The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-08-11
HISTORIC MURDERx.


~0A1S19Ss
Park0aA-DaFaell-
From the st. LOsis Republican,
The murder Of Mr.. BENJAMIN Nathan in
New York promises now to take . foremost
rank among the cunscs eoe6res of the country.
4 deed Of blood, however horrible, loses
much of its absorbing interest when the per-
petrator is readily ascertained and promptly
arrested; but when, either through COM
binatiOn of circumstances, or the exercise of
a devilish ingenuity, the criminal manages
to cover his tracks so completely as to bafiie
all investigation, and veil the awful transac-
ton in impenetrable mystery, the public mind
almost loses sight of the crime itself in an in
tense desire to know the author of It. That
a prominent citizen, with hosts of friends,
and, 20 tar as is known, not a single enemy,
should be deliberately butchered in his own
house, in the most fashionable quarter of
great metropolis, while four persons, at
least, were under the same roof with him,
and the assassin escape, leaving no damning
trace behind, is indeed passing strange,
though by no means unparalleled. Within
the past twenty years there have been two
| cases of murder, both Of which created pro-
found excitement throughout the country;
and both resembling in some respects the one
now under consideration. DIR. Geo. Park
man, retired physician of wealth and high
social position residing in Boston, suddenly
disappeared from his home and vas never
afterward seen alive. He was followed from
| one accustomed haunt to another by the
shrcwdest Detectives in the city, and
| finally the fact was a>certaincd be-
yond any doubt that at twelve O'Clock
noon he entered the medical col
lege. DIR. John W. Webster, .
professo, Of chemistry in Harvard Univer-
sity, brother-in-law of William II. Pres
colt, the historian, and lifelong friend of
the missing man, stated frankly that DIR.
Parkman had called at his room in the col
lego about the time specified, spent few mo-
ments in the transaction of business, and
went away again. The apartments of Web
ster were searched, more for FORMS sake than
through any suspicion of his guilt in the
matter, and finding nothing that gave
the slightest clue, Investigations turn
cd elsewhere. But the single pregnant
circumstance could not be OvercOme-Dr.
Parkman was seen to enter the medical col
| lese and never seen TO leave it, or was heard
of afterwards. Still the unblemished char
actcr of Webster, and his influential family
connections, blinded the eyes of the pO-
lice and the whole community with the ex-
ception of one man, and that man was Lit
tlcfiel,., the .janitor of the college. lie did
not like Webster particularly, and prejudice
sharpened into suspicion. He watched
him carefully day and night, and finally
resolved 10 search one place which had
been overlooked by the officers. That
place was the vault beneath Webster's room,
to be reached only by digging through a
thick wall in the lower cellar Of the build
| ing. Procuring the necessary tools he prose
| cutetl the work after dark, made an aperture
| sufficient to admit an examination Of the
| vault, and found there the mutilated re-
| mains of !, man, but 50 completely cut to
pieces that recognition WAS impossible. Web
| ster wis arrested, vet there seemed to be mo
evidence sufficient to convict him at first, and
public sympathy wis strongly enlisted in
his favor. But closer search Of his Labor
atory revealed other portions Of human
body, Packed away in a box of tan
min, and in the ashes of the stove WAS dis
covered the blackened fragment Of gold
! plate such rs is used in insertion Of false
teeth. That gold plate supplied the single
| missing link Of circunlstancial evidence.
DIR. Keep, well known dentist of Boston,
swore positively that he made the plate for
DIR. Parkman, and by certain private marks
was able to recognize it beyond the possibility
of Il doubt. Webster was convicted and died
on the sc,tfold. ..
\ closer resemblance to the Nathan muir
der may, however, be traced in the famous
case of Dr. Harvey Burdell, Of New York.
On the morning of January 81, 1857, a boy
who usually cleaned up the Office went to the
Doctors rooms, No. 81 Bond street, about s
O'Clock, and On opening the door found his
employer lying on the floor dead, with fif
teen wounds in his body, and upon the
throat unmistakable evidences Of strangula-
ton. The police were called and an inves-
tigatiOn commenced. Indications showed
that DIR. Burdeil could not have been long in
the apartment when the murder occurred.
His shawl was lying on the sofa, and he
was probably sitting near his case Of dental
tools looking over some papers, when the
assassin grappled him. There was blood on
the papers, but the final death struggle must
have taken place near the door, where the
wall was deluged by stream Of gore
from the severed jngular. 1t was
proved at the inquest that Mrs. Cum
ningham kept the house, and, besides DR..
Burdell, had two boarders, Snodgrass and
Eckel, all of whom swore that they heard
no noise of the deadly ARRAY transporting
within few feet of them, and knew nothing
of it until informed BY the office boy, several
hours aftcrward. \ sheet and night shirt
stained with blood were found in the gar
ret, and it was also shown that the re-
lations between DIR. Burslell and his
landlady were of such character rs TO
throw much suspicion upon her; but be-
yond this nothing was ever ascertained. Mrs.
Cunningham was tried and acquitted; Eckel
was sent to the penitcntiary for defra,iding
the government during the war, aud died
there last year; hut who murdered DIR. Bur-
dell is a question never likely TO be answered
in this world.
The murder of Hon. Murray Mcconnell,
at jacksonville, in his own office and in
broad daylight, Is too recent to need recapitu-
latiOn. The suspected man was tried and
acquitted, and however much divided opin-
ion is on the subject, no one would care to
say that the acquittal was undeserved.
f.i! pe:sriesiSn Of The .. sIsssc. Of
May DO.
From the London Globe
To destroy your enemy in the shortest time,
in the easiest manner, and at the least lsOssi-
bic expense, is the first maxim Of war. The
stone that whistled from David's sling, the
bullet OF the acknowledgement" and the
volley of tire ''nlachinc gun" had all the
same object Since the days of Roger Bacon
the aim of all improvements in firearms has
been to carry the greatest possible number of
deaths 10 the greatest possible distance.
Grape, canister Or case, and shrapnel, all
contain bullets, and are all means for multi
plying deaths. The iield-gun mows down
It's hundreds by showers Of case at close
quarters, or at longer distances rains bullets
from the bursting shrapnel. The mitr,il-
leur or machine gun, on the contrary, sends
Il large number Of small projectiles indie
pendently, and with precision, to 4 consider
able distance. We may divide arms on the
latter principle into two classes-first, those
which discharge their bullets from single
barrel, fed by a many chambered breech;
and secondly; thO~e in which each cartridge
has its corresponding barrel, the charging
and discharging of which is direct, and more
or less simple. 1t is obvious that, for rough
usage and continuous firing, it is better
hot I,rDo uup,lSor - ..,,.J,