Article ID: CBB000932356

The 1850 Webster/Parkman Trial: Dr. Keep's Forensic Evidence (2003)

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Shortly before two o'clock on a chilly November afternoon in 1849, the celebrated Harvard physician and surgeon, Dr. George Parkman, left his home on Boston's fashionable Beacon Hill, expecting to return in a few hours. He was never seen alive again. This account describes Parkman's brutal murder and explores the dynamics which preceded this crime. It explains how and why Dr. John White Webster, MD, Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at Harvard University, killed Dr. Parkman and unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the physical evidence. Webster's subsequent trial, conviction and ultimate punishment are also detailed. The Parkman-Webster case remains one of the classic murders in the annals of American crime. Compelling dental evidence presented by the famous American dentist, Dr. Nathan Cooley Keep, directly led to the conviction of Dr. Webster. This graphic, ground-breaking case clearly established the viable role of forensic dentistry in legal criminal investigation.

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Description On a ground-breaking case that established the role of forensic dentistry in American legal criminal investigation.


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Authors & Contributors
Degerman, Dan
Alibrandi, Rosamaria
Berry, Chelsea
Duvall, Nicholas
Thompson, Courtney Elizabeth
Zweihorn, Chaninah L.
Concepts
Medicine and law
Medicine
Forensic medicine
Trials (law)
Dentistry
Criminal law
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
17th century
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Ancient
Places
United States
China
England
Scotland
Spain
Russia
Institutions
Harvard University
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