Report of the trial of Prof. John W. Webster : indicted for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, before the Supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, holden at Boston, on Tuesday, March 19, 1850 / Phonographic report, by Dr. James W. Stone.

Webster, John White, 1793-1850, defendant.

Date:: 1850

Credit: Report of the trial of Prof. John W. Webster : indicted for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, before the Supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, holden at Boston, on Tuesday, March 19, 1850 / Phonographic report, by Dr. James W. Stone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$church, I went to walk with him. He came to Boston that afternoon. I saw him that evening, between nine and ten, in hisstudy. At about dark, I heard his voice in the entry, but did not see him. He came into the parlor about ten o’clock, from his study. .I heard from my mother, that he brought out a bundle Friday. [Objected to.] Dr. Winstow Lewis, recalled. —I have been acquainted with Prof. Webster about thirty years. I know many of his acquaintances. He is considered by others, in general, as a man of humanity and kindly feelings. Iwas his pupil when he was a physician in the alms-house. In regard to the time when he was Professor at Mason- street College, I could never get into his room without knocking at the door. He was Professor there at the same time I was Demon- stator. . I have noticed the cut in the thorax of the remains, carefully. The cut was anything but a clean cut. If it had been aclean one, it would not have shown that it was made before death. I could not tell whether a broken calcined bone was broken before or after it was calcined. We finished our examination on Sunday. I think Dr. Strong was there afterwards. We agreed upon the substance of our report on Saturday. There was a bloodless appearance about the pelvis, as though it had been soaked. I attributed this appearance to having laid in water. Cross-ecamination. I have not examined osteology as closely as Dr. Wyman, and rather prefer Dr. Wyman’s opinion to my own, on that subject. There is less likelihood of a clean cut after death than before. Direct examination. It could easily be done in the thorax, after death, for the flesh there is tense. Gerorce H. Gay, recalled. —I was one of the Committee to exam- ine the remains at the Medical College. We finished on Sunday. I think I saw Dr. Strong there on Monday. My impression, at the time I looked at the cut, was, that it was done with a cane. Some of the remains were bloodless. I am speaking of the parts that were found in the privy. They seemed to have been soaked in some liquid. » Otiver W. Homes, recalled. —'There are two principal author- ities on the subject of the quantity of blood in the human body ; one of Haller, and the other of Valentine. Haller says one fifth of the body, or about twenty-seven or twenty- eight pounds, is the average quantity. Valentine states it to be between one fourth and one fifth of the weight of the body in an adult male, or thirty-four and a half pounds on the average — arrived at by a most exact mathematical estimate. Thirty-four pounds would be about seventeen quarts. The fracture of the bone after calcination depends upon the degree of calcination. Bones may be calcined so as to easily crumble ; but calcined partially, they will split, break outward, or inward, and di- rect across, and in almost any direction. In the experiments I have made, I find such to be the case. Cross-examination. I would not defer my opinion to that of Dr. ea It is an opinion of a simple physical fact, within any one’s reach. . | itt |$