Chapter 6 Section 6

Although Dr. Peckman is aloof, he loves nature, especially outdoor hiking.Also due to his "generous donation", ornithologist Jon Audubon announced on November 30, 1848, that he named his newly discovered bird "Pikeman's Wren".A year later, on the same day, Yveren Littlefield, a handyman at Harvard Medical School, found the severed human limbs in Professor John West's sewage pipe. On the evening of November 30, 1849, when the police were still searching Professor West’s laboratory, the outside of Harvard Medical School was brightly lit, with torches and oil lamps reflecting angry faces.In a few hours, Evren Littorfeld's discovery was the talk of the streets.Groups of people flowed across the Joels River Bridge, from Boston to Cambridge, and from all directions in Cambridge to Harvard University.Among them are Irish immigrants who were harassed by the police for no reason a few days ago, and there are also surrounding residents who have long regarded the medical school as evil.What's more, it's the petty citizens who are jealous of those nobles who are usually arrogant.

"Burn it!" "Burn down this haunted medical school!" Shouting, people clashed with the police, throwing oil lamps and torches at the gates and brick walls of the medical school.The riots continued for two days. On Saturday, December 1, coroner Dr. Jabez Pratt was appointed to his six-member jury.Massachusetts law at the time required a six-member "forensic jury" to be present at an autopsy on a suspected "wrongful death."According to the relevant provisions, the legal function of the jury should be very simple - to determine the cause of death of the deceased through autopsy and hearing, without the need to identify the criminal facts involved in the case, or make "guilty" or "guilty" judgments on the suspects in the case. "Not guilty" verdict.But in actual operation, the jury often takes the lead because its members are not ordinary people, and most of them have some relationship with the local judicial circle.

For example, on Dr. Pratt's jury, the presiding jury, Osmine Bruit, was a state legislator, and the secretary in charge of the transcript, John Anzos, later became a member of the prosecution in this case. The jury, behind closed doors for several days, released their verdict on Dec. 13, to the effect that the human limbs police found at Harvard Medical School were those of George Peckman, MD.At some time after 1:30 p.m. on November 23, 1849, the doctor "died violently" in Harvard Medical School from "one or more blows or injuries" caused by Hand of Professor John West.

It is worth noting that this jury autopsy and hearing was completely "one-sided," that is, without the presence of the suspect or his attorney, and of course there was no possibility of cross-examination by the other party. The verdict of the forensic jury appeared first in newspapers in Boston and New York, and then in newspapers throughout the United States and in some parts of the world.Soon, dissident reports and comments flooded the sky.At that time, because photography was not yet available, newspaper editors and reporters had a little bit of talent in painting, especially good at sketching cartoons, so as to match their own words and make their images concrete.Therefore, under the pens of these people, Professor West was painted as a butcher, a monster or a vampire.His colleagues at Harvard Medical School would hardly have recognized the figure as John West without a marginal note or explanation.

On December 3, the remains of Dr. George Peckman—thorax, abdomen, two thighs, and a calf—were placed in a lead box filled with alcohol, and buried in a coffin.Dean Oliver Holmes delivered a speech on behalf of Harvard Medical School at the memorial service, saying that Dr. Peckman "worked when others slept; walked when others drove; A teetotaler. A man of self-discipline, of whom principle is paramount; a man of eternal vigor, yet frugal and forthright." However, while remembering the dead or missing, no one among Harvard University's teachers and students blamed the "murderer" Professor John West.This silence was widely understood at the time as an upper class effort to preserve its image.

On 21 January 1850, the will of Dr George Peckman was brought before the Probate Court of Savolk District.In his will, the Doctor left his entire estate to his wife Eliza Peckman, their daughter Holly and son George Jr.And appointed George Pikeman Jr. as its property manager. According to the 1849 files of the Boston City Hall Property Appraisal Office, Dr. George Pikeman had a total of $167,000 in real estate and $175,000 in personal property under his name.But in the opinion of those in the know, these two numbers are obviously underestimated.Even so, Dr. Peckman still ranks among the richest people in Boston, only four places away from his brother-in-law, Robert Gold Shaw, the richest man in the city.According to the "Massachusetts Rich List" published at the time, George Pikeman's property was estimated at $750,000, and Robert Shaw's was twice that amount.

On January 26 of the same year, the grand jury handed down the indictment against Professor John West. On Tuesday, March 19, 1850, the case officially opened in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Before 7 o'clock in the morning, nearly a thousand people had already gathered outside the court building made of granite.Those who came earlier than these people were the policemen with live ammunition.On the order of Commissioner Francis Tucker, they erected a metal chain fence around several huge granite columns in front of the wide double copper gates of the court, and issued invoices to the people who lined up one by one, Explain that every time there is a break in the courtroom, all the original audience will withdraw, and the new group of spectators will enter the courtroom with tickets, so as to allow more people to have the opportunity to watch, and also to avoid those who are unwilling to linger around the courtroom for a long time. As a result, troubles occurred. (Some books also say that the observers are rotated every 10 minutes.) According to the estimation of the Boston police afterwards, during the 12-day trial period, the number of ordinary people who entered the courtroom except the press reached 55,000 to 60,000. Boston's total population is around 100,000.