President Jefferson Davis for trea­ lishing what is regarded by many son, a position he resigned from to be the official transcription of before charges against Davis were the case. When compared with eventually dropped. the Stone Report of the trial, espe­ cially with regard to Justice Shaw's Clifford retired from law in 1867 charge lo the jury, it is considered and went to work as president to be heavily edited and some of the Boston and Providence scholars believe 'slanted' to justify Railroad. He was an Overseer of the execution of Dr. Webster. Harvard University and President of the Board where he helped in­ The design of the publication was duct two presidents of the uni­ not for profit but to vindicate the versity; James Walker in 1853 and character of our state judiciary - a Charles William Eliot in 1869. character which, you will allow me to add, was most severely drawn Although he declined many ap­ Bemis Watertown Public Library in question on the other side of the pointments abroad he did ac­ water for the insufficiency of the cept one as United States ing long imprisonments for me­ evidence to justify a conviction of Commissioner on the Fisheries nial crimes and made the subjects Webster and for the harsh and un­ under the Arbitration Treaty with of crimes and punishments the ob­ warranted charge of the judge . Great Britain, one he was unable ject of profound and phi losophical to fulftll for he died of heart dis­ study. In 1843, he and George T. George Bemis Papers, Courtesy ease in 1876. Bigelow defended Abner Rodgers, of the Massachusetts Historical an inmate at the State Penitentiary Society George Bemis was born in accused of killing the warden. The Watertown, Massachusetts in case was twice tried in the face of REPORT 1816. He passed the entrance public opinion that was extremely exam to Harvard in 1829 at the hostile. Bemis argued that Rodgers Case 0 1•' JOHN W. Webster age of 13, which he delayed enroll­ was insane and not responsible for ment for three years. He then en ­ his actions. Chief Justice Lemuel ..... tered as a sophomore in 1832 and Shaw issued an opinion that be­ graduated second in his class in came the American authority on Murder of George Parkman 1835. Bemis continued his studies insanity pleas during criminal at Harvard Law School under the prosecution. tutelage of Judge Joseph Story and Professor Simon Greenleaf until Bemis was one of the most es­ 1839 when he was admitted into teemed lawyers in Boston during the Massachusetts Bar. the 1850s and developed a prof­ itable law practice while being Mrs. Samuel Ripley, the teacher involved in many famous legal who prepared him for Harvard proceedings. said, "that her objection to George .llY Bemis was that he was too perfect." Bemis acted as co-counse l to State Attorney General John H. Clifford Bemis was an advocate for reform in the Parkman-Webster murder of the penal code in Massachusetts, case at the behest of the Parkman especially laws that allowed a de­ family for which he was paid fendant's previous convictions to $1,500. He also served as a 'quasi' extend his current sentence. He court reporter, eventually pub- often represented those undergo-.