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The Green Bag.

that day's lecture. Several persons between half-past one and two o'clock saw Dr. Parkman walking toward the Medical College. He was never seen alive after. As a matter of fact he did call upon Professor Webster and again demanded payment of the various outstanding claims. The latter endeavored to put him off with promises. Dr. Parkman refused to be pacified and growing more and more violent, finally ended by calling Pro fessor Webster a swindler and a liar, saying that he had him appointed professor of chemistry and that he would now have him dismissed. Finally Webster, losing all con trol, seized the first thing within his reach, which happened to be a piece of grapevine about two feet long, purchased to show the effect of certain chemicals in staining wood, and dealt Dr. Parkman a terrific blow on the side of the head. The unfortunate creditor had paid for his persistency with his life. The crime was clearly without premedita tion, and yet circumstances had so favored the criminal that if he had but adopted rea sonable precautions, detection would have been well nigh impossible. According to his own confession, Dr. Webster was horrified at the result of his sudden ebulition of tem per and spent some time in an endeavor to resuscitate his victim. Finally, realizing the impossibility, he determined to conceal the body. He hurriedly bolted the door, then strip ping the deceased, he thrust the clothes into the laboratory furnace, where they were soon reduced to ashes. The watch he put into his pocket and threw it from the bridge on his return to Cambridge that evening. The body he placed in a sink which stood in his private room, and taking a sharp knife used for cut ting corks, it was quickly dismembered. A stream of water kept running through the tank served to carry off the blood. The head and viscera were placed in the furnace and fuel heaped on. So great was his agita tion of mind, that the murderer did not even

stop to examine to what degree they were consumed. The pelvis and a portion of the lower limbs were put in a so-called "well," a deep lead-lined tank, situated under the lid of the lecture-room table, and a stream of water turned on which was kept running all Friday night. The thorax was put in a similar well in Professor Webster's other laboratory on the floor below, and potash thrown in. The stick was burned. The two notes which had fallen on the floor he picked up, and can celling them with a dash of the pen placed them in his pocket. Professor Webster suc ceeded in accomplishing much in the com paratively short time at his disposal for he was seen to leave the college about six o'clock. That evening, after tea, and about eight o'clock, the murderer went out with his wife and daughter. Leaving the latter at a party, he and his wife went on to Professor Treadwell's house, where they passed the evening in conversation. On Saturday and Sunday, possessed by the morbid fascination which ever induces the slayer to return to the spot where his victim fell, Professor Webster called at the laboratory, but left the remains untouched. Uncertain as to his future course, with no definite plans formed, he was content to drift with the tide. Now, as previously stated, Dr. Parkman was most methodical in his habits, and when he failed to return to dinner on Friday, his family felt greatly alarmed. It was not, however, until the following morning that definite steps were taken. The police were notified and advertisements inserted in the Saturday evening papers. Up to Friday of the following week, the search continued. The river was dragged and certain yards and out buildings in the western part of the city, where Dr. Parkman was known to have owned considerable property, received care ful examination. On Sunday, Nov. 25, thinking to allay any suspicion that might arise, Professor Web