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$10 TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER.
rounded by some other substance, and heated gradually; an inference
tending to prove, in connection with other circumstances, that the head
was placed in the furnace with the teeth then in it.
Dr. Noble was an assistant of Dr. Keep at that time, and worked on
the teeth which he made for Dr. Parkman; and, as far as he goes, he
confirms Dr. Keep. Dr. Morton was called on the other side; and, on
the whole, is of opinion that there is not enough in these blocks of teeth
to enable a dentist who made them to identify them. Drs. Harwood,
Codman, and Tucker, all dentists, are of a contrary opinion, and believe
that the maker could identify such teeth. They all respectively give you
the reasons for their opinions, which you will duly weigh and consider.
You are to determine from all the evidence whether those were the teeth
of Dr. Parkman, worn by him at the time when he entered the College,
and whether they belonged to the same body with the other remains. If
you shall be of opinion that they did so belong, it will have a strong ten-
dency, with the other evidence before you, to prove the fact of the death
of Dr. Parkman.
The other positions taken by the prosecution in regard to the proof
of the corpus delicti, are, that Dr. Parkman entered the College appar-
ently well, intending to return immediately and take the parcel at the
grocery on his way home to his dinner; and that, if he came to his death
at the College, it was not by accident or the visitation of Providence,
because there would have been no motive on the part of any body to
prevent an immediate knowledge of the fact, or to conceal the body. It
appears to us therefore, that proof of the corpus delicti, or actual death
of the party by an act of violence, in the present case, must depend prin-
cipally upon proof of the identity of these remains. If this is not made
out to the satisfaction of the jury, beyond reasonable doubt, then there
is no sufficient proof that the dead body found was that of Dr. Park-
man; and the proof of the corpus delicti, as offered by the prosecution,
fails. '
But if this is satisfactorily proved, then the next question for the
jury to consider is By whom this crime, this act of criminal homicide,
was committed; and whether it was the act of the prisoner at the bar, as
charged in the indictment?
It is conceded, or not contested, that, on the day of the alleged homi-
cide, Friday the 23d of November, Dr. Webster lectured to his class at
the Medical College, it being the last lecture for that week, and the
lectures for the ensuing week after that of Tuesday being also suspended
on account of Thanksgiving. He himself stated to several witnesses,
that he called at Dr. Parkman's house on the morning of that Friday,
and made an appointment to meet him at the Medical College, after his
lecture, to pay or to settle with him. The defendant also stated to Dr.
Francis Parkman and several other witnesses, that he did meet Dr. Park-
man at that time, and paid him $483 and some cents.
The evidence is quite conclusive that they met, and that no other
person was present. Dr. Webster stated, that he left the Medical College
at three o'clock; and after stopping at various places, went home in the
omnibus. There is, however, some evidence that he was at the College
at a later hour. Mr. Preston, a medical student, states that as he was
passing out of the dissecting-room,-the low wing or out-building
attached to the west end of the College, where students are constantly
in the habit of practising dissection,-at about six o'clock, he saw Dr.
Webster going into the shed at the east end.
I do not think it necessary to allude to all the material facts, as they
took place in the order of time from the day of the disappearance of Dr.
Parkman to the following Friday, when the remains were discovered in
the vault under the privy. The search was commenced on Saturday, and
continued with unabated activity till that discovery was made.
Perhaps it may be important to refer to the interview between the
defendant and one of the relatives of the deceased, Mr. S. Parkman Blake,
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