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TRIAL OF JOHN w. WEBSTER. 45
as no small operation, .to burn up a body. It needs the right sort of
fuel, to begin with. Wood is better -than coal; and the lighter the kind
of wood, the better. Pine kindlings would be good for the purpose.
You need frequently to stir the fire up; and you must have something
that the flesh will not quench or put out. There is always a difficulty
in getting rid of human remains by fire, on account of attracting sus-
picion by .the smell. I have been called upon by my neighbors, or the
police, several times, on this account.
I was well acquainted with Dr. George Parkman; have known him
ever since I have been in ~th,e city; and for several years was a near
neighbor, and used to see him almost daily. I last saw him, on Friday,
November 23d, the day of his disappearance, at about half-past twelve
o'clock, in Beacon street. I was looking for him, for a special purpose,
and he turned out of the street into the Mall, just before I came near
enough to him, to speak 'to him.
I was at ,the Medical College on Tuesday, after the finding of the
remains; had been there the day before, but went again, Tuesday-noon.
The medical gentl6men, who have been called, Dr. Lewis and others,
had then nearly completed their examination. I went for my own
gratification, and without being expected to be called to testify to my
observations. I saw, on a board, the parts of a body, which have been
spoken of,-a chest, pelvis, two .thighs, and one of the legs. The dissec-
tion of the chest was made in the usual way of post-mortem examina-
tions. It was done as .well as it would usually be done by a physician;
and no one, who had not been in the habit of seeing dissections, could
have done it, as it was.
I made inquiry whether the medical gentlemen had examined the
ribs, and whether there was no mark upon the rib near which the hole
was. I was told by some person, that there was not. I drew forward
the skin, myself, end found, on the under side of the sixth rib, exactly
under the hole, a clean cut on the ribs. The hole was through the flesh,
and through the membrane, or periosteum of the rib, and made, when
the parts were tense. After death, the elasticity of a body is gone, and
it would be very difficult to make a clean cut like this. I have tried it.
There was a clean cut through the periosteum, almost into the rib, just
such as could not be made upon a dead body without a very sharp knife,
but which might eisily be made upon the living body with a com-
mon knife. This struck me at the time, as it went very near the heart,
as the cause of the death.
I should suppose that a stab in that region would cause internal
effusion of blood. In the case of these remains, the pants were unusually
bloodless. They seemed as much so, as meat that is sold in the sham-
bles. My inference from this would be, that the person bled to death
from violence.
The hair, which I noticed upon the remains, was sandy, intermingled
with gray. The skin had lost the appearance of elasticity, as in a young
subject, and had the thickness attendant upon age. I judged from the
hair, skin and cartilages, that the subject must have been between fifty
and sixty years of age. There were ossifications in the cartilages, such
as do not commence till after middle life. The body was of an unusual
formation. It was narrow across the shoulders, and the difference
between the width there, and across the hips, was much less than is
usual. The body was also very straight, and the trunk was dispro-
portionately long for the legs. In these respects, and in the color of
the hair and the general appearance of the skin, it corresponded to Dr.
Parkman's body, when alive. I had often noticed his peculiar forma-
tion, a.id it seemed to me that this was the same. There was nothing
dissimilar from what I should have expected to find in his body; but, on
the contrary, everything agreed with it.
Cross-examined by Mr. Sohter.-I resided in Cambridge street, No.
5, when I was a neighbor of Dr. Parkman's: this was in 1842. I have
experienced acts of kindness from him, and had the pleasures of think-
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