Mr. Kings ley, Dr. Martin Gay , Mr . Dr. Webster 's Cambridge home . They S.D. Parker , Jabez Pratt (County secured a number of promissory Coroner) met at the Leverett Stre et notes for mone y lent to Dr. Webster Jail and accompanied Dr. Webster by Dr. Parkman. to the Medical Colleg e at ten o'clock M. P.M. to view the human remains found earlier. January 26 1 Dr. Saturday, December 1 was indicted for th e murd er of Dr. Officer Fuller turned over the tea­ . chest in the lab of Dr. Webster and more human remains fell out; a tho­ rax and left thi gh bound with mar­ line, along with a hunting knife . The Trial Proceedings Coroner's Jury* was sum moned at Capita l cases in in ,11., .,, , four o'clock by Coroner Pratt com­ 1850 required that a quorum of the prised of Osm yn Brewster , the fore­ Supreme Judicia l Court preside. At man; John L. Andrews, the secretary; the time of the Webster trial there Perle Martin; Thomas Restereaux; were five justices serving; however, Tuesday, November 27 Lewis Jones; and Harman Merrill. four judges presided because of the Mr. Kingsley accompanied Detective, Sunday, December 2 importance of th e trial. Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw , Associate Justices Derastus Clapp , officers Charles B. The Coroner's Jury along with Dr. Rice and Samuel B. Fuller to search Samuel S. Wilde , Charles A. Dewey (anatomist) made and Theron Metcalf would hear the the Medical Colleg e for a third time. a post mortem examination at the They first searched Littlefield's cas e at th e New Court House (c.1835) Medical College at ten o'clock A.M. on Court St reet. apartment at th e colleg e and later Bigelow image courtesy of Mount Aubuni Cemetary and examined five portions of a hu­ Dr. Webst er 's rooms; not susp ecting man subj ect: a thorax , a pe lvis, two and found bod y parts ; a pelvis , right him the y overlooked his pr ivy and thighs and a left leg. other areas. He also warn ed them: thigh , left lower leg and a towel with "That is the room in which I keep my Dr. Webster 's initials on it. Detective , valuabl e and dangerous articles." To Derastus Clapp who was initiall y which Detectiv e Clapp responded , "I doubtful of Dr. Webster's involve­ will not go in to get blowed up." ment , was notified of the grueso me discovery and went to the co llege with City Marshall Tukey to further investigate where they found a knife and more human remains (bones Courtesy of West E11d Muse um and teeth). Later that evening the Tuesday, March 19 (Day detective went to Webster's house under the pretense of taking him to 9 o'clock, A.M. the Clerk read the the Medical College . As they traveled name of six ty jurors, all but four an ­ over Craigie 's Bridge Webster real­ swered. Fourteen were excused .. ized it wasn 't the way. He was ar­ Massachusetts Attorney General rested at the Leverett Street Jail. John H. Clifford stated that John W. Webster was pr esent to be tried for the murd er of Dr. Georg e Parkman, the Grand Jury having found an in­ dictment against him , to which he pleaded Not Gui lty . He then moved that the jury be empanelled to try

Wyman image cou rtesy Wikimedia Commons the case . Courtes y of Wikim edia Common s Courtesy offlie Massachusetts General Hosp ital The Clerk then ca lled the name of Wednesday, November 28 Archives a11d Special Collections Monday, December 3 John W. Webste r, and the prison­ er stood up. He was then informed Dr. Webster arrived at the College Dr. Win slow Lewis put the limbs to­ Dr. Webster made declarations in­ by the Clerk , that he was put to the prett y earl y and had been there gether and Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep consist ent with each other; that he bar to be tried for the murder of Dr. a ll da y . Littlefield found the doors arr ived in and immediate­ charged upon Mr. Littlefield either the George Parkman - that the Court locked and heard a lot of objects be­ ly recognized the dentures as Dr. commission of this deed, or of being would now proceed to empanel a ing moved around; later in the day Parkman's. Dr. Webster was brought a conspirator , that those were not the before Justice Cushing of the Police jury - that he had by law a right pe­ around t hree o'clock he had also no­ remains of Dr. Parkman , any more Court to read him the charges is­ remptoril y to cha llenge twent y ju­ ticed that th e furnace was fired up. than they wer e his. Dr. Webst er's sued via a warrant by Justice Merrill. rors, and tha t if he had object ions to The janitor became more and more conduct, from the time he was arrest ­ These were read to him by his attor­ an y ot hers , he must sho w good and suspicious because Dr. Webster 's ed up to the tim e of the Police Court, ne y the Hon. Franklin Dexter. sufficien t cause for thei r exclusion. behavior of late was most incons is­ was p eculiar. tent with his normal routine. :t3. D r. Parkman, Th e following are he of th e "Dr. Parkman is in the Medical Colleg e, we ll-known citizen 1ee1h one 1oot h, THE JURY: and will be found th ere, found any ­ tom he will be if th ere of teeth - a front • Rober t J. Byram, (Locksmith) wh ere. " of human Foreman Thursday , November 29 • Thomas Barrett, (Print er) 1th the the Littlefield continues his own inves­ Boston, by • John Borrowscale, (Slater) J ohn \ Vhite tigation , beginning with the privy • James Crosb y, (Clerk) I They to be of vault which the police ove rlooked. body of D r. Parkman . He went under the founda tion of the eve n ing, Prof . is • John E. Davenport, (Painter) Medical College and atte mp ted to reste d, nnd com mi tte d to the in • Albert Day, (Dry Goods Dealer) stree t, the break through several courses of a two 10 bo • Joseph Eustis, (Merchant) brick wall with tools borrowed from tl 1c of Dr. an d nre Courtesy oft Public wire. • Daniel T. Full er of North Che lsea, the nearby foundry. toot h wh ich or other to (Wheelright) Friday , November 30 out. • Benjamin H. Greene, (Bookseller) Littlefield comm un icated his inv es­ Courtesy of th e Med ical Heritage • Arnold Hayward , (Carpenter ) tigation to Dr. John B.S. Jackson, anatom y professor at the Medica l • Fred erick A. Henderson, Colleg e, who encouraged him to Wednesday, December 5 (Furnisher) continue and to inform Dr. Jacob Detective Derastus Clapp along with • Stephen A. Stackpo le, (Clerk) Bigelow Sr. of his findings. Littlefield officer Hopkins of Boston met officer finally broke through th e vault wall Cou rtesy oft Natio11a/ of Sanderson of Cambridge to search