Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/586

 A Bungled Affair. istence of the remains in the laboratory was left entirely unexplained. Webster claimed furthermore, that he had actually paid Dr. Parkman the full amount of the notes in cash and that the latter had himself cancelled the instruments in question. He was there upon promptly confronted with his bank book which revealed at no time a sufficient amount on deposit.1 After a trial ending Saturday, March 3Oth, the prisoner was found guilty, and on Mon day, April ist. was sentenced to be executed. It is an interesting fact to bear in mind that at that time the Massachusetts law did not permit a prisoner to testify, hence the lips of the criminal were sealed. Application for pardon or commutation of sentence was shortly after made by many of ,Prof. Webster's friends, among them the Rev. Mr. Putnam, to whom the murderer had made a confession in which the entire circumstances surrounding the crime were set forth. The Committee on Pardons re fused to interfere., and on August 3Oth, a lit tle over nine months after the commission of the homicide, Webster was hung at Bos ton. Now, as previously stated, we have given but a short review of a murd'er which at the time excited considerable comment. In criminal law the case is referred to chiefly for the reason that it excellently illustrates what is sufficient to constitute proof of the corpus delicti. A disciple of DeOuincey can, however, have but little appreciation for the bungling piece of work which was perpe trated by the pseudo scientific man. Here all the appliances were at hand for a success ful homicide. Circumstances could scarcely have been more favorable if everything had been pre-arranged with the utmost fore thought. Ample time was afforded, and it seems almost incredible that no real attempt was made to destrov the remains. The

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nerves could have been severed and the flesh stripped from the bones with the exercise of but slight surgical skill. A hot furnace fire, particularly if aided by some substance like oyster shells, would have utterly destroyed the flesh, and the mineral portion having been withdrawn from the bones by the use of sulphuric acid, they would have been made so susceptible to the action of heat that but a pinch of dust would have re mained. Even without the assistance of the laboratory furnace (though it would have taken a longer time and required a larger amount of material to accomplish it) the en tire body might have been destroyed piece meal by the use of muriatic, or better yet, sulphuiic acid. These chemicals the mur derer's position as professor of chemistry would have enabled him to secure without exciting comment. The lead-lined vault would have been an ideal receptical in which this could have been accomplished. The liquid matter which would soon have constituted all that remained of Dr. Park man, could have been drawn off through the pipes, running water would have washed all clean and baffled at a lack of ability to prove the existence of a corpus delicti, justice would have been powerless. It seems strange that a man of Prof. Webster's attainments, who possessed the requisite amount of "nerve" to go about his calling in life without attracting attention, and who mingled unsuspected with his fellowmen, knowing as he did that the evidence of the crime might at any moment be laid bare, would yet prepetrate the most senseless er rors. The letter to the police, for instance, is a piece of childishness, pure and simple. The foregoing only goes to show that the commission of a successful murder requires the highest degree of intelligence, a degree so high that the percentage of men possess ing it is but infinitesimal.