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The case of the missing physician

$3,000 reward for information on whereabouts of Dr. George Parkman

The Massachusetts Historical Society is celebrating its 225th anniversary this year with, among other things, an online exhibit of 225 items from its collections, from colonial days to the Revolution and Civil War. Don't click on the link unless you have some time to spare!

Among the items: This poster seeking information on the whereabouts of prominent local physician George Parkman - he donated land for Harvard Medical School (we know the site today as the home of Mass. General Hospital), and, yes, the Parkman House on Beacon Hill was his home.

Alas, his story does not have a happy ending. Seems he had loaned Harvard Medical School professor John White Webster some money and Webster was refusing to pay it back. On a visit to Webster's office, Parkman got into a fight with him. Webster knocked him out, then killed him, dismembered him and stuffed his body parts into a vault under his office.

Webster's deed was eventually uncovered thanks to a medical-school janitor - suspicious why the penurious professor suddenly gave him a turkey - and his trial became the trial of the century. More than 60,000 people rotated into the courtroom. It was also one of the first trials to hinge on forensic science: Parkman had a prominent jaw and the evidence included a jawbone with a pronounced protrusion. Webster was found guilty and hanged.

Via Boston 1775.

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Comments

The Parkman Murder Mystery wasn't something I had heard about back in 2009. Neither was the Ether Dome or the jail-turned-hotel in town.

I also had a new iPhone and was trying out all sorts of new innovative apps. This one popped up and it turned out to be an amazing bit of fun for a day.

http://www.parkmanmurder.com/Parkman_Murder_Application.html

(app is iPhone only as it was made before Androids were fully on the market. There is a video podcast equivalent but I can't vouch for it)

You take a guided walking tour complete with video interludes showing you archival photos and information about the times Parkman lived and died in. It really was pretty cool. At the time, I had to delete some apps to fit all the video/audio and my battery was quite dead at the end. These days your phone should be able to handle it much better.

To that end, the same group, Walking Cinema, has made a tour of Gloucester in conjunction with the city that is also supposed to be quite good (and more modern).

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Dr. George Parkman has a connection to Casey and Ben Affleck, by marriage not blood.

In modern times, Samuel P. Shaw Sr. (1916? - 2010) got remarried, to Elizabeth Roberts Shaw (née Roberts). Elizabeth's daughter from her first marriage is Christopher Anne "Chris" (née Boldt), who is Casey and Ben's mother. Elizabeth Shaw was Casey and Ben's grandmother. My understanding is that Samuel Shaw, though not the blood father to Chris, raised her like a daughter and that Ben and Casey though of Samuel Shaw as their grandfather.

The "P" in Samuel P. Shaw Sr. stands for Parkman and his tree goes back to Dr. George Parkman. My recollection is that, more specifically, it goes back to Dr. George Parkman's brother.

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As he may have wandered from home in consequence of some sudden aberration of mind ...

It seems to me that they didn't want to directly insinuate that he may have been drunk or otherwise intoxicated, but to entertain that as a possibility.

They also seem to be leaving open the possibility that this was a "silver alert" - dementia wasn't uncommon in people over 60 back then, either.

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The notice is signed by Robert G. Shaw. Could this be the grandfather and namesake of the Robert Gould Shaw, the Union officer depicted (together with soldiers from the 54th Regiment) in the memorial statue across from the State House?

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This is also the case that established the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in law.

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History buffs should check out www.parkmanmurder.com for more info on the Parkman murder. There's a map and even an app with digital illustration - by Mike Born of - that takes you through related locations on Beacon Hill.

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