The Parkman murder : trial of Prof. John W. Webster, for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, November 23, 1849 : before the Supreme Judicial Court, in the City of Boston with numerious accurate illustrations.

  • John White Webster
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Parkman murder : trial of Prof. John W. Webster, for the murder of Dr. George Parkman, November 23, 1849 : before the Supreme Judicial Court, in the City of Boston with numerious accurate illustrations. 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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    at 3 (I'lloc.K; I iijoUeil at my watth on my v-ay over tiie bridge, and at the clock oi' Dr. Lowell's Church; \A,heii I saw Dr. Paikinan I knew that I had time to get to my son's in seasfm to see him. Cioss examined. I first .?av> him across the street, as he was passing. SAMUEL D. DEAN called and sworn. I am feulPKman at Hovey & Co,'s, in Winter St.; I recollect having sold mnslin de luine on tlie 23J of November; it was the only ale of that kind ofailir-le for ca^-h • n thatdny; I cannot tell the h'lur from mv own k' owledge. Rir. Sol'ier here informed the Court that he thou;^ht the evidence for the defence was closed, but wi^hed the indula-nce of looking over their minutes. It being a few minutes past 7 o'clock the Court adjourned. TENTH DAY. Friday, March 29. The Attorney General gave notice to the de- fence that the ground of the government in re- lation to the mortgage, as taken in the opening ot the case, was that the sum ol $512 due to other persons yet remains unpaid. Witnesses were now called by the govern- ment. JOSEPH SANDEPi,SON called and sworn. I am a police officer of the city of Cambridge. 1 have known Dr Webster four years. On the week succeeding the disappeai ance of Dr Park- man, be'woen Sunday and Thanksgiving day, I sav^ Dr Webster. I saw him get out of the theatre coach in Harvard square, near the Col- leges. I should think it \«'as between 11 and 12 o'clock at night. No one of his family was with him. I >*as standing near when he passed, and I talked .n the direction he was walking, I don't recollect seeing him after he passed Grad- uate's Hall. I fol owed him perhaps fifteen rods. 1 am a watchman; I met Mr John Bryatit, another watchman, immediately after- wards I niride an observation to him about the person's bfii.g Dr Webster. I am positivs about its being between Sunday and Thanksgiv- ing day, from the fact that I called it to mind on the Saiurday following, after the arrest of Dr Webster. I am confident it was after 11 o'- clock, from the direction I took aftfr he went home. I took a course I never take till 11, un- less I have something to c;tll me specially. I cannot tell on what night it was. Cross examined. I mentioned this on Satur- day to Mr Bryant. I say 1 <ixed the hour in my mind from th particu'ar course 1 took. I cannot say that it was not on Wednesday night. I do not know that any other persons went the same way he did I did not see any ladies get out of the coach. I am sure tha it was not on Thanksgiviiig nis-ht, for on that night it was clear. On the night in question it was hazy. I do not know that it was not on Tuesday; it was not on S/iturday. It must have been on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I walked behind this person till within a short distance of Dr Webster's house, but did not see him all the got out of the cuat-h. The moon was net shin- ing at the time. I turned round immediately after he passed nie, a li'followed. I did not speak to any one until I spoke to ftlr Bryant.—■ Next to Graduates Hah is a vacai.t lot, then beyond is Church street. The omnibus runs every night wlien tlip theatres are open. DR DAN lEL H A Pv.VVOOD called and sworn. I am a dentist in this city, a.nd have practised as such since 1829, with the exception ot a few years. I am a memb r of the MastsiichuseUs Medical Society. 1 have always been very busi- ly occupied in my jiracrice. I was one of the first who engaged in the raa^ufactare of mineral teeth. In sucti tfeth ihere are marks or char- acteristics by which demists may kiiow their cwn; they would be as likely to know their la- bor as fully as a sculptor would know his own works, or a merchant his own handwriting. I mean this in a gene ai sense, of large cases or blocks of teeth. In tingle teeth there might be exceptions, but in blocks he Would not be likely to be mistaken. I could not positively say I could tell Dr. Keep's work, but should think I might; hie teeth are not so marked as that of saB>e others. When I see patients with the teeth of several dentists, I can tell generally the work of the difterent dentists. [The teeth in Cour!; were now submitted to the wi ness.] These teeth are covered with foreign substan- ces; I judge from iippea-ance that Dr. Iveep's teeth are almost eutirtly destitute of pipe clay. The principle ingreiients in mineral leeth are quartz and fi-ld spar; the coroposition of his teeth as well as those of Dr. Flagg of this city and Dr. Kelly of Newburyport a.'-e much alike; I am pretty coufidei.t these are testh of the composition of Dr Keep; the style of making is his; I know the style by seeing it at his place and in the mouths of his patients; his style of making teeth—I do not say his alone—is that the teeth are not separated down to the point which represents the gum. The characieribtica of the modelling of the teeth are the peculia>'ity upon the left side, and the absorption of bone at one point. [Objections were here raised against allowing the examination on this point to go on. The Court ruled that it was not competent to go iato the general question of the construction and identity of teeth, but to some extent the cxami- tion might proceed, as an expert ] Under the circumstances in which these teeth were made, had they been my own I thi:.k I should have no difficulty in identifyitig ti em. [The witness here stated to the Court that while turning the teeth over m his hand, one portion had broken off from another.] I think there can be no difficulty in identilying ihe teeth. Cross examinetl. Taking the block alone, without the modtl, I should think there weuli-l be noVlifficulty in identifying them; they could be identified by the workmanship and the ex- traordinary degree of absorption. The manner of Dr. Keep in sawing down teeth is peculiar;