CHAPTER II. Police Searching the Premises.
CHAPTER III. The Borden Family.
CHAPTER IV. Hiram C. Harrington’s Story.
CHAPTER V. The Search of the House.
CHAPTER VI. The Funeral.
CHAPTER VII. A Reward Offered
CHAPTER VIII. A Sermon on the Murders.
CHAPTER IX. Theories Advanced.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI. Miss Lizzie Borden Arrested.
CHAPTER XII. Lizzie Borden Pleads “Not Guilty.”
CHAPTER XIII. The Preliminary Hearing Adjourned.
CHAPTER XIV. Dr. Dolan Cross-Examined.
CHAPTER XV. Second Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XVI. Third and Fourth Days of the Trial.
CHAPTER XVII. Fifth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XVIII. Sixth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XIX. District Attorney Knowlton’s Argument.
CHAPTER XX. Lizzie A. Borden Indicted.
CHAPTER XXI. The Trickey-McHenry Affair.
CHAPTER XXII. Beginning of the Superior Court Trial.
CHAPTER XXIII. Third Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXIV. Fourth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXV. Fifth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXVI. Seventh Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXVII. Eighth and Ninth Days of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXVIII. Tenth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXIX. Eleventh Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXX. Twelfth Day of the Trial.
CHAPTER XXXI. District Attorney Knowlton’s Plea.
CHAPTER XXXII. Judge Dewey’s Charge to the Jury.
A complete list of corrections as well as other notes follows the text.
THE
Fall River Tragedy:
A HISTORY OF THE
BORDEN MURDERS.
A PLAIN STATEMENT OF THE MATERIAL FACTS PERTAINING TO THE
MOST FAMOUS CRIME OF THE CENTURY, INCLUDING THE STORY OF
THE ARREST AND PRELIMINARY TRIAL OF MISS LIZZIE A.
BORDEN AND A FULL REPORT OF THE SUPERIOR COURT
TRIAL, WITH A HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED ACCOUNT
OF THE RENOWNED TRICKEY-McHENRY AFFAIR
COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES AND
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH
ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS.
BY EDWIN H. PORTER,
Police Reporter of the Fall River Globe.
GEO. R. H. BUFFINTON, PUBLISHER.
FALL RIVER.
Press of J. D. Munroe.
1893.
Entered according to an act of Congress,
in the year 1893, by Geo. R. H. Buffinton, in the office of the
Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
PREFACE.
When the assassination of Andrew J. Borden and Abbie D. Borden,
his wife, was announced, not only the people of Fall River and of
Massachusetts, but the public throughout the country manifested the
deepest interest in the affair. The murders soon became the theme of
universal comment, both in public and private, and every newspaper
reference to the affair was read with eagerness, digested and commented
upon in a manner unprecedented. The crimes stand out in bold relief as
the most atrocious, and at the same time, the most mystifying which the
American public had ever before been called upon to discuss. They had
about them that fascination of uncertainty, horrible though they were,
which fixes the attention and holds it continually. Miss Lizzie A.
Borden, a daughter of the murdered man, was arrested and charged with
the killing. She was a young woman of hitherto spotless reputation and
character, and more than that she was educated, refined and prominently
connected with the work of the christian church in Fall River. Her
arrest added more and more to the interest which the public had taken
in the matter. She was tried before the Superior Court of Massachusetts
and a jury of her peers and found not guilty of the crimes. This
event settled beyond question the probability of her guilt, and yet
the case lost none of its absorbing interest. The author of this book
therefore, has for a purpose the desire to give the reading public
a connected story of the whole case, commencing with the day of the
tragedy and ending with the day that Miss Borden was set free. Persons
believing implicitly in the correctness of the findings of the jury at
New Bedford will see much wrong done in those chapters which treat of
the police work. But that the grand jury indicted the young lady is
no fault of the author, and the story of what brought that indictment
about is important, therefore it is given without prejudice. Harsh
words were said of Miss Borden, but they came from those who had a
sworn duty to perform, and they alone are responsible. Her defense is
given as freely as the case of the prosecution, and with it the history
is made as complete as was possible. The facts discussed came from
official sources and are dependent upon the testimony submitted at the
court trials.
EDWIN H. PORTER.
CHAPTER I.
Discovery of the Murders.
At high noon on Thursday the fourth day of August, 1892, the cry of
murder swept through the city of Fall River like a typhoon on the
smooth surface of an eastern sea. It was caught up by a thousand
tongues and repeated at every street corner until it reached the utmost
confines of the municipality. A double murder, the most atrocious of
crimes, committed under the very glare of the mid-day sun within three
minutes walk of the City Hall was the way the story went and it was
true in every particular. Andrew J. Borden and his wife Abbie D. Borden
had been assassinated in their home at 92 Second street. The manner
in which the deed was done seemed so brutal, so mysterious, and the
tragedy itself so unprecedented that people stared with open-mouthed
amazement as they listened to the story passing from tongue to
tongue. In the excitement of the moment the murderer had slipped
away unobserved, and bloody as his crime had been he left no trace
behind, nor clue to his identity. He had wielded an axe or some similar
instrument with the skill of a headsman and had butchered in the most
horrible manner the bodies of his defenseless victims.
[Illustration: THE BORDEN RESIDENCE.]
When discovered, the remains of Mr. Borden lay stretched at full length
upon the sofa in the sitting room of his home; the head literally
hacked into fragments and the fresh blood trickling from every wound.
Up stairs in the guest chamber lay the body of Mrs. Borden similarly
mangled and butchered with the head reeking in a crimson pool. She had
been murdered while in the act of making the bed and her husband had
died as he lay taking his morning nap.
In the house was Miss Lizzie A. Borden, youngest daughter of the
slain couple, and Bridget Sullivan, the only servant. They and they
alone had been within calling distance of the victims as the fiend
or fiends struck the fatal blows. The servant was in the attic, and
the daughter was in the barn not more than thirty feet from the back
door of the house. This was the condition of things on the premises
when the cry went forth which shocked the city and startled the entire
country. Neighbors, friends, physicians, police officers and newspaper
reporters gathered at the scene in an incredibly short space of time.
It was soon learned that the daughter Lizzie had been the first to
make the horrible discovery. She said that not many minutes before,
she had spoken to her father upon his return from the city; and that
after seeing him comfortably seated on the sofa she had gone out to
the barn to remain a very short time. Upon returning she saw his dead
body and gave the alarm which brought the servant from the attic.
Without thinking of Mrs. Borden the daughter sent Bridget for help.
Mrs. Adelaide B. Churchill the nearest neighbor, Dr. S. W. Bowen and
Miss Alice Russell were among the first to respond. Shortly afterward
the dead body of Mrs. Borden was discovered and the unparalleled
monstrosity of the crime became apparent. There had been murder most
foul, and so far as the developments of the moment indicated, without a
motive or a cause. The street in front of the house soon became blocked
with a surging mass of humanity, and the excitement grew more and
more intense as the meager details of the assassination were learned.
Men with blanched faces hurried back and forth through the yard;
police officers stood in groups for a moment and talked mysteriously;
physicians consulted among themselves and kind friends ministered to
the bereaved daughter and offered her consolation.
Inside the house where the bodies lay the rooms were in perfect
order. Mrs. Borden had smoothed out the last fold in the snow white
counterpane, and placed the pillows on the bed with the utmost care
of a tidy housewife. Every piece of furniture stood in its accustomed
place and every book and paper was laid away with rigid exactness.
Only the blood as it had dashed in isolated spots against the walls
and door jams, and the reeking bodies themselves showed that death in
its most violent form had stalked through the unpretentious home and
left nothing but its bloody work to tell the tale. No one dared go
so far as to suggest a motive for the crime. The house had not been
robbed and the friends of the dead had never heard of such a thing as
an enemy possessed of hatred enough to commit so monstrous a deed. As
the hours passed a veil of deepest mystery closed around the scene and
the most strenuous efforts of the authorities to clear the mystery
away seemed more and more futile as their work progressed. Men with
cool heads, and with cunning and experience sought in vain to unearth
some facts to indicate who the criminal might be, but their skill
was unavailing, they were baffled at every turn. The author of that
hideous slaughter had come and gone as gently as the south wind, but
had fulfilled his mission as terrifically as a cyclone. No more cunning
plan had ever been hatched in a madman’s brain, and no more thorough
work was ever done by the guillotine. Mystery sombre and absolute hung
in impenetrable folds over the Borden house, and not one ray of light
existed to penetrate its blackness.
Mr. Borden and his wife were spending their declining years, highly
respected residents, with wealth enough to enjoy all the comforts and
luxuries of modern life. Mr. Borden by years of genuine New England
thrift and energy had gathered a fortune, and his exemplary life had
served to add credit to a family name which had been identified with
the development and prosperity of his native state for two hundred
years, and which has been known to public and private life since the
time of William the Conqueror. His family had the _open sesame_ to
the best society. The contentment which wealth, influence and high
social standing could bring was possible to his family, if its members
chose to have it. But he and his wife had been murdered and there
was no one who cared to come forward and explain why death had so
ruthlessly overtaken them. One thing was manifest; an iron will and
a heart of flint had directed the arm which struck those unoffending
people down in a manner exceeding the savage cruelty of the most
blood-thirsty creature—man or beast. The police officers invaded the
house and searched in vain for some evidence to assist them in hunting
down the murderer. They learned nothing tangible, but they laid the
foundation for their future work by carefully scrutinizing the home
and its surroundings as well as the bodies. A hint was sent out that a
mysterious man had been seen on the doorsteps arguing with Mr. Borden
only a few days before. Had _he_ done the deed? To those who stopped
to contemplate the circumstances surrounding the double murder, it was
marvelous to reflect how fortune had favored the assassin. Not once in
a million times would fate have paved such a way for him. He had to
deal with a family of six persons in an unpretentious two-and-a-half
story house, the rooms of which were all connected and in which it
would have been a difficult matter to stifle sound. He must catch Mr.
Borden alone and either asleep, or off his guard, and kill him with
one fell blow. The faintest outcry would have sounded an alarm. He
must also encounter Mrs. Borden alone and fell her, a heavy woman,
noiselessly. To do this he must either make his way from the sitting
room on the ground floor to the spare bed room above the parlor and
avoid five persons in the passage, or he must conceal himself in one
of the rooms up stairs and make the descent under the same conditions.
The murdered woman must not lisp a syllable at the first attack, and
her fall must not attract attention. He must then conceal the dripping
implement of death and depart in broad daylight by a much frequented
street. In order to accomplish this he must take a time when Miss Emma
L. Borden, the elder daughter of the murdered man, was on a visit to
relatives out of the city; Miss Lizzie A. Borden, the other daughter,
must be in the barn and remain there twenty minutes. A less time than
that would not suffice. Bridget Sullivan, the servant, must be in the
attic asleep on her own bed. Her presence in the pantry or kitchen
or any room on the first or second floors would have frustrated the
fiend’s designs, unless he also killed her so that she would die
without a murmur. In making his escape there must be no blood stains
upon his clothing; for such tell-tale marks might have betrayed him.
And so, if the assailant of the aged couple was not familiar with the
premises, his luck favored him exactly as described. He made no false
move. He could not have proceeded more swiftly nor surely had he lived
in the modest edifice for years. At the most he had just twenty minutes
in which to complete his work. He must go into the house after Miss
Lizzie entered the barn and he must disappear before she returned.
More than that, the sixth member of the family, John V. Morse, must
vanish from the house while the work was being done. He could not have
been counted on by any criminal, however shrewd, who had planned the
tragedy ahead. Mr. Morse came and went at the Borden homestead. He was
not engaged in business in Fall River and there were no stated times
when the wretch who did the slaughtering could depend upon his absence.
Mr. Morse must not loiter about the house or yard after breakfast as
was his custom; he must take a car to some other part of the city and
he must not return until his host and hostess have been stretched
lifeless. The slightest hitch in these conditions and the murderer
would have been balked or detected red handed upon the spot. Had Miss
Emma remained at home she would have been a stumbling block; had Miss
Lizzie left the stable a few moments earlier she would have seen the
murderer as he ran out the side door; had Bridget Sullivan shortened
her nap and descended the stairs she would have heard her mistress
drop, as the axe fell on her head; had Mr. Morse cut short his visit
to friends by as much as ten minutes the butcher would have dashed
into his arms as he ran out at the front gate; had Mr. Borden returned
earlier from his morning visit to the post office he would have caught
the assassin murdering his aged wife, or had he uttered a scream at the
time he himself was cut down, at least two persons would have rushed to
his assistance.
It was a wonderful chain of circumstances which conspired to clear
the way for the murderer; so wonderful that its links baffled men’s
understanding.
[Illustration: CITY MARSHAL RUFUS B. HILLIARD.]
City Marshal Rufus B. Hilliard received the first intimation that a
murder had been committed by telephone message. He was sitting in his
office at the Central police station when John Cunningham entered
a store half a block from the Borden house and gave notice of the
affair. He immediately sent officer George Allen to the scene and then
by signal informed each member of his force who was on duty at the
time. This was at 11:15 in the forenoon. Officer Allen was the first
policeman to visit the house and he saw the horribly mutilated body of
Mr. Borden, as it lay on the sofa. One glance was sufficient to cause
the policeman to stand almost rooted to the floor, for he had come
unprepared to witness such a sight. Without delay he hurried to the
Marshal’s office and made a personal report of what he had seen.
Almost all of the night patrolmen and many of the day men were absent
from the city on the day of the killing, on the annual excursion of
the Fall River Police Association to Rocky Point, a shore resort
near Providence, R. I., and this unusual condition served greatly
to handicap the efforts of Marshal Hilliard in his attempt to get
possession of a tangible clue to the perpetration of the crimes. The
city was but poorly protected by members of the day force, who were
doing double duty.
[Illustration: JOHN CUNNINGHAM.]
However, within half an hour after the general alarm had been sent out
a half dozen officers from the central part of the city had arrived at
the Borden house. They were instructed to make a careful search of the
premises. Officer Allen before he returned to the police station, had
stationed Charles S. Sawyer at the door on the north side of the house,
and had instructed him to allow no one except policemen and physicians
to enter the building. Mr. Sawyer was besieged by hundreds of citizens,
but stood firmly at his post during the entire day, and it was a time
of intense excitement and pressing demands for admittance. The street
in front of the house was blocked before noon with wagons, teams
and pedestrians, and the people stood for hours in the hot sunshine
of an exceptionally warm midsummer day and speculated and theorized
as to what possible motive any one could have had in so heartlessly
butchering the aged man and woman. Inside the yard and house, policemen
in uniform and in citizen’s garb, hurried to and fro with an air of
mystery which was becoming them, for to all appearances the assassin
had vanished as completely as if the earth had opened and swallowed him.
The Borden house, a plain two-and-a-half story frame structure, stands
on the east side of Second street and is numbered 92. It is but one
block away from the main thoroughfare of the busy city of Fall River.
Hundreds of vehicles and numberless people pass and repass before the
building daily and yet no person could be found who saw a suspicious
move or heard an unaccustomed sound on that fatal forenoon, until Miss
Lizzie told how she had called Mrs. Churchill, and informed her that
a murder had been committed. Mrs. Churchill had been to market and
was returning home at about 11 o’clock. She saw Bridget Sullivan, who
was also familiarly called “Maggie,” running across the street to the
residence of Dr. S. W. Bowen, the family physician. The girl told her
that “something awful” had happened, and then Mrs. Churchill went into
her own house and in a very short time appeared at the kitchen window,
which commands a view of the side door of the Borden residence. She saw
Miss Lizzie sitting on the back doorsteps, with her face buried in her
hands and seemingly in great distress. Mrs. Churchill crossed the yard
and offered Miss Lizzie a few words of consolation.
[Illustration: GEORGE W. ALLEN.]
Bridget Sullivan, the only living person who admits that she was in
the house at the time of the killing, was the first to give the alarm,
by notifying Mrs. Dr. Bowen. Bridget was in her own room in the attic
where she had gone to wash the windows; and after completing the work
had lain down on the bed to rest. While there she heard Miss Lizzie
call and from the tone of her voice knew that something was wrong.
Bridget came down quickly and Miss Lizzie said to her, “Father is dead,
go for Dr. Bowen.” Bridget obeyed. The physician was not at home and
she returned. Then Miss Lizzie sent her for Miss Alice Russell, who
lived two blocks away, and who was an intimate friend of the family.
Briefly this is what had taken place before the arrival of officer
Allen; and up to that time no one except the assassin knew that the
body of Mrs. Abbie D. Borden lay weltering in its own blood, in the
guest chamber on the second floor. To those who early visited the
house, the vision of Mr. Borden’s body as it lay on the sofa, with the
life blood still warm, and flowing from a dozen gaping wounds was a
horror so dreadful that they had no thought of Mrs. Borden. It remained
for the neighbor, Mrs. Churchill, and the servant Bridget, to make this
awful discovery. Dr. Bowen, who had arrived shortly after Bridget’s
visit to his house, in response to her call, asked for a sheet with
which to cover the body of Mr. Borden. Bridget brought one from one
of the back bedrooms on the upper floor. About this time Miss Lizzie
asked for her mother. It is related that this request for some one to
go and find Mrs. Borden was the second made by Miss Lizzie. Suddenly
it dawned upon those present that in the midst of the excitement of the
moment, Mrs. Borden had been forgotten. Of all persons in the world,
she would have been more deeply interested in the death of her husband
and possibly she could give some explanation of his tragic taking off.
Bridget was unwilling to go alone in search of Mrs. Borden and so Mrs.
Churchill volunteered to bear her company. The two women passed through
the front hall and ascended the stairs in the front entry. Reaching a
landing half way up where their eyes were on a level with the floor,
they looked across the hall, through an open door, under the bed, and
saw the prostrate form of the dead woman. It lay full on the face and
the arms were folded underneath. Mrs. Churchill turned and retraced her
steps to the kitchen. She sighed audibly as she took a chair and Miss
Russell said to her, “What, another?” The reply was, “Yes, Mrs. Borden
is killed too.” Bridget had followed back to the kitchen.
[Illustration: JOHN J. MANNING.]
Special police officer Patrick H. Doherty was the second policeman to
reach the house, and he was soon followed by Assistant Marshal John
Fleet and officers Michael Mullaly, John Devine and William H. Medley.
Before noon several other policemen, friends of the family and local
newspaper men had been admitted to the house. Also Medical Examiner Dr.
William A. Dolan and a number of other physicians.
The Medical Examiner arrived at 11:45 and encountered Dr. Bowen
and Bridget on his way into the sitting room. He then made a hasty
view of the bodies and the house, and commenced immediately to make
preparations for holding an autopsy.
John Vinnicum Morse, brother of Andrew J. Borden’s first wife and uncle
of Misses Lizzie and Emma, arrived at the house shortly before noon.
He entered the north gate and went directly to a pear tree in the
back yard, where he ate two pears and then returned to the side door
and entered; then Miss Lizzie told him that Mr. and Mrs. Borden had
been murdered. Mr. Morse had slept in the guest chamber, where Mrs.
Borden’s body was found, on the previous night and had after eating his
breakfast that morning, left the house to visit a relative who resided
on Weybosset street, in Fall River, about a mile from the Borden
House. It was remembered that Mr. Borden fastened the screen on the
side door after Mr. Morse passed out at 9:20 o’clock in the morning,
and bade his guest return in time for dinner. Mr. Morse had come to the
house on the afternoon before the tragedy and had spent a few hours
with Mr. Borden and then had driven to the Borden summer residence and
farm which are situated about six miles from the city, in the town of
Somerset. He returned in time for supper and spent the night in the
house.
Miss Lizzie sat at the foot of the back stairs and near the side door,
when Mrs. Churchill arrived. She had called her neighbor and informed
her that Mr. Borden had been “stabbed or killed.” Then she went into
the kitchen and remained a few minutes. Here she was seen by a number
of policemen, physicians and others who had been admitted to the house
before noon. She told Mrs. Churchill that she had been absent from the
sitting room a few minutes and that she spent the time in the barn,
where she had gone to get a piece of iron.
About noon she went upstairs to her own bedroom in company with Miss
Alice Russell, and the two sat alone for some time. While in the upper
part of the house she was approached by Assistant Marshal John Fleet
who made numerous inquiries concerning the condition of things in the
house previous to the murders. She told him as she had told others,
that Mrs. Borden had received a note delivered by a boy, early in the
morning, asking her to come and visit a friend who was sick. She did
not know who sent the message nor who delivered it, except that the
bearer was a small boy. Her father she said had had angry words with
an unknown man on the front steps a few days before the murder. She
thought the man was a farm laborer. The daughter also gave the police
information that the entire family had been sick a few days before
and that she feared that an enemy had attempted to poison them. The
sickness had followed after drinking milk, and this fact was enough
to cause Miss Lizzie to suspect that the milk had been tampered with.
The information given by the daughter was carried to Marshal Hilliard
and he ordered several policeman to guard the main roads leading out
of the city. A squad was also sent to Taunton River Bridge, over which
the assassin, if he was a farm laborer, would pass on his way to the
country. The police questioned Bridget closely and she corroborated
what Miss Lizzie had said about the sickness in the family.
So confused was the servant girl that she could tell no coherent story
of the condition of things about the house during the forenoon. She
did say that during the morning, Mrs. Borden had instructed her to
wash the windows from the outside of the house. This she had done.
After receiving this order from her mistress, Bridget did not see her
alive again. She finished her work before 10 o’clock, and while in
the sitting room heard Mr. Borden trying to get in at the front door.
He had returned from the city. She opened the front door and let Mr.
Borden in and then went up stairs. This was the last she saw of him
until Miss Lizzie called her when the body was found.
When the police officers arrived they began to search the house for the
weapon, and Bridget showed them into the cellar. Here they found four
hatchets, one of which had the appearance of having been washed after
recent use. At this time little attention was paid to this particular
hatchet, but all the hatchets were taken to the police station.
Shortly after 12 o’clock special officer Philip Harrington arrived at
the house, as had other policemen. He joined in the search for evidence
which would lead to the arrest of the murderer or to the discovery
of the weapon. After viewing the bodies he went to Miss Lizzie, who
was in her own room talking with Miss Alice Russell. He asked her if
she knew anything about the crime, and she replied “No.” It was then
that she detailed to him the story of her visit to the barn, and he
cautioned her to be careful, and to give him all the information in her
possession.
“Perhaps tomorrow,” said the officer, “you will have a clearer frame of
mind.” “No sir,” responded Miss Lizzie with a gentle courtesy, “I can
tell you all I know now just as well as at any other time.”
The conversation was prolonged and during the entire time Miss
Lizzie controlled her emotions wonderfully for a young lady who had
so recently been called upon to witness the blood of her father and
step-mother flowing from dozens of hideous wounds. When the officer
left her he went to the City Marshal and related his experience.
The public was not informed that then and there suspicions were
aroused in the minds of the police that the daughter knew more of the
circumstances of the tragedy then she cared to tell, but nevertheless
this was true.
All through that eventful day the police searched the house, cellar,
yard and barn but found nothing to confirm any suspicions which they
might have entertained as to who was guilty of the crimes.
Hon. John W. Coughlin, mayor of the city, who is a physician, was
among the first at the house and he took an active interest in the
search for evidence. From cellar to attic the police and physicians
delved into every nook and corner; every particle of hay in the barn
loft and every blade of grass in the yard was turned over; and when
the day was done the harvest had been nothing, except the discovery of
the double murder of a peaceful old man and his harmless wife, struck
down in their home like an ox in the stall. There was no assassin, no
weapon, no motive; just the crime and veil of mystery surrounding which
apparently time alone could lift.
They found the house in perfect order. The front and cellar doors were
locked; and every window sash was down. Even the victims as they lay
showed no signs of a struggle and the blood which spurted as the weapon
fell had not bespattered the rooms and furniture as it generally does
under circumstances such as these which surrounded the butchery of the
Bordens. They found two persons in the house living and two dead; and
the living could throw no light upon the darkness which clouded the
stark forms of the dead. A sturdy old man, rich in this world’s goods,
highly esteemed, retired from active life, without a known enemy, and
his equally unoffending wife were cut down in their own house, in
the broad daylight; and the assassin had left absolutely no trace of
himself. No man had seen him enter the house and no one had witnessed
his departure. The city was excited as it never was before; thousands
of people hurried from their places of business, from the workshop and
the mill, and gathered in the street in front of the house. Newspaper
men from the principal cities of New York and New England, to which the
telegraph had communicated the news of the astounding crime, arrived
on the afternoon trains; and as the day wore on, the dark mystery grew
darker and the task of fastening the crime on the guilty party took on
the semblance of an impossibility.
Medical Examiner Dolan and a corps of physicians held an autopsy on the
bodies in the afternoon and found that thirteen blows had rained upon
the head of the unsuspecting Mr. Borden, and that no less than eighteen
had descended upon the skull of Mrs. Borden. The cuts were deep and
long and any one of them would have produced instant death.
Could any but a maniac have inflicted those pitiless wounds; or could
any but a madman have struck so ruthlessly and unerringly and watched
the effect as the weapon sped on its mission of death, time and time
again? These were questions which suggested themselves to the public,
but they were unanswered and seemingly unanswerable.
This was the baffling condition of things which beset Marshal Hilliard
and his officers after the scene had been hurriedly gone over. Out of
this chaos of bloody crime and bewildering uncertainty, the police were
expected to bring light and order. It was a herculean task yet they
went to work with an energy prompted by duty, and spurred to greater
efforts by the public demand that justice overtake the author of the
foul deeds.