Parkman-Webster Murder Case riday, November 23, 184 9 Dr . George Parkman a wealthy Beacon Hill businessman and FMassachusetts General Hospital benefactor disappeared. Days later a dismembered body was found at the Medical Colleg e on North Grove Street in the West End. The news spread quickly, igniting sensationalism in the press which touched both the upper crust and the working class . More so , when the head of the Medical College chem istry department , Dr. John White Webster, was arrested and charged with the murder much of the city looked on in disbelief. he trial was a public spectacle; over 60,000 people were ushered in and out of the courtroom T every 10-minu tes during the twe lve days of proceedings. Many of the characters in the real life drama were Harvard men , from the Supreme Court Justice who presided over the trial , to the President of the college who was cal led as a character witness for the defendant. Press from all over America and as far away as London (Times) wou ld cover the tr ial . assachusetts law wou ld bar Dr . Webster from testifying on his own behalf. Instead, he re­ Mcorded his story while in his cell at the jail on Leverett Street; a two-hundred-page defense PORTRAIT OF JOHN W. WEBSTER. his coun se l never considered. oft he of 8 4 Edgar Allen Poe pub- 8 4 l7Boston undergoe an lege, Ephraim Littlefie ld first heard replied, had; last Friday, about 1 8 lishes The Murders in 1 84 If unwanted 'soc ial rev­ of Dr. Parkman's disappearance on half-past one. He was coming right to­ the Rue Morgue (1841) in Graham's olution" in 1847 with the arrival of Saturday afternoon. (* Shaw was the wards the College." The janitor then Magazine, followed by The Mystery 37,000 Irish Catholics escaping the grandfather of the famed colonel of began to suspect that Dr. Webster of Marie Roget (1842) and The 'potato famine' in Ireland making 54th Massachusetts Regiment) kn ew a lot mor e as to the where­ Purloined Letter (1844) . The new it the third most popu lated city in abouts of Dr. Parkman. liter ary genre captured the publics' America. attention through the mind of the main character, C. Auguste Dupin who combined a formidable inte llect with creative imagination to so lve a series of mysteries; Poe calls the process ratiocination. "Newspape rs create a sensation .. [rather[ than to further the cause of truth." - Dupin ;.: Collection November 23 Wealthy Beacon Hill businessman and Massachusetts General Hospit al benefactor Dr. image George Parkman disappears. Earlier The Blake-Tuckerman House in that day, Dr. John White Webster, Bowdoin Square; built by Charles Monday, November 26 head of the chemistry department Bulfinch for Samuel Parkman's two Robert Gould Shaw took an ad out at the Medical College, visited Dr. daughters' c. 18 15. Parkman the elder in the Hera ld and printed 28,000 Parkman's home to set up an after­ passed his wealth on to his son George. handbi lls offering a $3000 reward if noon appointment at his lab to dis­ the missing man was found alive, or cuss a debt that Webster had owed if harmed, the perpetrators are found to Parkman. and convicted. Dr. Samuel Parkman paid a visit to Dr. Webster in his labo­ ratory; a short time later Mr. Parkman Blake showed up to see Dr. Webster at half past ten o'clock. The Medical Poe image courtesy oft he LIbrary of Congress College is searched at noon for a second time by Charles M. Kingsley 8 4 6 New Medical College (renta l agent). Constable Charles 1 8 4 designed by Gridley B. Starkweather, Littefield the jani­ J.F. Bryant opens on North Grove tor and Dr. Frederick S. Ainsworth Street; he later designs the Cha rles Courtesy of the Boston Public (Anatomist ) at noon. "Littlefield, we Street Jail (c.1851) on land made have come to look round the college. over the Charles River mudflats oft Nom1a11 B. Sunday, November 25 Public We cannot trace Dr. Parkman any ­ which was purchased by the city A missing person broadside was where, but here." from Dr. George Parkman. posted around the cit y, promting Saturday, November 24 Dr. Webster to pay a visit to Dr. Dr. Parkman 's nephew Samuel Parkman 's brother Francis Parkman Parkman Blake and Robert Gou ld to inform him of the meeting they Shaw* his brother-in-law notif y City had at two o'clock on the afternoon Marshal Franci s Tuke y and place of his disappearance. Dr. Webster an advert isemen t in the newspa­ ran into Ephraim Littlefield, the jan­ per. The neighborhood around the itor on North Grove Street near the Medical College where Dr. Parkman Medical College and asked him , "Mr. was belie ved to ha ve been last seen Littlefield, did you see Dr. Parkman, Courtesy of the Boston Public LIbrary was searched . The janitor of the col- the latter part oflast week?"Littlefield .