Show The Murder of Dr o NI NE of or the must most appalling murders ever committed In the United States was that of or Dr George Parkman Parkman Park Park- man mun one of the wealthiest and best best- known citizens of or Boston by Dr John V. W. Webster a professor of chemistry at nt Harvard university and a n lecturer In III the Medical college In Boston Doston This was a remarkable case not only because because because be be- cause of the reputation of the murderer murderer mur mur- derer hut but also because of or the mystery as to why a man of ur such marked Intellect Intellect In In- and of or su such h high standing In his community and his profession should have been guilty of ot the crime for tur which he was executed There Is no question that Doctor Webster deserved ed his fate tate for the only excuse he had to offer was that of ot nn an ungovernable temper but the records records rec rec- of crime contain few cases even remotely approaching this reversion to the brute h by a 8 man who was educated educated educated edu edu- cultured and refined In the fhe extreme ex ex- Doctor Parkman the murd re rea 3 man was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Massa Massa- Massachusetts Medical c college and It was through his Influence that Doctor Webster Webster Webster Web Web- ster was chosen as ns a lecturer on chemistry at that Institution At the time Doctor Parkman was a man of ot sixty years ears of ot age ase with the tho most punctual of habits Accordingly when he did not return home one day at ot his usual hour his family became alarmed but no attempt at a n detailed search was made until the following morning while It was almost a week before any definite clew was located It then became known that the missing man had had an appointment with Doctor Webster on the day he disappeared but as Doctor Webster himself informed In in- Informed formed the police of this fact no further further further fur fur- ther Importance was attached to It until It was WIlS discovered that Doctor Parkman had hud loaned Webster money upon two occasions and that the men had had several se quarrels over the tho debts Doctor Webster was finally taken into hito custody custod charged with at least leasta a guilty knowledge of ot the crime and anel finally broke down and confessed saying lIe He called me a scoundrel and a aMar aliar allar Mar liar and continued to heap the bitterest bitterest bitterest bit bit- terest taunts and epithets upon me Then he showed me a letter congratulating congratulating uia him in securing my appoint appoint- appointment appointment ment meat as ns professor of chemistry and he fairly shrieked I was the means of getting you your position and now I will get you OU out of It Then the doctor began heaping more threats and Invectives upon me At first I tried to pacify him but it was of ot no avail I forgot everything and feeling nothing but the sting of his words became excited to the highest highest highest high high- est degree desree of passion When he thrust his fist Into my ray face I seized a heavy stick of wood and struck him with all the force torce that passion could lend me In his confusion contusion Doctor Webster told how v the horror of his crime suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly flashed upon him and in a wild attempt to conceal the evidence of the murder he removed the clothing from the fhe body of ot the dead man and burned It He then dismembered the body and disposed of ot it in a n number of ways believing that he had hidden all aU traces of of the murder But Dut In spite of his skill as a n chemist he was unable unable un un- able to hide all portions of the body and ond a 0 sufficient amount of ot the remains remains remains re re- re mains were found to furnish the clew v that led Jed to his arrest orrest and subsequent confession So plain were the facts In the case and so clear was Doctor Websters Webster's statement of ot the manner In which he had acted that no attempt was made even to secure a reprieve In fullview full fullview fullview view of the college where he lie had taught on a scaffold erected only a n short distance from the house In which the murder had been committed Doctor John White Webster paid the full tun penalty demanded by the law But ut an nn examination of the police annals of two continents fall fail to reveal an Instance where a man of similar culture and education permitted himself himself himself him him- self to be overcome by his passions to the point of ot becoming a murderer murderer- particularly since there was was no excuse of his being under the influence of drugs or liquor In fact tact as one of the famous criminologists has stated H The Tile more we study me the ne 01 of the me we Parkman murder the more difficult It becomes to solve the mystery of ot the human emotions or to present any clear analysis of the reasons for mens men's Instinctive actions O g c by the Wheeler Syndicate |