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It was their very differences that had brought them together. Web-
ster borrowed money from Parkman, and the creditor began to
hound the debtor for payment. Parkman demonstrated his "never
. . . flagging energy" by bursting into Webster's lectures, family din-
ners and social events in quest of the several hundred dollars that he
was owed. According to the prosecution's theory, Webster became
enraged by Parkman's actions and murdered him at the Harvard
Medical School. The defense acknowledged that the two had a pre-
arranged meeting at the Medical School on Friday, November 23,
1849, in the early afternoon, but denied that any violence had oc-
curred. Indeed, the defense offered several witnesses who testified
that they had seen Parkman, who walked with a distinctive and pecu-
liar gait, late that same afternoon, well after the meeting at the Medi-
cal School had ended.
When Parkman failed to appear for dinner that night, his family be-
came concerned. A search was commenced, circulars were printed
and a reward was offered. But Parkman was not found alive. Several
days after the disappearance, the janitor of the Medical School made
a grisly discovery: he found portions of a human body in a secret
chamber below the laboratory used by Dr. Webster. The body had
been dissected by an experienced hand and hidden deliberately.
According to the experts, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, the
bones were "consistent with" Professor Parkman's physique. The
false teeth found in the jaw also roughly matched those which had
been made for Professor Parkman. On the basis of this evidence,
Webster was arrested and put on trial for the capital murder of his
colleague.
The trial was conducted by the entire Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts, presided over by its dour and harsh Chief Justice
Lemuel Shaw. Shaw, who was Herman Melville's father-in-law, is be-
lieved to have been the real-life prototype for Melville's merciless
Captain Vere, who ordered the execution of the morally innocent
Billy Budd. The jury was composed of eleven tradesmen and one mer-
chant, all of whom favored the death penalty, since three citizens had
been excused for "entertaining opinions against capital punishment."
The prosecutor, an experienced criminal lawyer, had been se-
lected and paid for by the Parkman family. The Webster family had,
according to some reports, attempted to secure the services of Daniel
Webster (no relation) or Rufus Choate, but both had refused. They
settled for a lawyer with little criminal experience, who had repre-
sented the defendant in several civil matters. His co-counsel was a
lower court judge.
The result was palpably one-sided. One member of the bar evalu-
ated the performance of the defense as follows:
We have no acquaintance with either of these gentlemen, but have
been informed that they are worthy and useful citizens in other
spheres. If this be so, we trust that their lamentable failure at this may
not impair that usefulness. But sure we are that should they live to be
as old as Methuselah, their services as criminal lawyers will never
again be put in requisition.
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