John H. Brown, the key prosecution witness in the Parker Murder trial, was sworn in on Friday, May 31, 1850, the second day of the police court session in Manchester's City Hall.

(The trial started on May 30, not on March 30 as stated in last week's “Looking Back” article).

Brown was known as a “hard character,” and his appearance on the stand certainly raised eyebrows.

Brown claimed to have proof that traveling peddler William C. Clark and the three Wentworth brothers were responsible for the murder of Jonas L. Parker. Over his five days on the stand he faced soft questions from the prosecution and withering cross-examinations from the defense. Brown established his alibi by stating that he was living in Boston and working in an “eating establishment” when the murder took place on March 26, 1845. He then talked about a letter he had received in Boston from Henry T. Wentworth, implying that it contained evidence implicating Henry in the murder. He told how he had run into Clark in Albany, New York, in the fall of 1845, and that Clark had told him he had received a similar letter. During this conversation, Clark had blurted out “I was in Manchester and helped plan the murder with Asa and Henry T. Wentworth. Asa and Henry assisted and Horace Wentworth committed the deed.” Clark then bragged that he had been paid for helping plan the murder.

Defense attorney Franklin Pierce demanded, “Where is the letter?” Brown replied, in a joking tone, “I think I left the letter with Clark, but have searched several times on my own premises to find it. My papers are scattered about everywhere, in trunks, the desk, etc. I have letters from a woman I don't want seen; have letters in trunks with corn medicine I keep.” When some in the audience laughed, Pierce became annoyed and asked for quiet in the courtroom.

The prosecution ordered Clark to produce Brown's letter, if he had it. His attorney Charles G. Atherton objected — wasn't it too late to make such a demand? As there was no letter to be read in court, Brown was allowed to state what he remembered of it — that it was an invitation from Henry Wentworth to come to Manchester to make some money “faster than by working for it.”

Brown assumed that he had been invited to participate in the murder plot.

According to Brown, Clark said that Horace Wentworth had worn Brown's pants while committing the murder, and then he had thrown the bloody trousers into Mr. Morgan's yard in Manchester. This appeared to be a kind of practical joke, because the Wentworths knew that Brown could prove an alibi. (The pants, if they existed, were never found.) Brown went on to tell of certain conversations he had had with Asa and Henry Wentworth where they freely admitted their guilt. He also said he had seen them with a large stash of money, including a $1,000 bill. It was widely believed that Jonas Parker had such a bill on his person when he was murdered. Brown said that Asa and Henry had, on several occasions, paid him to pass $20 and $50 bills stolen from Parker.

As the trial wore on, Brown needed more and more prompting from the prosecuting attorneys to keep him on track. After much prodding he described walking in the woods with Henry Wentworth. When they reached the spot where Jonas Parker had been killed, Henry suddenly proclaimed, “I wish Parker was still alive!” Brown said that Henry “may have shed some tears.” Franklin Pierce was outraged at the “playful” tone of the questioning, and “the attempts of certain persons in the audience, whose object seemed to be to make themselves merry.”

At times Brown contradicted himself. For example, he stated “I do not remember but one talk with Clark about the murder…” but then he mentioned that he and Clark had spoken of it “a thousand times.” No one in the courtroom could have found much credibility in Brown's testimony, except when he spoke about certain evidence he had gathered through a clever amateur sleuthing operation he had carried out with Dr. James A. Gregg.

Next week: How Dr. Gregg and John Brown tricked William Clark.

Aurore Easton is executive director of Manchester Historic Association. Email her at aeaton@manchesterhistoric.org