Few details are known about Ephraim Littlefield, the character on whom the Parkman murder case turned. Littlefield's testimony sent a man to the gallows for the murder that shocked Boston — and the nation.
When Dr. George Parkman was first reported missing, Boston Marshal Francis Tukey and his police force began an investigation in the neighborhoods of the city's poor immigrants.
The Parkman murder has been called the O. J. Simpson trial of the nineteenth century. It had everything a good murder story needs: a rich, well-known victim; a well-respected suspect; gruesome evidence; and a possible underdog hero.
The trial of John Webster was best known in 1850 for its Boston Brahmin ties and its gruesome nature. By means of his charge to the jury, however, Judge Lemuel Shaw ensured that the trial would hold a place in legal history.
