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Blood & Ivy

Page 34

by Paul Collins


  Parkman, Francis. The Francis Parkman Reader. Edited by Samuel Eliot Morison. New York: Da Capo, 1998.

  Parkman, George. Management of Lunatics: With Illustrations of Insanity. Boston: John Eliot, 1817.

  ———. Proposals for Establishing a Retreat for the Insane. Boston: John Eliot, 1814.

  The Parkman Murder: Trial of Prof. John W. Webster for the Murder of Dr. George Parkman. Boston: Daily Mail Office, 1850.

  Payne, Edward F. Dickens Days in Boston: A Record of Daily Events. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927.

  Peirce, Benjamin. An Elementary Treatise on Sound. Boston: J. Munroe, 1836.

  “Progress of Cholera.” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (13 June 1849): 382–83.

  Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. 1969. Reprint, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

  Rantoul, Robert S. Report of the Harvard Class of 1853: 1849–1913. Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1913.

  “Reading Reform.” Phonetic Journal (22 January 1853): 27.

  Records of Proceedings of the City Council of Boston, for the Year Commencing January 1, 1909. Boston: City of Boston, 1910.

  Robinson, J. H. Marietta, or The Two Students: A Tale of the Dissecting Room and “Body Snatchers.” Boston: Jordan & Wiley, 1846.

  Rogers, Alan. Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008.

  Sappol, Michael. A Traffic of Dead Bodies: Anatomy and Embodied Social Identity in Nineteenth-Century America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.

  Savage, Edward H. A Chronological History of the Boston Watch and Police, from 1631 to 1865, Together with the Recollections of a Boston Police Office, or Boston by Daylight and Gaslight, from the Diary of an Officer Fifteen Years in the Service. Boston: Edward Savage, 1865.

  Savage, Thomas S., and Jeffries Wyman. “Notice of the External Characters and Habits of Troglodytes Gorilla, a New Species of Orang from the Gaboon River.” Boston Journal of Natural History (December 1847): 417–42.

  Senn, David R., and Paul G. Stimson. Forensic Dentistry. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2010.

  Sibley, John Langdon. Diary [“Sibley’s Private Journal”], 1846–1882. Harvard University Archives. Online.

  ———, et al. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University: In Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: C. W. Sever, 1873.

  “Sketch of Dr. Charles T. Jackson.” Popular Science Monthly (July 1881): 404–07.

  Small, Miriam Rossiter. Oliver Wendell Holmes. New York: Twayne, 1963.

  Smith, S. P. “Recollections by Author of ‘America.’” Harvard Graduate (February 1893): 161–70.

  Sprague, William B. Annals of the American Unitarian Pulpit, or Commemorative Notices of Distinguished American Clergymen of the Unitarian Denomination in the United States, from its Commencement to the Close of the Year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-five. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1865.

  Stark, James Henry. Stark’s Antique Views of Ye Towne of Boston. Boston: J. H. Stark, 1901.

  State Street Trust Company. Some Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston: Being a Collection of Sketches of Notable Men and Mercantile Houses Prominent During the Early Half of the Nineteenth Century in the Commerce and Shipping of Boston. Boston: State Street Trust, 1918.

  Stone, James W., ed. Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster, Indicted for the Murder of Dr. George Parkman: Before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Holden at Boston, on Tuesday, March 19, 1850. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1850.

  Story, Ronald. The Forging of an Aristocracy: Harvard and the Boston Upper Class, 1800–1870. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1980.

  Sullivan, Robert. The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman. Boston: Little, Brown, 1971.

  “Suspected Murder of George Parkman, M.D.” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (5 December 1849): 366–67.

  Taylor, Albert Swaine. Medical Jurisprudence. 3rd ed. London: John Churchill, 1849.

  Thompson, George. Venus in Boston: And Other Tales of Nineteenth-Century City Life. 1854. Reprint, edited by David S. Reynolds and Kimberly R. Gladman. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.

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  “Trial for Malpractice.” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (5 February 1857): 9–23.

  Trial of Professor John W. Webster for the Murder of Dr. George Parkman. Boston: John A. French / Boston Herald Steam Press, 1850.

  The Trial of Prof. John W. Webster, Indicted for the Murder of Dr. George Parkman. Reported for the Boston Journal. Boston: Redding & Co., 1850.

  Trial of Professor John W. Webster for the Murder of Doctor George Parkman: Reported Exclusively for the N.Y. Daily Globe. New York: Stringer & Townsend, 1850.

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  The Twelve Days’ Trial of Dr. John W. Webster. London: James Gilbert, 1850

  Upton, Francis. A Statement of Reasons Showing the Illegality of That Verdict Upon Which Sentence of Death Has Been Pronounced Against John W. Webster for the Alleged Murder of George Parkman. New York: Stringer & Townsend, 1850.

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  Warren, John Collins, et al. Report of the Overseers of Harvard College, Appointed to Visit the Medical School in 1849. Boston: John Wilson, 1849.

  Warren, John J. “The Collection of the Boston Phrenological Society: A Retrospect.” Annals of Medical History (Spring 1902): 1–11.

  “The Webster Case.” Monthly Law Reporter (May 1850): 1–16.

  Webster, John White. John White Webster Papers, 1837–1850. Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society.

  ———. The Papers of John White Webster, 1840-1968 (inclusive) 1840–1850 (bulk). Archive. Harvard University Archives.

  ———. A Manual of Chemistry on the Basis of Professor Brande’s. Boston: Richardson & Lord, 1828.

  Willard, Joseph A. Half a Century with Judges and Lawyers. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895.

  Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888.

  Wilson, Thomas L. V. The Aristocracy of Boston; Who They Are and What They Were: Being a History of the Business and Business Men of Boston, for the Last Forty Years, by One Who Knows Them. Boston: published by the author, 1848.

  Winsor, Justin, ed. Biographical Contributions: No. 52, The Librarians of Harvard College 1667–1877. Cambridge, MA: Library of Harvard University, 1897.

  ———, and C. F. Jewett. The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630–1880. Boston: Ticknor, 1880.

  Winter, Alison. Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

  Woolson, Abba Goold. Browsing Among Books: And Other Essays. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881.

  Wyman, Jeffries. Biographical Memoir of Augustus Addison Gould, 1805–1866. Revised by William Healey Dall. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1905.

  Illustration Credits

  All illustrations are from the 1879 Frederick D. Linn & Co. reprint of George Bemis’s Report of the Case of John W. Webster (1850), with the exception of the photograph of John W. Webster, which is reproduced courtesy of the Houghton Library of Harvard University.
/>   Front pastedown and free endpaper: Plan of the basement of the Medical College

  Title page: Detail of Massachusetts Medical College

  Part I: Map of the neighborhood by the Medical College

  Part II: Dr. George Parkman

  Part III: Professor John White Webster

  Part IV: Detail of “Herculan” envelope addressed to Marshal Tukey, 30 November 1849

  Part V: Details of remains discovered in the Medical College

  Part VI: Photograph of Professor John White Webster (Louis Arthur Holman collection: MS Keats 10 #39, Houghton Library, Harvard University)

  Rear pastedown and free endpaper: Plan of the second story of the Medical College

  Index

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  Page numbers followed by n refer to endnotes.

  A. A. Foster & Co., 84–85

  abortion, 25, 65, 71, 106, 144, 285n

  Adams, Charles Francis, 4

  Adams, Henry, 267

  Adams, John Quincy, 4

  Agassiz, Louis, 32, 236, 267

  Ainsworth (Professor Frederick S.), 22, 25, 26

  Albert, Madeline, 104

  Andrews, Gustavus, 128, 138, 197, 225, 249, 252, 300n

  appeals and pardon requests

  angry letters to Governor Briggs, 250–52

  pardon requests, 233–34, 237, 242, 246

  petitions for clemency, 231, 242–44, 246, 247, 248–49

  writ of error, 234, 237–38

  Appleton, Charles, 172

  Appleton, William, 260

  Aram, Eugene, 227

  Asch-ph***** (mummy), 235–37, 316n

  Bachi, Pietro (aka Bartolo), 33–35, 221

  Barly, William, 172

  Barnum, P. T., 91, 266

  Barrett, Thomas, 172

  Beacon Hill Reservoir, 42

  Bemis, George

  added to Webster case, 171, 173–74, 307n

  after Webster’s conviction, 237, 244, 261–62

  payment for services, 262–63, 322n

  during Webster’s trial, 176, 177, 197–99, 205, 210, 222–23

  Bermondsey Horror, 156, 157

  Bigelow, Henry Jacob

  after Webster arrest, 142–43, 144, 223

  Boston Society for Medical Improvement, 14, 17–18

  Cambridge Musical Association, 35

  and Clapp’s search in college, 73

  and discovery of Parkman’s remains, 115–16, 117

  education and early career, 12–13

  Egyptian mummy and, 236

  fondness for lock picking, 115

  hired by Medical College, 12, 277n

  love of animals, 16

  Medical College opening lecture, 11–14

  medical jurisprudence, 14, 244

  Phineas Gage and, 15–17, 18, 73, 236

  and Webster’s privy break-in, 105

  Bigelow, Jacob, 12, 106, 160–61

  Bigelow, John, 44, 140, 152

  Bigelow, Susan, 16

  Blake, James, 51–52, 54, 116

  Blatchford, Thomas, 244

  blood for chemistry lectures, 26–27, 29, 85

  bodies for dissecting, 10, 23–26, 65

  books about Webster, 162, 228–30, 261–62

  Boston Courier, 67, 147, 158, 227, 228

  Boston Daily Advertiser, 136

  Boston Daily Atlas, 136, 224, 249

  Boston Daily Bee

  on the murder, 132, 156

  support for Mayor Bigelow, 44

  on the trial, 168, 227–28

  on Webster’s arrest, 132–33, 136–37, 148

  on Webster’s financial affairs, 146, 228

  Boston Daily Chronotype, 136, 147–48

  Boston Daily Evening Transcript

  murder and trial, 157–58, 196, 227, 249, 297n

  news, general, 67, 158, 235

  on Parkman disappearance, 55, 61

  Webster as reader, 61, 94–95

  Boston Daily Journal, 55–56, 157, 196, 255, 297n

  Boston Daily Mail, 136, 180, 185, 229, 235, 247

  Boston Herald

  attacks on Tukey, 97, 193, 285n

  on “dead house” incident, 157

  on the murder, 132, 148, 161, 162–63

  news, general, 97, 245, 287n, 299n

  on the trial, 168–69, 185, 206, 209–10, 222, 228–29

  on Webster’s arrest, 132, 136, 137, 139

  Boston, MA

  in 1868, xvii, xviii

  population growth, 1830–1850, 42, 282n

  Boutillier, 104

  Boutwell, George S., 323n

  Brahmins, 267

  Briggs, George, 231, 236, 242–43, 244, 245, 250–51

  Brontë, Charlotte, 158

  Browne, Albert, 4

  Browne, Albert Gallatin, Jr., 267

  Browne, Charles Farrar, 323n

  Burke and Hare, 104

  Burnham, police officer, 98, 293n

  Burroughs, George, 265

  Byram, Robert J., 201, 223

  California gold rush, 71, 94

  Cambridge Chronicle, 7, 22, 146, 156, 320n

  Cambridge Musical Association, 35, 160

  campus clubs and activities, 9–10

  Cannon, Benjamin F., 165

  capital punishment

  abolition in Michigan, 248

  dental evidence used by prosecutor, 187

  judges required for capital cases, 170–71

  one-year-delay law, 248–49, 265

  questions about, during jury selection, 172

  sentencing of John Webster, 225–26

  Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, 248, 250

  see also execution of Webster

  carbon monoxide poisoning, 10

  Chamberlain, Artemas White, 4

  Chamberlain, Nathan Henry, 4

  Choate, Rufus, 200, 263

  cholera epidemics, 6–7, 47, 165

  Civis letters, 199–200, 209–10, 218, 233, 241

  Clapp, Derastus

  and discovery of Parkman’s remains, 117–18

  and Parkman’s former manservant, 45

  search for Parkman in college, 73–75

  search of Webster home, 131–32

  Webster’s arrest, 118–24, 297n

  work as auctioneer, 76

  Clark, doctor, 138

  Clifford, John

  after Webster’s conviction, 229, 237–38, 246, 262, 265

  Bemis added to Webster case, 173–74, 307n

  and Tremont House hotel fire, 188, 189

  during Webster’s trial, 174–76, 187, 198, 213–16, 222

  coal pen off Webster’s lab, 21, 81, 86

  Cochituate water, 42, 43, 107, 117

  confession by Webster, 238–42, 243, 264, 317n

  Cooke, Josiah, 268

  Cook, Roxanna, 14

  Corder, William, 104

  coroner (Pratt), 127, 134–35, 155, 298n

  coroner’s storage room, 155–57

  counterfeiters, 52, 65, 138, 148

  Courvoisier, François Benjamin, 264

  Craigie Bridge, 62, 65, 69, 120, 241, 259

  Craigie House, 30, 31, 32

  Crosby, James, 180, 195–96, 221

  Cummings, police officer, 128

  Cunningham, Andrew, 91

  Cunningham, Charles, 91, 131–32

  Cunningham, Charles, Jr., 91

  Cunningham, Mrs., 90–91, 92

  Cushing, John Perkins, 260

  Dabney, Carl, 233

  Dabney, John, 232–33

  Dabney, Sarah (Sally) Webster, 90, 92, 164

  Daves, John, 4

  David Copperfield (Dickens), xvii, 156, 196

  Davy Society, 10, 13

  Day, Albert, 231

  Day, Moses Henry, 4

  Day, Moses Henry, Sr., 4

  Deacon, Edward Preble, 36, 37

  Deaco
n House, 36–37

  “dead house,” 155–57

  Description of the Island of St. Michael, A (Webster), 162

  Dexter, Franklin, 139, 200

  Dickens, Charles, xvii–xix, 268–70

  dissecting room disposal vault, 21–23, 25

  Dorsheimer, Philip, 4

  Dorsheimer, William, 4, 267

  Dunbar, carpenter, 253–54

  Eastman, Fondey & Company, 198

  electro-biology, 162, 205–6

  Elements of Medical Jurisprudence (Farr), 144

  Eliot, Charles William, 267

  Elsie Venner (Holmes), 267

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo

  Charles Dickens and, xvii, xviii

  Charles T. Jackson and, 185

  Henry Longfellow and, 159

  Oliver Wendell Holmes and, 27

  Pythologian Society, 9

  Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke), 219

  Euthanasy, or Happy Talks Towards the End of Life (Mountford), 253

  Eveleth, Sheriff, 168, 169–70, 175, 249, 252, 256–57

  Everett, Edward, 34, 162

  execution of Webster

  hanging, 254–57

  hidden from wife and daughters, 252, 319n

  preparations for, 252–54

  Farrar, Mrs., 138

  Father Mathew, 81

  Fayal, 221, 232–33, 241, 253, 261

  Fay, Judge, 225

  Fillmore, Millard, 245

  Fiske, Theophilus, 162, 206, 311n

  Franklin, John, 156

  Fuller, Albert, 46

  Fuller Foundry, 45–46, 106–7, 110

  Fuller, Leonard, 107

  Fuller, police officer, 101, 133–35

  Furber, Sarah, 24–26, 65, 106

  Gage, Phineas P., 15–17, 18–19, 73, 236

  gases generated by decomposition, 22

  Gay, George, 143

  Gay, Martin, 143

  Gilbert, Pedro, 145

  Gliddon, George, 235–37, 316n

  Goode, Washington, 147–48, 248, 251

  Goodrich, Charles Bishop, 237, 238

  Gould, Nathaniel, 197–99, 212, 310n

  grapevines, 21, 74, 89–90, 100, 110, 240, 249

  Great Expectations (Dickens), xvii

  Greene, Benjamin H., 196, 244, 310n

  Grimes, J. S., 206

  Grove Street Murder, 57

  gutta-percha, 90

  Hall, A. Oakey, 234, 316n

  handbills posted, 60, 67, 69–70, 93, 121, 175, 181, 195

  hands found in Charles River, 160–61

 

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