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12 TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER.
The inquiry thus opened will lead us to the consideration of facts
existing long prior to the disappearance of Dr: Parkman. Evidence
will be introduced to show the relations subsisting between the pris-
oner and the deceased; but it will not be necessary to detail their busi-
ness intercourse from an earlier period than the year 1842, when there
was a loan of money made by Dr. Parkman to Dr. Webster. It will
appear that since that time Dr. Webster has been always embarrassed
in his financial affairs, and often reduced to great straits for money.
On the other hand, Dr. Parkman was a large property-holder, accus-
tomed to making loans to others. He was a liberal man in his dona-
tions, and kind, benevolent, and considerate towards those whom mis-
fortune rendered unable to meet their engagements with him. At the
same time, he was scrupulously exact in all his business dealings. A
just man himself, he looked for justice in others. Willing to be him-
self judged by a strict rule of honesty and punctuality, he applied the
same rule to his dealings with other men.
In 1842, he loaned to the prisoner $400, for which he took his note,
secured by a mortgage of certain personal property. This note was
unpaid in 1847, at least, not paid in full, when Dr. Parkman made one
of a number to loan to Dr. Webster a certain sum of money to meet
demands then pressing against him. Arising out of, or connected with,
these transactions, Dr. Parkman, in January, 1847, took from Dr.
Webster a note for $2,432, secured by a mortgage of all his personal
property, including his household furniture and his cabinet of minerals.
This note was for the amount of the advances then made by Dr. Park-
man and others, and embraced also a balance of $342 83, then due on
the note of 1842.
In April, 1849, a friend of Dr. Webster had an interview with Dr.
Parkman, and subsequently furnished Dr. Webster a statement show-
ing that the amount then due to Dr. Parkman on the mortgage note was
$456 27, while a further amount of about $600 was also due upon it to
the other parties who had contributed in making the advances for
which it was originally given.
About this period, Dr. Webster made an application to Robert G.
Shaw, Esq., a brother-in-law of Dr. Parkman, to raise money, repre-
senting his necessities to be so great that an officer was about entering
his house to attach his household furniture, and offered to sell to Mr.
Shaw those very minerals which were then under mortgage to Dr. Park-
man. Mr. Shaw, commiserating his condition, and having no knowl-
edge that his brother-in-law had a mortgage upon the property, agreed
to advance to Dr. Webster the sum of $1,200. He did advance this
amount, partly in cash and partly by his note, which was discounted
for Dr. Webster at the Charles River Bank; and received from Dr.
Webster a clear bill of sale of the cabinet of minerals.
Dr. Parkman, learning subsequently, that these minerals had been
conveyed to Mr. Shaw, was greatly incensed at what he considered
an act of fraud on the part of Dr. Webster, and avowed his determina-
tion to compel him, to pay his debt. From this period he; pursued Dr.
Webster as a creditor who felt that his confidence had been violated,
and who regarded his debtor as a dishonest and fraudulent man. The
evidence will show you that he not only entertained this opinion, but
that very recently before his disappearance he had communicated it in
a message to Dr. Webster himself. It will also appear that Dr. Web-
ster obtained further delay from Dr. Parkman, under a promise that
he would pay him from the proceeds of the sales of tickets to his lectures
at the Medical College.
And here I ought to state that Dr. Webster's connection with the
Medical College was independent of his Professorship in the University
at Cambridge. He was a Professor in both. His compensation for
services in the Medical College depended upon the sale of his lecture-
tickets to the students. The Professors had made an arrangement
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