Second Day of the Trial.
Dr. Dolan was placed upon the stand again and dwelt at length upon the
question of his opinion as to which of the Bordens was murdered first.
He said: “I will say that the condition of the blood indicated that it
had been out of the living tissues an hour and a half to two hours. Did
not, the first time I was up-stairs, examine the edges of the wounds of
Mrs. Borden. Formed my opinion of the time since Mrs. Borden’s death
when I first saw her. Think she must have been dead an hour and a half
to two hours.”
Abram G. Hart was then called to the stand. He is the Treasurer of the
Union Savings Bank, of which the late Mr. Borden was President. He
testified: “Saw Mr. Borden about 9:30 o’clock at the bank on the day of
his death. He usually called at the bank at that time in the morning.
The day before, at a quarterly meeting of the trustees, he was not
present. He said on the morning of the day he died that he would have
been present on the preceding day, but had been ill.” The defence did
not cross-examine the witness.
John T. Burrell, cashier of the National Union Bank, in which
institution Mr. Borden was a depositor and stockholder, saw Mr. Borden
come into his bank on the morning of Aug. 4, the day he died. Did not
know if Mr. Borden came back to the bank again. The two banks are in
the same building. The defence did not cross-examine.
Everett Cook, cashier of the First National Bank, of which Mr. Borden
was a director, saw Mr. Borden at the bank Aug. 4. He came in about
quarter of 10 and went out five minutes of 10. He did not come in again
that day. He usually came in daily. Charles T. Cook, insurance agent,
had charge of one of Mr. Borden’s business blocks on the corner of
Anawan and South Main streets. He had been in the habit of seeing Mr.
Borden, but did not see him on the day of the murder. The last time the
witness talked with Mr. Borden was on the Sunday before the murder.
There was no talk with reference to a will. Three weeks before that he
had told the witness he had no will, but said nothing about making
one. The witness positively denied that he had spoken to Inspector
Medley about the fact that Mr. Borden was making a will.
Mrs. Dr. Kelly who lives next door south of the Borden residence,
testified that she was at home on the morning of August 4th and saw
Mr. Borden walking around from the back door as if he had been trying
to get into the house. He had a small white package in his hand at
the time. This was at twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes before 11
o’clock, and she fixed the time, by an appointment which she had with
the dentist. Jonathan Clegg saw Mr. Borden in his store on the morning
of the murder at 10:20 o’clock, and he left there exactly at 10:29
o’clock. On leaving the store Mr. Borden went south.
John Cunningham, a newsdealer, testified that he was in front of a
house four houses north of the Borden place when he first heard of
the murder. Saw Mrs. Churchill cross the street. Was told that Mrs.
Churchill wanted a policeman and telephoned to the City Marshal by a
clerk in the paint shop. It was ten minutes to 11. Cross-examined by
Mr. Jennings—“When I telephoned I was going up towards the store.
Mrs. Churchill I saw coming from her own house, I should think. Mrs.
Churchill came over to some men. I passed them, and after I had gone
three or four feet a boy told me Mrs. Churchill wanted me to telephone.
Officer Allen then came along. He went in the house right off and came
out. Charles Sawyer went into the house with Mr. Allen. Then I went
down street, and when Mr. Allen came out I asked him what the matter
was and went in. Found Mr. Manning and Mr. Stevens, two reporters, in
the yard. Did not notice anybody go in the barn.”
Mr. Jennings—“Did you notice the cellar door, Mr. Cunningham?” “I did
particularly. I tried it and it was locked. I remained there about ten
minutes more. Officers Doherty and Mullaly came.”
Francis H. Wixon, a deputy sheriff, was in the Marshal’s office when
he heard of the murder. The Marshal was talking through the telephone.
It was about ten or fifteen minutes past 11, as on his way to the
office he heard the bell in the city hall strike 11. The witness went
up five or six minutes after the message was received and arrived at
about 11:30 o’clock. There were not many people in the house and the
witness saw Dr. Bowen there upon his arrival. Officer Doherty overtook
the speaker in the yard, and together they went in the house, and
looked at the body of Mr. Borden. He knew nothing about Mrs. Borden’s
murder and had some consultation with Dr. Bowen. The result was that
the witness removed Mr. Borden’s watch. Saw nothing of Lizzie Borden.
Dr. Bowen then went upstairs and the witness and the officer followed.
He saw Dr. Dolan there before the witness left. Continuing, Mr. Wixon
said, “I went out in the yard and looked south. There I saw a man in an
open space, who was sawing wood. In the same lot I saw two other men at
work. They had not heard of the murder and I told them.”
At this point the court took a recess for dinner, and upon coming in
again, John Shortsleeves testified to having seen Mr. Borden in a shop
on South Main street at 10:30 or 10:40 o’clock. Then John V. Morse, a
brother of Mr. Borden’s first wife, was called, and said:
“I am 59 years old; live at present at the Borden house. My permanent
home is Dartmouth. I used to live in Iowa, in the West. I returned
from the West after living there 20 years, three years ago last April.
I first lived in Warren and then in Dartmouth. My sister, the past
Mrs. Borden, died about 1863. Heard of the marriage to the second
wife before I came from the West. Have resided in Dartmouth the past
year, coming to Fall River every month or two. In connection with the
tragedy, left New Bedford to come here August 3 on 12:35 train. Saw
Lizzie at the Borden house. Arrived there about 1:30 o’clock; dined
there, stayed till after 3, then went over to Swansea; hired a horse
and wagon, and got back about a quarter of 9. Visited Borden’s farm
and another place; went there on business relating to Mr. Borden; went
there to see about cattle that day; invited Mr. Borden to go with me.
I saw Mr. and Mrs. Borden on my return. Emma did not arrive until the
night of the tragedy at about 6 o’clock. I did not see Lizzie until
after the couple were killed. I heard her come in the night before and
go up the front stairs. This was about 9:15. Her room was at the head
of the front stairs, and I occupied the spare chamber. This room was
not accessible at night from the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Borden slept in
the east room next to Lizzie’s room. Miss Emma’s room was just north of
Lizzie’s, just back of the spare room. Stairs lead from Miss Lizzie’s
room to the spare room. I did not hear Miss Lizzie’s voice when she
entered. I retired about 10 o’clock. Mrs. Borden retired first. I rose
about 6 o’clock and came down stairs a few minutes afterwards. When I
came down I found no one, and I first saw Mr. Borden. This was fifteen
minutes after I came down. He entered the sitting room and Mrs. Borden
appeared soon afterwards. I took breakfast with the family, Mr. and
Mrs. Borden and myself. We ate breakfast at about 7 o’clock, and I
then saw the servant. She waited upon the table, coming in when the
bell was rung. There were bananas on the table. After breakfast we went
into the sitting room and engaged in conversation. Mrs. Borden came in
and out of the room, and was dusting. She had nothing on her head. I
went away at a quarter before 9, and Miss Lizzie had not been down, to
my knowledge. I went down to the post office and mailed a letter. Then
I went up Pleasant to Weybosset street to visit a niece at the home of
Daniel Emery. This is about a mile away.”
District Attorney—“Where did you go when you went away from the house?
I don’t ask this for my own sake. The witness is no client of mine, but
it’s only fair in view of what has been said that he should tell his
story.”
[Illustration: CAPTAIN PHILIP H. HARRINGTON.]
“The last I saw of Mrs. Borden she was in the front entry. The last
words Mr. Borden said were: ‘John, come back to dinner.’ I fix the time
I left the Borden house at a quarter of 9 by having my watch with me.
I saw Mrs. Borden go into the front hall before I left home. Can’t say
if she had a feather duster in her hand. It was the last time I saw
her alive. It was Mr. Borden who let me out that morning. The letter I
posted was, I think, to Mr. William Lincoln. I walked up to Emery’s;
left there at 11:20 o’clock. The dinner hour at the Borden house was
usually 12 o’clock. I came back on the horse car down Pleasant street,
and went right up Second street. At the door the servant girl told me
of the affair. Inside the house were Mr. Sawyer, Dr. Bowen and two
policemen. I did not see Dr. Dolan there. Then it was about a quarter
of 12, I should estimate. After I had been in the house two or three
minutes I saw Miss Lizzie in the dining room on the sofa. I spoke to
her, but I do not remember what I said. I saw the bodies and then went
down stairs and saw Lizzie. I did no searching. The last time I was at
the house before this was in the middle of July. I did not see Miss
Lizzie then. I was there in June and stayed a day and did not see Miss
Lizzie at that time. I was on corresponding terms with Mr. Borden and
Emma when I was West. I never had a letter from Lizzie in my life.”
Mr. Morse testified that Mr. Borden had told him that most of the
family had been sick the day before. He was also questioned at length
concerning the condition of things at the house when he arrived.
Bridget Sullivan was then called and said: “My name is Bridget
Sullivan, and I was known by the name of Maggie at the Borden house.
I was employed there for two years and nine months. I swept the front
hall every other week and had no duties in the bedrooms. At the time
of the tragedy Miss Emma was not at home. She had been out of town
for a week, and when she was gone the family consisted of Mr. and
Mrs. Borden and Miss Lizzie. Miss Lizzie went with Miss Emma when
she went away, but came back. I first saw Mr. Morse between 1:30 and
2 o’clock on the day he arrived. I saw him again walking out in the
afternoon. I did not see him when he arrived home that night. I got
up at 6:15 o’clock Thursday morning, and it was 10 o’clock the night
before when I retired. I locked the screen door and the back wooden
door before I went to bed. When I came down in the morning I found the
doors exactly as I had left them, and I opened them. I went out for
milk, and afterward hooked up the screen door. The back door remained
open. Nobody else came in or out that I can remember, except members
of the house. I did not go out of the house again until Mr. Borden
went out. Nobody was up when I came down, and the first one I saw was
Mrs. Borden. I saw her in the kitchen and on the back stairs at half
past 6. Never knew anybody to go up the back way to the front part, or
the front way to the back part; Mr. Borden came down about two minutes
after Mrs. Borden; he went out doors before breakfast; he went into
the barn and got some water; he emptied a pail from the house and came
back; I was in the kitchen all the time; after Mr. Borden came in with
his pail he washed up; he put his dressing coat on after washing up;
think he put his necktie and collar on after breakfast; we had for
breakfast cold mutton, soup, johnny cakes and coffee; breakfast, as
nearly as I recollect, was at 7:15; after breakfast they were in the
sitting room; Mr. Morse had come down to breakfast; he went out at
quarter of 9, I should judge; Mr. Borden let him out; Mrs. Borden, I
expect, was in the sitting room when Mr. Morse went; I saw Mr. Borden
there about 9; don’t know when Mr. Morse went; after Morse went, Mr.
Borden went up the back stairs; did not see him when he came down or
went out; don’t know if he went out the front or back door; I went out
in the back yard awhile; I was sick at my stomach and vomited; did not
see Mrs. Borden when I came back; was out in the yard four or five
minutes, and came back into the kitchen and washed dishes. Mrs. Borden
told me she wanted the windows washed inside and outside all around the
house. I did not see Mrs. Borden after that. She went into the kitchen.
The next time I saw her she was dead. Lizzie was then through with her
breakfast. She came down stairs before I went outside. She was then
in the kitchen. When I came back I don’t know where she was. I asked
Lizzie what she wanted for breakfast and she said she didn’t feel like
eating anything. When I saw Mrs. Borden she had a dusting cloth and was
dusting the dining room. I didn’t know where Lizzie was. That was after
both men had gone. I don’t know whether or not I locked the screen
door after I came in from vomiting. I then cleaned up the kitchen and
straightened up and commenced to prepare to wash the windows. I went
down cellar and got a pail, got a brush from the closet and went out
to the barn to get a stick. Miss Lizzie then came into the back entry
and asked where I was going. I told her I was going to wash windows
and that she need not hook the door. I told her I’d get the water in
the barn, and she said all right. The door was then hooked and I had
to unhook it. I was down in the cellar earlier in the morning to get
coal and wood. The next time I went down was when I got the pail. It
was half an hour after Mrs. Borden told me to wash the windows before
I commenced. During that time I did not see Miss Lizzie except when
she came to the screen door. Where she was I don’t know. I had not
been doing any work in the spare room; Lizzie Borden never did work
in the spare room when her friends had occupied it. After I went out
to wash the windows I saw Lizzie; she had asked me as I went out if I
was going to wash the windows; I told her yes, and that if she wanted
to close the windows I would get water in the barn; five windows I had
to wash; I shut three before I went out, and two others were already
shut. I did not see Miss Lizzie after I got out; I had not seen anybody
while I was in the barn after the dipper. When I went down stairs after
the pail, I went down the kitchen stairs. We wash on Monday, and iron
Tuesday, and on Monday and Tuesday the cellar door was open. I opened
the door the day I hung my clothes out, and don’t know if anybody else
went in or out of it that week before the murder. I shut and locked
the door Tuesday, myself. I got through washing the windows at twenty
minutes past 10, I think. Washed the sitting room side first and then
the parlor and last the dining room. The windows were shut upstairs.
I then went inside at the screen door, hooked it, and getting a hand
basin washed the sitting room windows inside. Did not see Lizzie or
Mr. Borden in the house while I was washing the sitting room windows.
Didn’t see anybody outside or in the house while I was washing windows.
I heard Mr. Borden try to get in at the front door. Afterwards went
to the front door and found the bolt and lock turned. Miss Lizzie was
upstairs at that time. She might have been in the hall, for I heard her
laugh upstairs as I let Mr. Borden in. I went to open the door and it
was locked, and I made some exclamation when she laughed aloud. I did
not see her until five or ten minutes afterwards. I was in the sitting
room. Mr. Borden came in and sat down at the head of the lounge in
the dining room. He was reading and I was in the sitting room washing
windows. I did not see her when I let Mr. Borden in. I heard her tell
her father that Mrs. Borden got a note and went out. Lizzie spoke very
low. I don’t know where Lizzie went then, and I don’t know whether or
not she stayed in her room. After I finished in the sitting room, Mr.
Borden took the key from the sitting room shelf and started upstairs
the back way. When he came down I was just going into the dining room.
I did not see Miss Lizzie then. She was not in the dining room, sitting
room or kitchen. Then Mr. Borden sat down near the window in the
sitting room, with a book or paper in his hand. He brought the key back
and put it on the shelf. He sat in an easy chair, and I had started to
wash the first window in the dining room. I did not see Miss Lizzie,
and only saw her when she came into the dining room, and then to the
kitchen, and then back again to the dining room with an ironing board.
She placed the ironing board on the dining room table. Where she came
from I do not know. She put the ironing board on a corner of the table.
It was about two feet long. She always ironed the handkerchiefs. I did
not hear Mr. Borden leave the chair in which he was sitting. After I
finished I came into the kitchen, and Miss Lizzie asked me if I was
going out. I told her I didn’t know, as I was feeling sick, and she
said if I went out to be sure and lock the door, as “I may be out,”
and Mrs. Borden had got a note and gone out. I then went upstairs to
my room, and Miss Lizzie was down stairs working at the ironing board.
She came out and told me there was a sale of dry goods at Sargent’s.
If Mr. Borden changed his position to the sofa, I didn’t know it. Soon
after I got upstairs it struck 11 o’clock. I was then lying in bed,
but I didn’t take my clothes off. I thought I had time enough to get
dinner at half past 11. I always went upstairs before dinner if I had
time. Didn’t look at the fire before I went upstairs. The dinner was
to be soup to warm over and cold mutton. Had not put the soup on, and
the potatoes were in the soup. A coal fire was started in the morning.
I was going down stairs about 11:30. Had not gone out of the screen
door again after I commenced to wash the windows inside. I next heard
something when Lizzie called me. It might have been ten or fifteen
minutes after I came upstairs. She hollored at me. I knew from the way
she hollored something was the matter. She hollored loud; she said her
father was dead. She told me to run after Dr. Bowen. I wanted to run in
ahead and see, but she told me to run quick and tell the doctor. I went
and told Mrs. Bowen about it. Mrs. Bowen told me to tell Miss Russell
about it and I went back and told Miss Lizzie. She told me to go after
Miss Russell. When I got back from the Bowens, Miss Lizzie was still at
the door. When I got back from Miss Russell’s Dr. Bowen had just got
out of his wagon, and I think Mrs. Churchill was there. Miss Lizzie
was then in the kitchen. We talked, and Miss Lizzie said she’d like us
to search for Mrs. Borden. I said I’d go upstairs, and Mrs. Churchill
said she’d go with me. I went up and saw Mrs. Borden before I went in.
When the house was searched that day a box of hatchets was behind the
furnace. I don’t know if the cellar door was open when the officers
were searching the house the day of the murder. I asked Lizzie where
she was, and she said she was out in the back yard.”
“When was it she said that?” “After I got back from Mrs. Russell’s.”
“Do you know what dress she had on?” “I don’t know.” “Had Mrs. Borden
said anything to you about going out?” “No, sir.” “Was it her habit to
notify you when she went out?” Mr. Adams promptly objected to this and
the Court excluded the question. “Then the only thing you know about
her going out was what Lizzie told you?” Mr. Jennings objected to this
question and said that while he did not object to the District Attorney
asking leading questions on unimportant matters, this was altogether
too serious a point to allow such queries. District Attorney Knowlton
declined to take this view of the matter, and a discussion commenced,
pending which an adjournment for the day was taken.