pain. The next morning she gave ments made by the prisoner he was respited during Her Majesty's pleasure, for the purpose of instituting further inquiry. The result was, that circumstances appeared which seemed to corroborate the assertions of Chadwick, and his wife, and her mother, Ann Tunnicliffe, were apprehended and committed to take their trial. At the Assizes, however, the Grand Jury threw out the indictment; and the prisoner, having thus attempted to save his own life by incriminating innocent persons, justly forfeited his life on the scaffold. MURDER OF DR. PARKMAN. she said she had put arsenic in his coffee and biscuits. After that time, however, coffee and biscuits were still given to the deceased. His wife subsequently told him to get sugar of lead, as it would do the old man good if given him to drink. He bought sixpenny-worth, and gave it to his wife. She continually gave it to the old man. After the old man's death he saw his wife burning papers; and he BOSTON, UNITED STATES. emptied and threw away a bottle in the garden, according to her directions. His wife, on hearing that an inquest was to be held, left him, and afterwards told him to go to Ireland, and say nothing about it. She told him to disguise himself. He went as far as Manchester, but then returned to his wife. She still persuaded him to go. Neither she nor her father would let him into his house. He went to the inquest, but was not called. When taken into custody he did not like for a long time to charge his wife, as she was so near her confinement. In statements made to policemen, too, he confessed buying the arsenic, and charged his wife as the guiltier party. The murder of Dr. Parkman, by Dr. Webster, a Professor of the University, a man enjoying the highest repute, is recorded in the CHRONICLE of the ANNUAL REGISTER for 1849, p. 180. Such a crime naturally caused the very highest interest among the Americans, and the proceedings of the criminal courts were watched with intense anxiety. The trial was made to extend over twelve days, although the evidence was so conclusive that an English court would have got through it in one. In addition to the facts stated in the previous account, and which were proved by evidence, other important points were established. A dentist proved that Dr. Parkman's mouth was so deformed that in preparing the cast for his artificial teeth his attention was forcibly engaged. He produced his own model, and the teeth found in Dr. Webster's laboratory furnace, and they were perfectly fitted to each other, to the smallest and most unusual points of peculiarity, The securities for Dr. Webster's debt to Dr. Parkman were found in the possession of the accused, and he was wholly unable to show how he could have redeemed them. Letters and messages were proved to have been dispatched by him which were ingeniously contrived to put the missing man's relations off the real scent in their hunt for him after he was first missed. The jury deliberated only ten minutes, and gave a verdict of "Guilty." Sentence of death was immediately passed. Up to that time the prisoner had maintained a marvellous coolness and intellectual self-possession; at that juncture he broke down, and exhibited a piteous prostration. For some inexplicable reasons no less than five months were allowed to elapse between the conviction and execution of the criminal. This long period was passed in acts of devotion, and professions of repentance for his past sins; but repeated denials of the murder. The lapse of time deluded the murderer into the belief that he would be spared. As this hope passed away, he made a confession, by which he sought to lessen the degree of criminality. It was of enormous length. The point of it was briefly that the homicide was wholly unpremeditated, but provoked on the instant by Dr. Parkman's bitter speeches and violent menacing gestures. Dr. Parkman produced an old letter from Dr. Hossack, written many years ago, complimenting him on his success in getting Dr. Webster appointed to his office; and, thrusting that letter in the debtor's face, Dr. Parkman exclaimed, You see I got you into your office, and now I'll get you out of it!" Pushing his fist in Dr. Webster's face, and taunting him with opprobrious epithets, Dr. Parkman exasperated the other beyond control. In this state Dr. Webster seized the first thing at hand-a large and heavy piece of a grape-vine trunk-and struck Dr. Parkman with all his force a blow on the side of the head. It killed him on the spot. The dismembering, and attempted destruction of the body by fire, were the only means of concealment, prompted by horror and the overwhelming fear of infamy and destruction. All the details which appeared at the trial were interwoven into the narrative of confession, and made to bear an interpretation consistent with this version; and the document closed with a solemn avowal, in reply to questions put, as to a dying man, by the Reverend Dr. Putnam, Dr. Webster's spiritual adviser. The Executive Council of State caused this document to be carefully examined, and came to the conclusion that the facts disclosed by the evidence were inconsistent with the statement. Professor Webster was executed on August 30. The spectacle seems to have excited even more morbid curiosity than similar tragedies call forth in England, and the American papers gloat over the details with shocking minuteness. Some particulars are in singular contrast to our own proceedings upon these occasions. For the last three or four weeks the murderer gave up all hopes of averting his doom; he became calm and resigned, slept soundly, ate with appetite, and enjoyed his constant cigar. All he hoped for in the world was, that his family should be kept ignorant of the day on which he was to 66 66 die." This wish was so strictly complied with that on the last evening that he saw his wife and children they went from him with the same hopefulness as before, quite unconscious that they would never again see him alive. On the morning of the 30th of August, his last day, he engaged earnestly in devotional exercises. From the roofs of the adjacent houses the scaffold could be seen, and many paid considerable sums for the privilege" of sharing this commanding view. Some residents, however, left home to avoid countenancing the spectacle. One hundred and twenty-five persons were admitted into the gaol yard, as spectators, by passes from the Sheriff. "At half-past 9 o'clock Sheriff Eveleth summoned to the rear office of the gaol those gentlemen whom he had requested to be present as witnesses. He stated to the gentlemen present that they had assembled, by invitation from him, as lawful witnesses of the execution of John White Webster, for the crime of murder, for which he had been convicted and sentenced. He detailed to them the order in which the proceedings would take place, and expressed his hope that the utmost quiet and good order would be maintained, as consistent with the solemnity of the occasion. He hoped that he should not hear any loud talking, not a voice during the progress of the proceedings." The Sheriff, "the witnesses," "the reporters for the press," and "the spectators," then proceeded to the prisoner's cell. Religious offices were impressively performed, the prisoner devoutly kneeling, and seeming absorbed in his prayers. In the procession to the scaffold the prisoner walked firmly, but with profound dejection of face. "Deputy-Sheriffs Rugg and Freeman adjusted the rope. Before the cap was drawn over his eyes he shook hands with Gaoler Andrews, Mr. Holmes, and last with the Sheriff, and thanked them for their kind treatment to him. Sheriff Eveleth then said, "In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in accordance with the warrant of the Chief Executive, I now, before these witnesses, proceed to execute the sentence of the law upon John White Webster, con victed, at the March Term of the Supreme Judicial Court, of the murder of Dr. George Parkman.' "This said, the Sheriff placed his foot upon the fatal spring, and in an instant more the victim was launched into eternity. After remaining some thirty minutes, Drs. Stedman and Clark pronounced the body lifeless, when it was lowered into a black coffin, and conveyed back into the cell. It would be delivered to the family that afternoon." 1 |
