On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
made on the 23 rd of May , and was laid before a committee appointed to consider Dr . Webster ' s case on the 2 nd instant . It commences by giving an account of the appointment which the latter made with Dr . Parkman at the laboratory . Dr . Webster ' s sole object in making that appointment was to state his pecuniary embarrassments to Dr . Parkman , and throw himself upon his mercy for further time and indulgence , for the sake of his family , if not for himself . He then goes on to describe what took place at the fatal visit paid by that gentleman : —
" Dr . Parkman agreed to call on me as I proposed . He came accordingly , between half-past one and two o ' clock , entering at the lecture-room door . I was removing some glasses from my lecture-room table into the room in the rear , called the upper laboratory . He came rapidly down the step , and followed me into the laboratory . He immediately addressed me with great energy , ' Are you ready for me , sir ? Have you got the money ? ' I replied , ' No , Pr . Parkman ; ' and was then beginning to state my condition and my appeal to him , hut he would not listen to me , and interrupted me with much vehemence—he called me scoundrel and liar , and went on heaping on me the most bitter taunts and
opprobrious epithets . While he was speaking he drew a handful of papers from his pocket , and took from , among them my two notes , and also an old letter from Dr . Hossack , written many years ago , and congratulating him on his success in getting me appointed professor of chemistry . * You see , ' he said , ' I got you into your office , and now I will get you out of it . ' He put back into his pocket all the papers except the letter and the notes . I cannot tell how long the torrent of threats and invectives continued , and I cannot recal to memory but a small portion of what he said . At first I kept interposing , trying to pacify him so that I might obtain the object for which I sought the interview , but I could not stop him , and soon my
temper was up ; I forgot everything , and felt nothing but the sting of his words . I was excited to the highest degree of passion , and , while he was speaking and gesticulating in the most violent manner , thrusting the letter and his fist into my face , in my fury I seized whatever was handiest—it was a stick of wood—and dealt him an instantaneous blow with all the force that passion could give it . I did not know , or think , or care where I should hit him , or how hard , or what the effect would be . It was on the side of his head , and there was nothing to break the force of the blow . He iell instantly on the pavement . There was no second blow . He did not move . I stooped down over him , and he seemed to be
lifeless . Blood flowed from his mouth , and I got a sponge and wiped it away . I got ammonia and applied it to his nose , but without effect . Perhaps I spent ten minutes in attempts to resuscitate him , but I found he was absolutely dead . In my horror and consternation I ran instinctively to the doors and bolted them—the doors of the lecture-room and of the laboratory below—and then , what was I to ,. do ? It never occurred to me to _ go out and declare wtfat had been done , and obtain assistance . I saw nothing but the alternative of a successful movement and the concealment of the body on the one hand , and of infamy and destruction on the other . The first thing I did , as soon as I could do anything , was to draw
the body into the private room adjoining ; then I took off the clothes and began putting them into the fire which was burning in the upper laboratory . They were all consumed there that afternoon , with papers , pocketbook , and whatever they contained . I did not examine the pockets nor remove anything except the watch . I saw that , or the chain of it , hanging out . I took it and threw it over the bridge as I went to Cambridge . My next move was to get the body into the sink which stands in the small private room ; by setting the body partially erect against the corner , and by getting up into the sink myself , I succeeded in drawing it up there ; it was entirely dismembered . It was quickly done , as a work of terrible and desperate necessity . "
He then goes on to describe the means which ho took to dispose of the body , so as to remove all trace of the horrid deed . This done he returned home to his unsuspecting wife and family : — " I left the college to go home as late as six o ' clock . I collected myself as well as I could , that I might meet my family and others with composure . On Saturday evening I read the notice in the Transcript respecting Dr . Parkman ' s disappearance . I was then deeply impressed with the necessity of immediately taking some ground as to the character of my interview with him ; for I saw that it must become known that I had had such an interview , as I had appointed it first by an unsealed note on Tuesdayand on Friday had myself called at his
, house in open day , and ratified the arrangement , and had there been seen , and had probably been overheard by the man servant , and I knew not by how many persons , Dr . Parkman might have been seen entering my rooms , or how many persons he might have told by the way where he was going—the interview would , in all probability , be known ; and I must be ready to explain it . The question exercised me much ; but on Sunday my course was t . « Ken . I would go into Boston and be the first to declare myself the person , as yet unknown , with , whom Dr . Parkman had made the appointment . I would take the
ground that I had invited him to the college to pay him money , and that I had paid it . Accordingly , I fixed upon the sum by taking the small note and adding interest , which it appears 1 cast erroneously . If I had thought ofthiscour . se earlier I should not have deposited Pettee ' s check for 90 dollars in the Charles River Bank on Saturday , but should have suppressed it , as going so far to make up the sum which 1 was to havo professed to have paid the day before , and which Pettee knew I had by me at the hour of interview ; it had not occurred to me that I should ever show the notes cancelled in proof of it , or I should have destroyed the large note ,
and let it be inferred that it was gone with the missing man , and I should only have kept the small one , which was all that I could pretend to have paid . My single thought was concealment and safety ; everything else was incidental to that , I was in no state to consider my ulterior pecuniary interest . Money , though I needed it so much , was of no account with me in that condition of mind . If I had designed and premeditated the homicide of Dr . Parkman , in order to get the possession of the notes and cancel my debt , I not only should not have deposited Pettee ' s check the next day , but should have made some show of getting and having the money the morning before . I should have drawn my money from the bank and taken occasion to mention to the cashier that I had a sum to make up that day for Dr . Parkman ,
and the same to Henchman , when I borrowed the ten dollars . 1 should have remarked that I was so much short of a sum that I was to pay Parkman . I borrowed the money of Henchman as mere pocket money for the day . If I had intended the homicide of Dr . P ., I should not have made the appointment with him twice , and each time in so open a manner that other persons would almost certainly know of it ; and I should not have invited him to my rooms at an hour when the college would be full of students and others , and an hour when I was most likely to receive calls from others , for that was the hour , just after the lecture , at which persons having business with me , or in my rooms , were always directed to call . "
After he had made the above confession the Reverend Dr . Putnam asked Professor Webster , in the most solemn manner , if it had never occurred to him , before the death of Dr . Parkman , that the death of that individual would be desirable ? Dr . Webster replied with much energy : — " No , never ; as I live , and as God is my witness , never ! I was no more capable of such a thought than one of my innocent children . I never had the remotest idea of injurine Dr . Parkman until the moment the blow was struck . Dr . Parkman was extremely severe and sharp—the most provoking of men—and I am irritable and passionate . A quick-handed and brief violence of temper has been a besetting sin of mj life . I was an only child , much indulged , and I have never acquired the control over my passions that I ouj * ht to have acquired early , and the consequence is all this . " 44
But you notified to Dr . Parkman to meet you at a certain hour , and told him you would pay him , when you knew you had not the money !" " No , " he replied , " I did not tell him I would pay him , and there is no evidence that I told him so , except my own words spoken after his disappearance , and after I had determined to take the ground that I had paid him . Those words were of the miserable tissue of falsehoods to which I was committed from the moment I had begun to conceal the homicide . I never had a thought of injuring Parkman . "
There is much , discussion in relation to the confession of Professor Webster , its verity , and its influence with regard to the decision of the governor and council in his case . In his first petition to them he solemnly averred his innocence , and that he was the victim of conspiracy and circumstances . In the last he admits that he " killed Dr . Parkman , but in hot blood , under provocation . The council did not receive the confession with perfect reliance . They did not believe that instantaneous death could be caused by a blow from a piece of grape vine , such as the
professor had stated the weapon to be . 'Ihree eminent physicians were separately asked their opinions on this point , and they agreed that the death could not have been so caused . Some other doubts have also occurred in relation to this confession . It is said that there is a disposition on the part of the governor to give Dr . Webster the greatest possible opportunity for clearing up the transaction ; but , if the confession bear upon it the marks of further equivocation , it will be quite impossible to commute the punishment .
The wife and daughters of the unfortunate convict had an interview with the Massachusetts Council on the 5 th instant . The opinion was that the late confession would not have any effoct in altering his sentence .
Untitled Article
MRS . CHISHOLM'S FAMILY EMIGRATION SCHEME . Mrs . Chisholm * s family group meeting of emigrants was held , on Tuesday , at the Royal British Institution , Tabernacle-row , City-road . The hall was crowded at an early hour by parties interested in the question of emigration . Among others present were the Earl of Harrowby , Lord Ashley , the Right Honourable Sidney Herbert , the Right Honourable
Stuart Wortley , the Right Honourable Vernon Smith , Mr . Robert Lowe , member of the House of Assembly , New South Wales , and a largo number of ladies . After some remarks by the Earl of Harrowby on the improved character of emigration of late year 3 , Mr . Sidney Herbert , M . P ., introduced Mr . Lowe , begging him to give the proposed emigrants and their friends the benefit of somo of his Australian experiences : —
Mr . Lowe , though he could not but feel it presumptuous to address that assemblage , under other circumstances , yet , as he had resided seven years in Sydney , and had had considerable opportunities of understanding the condition of the community , might offer a few hints to the intending emigrants . He had had there the honour and pleasure of knowing the lady who had called the meeting , and had watched the wonderful efforts
which she had made during a succession , of years on behalf of the emigrants who had already arrived . He had seen her the tenant of an humble shed , once set apart for convicts by the Government , there subjecting herself to many inconveniences , in order that she might watch over the morals of the destitute girls in Sydney . Indeed , what she had done and endured no one could altogether explain . He had known her again , when she found a number of females hesitating and hanging round the towns , go forth at their head , and settle a colony of her own , as it were , in the wilderness . For these reasons he could not but think that with her the matter was m very good hands ; for not only was she a philanthropist , but she was one who understood . her undertaking , and both
had discrimination in her benevolence , who knew , sides of the question , and was acquainted as well with the condition of the labouring people here as of the corresponding class in the colonies . He , therefore , felt convinced that , if she were properly seconded , she might carry out well the means which she had so well devised , and would thus totally revolutionize the question of emigration , and enable it to stand on a basis altogether different from that which it had occupied heretofore , advantageous alike to the colonies and to the mother country . No words could tell the advantage it was to the poor to emigrate to a country where food was abundant , where clothing need be but very light , where fuel could be had for the cutting down , and where houses could be built in a day or two . "
Lord Robert Grosvenor made a few remarks m approbation of the society , from whose labours he anticipated much good to the community . Mr . Sidney Herbert stated briefly the principles on which the society was founded : — f * Supported , as emigration had been by artificial means , sometimes by individual benevolence , sometimes by State assistance , it had still not thrived . A certain amount of good , doubtless , had been done , but never anything to speak of . The persons most to be benefitted by emigration were the labouring classes ; and , what it was an object for the labouring classes to obtain they must always , experience had shown , obtain by their own exertions . This society offered the means to such , by which the best
they might , if they chose , effect emigration in manner for themselves . It had for its object a system self-supporting , by which the industrious classes were enabled , having first contributed half their passagemoney , to borrow the other half , without interest , from the society , and this second half they were required to refund within two years from their earnings in the colony . The savings wanted to raise the necessary sum for the passage , the weekly payments made towards this fund to the society would be the best evidence that those to whom the loans were granted were induHtrious , provident , frugal , and economical ; and this again would form the very best guarantee which they could have for the repayment of the money lent . The honesty of such men it would be difficult to doubt . "
Mrs . Chisholm was at this time busily engaged in introducing several friendless young women to family groups which had undertaken to protect them during the voyage . It was stated that , amongst others , the society was about to send out three wives to join their husbands , and two children to join their parents . Lord Ashley announced also what Mrs . Chisholm had stated in conversation , that nine constant young men had , in their prosperity , remembered those who had been their *« sweethearts" in adversity , and were now waiting anxiously to have the marriage rites solemnized whenever the society would safely transmit to them the young women in question ; and he called attention to the fact that such schemes as Mrs . Chisholm ' s could not be organized or carried out without expense .
Mr . F . Neison gave some statistical information as to the proposed proceedings of the society . The present proposition was to send out 25 , 000 emigrants , for which purpose loans would be required to the extent of £ 50 , 000 . The whole number of 25 , 000 was to be spread over four years—8300 in the first year ; in the second , 6000 ; in the third , 6500 ; and in the fourth , 4200 . The loans towards the passage would be repaid at or before the expiration of two years ; and the groups , consisting of families and single individuals , would pay a proportionate forfeit , if any one of the group should prove a defaulter .
Mr . Stuart Wortley had come unprepared for speechmaking , and hardly conversant with the system of the society . What he had heard had made him a subscriber . He might , therefore , hope that it would havo the same effect upon others , and so give a practical conclusion to a most instructive
evening . Mr . Lowe expressed for Mrs . Chisholm the pleasure felt by that benevolent lady at the numerous attendance ; and after several gentlemen had sent down their subscriptions , the meeting dispersed . It was throughout crowded and orderly . The several speakers were well received and much applauded , and , though the proceedings were too practical to waken enthusiasm , they seemed at least to have secured approbation .
Untitled Article
DEATH OF MRS . GLOVER . But a few , a very few days , have elapsed since we briefly recorded a tribute of respect paid by the public to the professional and private merits of Mrs . Glover , on the occasion of her benefit at Drury-lano Theatre . The evidences of extreme suffering manifested by Mrs . Glover on that evening-rher inability to go
Untitled Article
July 20 , 1850 . ] SCfl * & *» & **? ^ 389
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 20, 1850, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1847/page/5/
-