-Utrf-tr i i in n VV 'WE CO WHERE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES POINT THE WAV; WHEN TIIEV CEASE TO LEAD, WE CEASE TO FOLLOW. BY JOHN G. GIVEN EHENSBURG, THURSDAY, JULY II, 1850. VOL. C- IV O. 40. Nr -yr ivr I S O E Xi X. A IT E O US. Tte Coa!essioa of Professor Wets!!-, c! ths Mur der of Dr. Parkmau. Boston. July 2, 1830; At the meeting of the Council.'this moij ning, the case of Prof. Webster was re ferred to a committee. Before the committee, at 12 o'clock, ap peared the Rev. Di. Putnam, the spiritual adviser of the condemned, with a petition for a commutation of punishment, togeth er with a confession that he killed Dr. Parkman. The Reverend gentleman prefaced ' the statement by a few remarks relative to the manner in which the confession was made to him. He stated that he had no previ ous acquaintanceship with Prof. Webster, before being called to act in the capacity of his spiritual adviser. In the first few weeks of his visits, he sought no acknowl edgement of the prisoner. At length, on the 23d of May, he visited him in his cell and demanded of him, for his own well being, that he should tell the truth in re gard to the matter, and he acceded to thp request, by making a statement, which was cow submitted for the consideration oi the Council. THE CONFESSION. On Tuesday, 20th of November, I sent the note to Dr. Parkman, which, it appears was carried by the boy. Maxwell. I han ded it to Littlefield unsealed. It was to nk Dr. Parkm mt) call at my rooms, on Friday, the 23d, after my lecture. He had become of late very inportunate for his nav. He had threatened me with a 1 suit: to nut an officer in mv house, an J to drive me from my professorship, if I did not pay him. The purport of my note was simply to ask the conference. I did not tell him, in it, what I could do, or what I had to say about th payment. I wish ed gain, for those few days, a release from his solicitations, to which I was liable ev ery day, on occasions, and in a manner very disagreeable and alarming, and also to avert for so long a time, at least, the fulfilment of recent threats of severe mea sures. I did not expect to be able to pay him when Friday should arrive. My pur pose was, if he should accede to my pro posed interview, to state to him my em barrassments and utter inability to pay him at present to apologise for those things in my conduct which had offended him to throw myself upon his mercy to beg for further time and indulgence, for the ake of my family, if not for myself, and to make as good promises to him as I could have any hope of keeping. I did not hear from him on that- day, nor the next, (Wednesday) but I found on Thurs day ha had been abroad in pursuit of me without finding me. I imagined he had forgotten the appointment, or else did not mean to wait for it. I feared he would come in upon me at my lecture hour, or while I whs preparing my experiments tor it; therefore. I called at his house on that doming, (Friday,) between eight and nine o'clock, to rtfnind him ot my wish to see hira at the College, at half-past one my lecture closing at one. 1 did net stop to talk with him, fr I expected the conversa tion would be a long one, and I had my lecture to prepare for, for it was necessary . for me to have my time, and, also, to keep By mind free from other exciting matters. DK. Parkman agreed to call on me as 1 proposed., He came, accordingly, between half-pasr one and two o'clock, entering at Oy lecture room door. I was engaged in removing some glasses from my lecture Mom table, into the room in the rear, oiled the upper laboratory, lie came rapidly down the step, aad followed me Into the laboratory. He immediately ad dressed me with great energy-"Are you ready for me, sir? Have you got the money?" I replied, "No. Dr. Parkman;" nd I was then beginning to state my con dition, and my appeal to him, but he would Hot listen to me, and interrupted me with much vehemence. He called me a scoun drel ffd a fiar, and went on heaping on ttethe most bitter taunts and opprobrious epithets. While he was speaking he drew handful of papers from his pocket, and took frgrb among them my two notes, and Moan.o!d letter, from Dr. Hossack, writ 'tenmiary years ago, congratulating him or his success in getting me appointed Professor of Chemistry. "You sec," he said, "I got you into your office, and now 1 wtt get you out of it,' He put back in V) his pocket all the papers except the let ter and the notes. 1 cannot tell how long fr.fc torrent of threats and invectives con ti cued and I can recall to memorv but a 3ndl portion of whaUthe said; at first, I fcept imposing, ttlo pacify him, bo bat I f&rght obtain me object for which 1 ought the interview, but I could not stop Mm," and soon my own temper was up; 1 forgot everything, and felt nothing but the tbg of his words. I was excited to the k'ghesl degree of passion, and while he Jt speaking and gesticulating in the most violent and menacing manner, thrusting the letter and his fist into my face, in my fury, I seized whatever thing 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 knBw, or think, or care, where I should hit him, nor how hard, nor what the effect would be. It was on the side of ihe head, and there was nothing to break the force of the blow. He fell 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 some ammonia and applied it to his nose, but without effect. Perhaps I spent ten minutes in attempts to resucitate him, but I found he was absolutely dead. In my horror and consternation, I ran instinc tively to the doors of the lecture room and of the laboratory below. xnd then, what was I to do? It never occurred to me to go out and declare what had been done, and obtain assistance. I saw nothing but the alternative of a successful movement and concealment of the body on the one hand, and of infamy and destruction on the other. The fitat thing I did as soon as I could do anything, was to draw the body into the private room adjoining, where I took off the clothes, .and began putting them into the fire, which was burning in the upper laboratory. They were all con sumed there that afternoon, with papers, pocket-book, and whatever they contained. I did not examine the pockets, nor remove anything, except the watch. I saw tint, or the chain of it, hanging out. I took it, ami threw it over the birdge as I went to Cambridge. My next move was get the bodv 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 succeed ed in drawing it up there. It was entirely dismembered. It was quickly done, as a work of terrible and desperate necessity. The only instrument was the knile found by the officers, in the tea-chest, which I kept for cutting corks. I made no use of the. Turkish knife, as it was called at the trial. That had long been kept on my parlor matlepieee, in Cambridge as a cu rious ornament. My daughters frequently cleansed it; hence the marks of oil and whiting found on it. I had lately brought it into Boston to get the silver sheath re paired. While dismembering the bodv, a stream of Cochituate water was running through the sink, carrying off the blood in a pipe that passed down through the low er laboratory. There must have been a leak in tie pipe for the ceiling below was stained immediately around it. There was a fire burning in the furnace of the lower laboratory. Littlefield was mista ken in thinking there had never been a fire there. He had probably never kin dled one, but I had done it myself several times. I had done it that day for the pur pose of making oxygen gas. The head nd viscera were put into the furnace thai day, and the fuel heaped on. 1 did not examine, at night, to see to what degree they were consumed. Some of the ex tremities were put in there, I believe, on that day; the pelvis, and some of the limbs perhaps, were all put under the lid of the lecture room table, in what is called the well a deep sink, lined with lead; a stream of ('ochiiuate was turned into it, and kept running through it all Friday night; throax was put into a similar well, in the lower laboratory, which I filled with water, and threw in a quantity of potash, which 1 found there. This disposition of the remains was not changed till after the visit of the officers on Monday. When the body had been thus all disposed of. I cleared away all traces of what had been done. I think the stick with which the fatal blow had been struck, proved to be the stump of a large grape vine S3y two inches in diameter, and two feet long. It was one of several pieces which I had carried in from Cambridge long before, for the purpose of showing the effect of certain chemical fluids in coloring wood, by being absorbed into the pores. The grape vine, being a very porous wood, was well adapted to this purpose. Another longer stick had been used as intended, and exhibited to the students. This one had not been used. I put it into the fire. 1 took up the two notes either from the table or the floor, I think the table close by where Dr. P. had fallen. I seized an old metalic pen lying on the table, dashed it across the face and through the signa tures, and put them in my pocket. "I do not know why I did this rather than put them in the fire, for 1 had not considered for a moment what effect either mode of dispo sing of them would have on the mortgage, or my indebtedness to Dr. P. and the oth er persons interested; and I had not yet giv en a, single thought to the question as to what account I should give of the object or result of my interview with Dr. P. I never saw the sledge hammer spoken of by Littlefield; never knew of its existence at least 1 have no recollection of it. I left ihe College to go home, as late as six o' clock. I collected myself as well as I could, thai I might meet my family and others with composure. On Saturday, I v isited my rooms at the College, but made no change in the disposition of the remains and laid no plans for my future course. On Saturday evening, I read the notice in th "Transcript ," respecting his disappear ance. I was then deeply impressed with the necessity of immediately taking some ground as to the character of my interview with Dr. Parkman, for I saw that it must become known that 1 had such an inter view, as 1 had appointed it first by an un sealed note on Tuesday, and on Friday had mysilf called at his house in open day. and ratified the arrangement, and had there been seen, and had been probably overheard by the man servant, and 1 knew not by hov many persons. Dr P. might have been seenentering-my rooms, or how many peasons might he 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 taken. 1 wo'd go into Boston and be the first to declare myself the person, as yet unknown, with whom Dr. Parkman had made ihe ap pointment. I would take the ground that I had invited him to the College U pay him money, and that I had paid it. Ac cordingly, I fixed upon the sum by taking the small note and adding interest, which it appears I cast erroneously. If I had thought of ibis course earlier, I should not O have deposited Peitee's check for 90 in the Charles River Bank on Saturday, but should have suppressed it, as going so far to make up the sum which I was to have professed to have paid the day before, and which Pettee knew 1 had by me at the hour of interview; it had not occurred to me that 1 should ever show the notes cancelled in proof of it, or I should have destroyed the large note, and let it be in ferred that it was gone with the missing man. and I should only have kept the small one, which was all that I could pre tend 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 1 needed it so much, was of no account with me in that coudiiion of mind. If I had designed and premeditated the homicide of Dr. Park man, 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 on that day for Dr. Parkman, and the same to Henchman, when I bor rowed the S10. 1 should have remarked that I was so much short cf 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 on 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 I was mcs: likely to receive calls from others; for that was the l our, just after the lec ture, at which time persons having busi ness with me, or in my room, were al ways directed to call. I looked into my rooms on Sunday afternoon, but did noth ing. After the first visit of the officers, I took the pelvis and some of the limbs from the lower well, and threw them into vault under the privy. I took the thorax from the well below, and packed it in the tea chest, as found. My own impression has been, that this was not done till after the second visit of the officers, which was on Tuesday; but Kingsley's testimony shows that it must have been done sooner. The perforation of the thorax had been made by the knife. At the time of remo ving the viscera, on Wednesday, I put on kindlings, and made a fire in the furnace below, having first poked down the ashes. Some of the limbs, I cannot remember which, or how many were consumed in that time. This was the last I had to do with the remains. The tin box was de signed to receive the thorax, though I had not concluded where 1 should finally put the box The fish hooks, tied up as grap pels, were to be used for drawing up the parts in the vault, whenever I should de teimine how to dispose of them, and. get strains enough. I had a confused double object in ordering the box, and making the grapples. I had, hefore, intended to get such things to send to Fayal; the box to hold the plants, and other articles, which I wished to protect from the salt water and the sea air, and the hooks to be used there in obtaining coral-line plant3 ; from the sea. It was this previously in tended use of them, that suggested and mixed itself up with the idea of the other i application. I doubt, even now, to which use they would have been applied; I had not used the hooks at the lime of the dis covery. The tan put into the tea chest was taken from a barrel of it that had been in Cte laboratory for some time. The bag of tan brought in on Monday was not used, nor intended to be used; it belonged toa quantity obtained by me a long time ago, for experiments in tanning, and was sent in by the family to get it out of the way. Its being sent at the time was ac cidental. I was not aware that I had put the knife iu the chest. The stick found in the saucer of ink, was for making coarse diagrams on cloth. The bunch of filed keys had teen used long ago by me in Fruit street, and thrown carelessly by into a drawer., I never examined them, and do not kinw whether they would fit any of the locks of the College or not. If there we other keys fitting doors with which I hid nothing to do, I suppose they must have been all duplicates, or keys of former locfcs left there by the mechanics or janitor. I know nothing about them, and should aever be likely to notice them amongst the multitude of articles, large and small. f all kinds, collected in my rooms. Tie janitor had furnished ma with a key t the dissecting room, for the admission oi medical friends visiting the College, l.ik I had never used it. The nitric acid cn the stairs was not used to remove spots of blood, but was dropped by accident When the officers called for j me on Fridiy, the 30th, i was in doubt, whether I vas under arrest, or whether a ! more stricl'search of my rooms was to be had; the latter hypothesis being hardly less appalJiig than the former When I found that we wnt over Cragies' Bridge, I thought tie arrest most probable. When 1 found tlut the carriage was stopping at the j:iil I vas sure of my fate. Before leaving tip carriage, I took a dose of strychnine from my pocket and swallowed it. I hadj prepared it in the shape of a pill before I left my laboratory on the 23d. I thought i could not bear to sur. vive detection I thought it was a large dose, "he state of my nervous system, probably, defeated its action partially. The effects of the poison were terrible neyond description. It was in operation at the Collegf, and before I went there, hut most severely aftei wards. I wrote but one of anonymous letters produced at the trial the one miiled at East Cambridge. The little bundle referred to in the letter de tained by the jailor, contained only a bot tle of citric acid, for domestic use. I had seen it stated in a newspaper, that I had purchased a quantity of oxalic acid, which,. was presumed, was to be used in removing blood stains. I wished the parcel to be kept untouched, that it might j be shown, if there should be occasion, what i; really was that I had purchased. I have drawn up, in separate papers," an explanation of theie I intended To make of the blood sent for on Thursday, the 22d, a'jd of the conversation with Little field a'liout the dissecting vault. I think that Pettee, in his testimony at the trial, put too strongly my words about having settled with Mr. P. Whatever I did say of the kind, was in ihe hope 1 entertained that I should be able to pacify Dr. P., and make some arrangement wit!: him; and was said in order to quiet Pettee, who was becoming restive under the suli citations of Dr. Parkman- After Dr. Webster had stated most cf the facts recorded above on the 23d Mav, mis question, wiui an ttie earnestness, so lemnity, and authority of lone that Dr. r.. . "e i i . i uui:uji was masier oi, was auuresseu to him : "Dr. Webster, in all probability your days are numbered; you cannot, you dare not speak falsely to me now; you must not die with a lie in your mouth; so, prove to yourself that your repentance for the j sins of your life is sincere tell me the I truth, then a confidence to be kept sa cred during your life time, and as much longer as my regard for the happiness of your family shall seem to me to require, and the interest of truth and justice to per mit. Search to the bottom of your heart for the history of your motives, and tell me, before God, did it ever occur to you, before the decease of Dr. Parkman, that his death, if you could bring it to pass, would be of great advantage to you, or at j least that personal injury to him might' possibly be the result of your expected conference with him? As a dying man, I charge you to answer me truly, and ex actly, or else be silent had you not such a thought?" "No, never, said he, with energy and feeling, "as I live, and as God is my wit ness, never! I was no more capable of such a thought than one of my innocent children. I never had the remotest idea of injuring Dr. P. until the moment the blow was struck. Dr. P. was extremely severe and sharp the most provoking of men and I am irituble and passionate. A quick handed and brief vielenue of tem per has been a besetting sin of my life. I was an only child much indulged and I have never acquired the control over my passions that I ought to have acquired early, and ihe consequence is all this.' "But you notified Dr. Parkman to meet you at a certain hour, and told hira 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 hira so. Except my own words spoken alter 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. 1 never had a thought of injuring Parkman." This was accompanied by the state ment in which Professor Webster attempts to explain as to his seeing Littlefield, sending for blood, and of enquiring about gases from the -au!t. After' reading the statement. Dr. Putnam proceeded to argue as to its truthfulness, saying that it was made when the writ of error was still pending. Also, that Professor Webster's estate was worth several thousand dollars, and that he was not in stich a strait as to commit such a crime deliberately. The previous petition from Professor Webster, protesting his innocence and praying for absolute pardon, he " said, was got'up by his family, who were unwavering ir. iheir belief in his innocence, until his confes sion was communicated to them about a week since. He concluded in asserting his belief that the confession was true. Members of the council have retained a copy of the petition prev iously presented, and withdrawn by the advice of Dr. Put nam, which will probably be published. It asserts his innocence, and it also asserts that Littlefield, or some other person, placed the remains in hi3 room, to com pass his ruin. Stale Loan. The Secetary of ihe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania advertises for prtpJsaIs for a l.an in bha!f of the State, of 83,300, 000, redeemable in thirty years at a rate of interest not exceeding four per cent., interest payable in gold and silver semi annually, on the first days of February and August, arid to be exempt from every species of taxation. Proposals will be received for the loan at the office of the Secretary, Harrishurg, until Tuesday, the 1st of October nxt. The proposals are ! to be opened cn that day, in the presence of the Governor, Sccretar, &c, when the loan will Le awarded to the highest bidder or bidders. Should he amount of bids exceed the sun of said loan, a pro rata distribution will be male among the highest biJdets. In no case will propo sals for less than SI, 000 be received. The j State reserves the right to accept the; w hole or any part of the sum offered, un less the proposals stipulate to the contrary. Coupons will be attached lo the certifi cates. The object of ihe loan is to meet the payment of the funded debt of th Com monwealth now due or becoming due, and for the payment of domest c creditors to the amount of SS5.000. The TLr?s Whig Candidates. The recent Federal State Convention, notwithstanding its care in exclueing cer tain aspirants from Strohm to Cressweil, has not been very successful after all. The Washington Examiner, the able Democratic organ of the Democratic party in Washington county, announces that Jo seph Henderson the Whig candidate for Surv eyor General, now a resident of that county, was a member of the administra tion of Iliiner at the time the infamous Buckshot War was projected, by which it was proposed "to treat the election as if it had never been held;" and so to deprive the Democratic majority of their rights. .Mr. Henderson may felicitate himself that this fact was not known by- the Conven tion, or else he too, would have been re pudited as unworthy and unsound. We say felicitate, for v presume he is anx ious for the honors of the October martyr dom. A precious trio are these Wrhig candi dates truly, and preciously are they com mended to favor. Dnngan, as the bitter enemy of the war Snyder, because he is the son of a man that the Whigs have al ways opposed, and Henderson, as a member of the Buckshot and Ball Regen cy in 1833, '33 Penn. E-'Poppy, have guns got legs?" No, James' "How do they kick, then?,' Exit Mary, with Jimmy in her arms, while Poppy falls fainting upon a sofa. Talkrng of "enlarging' newspapers the editor of the Chicgo Journal sugusts that &' not ihe largest cc!f that makes the test veal. A Dewier in Bo&tcn. The editor of the Cincinnati Inqzrirer, writing from Boston, tells the following story: Western folks feel in this city us though in a straight waistcoat, f r their personal liberty is so hedged in that free, dom of action is pone. Those addicted ta smoking especially, fet l loth to prome nade the streets, cigar in rauth fro:niha bare fact tfiat ths rnemies of the fragrant weed have forb;d its use in the streets cf Boston. I heard an excellent uneedctft of the ndrentures of a live Ilosierin this city, which illustrates ihe municipal .ifg. ulations of this mummy dissi cting' city better than a book. Aftnr a coed d nncr" at his hotel, he ignited a cigar, and Mar- ted lor a stroil. After a few tns a r3 iceman tapped him cn the shtufdt-r, rod informed him that-the penahv was two dollars for the offence cf smoking. Ho promtly pulled out a five dollar bill nnd rccivel a three in change. Prcc-eJinir on his walk, in a f-nv minutes next met a beggar pirl who ksked for somtl.ing to eat. Recollecting that he bad ihe rennins of a hunk of gingf rbrecd, the pi-cul.ax diVt tf Ilf sifilaod, in his pocket l.e crn- r. Uily prcfTcM d it to the u er.dicart. Austin whs he la; ped on t!:e shoulder by the pol.'iceman. and t li it was a?aint the laws of Hoston to give sway o2Y!. 3 it all bt-longed to the ci'y. cud req?s'sj two more ch-llars f r Lis grave offence. The thrre dollar b'll was drwn out. and when the policeman tendered cne in change it was refused by the JIooier. with the cool remark. 'No. keep it, shall tcant to tqhistle in a feu? ix.ir.vie:. Uisn's UcaiiEg Eiccrslca. "Did you ever hear of the scrape that I and uncle Zekie! had duckin'on't on th Connecticut?'' asked Jonathan Tin ber toes, while amusing bis eld Dutch hostess, who had agreed la entertain him under ihe roof of her log "cottage, for, and in consideration of, a Iran new tin milk pan. No; I never did do tell it," was the rep!-. Well yen must know that I and un cle Zeke took it into our heads one Satur day afternoon to go a gunning aiter ducks, in father's skiff; so in w ot and skulked down the river. A proper sight of ducks flew backwards and forwards, I tell ye and bimebya fevvon'emlit down by the marsh, and went to feeding on muscles I catched up my peauder horn to prime, and it slipped right cut of -my hand and sunk to the bottom of the river. The water was amazingly clear, cn i I could see it on the bottom. Now I could'nt swim a jot, so I sez to uncle Zeke, "ycu're a prettv clever fellow jest let me take your peauder horn to prime, and dont you think the stingy criiter wcu'dit.- Well," says I, "you're a pretty gccJ diver, an'if you'il dive and git it I'll give you a primiu." I thought he'd leave hispeauder horn, but he did'nt; but stuck it into his pocket and down he went -and there lie staid-" Hr-re the old lady opend her eyes with wonder and surprise, and a puse cf some minutes ensued, when Johnathan adJ.-d; "I locked down, nod what do you thiuk the criter was a doin"?" "Lord!" exclaimed the old Isdy, "I'm, sure 1 dont kltow." "There he was." said cur heTO, set tin'righv on the bottom of the river, pour in' the ptauder out cf my hern into hizen." - ' Matrimonial Breezes. Arrah, Pat, and v.'hy did I marry ye, j:st tell me that for it's myself ihat's hud to maintain ye ever since the blest day that Father O' Flanagan sent me home lo your houaej" Swate jewel," replied Pat not relish ing the charge, "and it's myself that hopt'S I may Jive to see the day -when ye're a widow wiping over the co!d sad that covers me; then by St. Patrick I'll see how ye get along without ms honey." , Cool. In a large city like New York, people very peuerally mind their own business, and do net peep into their neighbor's key hole. One cf these hous es which contains many 'families was dis covered to be on fire in the lower story some lime ago- The -Watchman rappei at the d or. tenant cf the. upper soiy looked out of the window and tskedwhat was wanted. "Your house is on fire. The first story is all iu a L!aze," cric-d the watchman. "Very well," said tho tenant, drawing in his l ead, "ti ll the people that live t'lero it is ncr.t' of my business, as I occupy the fourth s.tory. - ' - Pjiongapiiy. A lazy boy ctrv in In diana spells Andrew Jackswa i.-,?-:.- -tu Jaxu. - 3?A mil ia C;l or -u hvl a eg nt wi:i a be-r , and i:capciby f o -- ir
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers