A man was murdered on the 23rd of November, 1849, his body dismembered and dumped in the furnace of a college laboratory. Thirteen days later, a suspect was arrested. What followed became known as the Parkman-Webster case, a sensational trial that horrified the public not only because of its gruesome details, but because the victim and the accused belonged to Cambridge’s elite. Newspapers across the country reported on every development, crowds gathered outside the courthouse daily, and Harvard Medical College, based in Boston, found itself at the center of a scandal that threatened its reputation. The investigation would ultimately hinge on early forms of forensic science, turning the case into one of the most closely watched and controversial murder trials of the 19th century.
The victim, Dr. George Parkman, was a well-off and well known physician, businessperson and philanthropist. Born in Boston in 1790 to one of the city’s richest families, Parkman was on the verge of turning 60 when he was murdered. He was known as a very upright and just man who often helped those around him by loaning them money, but he was also quite strict in his business relations; court documents describe him as a “just man himself, [who] exacted justice from others.” In addition to his other business ventures, Parkman was a benefactor of Harvard University, having attended the school as a young adult and sold land to it for the new medical college. As a result, Parkman was well acquainted with the lecturer Dr. John Webster, and he loaned him what today would be more than $100,000. Born in Boston in 1793, Webster was a professor of chemistry and geology at the medical college. Like Parkman, Webster came from a wealthy family, but his finances had collapsed from overspending and failed investments. He continued to borrow money from Parkman and eventually mortgaged almost all of his property to him, failing to pay any of it back.
On the day of his disappearance, Parkman set off to meet with an unknown man at the medical college, later confirmed to be Webster, who seemingly wanted to talk to Parkman about the debt he owed him. The meeting turned fatal. Parkman never made it out of the building, but his disappearance was quickly realized by family and friends, especially because he had left a parcel containing lettuce seed at a nearby shop to be picked up later in the day – and never returned for it. An extensive search followed, with “missing” posters circulated throughout the city and several rewards of up to $3,000 posted for information about his whereabouts, a huge sum at the time. It took less than a day for Ephraim Littlefield, a janitor at the college, to come forward to say he last saw Parkman that day walking into a building of the medical college where Webster’s lab was located.
Police began investigating and Littlefield grew suspicious of Webster’s unusual behavior: He had asked who had been in the building and whether they had seen Parkman; his laboratory was now always locked and his furnace always burning. Deciding that not enough was being done by the police, Littlefield chose to take the case into his own hands, breaking into a vault within Webster’s laboratory that held his furnace. Upon doing so, on Nov. 30 he found partially burned human remains. Bringing his discovery to the police, they confirmed his findings and Webster was brought to the police station and subsequently arrested.
The following day, Dec. 1, police carried out a more extensive search of Webster’s lab, finding teeth and bones from the head, neck, arms, hands, right leg and feet in the furnace. In addition, Webster’s bathroom was found to hold a human pelvis, right thigh and lower part of the left leg. A tea-chest in the lab was found to hold the thorax and left thigh. When placed together, the body parts and partially burnt remains were said to have resembled Parkman’s build. Taking the investigation a step further, Parkman’s family dentist, Nathan C. Keep, testified that the teeth found in the furnace were artificial teeth he himself had made for Parkman in 1846. He specifically stated that “Dr. Parkman’s mouth was a very peculiar mouth, in many respects … I remember the peculiarity of the lower jaw, with great exactness.” Keep still had the molds used to create the artificial teeth and, when put together, they were an exact match to the teeth found in the furnace. Even with the staggering amount of evidence against him, Webster maintained his innocence, stating “I do not think those remains are the remains of Dr. Parkman; but how in the world they came there, I am sure I don’t know.”
On April 1, 1850, Webster was found guilty for the murder of Parkman and sentenced to death by hanging. Just two days after his conviction, Webster confessed. He explained that he had indeed killed Parkman, but that it had not been premeditated as many people believed. On the day of the altercation, he called Parkman and they made plans to meet at the Harvard Medical College to talk about the debt. In his confession to a writer for the Boston Daily Advertiser, Webster stated “My purpose was … to state to him my embarrassments and utter inability to pay him at present … to beg for further time and indulgence for the sake of my family, if not for my own, and to make as good promises to him as I could have any hope of keeping.” Unfortunately for Webster, Parkman would not listen to his appeals. He allegedly called Webster a “scoundrel” and a “liar,” and informed him angrily that, while he had helped him get his place in the college, he would now work to get him expelled. Webster went on to state that, in a moment of passion and anger, he grabbed the closest object to him, a plank of wood, and hit Parkman over the head with it. “There was no second blow, He did not move,” Webster said.
Realizing what he had done, Webster made a move to dispose of the body by dismembering, burning and hiding it.
Despite Webster’s confession, public reactions remained sharply divided. Newspapers from the time offer a glimpse into these tensions. Some, such as the Evening Bulletin, insisted “scarcely one man in ten thousand” believed the evidence proved his guilt, while others, such as the Massachusetts Ploughman, argued that nearly everyone they encountered was convinced by the prosecution’s case. The same divide appeared after sentencing – the Daily Sun claimed there were “serious doubts whether Dr. Parkman is dead,” while the Hampshire Gazette declared the execution “just” and reflective of “public sentiment.”
In addition to conflicting reports in the newspapers, various petitions were created to either exonerate Webster or commute his sentence. One petition of significance asked for Webster’s charge “to be commuted into imprisonment for life at hard labor in the State prison,” and included the signatures of multiple elite citizens of Cambridge, some of whom had also graduated from Harvard, such as Theophilus Parsons II, who was the Dane professor of law at Harvard from 1848 to 1870; Jared Sparks, the president of Harvard from 1849 to 1853; and James Walker, the president of Harvard from 1853 to 1860. While each signature gave the petition massive weight, it was ultimately rejected. On Aug. 30, Webster was executed by hanging. Hundreds of people came to see it. Newspapers reported that the streets were “crowded with a curious and excited multitude of men, women and children” and that “the house tops all about in the vicinity of the jail were literally swarming with the living mass.”
Even decades after Webster’s execution, public fascination with the case endures. In August 1996, a woman by the name of Pamela Finkbeiner came across a Bible with text written on the back of the cover that reads “This bible belonged to Prof. John White Webster who murdered Dr. George Parkman at Harvard and tried to dispose of his body in the biology laboratory in 1849.” Wanting to preserve the historical document and the story that went alongside it, Finkbeiner donated the bible to History Cambridge, making it a valuable historical resource to the entire Cambridge community.
About History Cambridge
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2025, we are focusing on the history of East Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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Jessica Flemming is a volunteer for History Cambridge.
This post was updated Nov. 24, 2025, to correct that the Parkman murder took place in Boston; and to add an image of a Bible donated to History Cambridge.
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