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Show nJiSfOSiC wfrl THE WEBSTER-PARKMAN CASE. No modern crime is more celebrated than the murder of Dr. George Park-man Park-man by Prof. John W. Webster of Harvard college. This because both the slayer and the slain were distinguished distin-guished men, and also by reason of the grotesquely horrible circumstances attending the crime Doctor Parkman was a wealthy and widely known citizen of Boston, and at the time of his removal was sixty years of age. lie was a man of most peculiar appearance. His face was unusually long, and terminated in a sharp chin, protruding to such an extent ex-tent that it seomed a deformity. His head was bald and down the center of it ran a huge cranial ridge, suggesting that his skull had been soldered together to-gether by a poor workman. He was thin and tall, enjoyed excellent health, and was remarkably active and energetic ener-getic for one of his years. Webster was an entirely different type of man, being short, round and heavy set, with a rosy and cheerful countenance. He was popular, notwithstanding not-withstanding the fact that he wore Bide whiskers, and his attainments may be judged from the fact that he held the chair of chemistry at Harvard, Har-vard, and also in the Boston Medical college, where he had private offices and laboratories. It was on Friday, November 23, 1849, that Doctor Parkman disappeared. He was a man of such regular habits that the neighbors set their clocks by him, and when he failed to come home for dinner his wife was much alarmed She told the neighbors, but they laughed at her fearB, and persuaded per-suaded her that nothing could be wrong. Next morning, however, the doctor still being absent, and no message mes-sage having come from him, Mrs. Parkman was seriously disturbed, and she notified the police. Then a systematic search was conducted for days together, but without results. ', The doctor was traced to the Boston Medical college, and there it seemed that he vanished from the face of the . earth. It was ltnown that the doctor and Webster had some financial transac- - n ssSLr" f V''X D' George Parkman. tions in the past, so the learned professor pro-fessor was questioned, and he said that Parkman had called upon him to colleot a sum of money due on a note. He paid the money, and the note was canceled, and Parkman left his of-tlce. of-tlce. and that was all he knew about It Of course it was absurd to suppose sup-pose that the professor knew anything "lore than he disclosed, but, just for the sake of appearance, and to satisfy the public mind, which was excited to the point of frenzy, the officers asked permission to searr'i the professor's quarters at th college. The permission permis-sion was cordially given. The learned man showed the officers around every-wheie every-wheie and begged them to make their search exhaustive, and they did. Th?" searched his offices and laboratories labora-tories three separate times, and discovered dis-covered nothing suspicious. Meanwhile Mean-while other officers were dragging every pool and creek, and crawling tinder buildings, and overturning haymows hay-mows in a vain effort to find a trace of the missing man. After a week of this sort of thing the police confessed themselves hopelessly baffled, and freely expressed the opinion that the mystery never would be solved. Everybody had a theory explaining the disappearance, and only one of Ell the theories entertained in Boston town came anyvhere near the truth. The janitor of the college was a (can T-ucjd Littlefield and he had the qualifications of a Bleuth. Aa he went about his work day by day he meditated medi-tated and brooded over various things he had noticed, and he put two and two together in his mind, and concluded con-cluded that they made four, and he determined to Investigate. "Why did the able and gifted professor keep his doors locked all the time? Why did he keep up great fires in the assay furnaces at all sorts of unholy hours? These things were suspicious. Watching Watch-ing his opportunities, the janitor broke through a brick wall into a vault under the laboratories, and there found parts of a human body. Again he examined the ashes and clinkers from the furnaces, and found what he took to De bones. Among the things found were particles of gold, a human hu-man tooth, part of a set of false teeth. The abnormally long jaw of the missing miss-ing man made identification easy and certain. Parkman's dentist recognized the false teeth at once. When these discoveries were made known to the authorities, Webster had gone home after a day of arduous toil in chemical research, and was resting in the bosom of his family. It was decided de-cided to arrest him at once, and two or three officers went to his home in a hack. They explained to Webster that they considered it necessary to make another search of his quarters at the college and requested him to go with them. He pretended to be quite at his ease, and agreed to accompany ac-company the officers with his usual cheerfulness, but there is no doubt that he suspected the truth and realized real-ized that the truth was known. After entering the hack with the officers he , . - TV r ' -'" Prof. J. W. Webster. swallowed something, and when they arrived at the jail he was frothing at the mouth and almost in convulsions. The poison he had taken, whatevei it was, caused him a great deal ol physical anguish, but failed to end his life, which was the consummation he probably wished. His trial lasted eleven days, and the evidence against him, though cjreum. stantial, was conclusive. Many learned and distinguished men took the wit ness stand, testifying for or againsl the prisoner, among them being Olivei Wendell Holmes. "Webster was found guilty and sentenced to death. He ad' dressed the jury and tried to explain away the evidence against him, but his talk was not convincing. He was in great anguish of mind when returned to his prison. The fortitude he had displayed during the trial deserted him, and he became a rather pitiable object. Applicatior was made to the governor for a commutation com-mutation of sentence, and in support of this application Webster made 8 confession he declared to he true. He admitted having killed Parkman, bul insisted that the crime was unpremed itated, and that he suffered great provocation. According to his story he owed Parkman money which he was unable to pay at that time. Parkman called at his office on the fateful Friday and was very angry because Webster didn'l have the money ready. Webster be gan to make an appeal for more time but the visitor was furiously angry and upbraided him in the bitterest terms, applying the most contemptuous contemptu-ous epithets. "At last," said Webster "his fury became almost maniacal and unable longer to endure it, wh?n he thrust his fist immediately in m- face I struck him over the head with a stick. The blow was upon the temple, and he fell heavily to the floor: Every effort to resuscitate him was in vain, and in the agony attendant upon the discovery that I was a murderer, my first thought was how to conceal the body." His petition for clemency failed to move the governor, and one doleful day he walked in fear and trembling to the gallows tree, and his nam? was added to the long list of distinguished men who, through some moral or mental crook, have brought them selves into that shadow of disgrace which "shall be lifted nevermore." . London's Lord Mayor. Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield, lord mayor of London, is a man of large business affairs and directs the operations opera-tions o' one of the great English oil companies. Since 1895 ho has lived in London. He started on the long road to higl office in 1904, when he was electee nember of the court of common com-mon council. Ho has been decorated by the president of France, the king oi Belgium, and. in other and different days, the kaiser. He has traveled greatly, and has written a book called "Future Trade in the Far East." The lord mayor has always been deeply interested in charitable works and prizes highly decorations of the Order of Mercy and the Order of St. John j of Jerusalem, of which he Is a knight of grace. He is also a keen art collector. |