Jeffries Wyman - Parkman-Webster Murder Case

Parkman-Webster Murder Case

In 1850, Wyman was called to testify for the prosecution in the trial of Dr. John Webster, on trial for the murder of Dr. George Parkman. His recognized authority as a comparative anatomist caused the coroner, Jabez Pratt, to call upon him to examine the bones when they were found in November 1849. His testimony concerned the fragments of bones found in the furnace. He cataloged them as to the parts of the body to which they belonged (noting that no bones were duplicates so that the fragments belonged to a single body), and his testimony regarding the jawbone contributed to the belief that the bones belonged to Dr. Parkman. Wyman also testified as to the alleged bloodstains found on pantaloons and slippers belonging to Dr. Webster.

Parkman was a frequent walker on the streets of Boston, collecting his rents. "His gaunt figure was easily identified and not readily forgotten." A sketch of Dr. Parkman as he was last seen was published in the New York Globe's account of the trial. While the bones could not be definitively identified as Dr. Parkman, Wyman contributed to the belief that they were Parkman's by providing the court with a "diagram, exhibiting the position in the skeleton, of the bones found and showing, (in some degree,) what would be necessary to complete the body." This rendering was remarkably similar in stance to the striding picture of Dr. Parkman and indeed labeled "Restoration of Dr. Parkman's Skeleton," no doubt influencing the jury.

Oddly enough, Wyman's brother, Dr. Morrill Wyman. and his wife had spent the evening of Parkman's disappearance with Webster and his wife at the home of Harvard professor Daniel Treadwell.