Merrick, E. D. Sohier / Stenographic report, carefully revised and corrected.
- Webster, John White, 1793-1850
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Trial of Professor John W. Webster : for the murder of Dr. George Parkman in the Medical college, November 23, 1849. Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk, March term. Present Chief Justice Shaw, Associate Judges Wilde, Metcalf and Dewey. Counsel for the Commonwealth - Hon. John H. Clifford, George Bemis. Counsel for the Defence - Hon. Pliny Merrick, E. D. Sohier / Stenographic report, carefully revised and corrected. 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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![23 quid; a thick yellow liquid; flesh would dis- solve in nitric acid quicker than bones; the bot- tles seea by me Lii the laboratory v/ere nei-rly full at the lirrie; was there on r?aturday and Sunday; the splashes of nitrate of copper on the walls could not have been made a great while; when I first saw them the color would have been diilerenl if they were there loBger, lor their color has changed much since that tiiDie. To the Court. A few minutes of the joint action of potash and fire would be all the time rerptisite to soften the flesh of the thorax and thigh, to the degree that it was softened when first found. I took a piece of the Norway pine on which were the spots supposed to be blocd, from the stair case, (which 1 now produce) and subjected them to the action of nitrate of cop- per,but did not ascertain by that process wheth- er the spo's were caused by blood or not. Richard Croslev, called,— I am assistant to Dr. C. T. Jackson; am a practical chemist by profession. I analysed the arteries and veins and tlieir c-intents, taken from the remains found at the Medical College, to discover if there was any arsenic acid, or chloride of zinc in them, and the result showed (lie negative. I analysed the drops of nitrate of copper, and the result corroborated that obtained by Dr. Jackson. Da. Nathan C. Keep, (Dentist,) called — I am a dentist, and was acquainted with Dr. George Parkman ; attended him on an (ccasion wlien he was sick in 1825, and have known hirn ever since ; there was shown me some time since a block of mineral teeth ; it v.'as on the Monday after Thanksgiving day that the teeth were shown tome ; I recognised them to be the .teeth made by me tor Dr Parkman in 1846 ; there was a great peculiarity in Dr. Parkmau's jaw, and the peculiar structure of it left an im- pression on my mind ; when I made the teeth for Dr. Parkman he was in a great hurry for them ; he said that he was going to speak at the (speningof the Medical College in North Grove street, and that there was hut two days intervening before the day on which the college ■would be opened ; he ordered that the utmost skill that could be employed should be exercis- ed in the construction of the teeth ; lie said if he could not have the teeth then he did not MINERAL TEETH IDENTIFIED BY DR. KEEP. want them at all. I went to work in the usual manner to take an impression of each jaw—this was done by putting soft wax into the mouth and pressing with a piece of metal upon it until It becomes chilled—this i^ then taken out, and a liquid plaster is carefully poured into tlie mould thus made and ih'' iorm correNpcrnds ex- actly with the jaw on \' hieh the mould is made (here the plaster cast of Dr. Parkiiian'V jaw was exhibited and explained t.y Dr. Keep th re were apparent fac similes of 4 nKtural anii 3 stumps of teeth) with the cast tlma ol'tained an im- pression or mould, is raa<le in a pn paraiiun et foundry sand, and a cast coiresiMMiiling with the original plaster cast, is made in zii'.c or I'rass, by various other processes the teeih ate lurnied find ihe gold insertion pate affixed to them. There is a great reseniblance betw.en the piece of jaw found in ihefurn.ice of the lab ratorj and the mould taken by me of Dr. Paiknims jaw in 1846 I had to vvoik a^i ihe niohi before the Medicil College was opened in ordi r to ge: the teeth finished. I got tl em dune just ihirty min-^ ut 6 before the ceremonies of opening the Medi- cal Co lege commenced. [Here i^he city bells rung for fire, and it being announced that the Tremont House was on fire, the Court granted an iniennission, to allow the Attorney General, who boarded nttlie Tremont, to save his papers, which were di-posited there.] At 20 minutes past 12 o'clock ihe court en- tered, thi^ jnry were re-sunnnoned, and tlie pro- ceedings rtsunied. Examinah<m of Y)tx. Kefp continuid.—I had just time to finish the blocks of teeth beioie the ceremonies. I ground o(l die lower edge olthem near the gum in order to make the jaw.s fit bet- ter. This operation destroyed the pink color, made to imitate the gum,and somevvh.ii marred the beauty of the work At ten o'ch ck on the same night of the o])ening of the medical col- lege, in 1S46, after 1 had retired, sonie one came to the door and rang. I v;as told by the servant that it was Dr. Parkman; he came in, and said tiiat the spring of the teeilr had brok- en, and he wanted it rt paired. I worked on the block about half an Dour; the Dr. left the house and went home. I never had any professional intercourse with him alter tiiat time; I was in New York at the time ol Dr Paikman's disappearance and received a letter stating that his aitificial teeth had been found in the furnace of Professor Web- ster's laboratory; I soon afterwards retuined to Boston and the teeth were bi ought to me, and I at once recognised thcrn as the teeth \\iiich I had made for Dr Parkman and wiih which I had taken so much pains. [Here the voice of Dr. Keep was frequently inierrujjted by sobs and he was finally obliged to wait for some time until his emotions would allow him to proceed.] I was satisfied that the rit;hi upper teeth which were put into my hands by Dr. Lewis were Dr. Parkman's; there could be no mistake about them; Dr. Noble assisted me in their manu- facture; the other parts of the artificial fbeth were sonifiwhat damaged by the action of fire.— [At this point the Attorney General requested Dr. Keep to stand immediatelv before the jury and explain to them the pointe oi tesijinblance between the mould and the blocks of teeth louiid in the laboratory furnace; the bench also exam- ined the blocks of teeth and the mould with mi-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21083642_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
