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3'74 TRIAL Oh' JOHN W. WEBSTER.
with a supreme regard to truth and justice. But after all the considera-
tion which they have been able to bestow upon this confession, and
under the light of the evidence and comments with which it has been
accompanied, and supported, they feel constrained to say, that the effect
has not been such as to satisfy their minds that the position of the case is
materially changed. In other words, the palliating facts and circum-
stances set forth in the confession have not been so confirmed by other
evidence and circumstances as to form a proper and sufficient basis for
Executive interference.
To this painful conclusion the Committee have unanimously come.
The Committee therefore respectfully report, that they cannot, con-
sistently with what they conceive their duty, recommend a commuta-
tion of the sentence in the case of John W. Webster, as prayed for in his
petition.
Nothing now remains for the Committee, in the discharge of this pain-
ful duty, but to advise your Excellency in determining upon a time for
the Execution; and they name Friday, the thirtieth day of August next,
as the day, and recommend to your Excellency to decide upon that day
as the time for the execution of John W. Webster, '
JOHN REED, Chairman.
Council Chamber, July 19, 1850.
On the question being taken upon the acceptance of this report,
the Council voted to accept it; one member only, Mr. Copeland, of
Roxbury, voting in the negative.*
Upon receiving the final action of the Council, His Excellency
addressed them in the following
COMMUNICATION.
To the Honorable Council:
The Council having considered and acted on the case of John W.
Webster, a convict under sentence of death, it becomes my duty, as the
Chief Executive Magistrate of the Commonwealth, to make a final
decision upon a question involving the life of the prisoner. I feel the
weight of its responsibility. Bu~ it is a responsibility found in the
path of official duty, and I am not disposed to evade it, or to shrink from
it. For eight months past, this extraordinary case has created a deep
and painful interest among the people of Massachusetts, and of the whole
Union. Its history is- as brief as it is terrible and instructive; every
new development in its progress has been more strange, and has
increased that interest.
On the 23d day of November, 1849, Dr. George Parkman, a well-
known and highly respectable citizen of Boston, left his house and
family on business, as was usual for him, and never returned to them.
His unexpected absence alarmed his family, and excited the attention
of the people in and around Boston. In the course of a day or two, it
was understood that the prisoner had said that Dr. Parkman met him
at his rooms in the Medical College in the west part of the city, not
far from half past one o'clock on the day of his disappearance; and that
he then and there paid him a sum of money, which he, Dr. Parkman,
took into his hands, and thereupon hastily rushed towards the outer
door.
Dr. Parkman was also seen by other persons, about the same time
of day, within forty feet of the door of the College, and walking quickly
towards it. These, with other circumstances, directed the public mind
* The Council consisted of tha following members, besides His Honor the
Lieutenant
Governor: Hon. Samuel Wood, Hon. Solomon Davis. Hon. Timothy ,T. Gridley,
Hon.
Thomas Tolman, Hon John Tenney, Hon. Beniamin F. Copeland , Hon. Charles M.
Owen,
Hon. Samuel L. Crocker. and Hon. Luther V. Bell. Of these, Messrs. Wood,
Tenney,
Owen and Bell constituted the Committee on Pardons.
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