Sixth Day of the Trial.
The proceedings opened by Judge Blaisdell announcing that he was ready
to hear the arguments of counsel. Mr. Jennings arose and said: “May it
please Your Honor, this complaint upon which you have to pass to-day,
in substance, alleges that on the 4th of August last Andrew J. Borden
was murdered by his daughter Lizzie. I must say I close this case with
feelings entirely different from those I have ever experienced at the
conclusion of any case. This man was not merely my client, he was my
friend. I had known him from boyhood days, and if three short weeks ago
any one had told me that I should stand here defending his youngest
daughter from the charge of murdering him, I should have pronounced it
beyond the realm of human credibility. But such is the fact, and upon
the decision of Your Honor will rest the liberty and good name of this
young woman. There are some things of which there is no doubt. There
is no doubt that Andrew J. Borden was murdered in his house at the
time given by Bridget Sullivan, Mr. Shortsleeves and Jonathan Clegg.
All these give the time from the City Hall clock. Mr. Clegg sees Mr.
Borden leave his store at 10:30 o’clock, a time he fixes by looking
at the clock. As Mr. Borden entered his other store, one of the men
working there saw it was twenty minutes before 11. It seems to me it is
fixed almost beyond a peradventure that the last time Andrew J. Borden
entered the house was between quarter and ten minutes before 11. Mrs.
Kelly is wrong unless the others are wrong. Mr. Borden did not enter
his home at twenty minutes before 11 unless Mr. Shortsleeves is wrong
and Bridget Sullivan is wrong. The time between his entering the house
and the giving of the alarm is from twenty-five minutes to half an
hour. Now what took place after he got there? Bridget Sullivan says
she left him in the sitting room reading the paper, and within this
narrow limit of half an hour Andrew Borden has to talk with Lizzie,
talk with Bridget, go up stairs, go down-stairs, compose himself in the
chair and place himself upon the sofa. If the theory of the Government
is correct, it certainly took five minutes or perhaps ten minutes
from the time Miss Lizzie gave the alarm to the time information was
received at the Central Station. Now, I claim that you must deduct
ten minutes from the time at which he left the centre of the city to
the time he was found dead. If you do that you limit the time of the
committing of this crime to fifteen, to thirteen, or perhaps to not
more than ten minutes. We have had a description of the injuries, and I
suggest that even the learned District Attorney himself cannot imagine
that any person could have committed that crime unless his heart was as
black with hatred as hell itself.” At this point, for the first time in
public since the commission of the crime, Lizzie Borden almost broke
down. Her form was convulsed, her lips were trembling, and she shaded
her eyes with her hands in order to partially conceal the tears, which
were freely flowing.
Mr. Jennings continued as follows: “Blow after blow was showered upon
them, cutting through blood, bone and flesh into the very brain. Not
one, not two, but in the case of the woman, eighteen. I know it will
be said that the person who did this wanted to make sure. There is an
unnecessary brutality about this that suggests nothing but insanity
or brutal hatred. There is another thing. Every blow showed that the
person who wielded that hatchet was a person of experience with the
instrument. Every blow shows its own line of demarcation and, taking
with this the fact that all the blows were parallel, I venture to say
that no hand could strike those blows that had not a powerful wrist and
experience in handling a hatchet. But now, Your Honor, it is a maxim
of law that better one hundred guilty persons should escape than one
innocent man perish. But more of these wounds. Prof. Wood told you it
was almost impossible for a person to commit these crimes without being
almost covered with blood, from the waist upward in the case of Mr.
Borden, and from the feet upward in the case of Mrs. Borden. Now, what
takes place? It becomes the duty of the Commonwealth to investigate
an atrocious crime like this with the greatest care. It is of the
utmost importance that the guilty party should be found and not someone
accused of it. The Commonwealth seems to have made up its mind that the
crime was committed by some one in that house. All their labors have
been directed with that view. It is perfectly evident to lawyers that
this was one of the views the Commonwealth was taking in presenting its
case. They say no one could get out on the south because Mrs. Kelly
is there, Crowe’s yard is there, men are working there and there is
the Chagnon house. You have Mrs. Churchill on the north and others on
the west. The first thing they’ve got to do in order to draw the line
around the people in the house is to isolate that house. Now, what is
the fact? They know that the house has been burglarized and the barn
broken into within a few months. Whether they know it or not, a person
would say they ought to think that there was someone who knew that
there was money in Mr. Borden’s room. You know that Mrs. Manley saw a
man standing at that gate. The police have had I don’t know how many
men in this case, but they never found this woman. They never found
the man Dr. Handy saw. They can find the axes Lizzie Borden killed her
father with, but they can not find this man. I don’t say they haven’t
tried to, but the fact is they haven’t. Certain men got over that
back fence that day and Mrs. Churchill didn’t see them, nor did Miss
Collette. Miss Collette didn’t see Frank Wixon get over that fence and
walk on it before 12 o’clock that day. John Crowe’s man didn’t see him
either. The District Attorney will tell you that Mrs. Chagnon and her
daughter heard pounding. They described it as of some one getting over
a fence. If Your Honor will think a minute, you will see that it was
not pounding which was in their minds, but the thought of a man getting
over a fence. We claim, Your Honor, that this shows an idea that nobody
else could have got into that house and escaped. Mr. John Morse appears
to have satisfactorily accounted for his time, and that brings us to
two parties, Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie Borden. In the natural course
of things who would be the party to be suspected? Whose clothing would
be examined, and who would have to account for every movement of her
time? Would it be the stranger, or would it be the one bound to the
murdered man by ties of love? And right here, what does it mean when we
say the youngest daughter? The last one whose baby fingers have been
lovingly entwined about her father’s head. Is there nothing in the ties
of love and affection?” The words of Mr. Jennings about the youngest
daughter caused the prisoner strong feelings. She bit her lips and then
the tears began to shine in her eyes. She raised her hand to her eyes
and then placed her handkerchief there. She did not cry, however, and
as soon as Mr. Jennings left this line of talk she wiped her eyes and
was as before, except that her eyes were now red as any woman’s who
lets tears get the best of her. “And I do not wish to be misunderstood.
I do not believe that Bridget Sullivan committed that murder any more
than I believe Lizzie Borden did. Why don’t the District Attorney make
Bridget Sullivan explain what she was doing during the twenty minutes
which elapsed while she is supposed to be washing the upper sitting
room windows? Does it take her twenty minutes to wash the upper part
of one window? Why isn’t she questioned regarding every second as
Lizzie Borden was? Yet, according to her story, it was three-quarters
of an hour. She didn’t wash in all but three windows and a half. Yet
the prosecution thinks nothing of this. If Miss Lizzie cannot escape
being tripped up by one officer and another, she must be guilty. Now,
to commit a crime there must be opportunity. I submit that unless she
alone had an opportunity to commit the crime there is no ground for
holding her. Bridget Sullivan was out washing windows. Nobody saw her
but Mrs. Churchill. Bridget was three-quarters of an hour washing
windows. Mind you, I don’t say Bridget Sullivan did it. I distinctly
state she did not, but I call attention to these points, which the
State haven’t considered yet. Now in regard to the length of time
which those two people had been dead. Prof. Wood testified under
cross-examination that, providing the digestion had been normal, Mrs.
Borden was killed an hour and a half or two hours before Mr. Borden.
If she was killed at 9:30 or 10 o’clock, Mr. Borden was there in the
house. He goes to the Union Savings Bank a few minutes before 9:30.
Surely Lizzie never killed her mother while her father was in the
house. Surely she did not get her father out of the house to kill the
mother. Now, in regard to this, it is perfectly clear to me why the
answers to the questions of her whereabouts at the time of the killing
of her mother and later that morning should be inconsistent. I have
stated before that I considered the inquisition of the girl an outrage.
Here was a girl they had been suspecting for days. She was virtually
under arrest, and yet for the purpose of extracting a confession from
her to support their theory, they brought her here and put her upon the
rack, a thing they knew they would have no right to do if they placed
her under arrest. As in the days of the rack and thumb screws, so she
was racked mentally again and again. Day after day the same questions
were repeated to her in the hope to elicit some information that would
criminate her. Is it a wonder there are conflicting statements? Here
is an intelligent lady, Mrs. Churchill, who went into the house with
Bridget Sullivan and can’t tell what became of the servant. Bridget
Sullivan could not melt into thin air, but this intelligent lady
can’t tell whether she went upstairs or down. Here is Lizzie Borden,
who has been under surveillance for days, who has been compelled to
take preparations to induce sleep. She is brought here, and because
she couldn’t remember the minutest details, that is a sign of guilt.
Now she tells that she got up that morning, goes down stairs about 9
o’clock, not feeling very well. Bridget Sullivan saw her, but can’t
say if she was reading an old magazine. She goes upstairs and then
comes down again. She irons some handkerchiefs. I don’t know but the
State is going to say those handkerchiefs were being cleaned of blood.
It wouldn’t be more presumptuous than several other ideas they have
tried. How about that fire? I am surprised the State hasn’t taken up
that. Perhaps he has not found out that it is hard to start a fire. Now
about her whereabouts at the time her father came in. She first says
she is upstairs. Then she says she is down stairs, and sticks to that.
I submit that, if she was on the stairs when Bridget opened the door to
let Mr. Borden in and laughed, as Bridget says she did, she must have
been insane, and was insane at the time of the commission of the crime.
No human being could do a deed like that and then stand and laugh at a
remark like that made by Bridget Sullivan. It is beyond the bounds of
human belief. Then she says she went out in the yard and stayed there,
and then went into the barn. I don’t believe she can tell how long she
was in the barn. Look at the testimony in this case and see if you
ascribe guilt to Lizzie Borden because she couldn’t tell whether she
was in the barn twenty minutes or half an hour. She goes into the barn
and looks for this lead. Is there anything improbable or unreasonable
in this? If one theory is correct, she couldn’t have been there twenty
minutes or half an hour. It is simply a guess. Then she comes in and
finds her father. It is said that she is guilty because she didn’t call
for her mother. She knew Bridget was in the house, and she hollered and
called her down. Is she the calm, collected being who hasn’t been moved
by this? Mrs. Churchill looks over and sees a sign of distress. She
says ‘What’s the matter?’ and Lizzie says, ‘Come over quick, my father
is killed.’ Then her emotion is such that she requires the attention of
her two friends. The testimony of everybody else in the case is that
this girl had received a terrible shock. She asks her friends to search
for her mother. She tells them her mother had said that she was going
out to see a sick friend and that she thought she had heard her come
in. Was it unnatural that, being unable to find Mrs. Borden, she should
think she had been killed. Now Lizzie’s story conflicts with Bridget’s.
Lizzie says she thinks her mother went out. Bridget says no. Bridget
don’t see Mr. Borden go out. Why should she see Mr. Borden? Now the
Government is bound to show that there is a motive for this crime. In
the absence of it, unless there is direct evidence, their case has got
to fall. What was the motive? The papers all over the country have
published it as it was given out to them. Has there been a motive shown
here? No, only that five years ago something happened. It was as a
result of Mr. Borden’s giving his wife’s stepsister a residence, and
the girls said they thought their father ought to have done as much as
that for them. After that Lizzie called her Mrs. Borden. But now what
kind of a motive would it have required to commit this crime. A man
sometimes when pressed for money will commit crime, and in the case of
Mrs. Robinson we know there was murder to get insurance money. I beg
you to remember if crimes of this sort are committed unless there is a
pressing want of money. And yet to get the motive they’ve got to say
that without hatred, bitterness or previous quarrel, she murders him
to get possession of the money which, in the natural course of events
would be hers within a few years. I say that this is beyond the bounds
of human credibility. They say the attempted purchase of prussic acid
by Lizzie Borden shows she was going to do some deadly deed. If there
is one thing which is weakest in criminal cases it is the matter of
mistaken identity. The books are full of such references. These three
persons say it was Lizzie Borden who went into that store and attempted
to buy prussic acid. Neither of them knows her, but all three assert
it is she. One of them, Bence, is taken to her house and he says he
recognized her by her voice. He says he recognized it because it was
tremulous. Kilroy says her voice was clear and distinct, yet Bence,
with the life and liberty of this girl hanging upon his words, says he
identified her by her voice. If it pleases Your Honor, Lizzie Borden
did not attempt to purchase prussic acid, and she has asked to have her
testimony taken upon this point. She declares that she never left her
home Wednesday morning, and by a special providence, which seems to
have watched over us in parts of this case, her words are corroborated
by the dead woman who told John Morse that Lizzie had been sick in her
room all day and had not left the house, and later, when Mrs. Bowen
comes to the house and asks for Lizzie, Mr. Borden says: she was in
the house all day and only went out at night, when she called on Miss
Russell. I ask you, Your Honor, taking the testimony of Prof. Wood that
no prussic acid was found in the stomachs of the murdered couple, who
told the truth? I don’t mean to say that these young men meant to tell
anything untrue, but in the light of these facts was it Lizzie Borden
who entered that drug store and attempted to purchase prussic acid,
or was it some person who looked like her? Now, if they had proved
a motive, if the motive they have given satisfies you, let us look
at other evidence in the case. This girl has got at the most ten to
fifteen minutes to commit the crime and conceal the weapon. Why didn’t
she wait before she called Bridget Sullivan downstairs? What is her
condition just afterwards? Is there anything on her when the neighbors
come to show that she committed the crime? If she did have time to kill
her mother and clear the blood stains from her garments, she did not
have time to clear up the evidence of her work down stairs. If she had
on an apron, where is the apron? Officer Doherty attempted to describe
the dress he saw her have on. Mrs. Churchill thinks it was of another
color. The lighter the dress the better to find out if she did it,
and, if she did it with the white skirt on, where are the blood spots?
Where did she get rid of the weapons? The dress, the shoes she had on
that morning. Are there any shoe buttons found in the fire? Is there
any smell of burnt clothing? No. Why, at the time of the arrest of this
girl we were enveloped in an atmosphere of poison, gore, hatchets and
bloody hairs. Why, until Prof. Wood stepped on the stand, it had been
given out, whether by the police I do not know, that the hatchet Prof.
Wood had was the weapon with which the crime was committed, and that it
bore signs of having been used to commit it. I confess that until Prof.
Wood went upon the stand my heart almost stood still with anxiety.
The Government is in this position. The more closely they hold Lizzie
Borden in that house, the more they show she couldn’t get out, they
shut that bloody hatchet up there with her. Day after day, hour after
hour they have searched and examined, and the only thing they produced
was the hatchet, which Prof. Wood says contained no blood. I don’t
believe Dr. Dolan would willingly harm a hair of this defendant’s head,
and yet his description of this hatchet was one of the most terrible
things of this trial. It would be such a hatchet as would commit this
deed, he said, and it appeared to have upon it what seemed to him
was a blood spot. The end he said was such as to cause the crushing
wound in the head. But then comes Prof. Draper, who says there was no
such crushing wound. You can imagine, Your Honor, the feelings of the
counsel, who sat here almost heart sick day after day, waiting for that
report and guarding the interests of a client whom they believe to be
innocent, and who insist she is innocent. I have no doubt that every
person with a feeling of sympathy for that girl felt their hearts leap
with joy as Prof. Wood gave his testimony. If I could have had my way I
would have shouted for joy. That was the deliverance of Lizzie Borden.
If that hatchet had been lost on the way by a railroad accident,
Lizzie Borden would have been a condemned woman upon the testimony of
Dr. Dolan, regarding the description of that hatchet. Lizzie Borden’s
life was in Dr. Dolan’s hands and by the goodness of God’s providence
Prof. Wood came, and, like that shot at Concord, which rang round the
world, his story went like a song of joy from Maine to Mexico and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. They haven’t proved that this girl had
anything to do with the murder. They can’t find any blood on her dress,
on her hair, on her shoes. They can’t find any motive. They can’t
find the axes, and couldn’t clean the axe, and so I say I demand the
woman’s release. The grand jury, if they meet more evidence, can indict
her. She is here—she can’t flee. She isn’t going to flee. The great
public is going to take your decision as they took the arrest upon the
strength of Mr. Knowlton’s experience. They can’t find a motive, no
blood, no poison, and so I say that this woman shan’t be sent to prison
on such evidence as this, shan’t be sent to jail for three months,
shan’t be deprived of her liberty and her good name. Don’t, Your
Honor, when they don’t show an incriminating circumstance, don’t put
the stigma of guilt upon this woman, reared as she has been and with a
past character beyond reproach. Don’t let it go out in the world as the
decision of a just judge that she is probably guilty. God grant Your
Honor wisdom to decide, and, while you do your duty, do it as God tells
you to do it, giving to the accused the benefit of the doubt.”
[Illustration: INSPECTOR ADELARD PERRON.]
As Mr. Jennings concluded, there were tears in the eyes of a majority
of those present. Col. Adams, the associate counsel, was deeply
affected, and Mr. Phillips, Mr. Jennings’ assistant, was weeping. The
prisoner’s lips were trembling, and the tears in her eyes were hidden
from view by her hands, which were placed there. As Mayor Coughlin, Dr.
Dolan and other prominent persons stepped forward to grasp the hand
of the attorney, a ripple of applause started, which rapidly swelled
into a loud expression of admiration and sympathy, and with the echo of
this applause, which there was no attempt to suppress, the Court was
adjourned till the afternoon.