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
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

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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    before. Littlefield had before said he could get in, but did not. Mr. Clapp did all the talking to Dr. Webster, and made the excuse for calling on him, that they were about to search the whole neigh» borhood, and wished to have it to say that they had searched the Med- ical College. ‘Told Dr. Webster that they had no suspicions — had to go where they were sent— had come to search his apartments, with the rest. Dr. Webster very politely said we could look, but wished that nothing might be turned over. We walked through the lecture- room into the back room. [The witness here explained the rooms — that the lecture-room was in front, the upper laboratory immediately in the rear of it, and: still in the rear of that.a very narrow private room, or closet, where drugs and chemicals were kept.]| Mr. Clapp made a motion to go into that small private room. Dr. Webster said, “That is the room in which I keep my valuable and dangerous arti- cles.” Mr. Clapp put his head as far as even with the door, and drew back, saying, “I will not go in to get blowed up.” We then went down into the lower laboratory. In the upper labo- ratory, | put my foot in the stove, to draw the ashes forward. I did it at the suggestion of Mr. Leonard Fuller, the iron-founder, who re- marked to me such things as buttons were sometimes found in the ashes, when clothes had been burnt. Found nothing in the ashes like buttons. In the lower laboratory we found a bright fire burning in the furnace, with no ashes. It looked as if they had been just swept up. That was the furnace in which the bones were afterwards found. Dr. Webster was talking with Mr. Clapp, and I went out to the south- west corner of the room, where there was considerable rubbish. Saw a tea-chest, with tan and minerals in it. It was filled up full. The officers took up some of the minerals, and looked at them ; recollect distinctly seeing the tea-chest with tan in it. A question was asked about the privy. An officer —lI think it was Mr. Clapp — pointed to the door, and asked what it was. Littlefield answered that it was Dr. Webster’s privy, and he had the key. He, or some one else, called our attention to the other side of the room. On the way down stairs, water seemed to have been spilled. I no- ticed-that it had n’t dried any, but seemed as wet as it did the day before. All went out into the dissecting-room entry, but Dr. Web- ster. He remained. I don’t know whether he locked the door after us. This was on Tuesday, and steady search was kept up till Fri- day. [The counsel for the prisoner objected to the question, why the tea-chest was not searched; but the question was allowed by the Court. | There was no suspicion, as Mr. Clapp said, against any one con- nected with the Medical College, at the time these examinations were made ; and that might be the reason. I had no official order to carry out the search, which was left to Mr. Clapp. Search took place on Wednesday and Thursday, but not so extensively as on the former days. Iwas aware that rewards were offered. I think the $1,000 reward was offered on Monday, and the $3,000 on Wednesday. The placards were posted and distributed around the city and suburbs, where I saw them myself. I went to the College again, in company with others, on Friday afternoon, at about half past three or four. Starkweather and I rang the bell at the door, when Littlefield came to us in overalls. He had been borrowing tools previously, for the pur-