This describes an multi-media game that will be created using Macromedia Shockwave, an interactive web development tool:

The game is laid out similarly to "Clue." The map of the area around the medical college is the background of the board. The still of the medical college is at the center, and all the other bits from the story form a rectangle around it. Each item is represented by a little picture and the user clicks on the picture to read the text. The idea is for the user to highlight items from the different categories to create their own versions of the story, however ridiculous they may be i.e., The Irish immigrant did it with the head of lettuce in Webster's house. The idea is for the user to see why historians drew the conclusions that they did about the Parkman case, and the kinds of sources they have to use in constructing the past. The game also demonstrates the idea that every historical account is a set of choices that the historian makes, and that in evaluating a historical account, a reader or viewer evaluates the historian's judgment.

VICTIM		COURTROOM CHARACTERS
Dr. George Parkman		Justice Lemuel Shaw Marshal Francis Tukey
		For the Prosecution:   Attorney George Bemis   Attorney General John Clifford
		For the Defense:   Attorney Edward D. Sohier   Attorney Pliney Merrick
SUSPECTS		EVIDENCE
Webster Littlefield Irish Immigrant		Lettuce Reward Poster #1 Reward Poster #2 Chisel and crow bar Teeth Bones Anonymous letter to Tukey Stump of Grapevine
PLACES
Medical College Basement Mt. Auburn Cemetery Courtroom North End Cemetery Webster's office Webster's house Parkman's house Grocer

Links
This layout will also link to the Parkman section: the Players section for the characters, the Evidence section, etc. The evidence section here can be used to update the shorter one in the Parkman section.

ELEMENTS OF THE STORY

VICTIM

Dr. George Parkman
One of Boston's most prominent citizens, Dr. George Parkman's angular stride was a familiar image on Beacon Hill. The 59-year-old doctor didn't own a carriage, preferring to collect the rents from his many properties on foot. Although Parkman was a well-known philanthropist, his patience had run short with John Webster, who had double-crossed him in a loan agreement. Parkman was last seen en route to the Medical College for an appointment to collect the $483.64 that Webster owed him.

SUSPECTS

Professor John White Webster
There was a substantial public outcry when John Webster was convicted and hanged for the murder of Dr. Parkman. Webster was a professor of chemistry and a friend and colleague of Parkman 's at Harvard Medical College. With two daughters coming of age in Boston's debutante circles, coupled with the routine expenses of his class, Webster felt the strain and embarrassment of his debts to Parkman and other close friends. Although most of the trial evidence was circumstantial, the jury believed that social pressures had unleashed Webster's "quick and irritable temper" on Parkman.

Testimony: The user will have the option to download bits from the film or written testimony from Webster's confession on Real Audio. There would be a text option as well --> for the prototype we  just indicate that this is part of the design, but we won't actually create this feature.

Ephraim Littlefield
So convinced of Webster's guilt, Ephraim Littlefield chiseled through a stone wall to unearth Dr. Parkman's bones from under John Webster's privy. As the janitor of the Medical College, Littlefield was attuned to secrets and followed his suspicions into its foundation. At the time, the public speculated that Littlefield had framed Webster and was himself Parkman's killer. Since then, most historians have concluded that Webster was guilty, even if the trial was flawed.

Testimony: The user will have the option to download bits from the film or written testimony from the trial on Real Audio. There would be a text option as well.

Irish Immigrant
During the 1840's Boston's population swelled with Irish immigrants. With the city now twice its size, the crime rate exploded. When Parkman first was missing, police speculated that he had been robbed and murdered, possibly by a resentful tenant living in one of Parkman's tenement apartments in the North End.

THE PROSECUTION

Prosecuting Attorney George Bemis and Attorney General John Clifford
Like most everyone associated with the Webster trial, the prosecuting attorneys each came from distinguished families. The son of a prosperous manufacturer, George Bemis graduated from Harvard College law school. Bemis made specialized in penal reform and, early in his career, became one of the most widely respected prosecutors of his time. He was the primary chronicler, as well as the head prosecutor of the Webster trial. His version of the trial, the "Bemis Report", was received as the "official" version, and one of the most widely circulated.

Bemis's co-prosecutor, John Clifford took the first steps in his budding political career at the Webster trial. Although he ran unsuccessfully for governor, Clifford eventually became governor of the Commonwealth, the president of the Massachusetts State Senate, and later was on the board at Harvard College. While Clifford was a political animal and Bemis a legal scholar and rigorous prosecutor, the consensus at the time was that their differences complimented one another, and that they argued a strong case together.

THE POLICE

Marshal Francis Tukey
As Boston grew during the Irish immigration wave of the mid-nineteenth century, so did its crime rate, and consequently its police force. The fist at the end of the long arm of the law was Francis Tukey. The brassy, sensational, and very tough young police marshal was a controversial figure in the press and the public imagination. There could not have been a bolder character to arrest John Webster and begin the series of events that would culminate in the trial of the century.

THE DEFENSE

Defense Attorneys Edward D. Sohier and Pliney Merrick
Edward D. Sohier had handled Webster's civil matters, mostly financial, in the past. An ethical and loyal attorney, he believed it was his duty to defend Webster in his moment of crisis. Unfortunately he was inexperienced in criminal law, and arguably did not provide a convincing defense for Webster.

Sohier's co-council for the defense, Pliney Merrick, had a secondary position in arguing Webster's case, though he had more experience in criminal law. His role in the defense was comparable to Clifford's in the prosecution, and the two affable men found they had much in common even beyond the Webster trial. When Clifford was finally elected as the governor of Massachusetts, he appointed Merrick to the State Supreme Court.

THE JUDGE

Justice Lemuel Shaw
One of the most distinguished judges in Massachusetts history, Lemuel Shaw presided over John Webster's controversial trial. While Shaw's critics accused him of being humorless and slow, they concede that his plodding mind was a great one. Shaw's charge to the jury at Webster's trial is a notable, if especially stern moment in his legacy. The version that survives in the trial report is considerably different, as is much of the rest of the document since it was rewritten after the verdict.

EVIDENCE

Lettuce
Dr. Parkman was last seen on his way to the Medical College to collect a debt in the amount of $483.64 from John Webster. But first, he stopped to buy a head of lettuce. It was a delicacy he had bought as a treat for his invalid daughter. Parkman left it in its paper bag at the grocer's while he went to meet Webster. The lettuce was never retrieved.

Reward Poster #1
Immediately after Parkman's disappearance, his family offered a $2,000 reward for information regarding his whereabouts. Flyers went up all over the city but no one claimed the money.

Reward Poster #2
With no responses from the first offer, and Parkman now missing for almost a week, his family increased the reward to $3,000. By today's standards, the relative amount of this offer would be approximately $50,000. When no one came forward, Ephraim Littlefield took up his chisel and crow bar and headed for the Medical College's basement.

Chisel and crow bar
When Ephraim Littlefield decided to bring justice to light by digging underneath John Webster's office, he started tapping at the stones of the Medical College's foundation with a chisel. After hours of work and not much progress, he tossed his chisel and set to work with a crow bar until he hit pay dirt.

Teeth
Dr. Parkman's distinctive under bite was as widely recognized as his purposeful walk. A set of jaw bones were part of the remains that Ephraim Littlefield dug up. According to Parkman's dentist, who was a witness in the trial, the jaw bones matched Parkman's.

Bones
he bones discovered in Webster's basement were the centerpiece of a case strung together with circumstantial evidence. Without the help of DNA testing, Webster's guilt was taken at face value.

Floor plans It took Ephraim Littlefield a day and a half to chisel through a wall of the foundation of the Harvard Medical college. The decaying bones hidden in the basement seemed to confirm all the public's fantasies about the grisly secrets buried in the Medical College.

Letters to Tukey
After Parkman's disappearance many people wrote to Marshal Tukey in an effort to help out with the case. Three letters were admitted as evidence into the trial. A handwriting analyst was called to the stand and testified that, although the letters were very different, they had all been written by Webster.

Stump of a Grapevine The murder weapon is believed to be the stump of a grapevine that Webster had been keeping in his office as part of an experiment. Although it's difficult to imagine how a stump of a grape vine could kill someone, the theory is that Webster used it like a club to bludgeon Parkman to death.

PLACES

Medical College Basement
Hidden as well as they were, Dr. Parkman's remains might never have been found if it hadn't been for Ephraim Littlefield. Littlefield lived with his family in the basement of the Medical College, and would have been aware of any suspicious behavior.

Webster's office
According to the trial, John Webster murdered Dr. Parkman in his office when Parkman came to collect a debt.

Webster's house
Like many of the Medical College faculty, Webster lived in Cambridge. While his colleagues were either independently wealthy, or had other means of income, Webster struggled to maintain social appearances on a professor's modest salary. The debts and anxiety he accrued were presented in the trial as his motive for killing Parkman. His house outside Harvard square in Cambridge, MA has been preserved as an historic landmark.

Parkman's house
One of Boston's early Brahmins, Dr. Parkman lived on Beacon Hill and walked nearly everywhere, including to the Medical College, and to collect rent in the many neighborhoods where he owned property. Although his descendants no longer live in the old family house, they still reside in Boston.

Grocer
On his way to meet Webster on the fatal day, Dr. Parkman stopped at the grocery store to buy a head of lettuce, a delicacy for his invalid daughter. Parkman left the lettuce with the grocer and indicated that he would return for it later, after his meeting with Webster. The three accounts of the murder each depict this scene with varying degrees of drama. In Murder at Harvard [link to excerpt from book] Parkman seems friendly and pleasant; in The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman [link to excerpt from book] he simply states that he'll come back for his parcel; and in Dead Certainties [link to excerpt from book] we're privy to the thoughts and background of all the characters.

Courtroom
The courtroom at the Webster trial was packed with onlookers and reporters. The crowd was so large that the public had to view the trial in shifts so that everyone would have a chance sit in the gallery.

Mt. Auburn Cemetery
One of the oldest cemeteries in Boston, Mt. Auburn Cemetery is also the burial ground for the city's most notable intellectual and social figures, from the architect Benjamin Fuller to so and so. George Parkman's remains are also buried there, but John Webster's are not.

North End Cemetery
Although it was John Webster's wish to be buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, this was not meant to be. After Webster was hanged for Parkman's murder he was buried at a cemetery in the Boston's North End, near many of Parkman's tenants in the heart of the Irish Ghetto at that time. The irony of Webster's class aspirations versus his final resting place is, perhaps, the final turn of the screw in this story.

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