A Reward Offered.
On the morning after the tragedy the following notice was sent to the
newspapers:
“Five thousand dollars reward. The above reward will be paid to
any one who may secure the arrest and conviction of the person
or persons, who occasioned the death of Andrew J. Borden and
his wife.
Signed, Emma L. Borden and Lizzie A. Borden.”
Here was an incentive calculated to invigorate the work of those who
were bent on solving the great mystery. But the police officers did not
stop to read this announcement. It was as plain as a pike staff that
they were not devoting their entire time and energies toward hunting
up farm hands, mysterious Portuguese and Westport horse traders. Yet
it is an unquestionable fact that City Marshal Hilliard left no stone
unturned to follow every clue of this kind to its end. They all ended
in smoke.
The hatchets which had been found in the cellar had been sent to Prof.
Wood for critical examination, and the public awaited with almost
breathless anxiety the making of his report. Upon it depended much
which would assist in clearing up the case. After the bodies had been
placed in the receiving vault at Oak Grove, Mr. Morse concluded to bury
the clothing which the victims wore at the time of death. He employed
men to do the work. Under orders the clothing was interred in the yard
back of the barn. Just after this incident, Mr. Morse locked the barn
door with two Boston reporters on the inside, and when they demanded
their release he found considerable fault with the liberties people
were taking on the premises. He was reminded that a reward of $5,000
had been offered, and that therefore everybody was intensely interested.
On the same afternoon Andrew J. Jennings, an astute lawyer and a
conservative man, who had been employed by the Misses Borden, as before
stated, was questioned about the case. He had no particular desire to
talk about the family affairs of the Borden’s, but he admitted that as
far as he knew, the murdered man left no will. The estate would as
a matter of course, go to the daughters. As to the crime itself, Mr.
Jennings said:
“I have read many cases in books, in newspapers and in fiction—in
novels—and I never heard of a case as remarkable as this. A most
outrageous, brutal crime, perpetrated in mid-day in an open house
on a prominent thoroughfare, and absolutely motiveless. The theory
advanced—these quarrels about wages and about the possession of stores
and that sort of thing—are simply ridiculous. They do not offer a
motive. If it was shown that the thing was done during even such a
quarrel, in the heat of passion, it would be different; but to suppose
that for such a matter a man will lie in wait or steal upon his victim
while asleep and hack him to death is preposterous. Even with revenge
in his heart, the sight of his victim asleep would disarm most any
man. Then for a man to enter, commit the deed and escape without being
discovered, would be a remarkable combination of circumstances.”
In answer to a question as to what he thought about the possibility of
the murder being committed by a member of the family, he replied:
“Well, there are but two women of the household and this man Morse.
He accounts so satisfactorily for every hour of that morning, showing
him to be out of the house, that there seems to be no ground to base
a reasonable suspicion. Further than that, he appeared on the scene
almost immediately after the discovery, from the outside, and in
the same clothes that he had worn in the morning. Now it is almost
impossible that this frightful work could have been done without the
clothes of the person who did it being bespattered with blood. Then
came Lizzie Borden, dressed in the same clothes she wore before the
killing. This, together with the improbability that any woman could do
such a piece of work, makes the suspicion seem altogether irrational.”
Complication after complication arose as the facts in the case slowly
came to light. Not a scream nor a groan was heard coming from the
Borden house that morning; neither did the family living in the
Buffington house which stands next north of the Borden house, see
anybody coming out on that morning except Mr. Borden himself. He left
his home, as has been stated, about 9 o’clock. Mrs. Churchill, who
lives with her mother, Mrs. E. P. Buffington, across the yard, watched
Mr. Borden go out. There is a fence between the two houses, and Mrs.
Buffington’s kitchen windows look over the fence into the Borden yard,
directly opposite the side door, and not twenty-eight feet from the
Borden house. The barn is but twenty feet behind the house, and the
distance from the east end of the house to the east end of the barn is
not more than fifty feet. Behind the barn is a fence eight feet high,
protected by barbed wire. This fence divides the Borden estate from
that of Dr. J. B. Chagnon, whose house fronts on Third street. On the
rear of Dr. Chagnon’s place are half a dozen apple and pear trees that
stand up against the fence which partitions the Borden estate from that
of Dr. Chagnon.
On the south side of the Borden house is Dr. Kelly’s residence. A low
fence stands between.
Miss Addie Cheetham lives with her mother and Mrs. Churchill with
Mrs. Buffington. All these persons were about their own houses all of
Thursday morning. Miss Cheetham sat writing a letter at 10 o’clock and
at 10:55 went to the post office. She saw no one come out of the Borden
house during the time she sat near the window fronting on the Borden
lawn. She could hear the side door bang if it opened at all, but it did
not, she says. Mrs. Churchill was about the house until 10:15, when
she went to the market to secure dinner. She returned about 10:50, and
it was perhaps twenty-five minutes later when she had occasion to go
into the kitchen. She looked out of the window and just at that moment
Lizzie Borden pushed open the side door of her own house.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN PATRICK H. DOHERTY.]
Mrs. Churchill ran over to Mrs. Borden’s, and just at that minute
Bridget, who had been sent to summon Dr. Bowen, returned, saying that
she could not find the doctor. Mrs. Churchill then went over to Lew
Hall’s sail loft, where her hired man, Tom Bolles, was talking and
asked him to run for Dr. Chagnon. Bolles ran around the square to find
the Chagnon house locked up. The family had that day gone to Pawtucket
and the hired girl was down street from 10:30 until nearly 12 o’clock.
Bolles came back and while running up Second street saw Dr. Bowen
driving in front of his office, and then it was that the family
physician was notified.
Bolles saw Bridget cleaning windows on the north and west side of the
house early in the forenoon, but she was not in sight at 11:20. All the
members of the Buffington household agreed that if there had been any
scream from inside the Borden house it would certainly have been heard
by them.
In Dr. Kelly’s yard some men were working, and if the assassin
proceeding on the theory that a man attempted to scale the fence at
that place, he would perhaps have been seen by the laborers. He would
also have to pass the barn where Lizzie was, provided, of course, he
got out of the house between 10:55 and 11:20. If he jumped over the
Buffington fence, he might have been seen by the inmates of the house,
and to try to escape by cutting his way over the Kelly fence would
have been to fall into the hands of the laborers. It would have been
dangerous for him to go out by the Second street entrance, for there
are always passers by on this thoroughfare, as well as on Third street.
Clues are absolutely indispensable adjuncts to all criminal operations
and in the Borden case they were omnipresent. Everybody seemed to have
a suggestion to offer. Around the police headquarters there congregated
all kinds of men, including a number of cranks. Those of the latter
class who could not report in form, sent in their contributions by mail
until Marshal Hilliard’s desk was piled high with curious and original
documents. But the police themselves worked night and day and kept
their doings as secret as possible, under the circumstances. Before two
days passed the press all over the country began to assail the work of
the officers, and it was kept up with a vigor worthy a better cause.
Undoubtedly this criticism was brought about by the fact that the
twenty-five or more newspaper men who interviewed the Marshal daily,
or said they did, gleaned the fact that he harbored the suspicion that
a member of the family had committed the crimes. But it was clear to
all who wished to see it, that he paid as much attention to hunting
down “outside clues” as he did in pursuing his inquiries in the other
direction. The more plausible clues were diligently followed.
A theory which gave promise of good results was as follows:
On Tuesday before the murder, about 9 o’clock in the morning, a horse
and buggy turned into Second street out of Spring street, and came
to a halt in front of the Borden House. A young man who was employed
near by sat in his buggy which stood opposite the house and was facing
south. He took the trouble to watch closely the two men who occupied
the buggy. One of them got out and rang the door bell. Mr. Borden
answered the call and the stranger was admitted. In about ten minutes
he came out and resumed his seat in the buggy and the pair drove off
in the direction of Pleasant street. This circumstance was considered
of importance, when it became known that the police had information of
another person who had seen a strange man about the premises. A boy
named Kierouack, aged twelve, who resided on Central street, told the
authorities that he was passing the house at about 11 o’clock that
morning and that he saw a man scale the fence which separates the
Borden and Chagnon estates. Young Kierouack was put to the most rigid
examination by the police and he stuck to his story. This clue was
effectually disposed of by the authorities who found another person who
was with Kierouack at the time of his trip down Second street. This man
gave a particular story of his movements that morning and denied that
young Kierouack had seen a suspicious character. Adjoining the yard of
the Borden place is the house occupied by Dr. Chagnon. On the evening
in question the physician was unexpectedly summoned away and asked
Dr. Collet, if, as a favor, he would allow the latter’s little son
to attend to the telephone during Dr. Chagnon’s absence. The boy was
absent, and Dr. Collet sent his daughter to Dr. Chagnon’s residence,
but upon her arrival the doctor had departed and the office was locked.
The little girl decided to await the arrival of some one and sat down
in the yard for that purpose. Soon the man who had driven the doctor
away returned, and the office was opened. Miss Chagnon remained in
the yard adjoining the Borden place. She was there at the time it was
alleged the unknown man jumped the fence, and she declares that she
saw no one attempt anything of the kind, but the fact that there was
a considerable extent of barbed wire along its top was submitted in
answer. Barbed wire necessitates careful handling, and it was argued
in support of the truth of the girl’s statement and the falsity of the
other story that the passage of a man over such a barrier would require
such time as to render detection possible.
Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Morse had clearly established an
alibi there were those who insisted that he knew more of the murder
than he had made public. Proceeding on this theory the officers took up
the task of investigating Mr. Morse. Officer Medley was given the work,
and in company with Inspector Hathaway of the New Bedford police, he
discovered that Mr. Morse had lived, as before stated, in Dartmouth.
There was at that time a camp of itinerant horse traders in the town
of Westport. It was related that Mr. Morse had had dealings with these
men and the sensational press soon coupled his name with a possible
hired assassin, a member of the gang of traders. This story was given
color by the then unexploded story of young Kierouack, especially when
it became known that officer Medley had discovered a man who seemed to
fit the description of the stranger alleged to have been seen around
the premises. This suspect was the head trader in the Westport Camp and
when accosted he readily consented to come to Fall River and surrender
himself. He succeeded in showing beyond a reasonable doubt that he was
in the city of New Bedford at the time of the Borden murders.
Within a few hours after the murder was reported a detail of police was
sent to guard the house. This policy was kept up for more than a week
and as early as Friday morning the officers on guard had instructions
to keep the Misses Borden, John V. Morse and Bridget Sullivan under the
strictest surveillance and not allow either of them to leave the city.
If they left the premises they were followed. The Medical Examiner, the
Marshal and the officers at work on the case were constantly coming and
going about the house, and while it may have appeared to them that the
problem was in a fair way of solution, the public was getting more and
more hopelessly involved in the mass of stories which were circulated
from day to day.
[Illustration: MEDICAL EXAMINER DR. W. A. DOLAN.]
The letter which was alleged to have been received by Mrs. Borden on
the morning of the tragedy, continued to excite public interest. “_Once
a Week_,” the New York journal, offered a reward of $500 for the writer
of the note, and the _Fall River News_ implored its readers to unite
in one effort in the cause of justice, and if possible, find the note
and deliver it into the editor’s hands. The missive, however, was not
found. Miss Lizzie A. Borden seemingly put an end to that theory when
she told Dr. Dolan that she had attempted to find the note and being
unsuccessful, she feared it had been burned in the kitchen stove. Not
one of the household seemed to be able to give more than a general idea
of the contents of the note. It was from a friend who was ill, but as
neither the friend nor the note could be found by the united efforts of
the police and members of the family, the matter was dropped early in
the investigation.