The Search of the House.
Friday morning came and with it little but mystery to add to the awful
tragedy. The police had guarded the house all night. Marshal Hilliard
had been active to an unusual degree, but the solution of the great
murder mystery seemed to be as far distant as at any time since the
discovery of the bodies. It was stated early Friday morning that
arrests would be made during the day, but they were not. Miss Lizzie
Borden was suspected but there was no evidence against her. It would
have been a serious matter to arrest a person for such a terrible crime
as this double murder, especially when it is considered that the one
suspected occupied a high social position in the community. Besides,
she had a spotless reputation, not one word of criticism had passed
upon her before this time; and, furthermore, she was an heiress to a
fortune of not less than $300,000. The officers of the law must have
more evidence, and with this idea in view they again visited the house
for the purpose of a more thorough search. On the afternoon before
the report had gone out that Miss Lizzie had refused the officers
permission to search her room. This was promptly denied. However, they
were not satisfied, and the ground was carefully gone over again. Five
officers spent over three hours ransacking rooms, bureaus, beds, boxes,
trunks and everything else where it was thought that anything which
they would like to find might be hidden.
Not a thing was discovered which afforded the slightest clue to the
perpetrator of the bold and blood curdling crimes.
[Illustration: ASST. MARSHAL JOHN FLEET.]
The searching party consisted of Marshal Hilliard, Assistant Marshal
Fleet, State Detective Seaver, Medical Examiner Dolan and Capt.
Desmond. They went to the house shortly after 3 o’clock, and did not
leave until nearly 6 o’clock. There were a number of people in the
house beside the two daughters, the servant and John V. Morse. Among
them were Mrs. Holmes and Miss Russell, friends of the family, who had
been sent for by the Misses Borden to keep them company.
The squad of police surrounding the house were given instructions not
to let any one enter or leave while the search was in progress, and
they obeyed their orders to the letter.
Attorney Andrew J. Jennings of Fall River, was also present. He had
been retained by the Misses Borden to look after their interests, but
made no attempt to interfere in any way with the searching party. Mr.
Morse offered his services to the officers, but they were declined with
thanks. The police were satisfied after an hour’s work on the first
floor and cellar, and then they passed to the second floor. Miss Lizzie
was in her room when they approached the door. She opened her trunk
and said “Is there anything I can do or show you, gentlemen?” She was
told that nothing further was expected of her. They spent another hour
ransacking the rooms on this floor but their efforts were unrewarded.
Then the yard and barn were again searched but with the same result.
Nothing was found and nothing was taken from the premises, if the words
of a policeman at the time were to be depended upon. After the party
left one of the officers in conversation dwelt particularly upon the
demeanor of Miss Lizzie at the time of the search. He said:—“I was
surprised at the way she carried herself and I must say that I admire
her nerve. I did not think that a woman could have so much. She did not
appear to be in the least bit excited or worried. I have wondered why
she did not faint upon her discovery of the dead body of her father.
Most women would have done so, for a more horrible sight I never saw,
and I have walked over a battlefield where thousands lay mangled and
dead. She is a woman of remarkable nerve and self control and her
sister Emma is very much of the same disposition, although not so
strong.”
After so thorough a search of the house it was expected that some
startling developments would be made, but the public was doomed to
disappointment. Contrary to the expectations of all it was announced
that absolutely nothing had been discovered which would lead to a clue
or assist in any way in clearing up the great mystery.
There was one thing of importance which the police did accomplish on
the second day after the murder. The time of the taking off of Mr.
Borden was fixed at between 10:50 and 11:03 o’clock, and it was assumed
that Mrs. Borden was killed before that time.
[Illustration: BRIDGET SULLIVAN.]
They arrive at their decision regarding the old gentleman by the
following facts:
It was known that Mr. Borden was talking to Mr. Charles M. Horton at
10:30 o’clock, as they were seen together by persons on the Chace Mill
car that leaves City Hall for Bedford and Quarry streets at 10:30. The
car was standing in front of the building. After leaving Mr. Horton Mr.
Borden walked up South Main street, stopping for a minute or two at
this block and then going through Borden street to Second and to his
home. Bridget Sullivan was positive that she admitted him at the front
door between 10:45 and 10:50; it was before 11 and after 10:45. Marshal
Hilliard made special inquiries of the persons in the office with him
concerning the time that he received the telephone message, and it
has been fixed at within a minute of 11:15. Officer Allen was sent to
investigate, and positively asserts that he was at the house at 10:20.
A man who heard the alarm on the street says that at the time there was
no one in sight except the person who informed him. He was able to fix
the time to within a minute of 10:45 by attending circumstances that he
can recall clearly. The clock at Dr. Bowen’s had struck 11 just before
Miss Lizzie came to the door for the doctor, and Dr. Bowen reached Mr.
Borden’s house at 11:30.
The murder was reported within fifteen minutes from the time that Mr.
Borden is known to have been alive.
With this detail were involved many issues. It practically broke down
any theories that a mysterious assassin slyly entered the house,
sneaked into the rooms and then killed his victims. The intervening
space of time was too brief. It became perfectly apparent to the
police that the body of Mrs. Borden lay for an hour or more, in the
room where Mr. Morse slept, brutally hacked, the work of a murderer,
showing beyond all question and cavil that the blows were administered,
not in a frenzy at the sight of blood, but with one all absorbing
purpose—immediate death. There was evidence of fiendish brutality in
the work, shown not alone in the manner in which it was done, but in
the apparent sole desire of the guilty one to complete the crime so
that the victim could not by any chance escape from the fate intended.
They became more and more convinced that the body of Mrs. Borden could
not have lain in the room for one or two hours, without having been
discovered by some one in the house. In the minds of the police the
proposition resolved itself into this form. Could there have been a
dead body and an assassin in the house for nearly two hours unknown to
and undiscovered by Miss Lizzie or the servant?