The following Monday, Robert Gould Shaw, Parkman's brother-in-law and grandfather of the famous Civil War general, distributed 28,000 handbills telling of the professor's disappearance.

The bills offered $3,000 to anyone who had information which would help Shaw find Parkman alive.

Sullivan's book says the handbill included this statement: "He may have wandered from home in consequence of some sudden aberration of mind."

Three thousand dollars was an incredible sum for those days, and it attested to the importance the community attached to Parkman.

Questions

Webster's arrest captivated the country. The community clamored for explanations. Why had a successful professor murdered, dismembered and, using acid, partially dissolved another professor?

According to historians, the murder was motivated by money. Webster owed Parkman a loan which totalled, with interest, $2432.

Webster's income at the time was only $1200 per year. But his wife and he were fond of throwing parties. So he borrowed money from his wealthy friend, Parkman.

That money didn't last long, though, and Webster borrowed an additional $1200 from Shaw. Parkman, however, was reportedly annoyed by this extra loan and began to suspect he might never be repaid. He repeatedly hounded Webster about the money.

That established the motive. The actual indictment brought against Webster contained four charges:

"He in and upon one George Parkman feloniously, willfully and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault; that he, the said John W. Webster, with a certain knife which he then and there in his right hand had and held, him the said George Parkman in and upon the left side of the breast of him the said George Parkman then and there feloniously, will-fully and of his malice aforethought, did strike, cut, stab and thrust, giving to the said George Parkman then and there with the aforesaid knife in and upon the left side of the breast of his the said George Parkman one mortal wound of the length of one inch and the depth of three inches of which said mortal wound the said George Parkman then and there instantly died."

The public's interest became so great in People v. Webster that worker productivity went down. On the day Shaw's award was announced, the entire city of Boston stopped working to search for Parkman.

In a 1967 review of the case, The Boston Herald reported that "60,000 spectators were admitted at 10 minute intervals in the 12 day trial."

Maintaining Innocence

Before and during the trial, Webster maintained he knew nothing about the crime and was totally innocent.