St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-05-09

aHI .- a. Isal ...a.. ... H a#s .s
I..I.s .Ht.|Hs|
hnI .,...s.aa.....|I ls.I .Hf ....s.. HI
fas Haa=ss IH tssI tsH.IaII.Iar Is st
sniusd hsuI- HfafrrtiaiIs.
tRs.
The usAt iritsi Wa- a.-n ltilf,.-,d Ju
Nj ruke,, and va, pustmarkcd No
Vrmbrr ~:
Dr. Sir
You will hnd Dr. Parkmau
Murdered on hrooklNut
heights. yours, N
Captain of the Dart.
The next and last, which was also
directed to Mr.. Turkey, was dropped ia
the East Cambridge pOst-office. Ii was
enclosed in light pink envelope, look
ing something like chemical tilteriDg
paper:
DIR. ParkmOn was took
on Bord the ship herculun
and this is al dare to say
and shal he kid
Est Cambge, on of
the men
give me his watch
but | was feared to
keep it and throwd
it in the water rigt side
the road to the
Cam bi9e to
Bost.
The sensation produced by the ar
rest of Professor Webster, followed, as
it was, by the prompt verdict of the
coroners jury, laying the murder of DR..
Parkman to his charge, and his indict-
ment by the grand jury for the crime,
was profound and when the case came
to trial, the following March, before the
full bench of the Supreme Judicial
Court of Massachusetts, chief justice
Lemuel Shaw presiding, assisted by as
sociate justice Samuel Wilde, Charles
A. Dewey, and Theron Metcalf, it at
tracted uncommon attention through
out the country. The prosecution was
conducted by encouragement John H.
Clifford and George Bemis, Esq. and
the defence by the Hon. Pliny Merrick
and Edward D. Sohier, Esq.
The theory of the prosecution was of
course plain. 1t was that Professor
Webster, in debt to DR.. Parkman, and
harrassed beyond endurance by his
creditor, secured his presence in his
rooms at the medical college, on the ia
tai Friday, at time when he would be
free from ordinary occupations and in
terruptions for several days; and that
he then and there murdered him with
the intent of utterly destroying the
body, piece by piece, in the fire or by
chemical means, in the use of which he
had skill and experience in which pro-
cess he was discovered and arrested,
with the undestrOyed parts of the body
of the victim still on his hands. The
several details of this theory were sup
ported by the amplest and strongest
sort of circumstantial evidence, some of
which has already been presented.
Professor Webster's plea was "NOt
guilty and his defence was restricted
to the proof OF his previous excellent
character and high standing; of his
natural hearing during the days imme-
diately following DR.. PaIkman's disap-
pearance, when, as was alleged, his
hands were reeking with the blood of
murder ; and also of the theory that
DR.. Parkman had been seen on the
streets of Boston subsequent to the
time of his interview with the prisoner
at the medical college. Could the lat
ter point have been established to the
satisfaction of the jury, it would have
CnduStu tuc WHOIc COHl lpl6AIOD Oh UDC
base, and several trustworthy witnesses
testified in the most positive manner tC
having thus seen DR.. Parkman. But tc
the minds of the jury the evidence wa.
so overwhelming that he had never
gone out of the medical college, afteI
entering it by appointment with Pro
fessOr Webster on that Friday after.
noon, that nothing could stand against
it; and the belief of his subsequent an
pearance was set down as an instanc,
of mistaken identity.
1t would be interesting, but within
the limits proposed for this article it il
impossible, to sketch the course of th,
trial of this remarkable case in detail
Suffice it to say that on the eleventh
day the case was handed to the iury. a
which juncture Professor Webste
availed himself of his privilege of max
, ing any statement he chose in his owI
defence. His brief remarks, whicI
were founded upon the presum ption q