Word: webster
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...mortgage had been a cause of long bitterness between the two men. Webster had luxurious tastes and lived beyond his means, and he had borrowed heavily from the independently wealthy Parkman. Parkman became furious with his debtor when he found that both he and another creditor had been given the same bill of sale as a security. He pursued Webster relentlessly and finally made an appointment to see the latter at his laboratory to collect the debt...
Parkman never returned. For two days Webster remained behind bolted doors in his laboratory, with his furnace and two stoves going full blast, and the water running continuously. He left word that he was "performing experiments...
...police investigation revealed nothing, and Webster no doubt breathed a sign of relief. But he failed to consider Ephraim Littlefield, his janitor. On Wednesday Littlefield attacked the bricked-up vault in the basement with a chisel. Two days later he finally broke through the wall. "I managed to get my light and my head into the hole, and then I was not disturbed with the draft. I held my light forward, and the first thing which I saw was the pelvis of a man, and two parts of a leg. I knew that it was no place for these things...
Littlefield hurriedly locked the cellar door and sent for the police, who promptly arrested Webster. When told of the discovery he gulped out "Did they find the whole body?" Then he swallowed a small strychnine pill, which unfortunately had no effect even in his excited condition. At his trial three months later Webster admitted to striking Parkman with a stick of wood in the heat of an argument, but he stoutly maintained he had not meant to kill his creditor. Although the court-room gallery had room for only 100, it is reported that over 60,000 people saw some...
...jury was out only three hours, and in August of 1850 John Webster was condemned to hang. All Boston thrilled to see a Harvard professor kicking on the gallows of the Leverett Street Jail...