Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1232

NAME WEBSTER 1210 WEBSTER of the Boston Journal of Philosophy and Arts with John Ware and Daniel Treadwell (1823- 1826). In 1841 he edited "Liebig's Organic Chemistry." These were his only literary out- put. As a lecturer he appears to have been "re- spectable," in the language of the day, but not brilliant. There seems to be no doubt that he was extravagant for he built a very costly house in Cambridge the year before his father died and gathered there a mineratogical cabi- net, an expensive establishment for a pro- fessor having only a slender salary and lecture fees from his students as his permanent in- come. As early as 1842 he had borrowed $400 .from Dr. Parkman, mortgaging his collection of minerals as security, only to sell this same collection to Robert G. Shaw in 1840 without notifying Parkman. Webster seems to have had an unassuming disposition and unusually affable manners ; he was a musical amateur of considerable accomplishment, and had a great fund of small talk. Extravagant and improvi- dent habits coupled with an ungoverned tem- per led to his great crime. In his confessional statement to the Rev. Dr. George Putnam, May 23, 1850, after his conviction, Webster said: "A quickness and brief violence of tem- per has been the besetting sin of my life. I was an only child, much indulged, and I have never acquired the control over my passions that I ought to have acquired early; and the consequence is — all this." Dr. George Parkman, three years older than Dr. Webster, had inherited a large fortune from his father, Samuel Parkman, a Boston merchant. Educated at Harvard he had taken an M. D. at the University of Aberdeen in 1813 and had written two pamphlets on the care of the insane. A thin man, with a quick and irritating manner, a truth-teller, he cared for his property with great particularity and was reputed to be miserly and eccentric ; gen- erous in large matters and fussy in small ones. He held notes and mortgages of Pro- fessor Webster amounting to over $2,000 and had been insistent on payment, as was his wont. Webster asked Parkman to call on him in his laboratory at the medical school after his lecture, November 23, 1849, for the purpose of arranging abo'ut the payment of the debt. Parkman called at the appointed time and was never seen again. At the trial in March, 1850, Webster was convicted, chiefly on the circumstantial evidence of the dentist who had made a set of mineral teeth for Dr. Parkman that he had worn at the dedication exercises at the opening of the new medical school building. The teeth had been found part- ly destroyed in Professor Webster's laboratory furnace and were identilied positively by Dr. N. C. Keep. Portions of a body, supposed to be Parkman's, were discovered in different re- ceptacles in Webster's laboratory. The trial lasted twelve days and many of the prominent professional and other men of the time testi- fied, including O. W. Holmes, Charles T. Jackson, J. B. S. Jackson, W. T. G. Morton, John G. Palfrey, Francis Parkman, R. G. Shaw, Jeffries and Morrill Wyman ; also Dr. Webster's three unmarried daughters. Web- ster petitioned the court for a writ of error and it was denied; he petitioned for a rehear- sing with the same result, always alleging his innocence. Finally, in J'une, he asked for com- mutation of sentence and his confession as given to Dr. Putnam was placed before the governor and council. He said that Parkman came to his laboratory at the appointed time, asked if he had got the money, called him "scoundrel" and "liar" and other opprobrious epithets, shook the mortgage notes in his face, showed a letter of David Hosack (q.v.) congratulating Dr. Parkman for having se- cured the appointment of Webster to his pro- fessorship, remarking: "Yo'u see, I got you into your office, and now I will get you out of it." Webster interposed, trying to pacify Parkman. At last he lost his temper and while Parkman was gesticulating, shaking his fist in his face, he picked up a stick, a stout piece of grapevine root that happened to be handy, and dealt him an instantaneous blow with all the force that passion could give. The blow fell on the side of Parkman's head and he dropped instantly to the pavement and did not move. Blood flowed from his mouth. Web- ster got ammonia and a sponge and attempted to resuscitate him, but after ten minutes or so found that he was dead. The one thought in Webster's mind was concealment of the body, as an alternative to infamy. In a cold- blooded manner he burned the clothes, dis- membered the body, after hauling it into the laboratory sink, put some of it in a lead-lined sink with potash, burned some in the furnace, including the head and viscera and the grape- vine stick which had dealt the fatal blow. Webster said he did not know why he crossed out the signatures on the two notes and put them in his pocket instead of burning them. Removing all traces of the crime he collected himself and went home to Cambridge to spend tlie evening with his family, in apparent com- posure, having thrown Parkman's watch into the river as he crossed the bridge.