Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-01
LIZZIE BORDEN'S HOPE
Not Based on the Theory That She Is
or Ever Was at All Insane.
HER LAWYERS WON'T HAVE 1T 50.
The Mysterious Missing Stranger Still Con-
nected With
A CASE THAT is VERY HARD TO SOLVE
ESPECIAL rELEeHAM TO THE p1spArcn.l ]

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcH.l
FALL RIVER, MASS, Nov 30.-Lizzie
Borden's counsel will fight bitterly the
Governments theory that she is insane.
They claim that the Government has fallen
back on this theory rather than show the
weakness of its case in a trial, and they
will resist to the last any attempt to send
their client to an asylum without trial.
Under the statutes it is possible to COM
NIT person charged with murder to an in
sane asylum without 3 trial if the grand
jury so certify, and if the court is satisfied,
after examining the medical experts, that
the prisoner is of unsound mind. But the
court has got to be satisfied that the certi-
fcation of the grand jury is correct,
that Lizzie Borden Is insane, and therefore
not legally responsible Tor her acts, and
upon this issue all her friends have q
right to take up her cause and show, if
they can, to the satisfaction of the court,
that Miss Borden was rational being pos
sessed of entire mental balance and control
on the 4th of August last, when her father
and stepmother were so horribly murdered.
Course From the Grand Jury.
The grand jury comes in at Taunton to-
morrow, and, if it agrees upon any such GER
tifcation as has been surmised, will report
such to be the fact to Judge Thompson,
who is the sitting magistrate at the present
term, and who may thus be called upon to
pass upon the question of Miss Borden's
sanity. But it must be remembered that
the grand jurors in such cases declare that
fr khair "
judgment the prisoner is insane.
II Lizzie Borden Is held to be insane the
question of how it was possible for even an
insane woman to have dealt those terrible
blows splashed the walls with blood, and
vet to get none upon herself or to have dis
posed OF any bloody overgarment in the 13
or even 1S minutes that elapsed, according
to the theory advanced, but then the mur-
der of her father and the discovery of his
dead BODY must be met before her actual
guilt is established.
The crime has been held to have been that
of crazed persoD-in fact, a thorough
maniac-for human nature is 10th to believe
that so horrible butchery could have bee n
committed by any rational being.
The wild-Eyed Stranger in It.
1t bore evidence, too, on its face, of the
craft of cunning of insanity, but the pres
ence of a "wild-eyed stranger" in Fall
River at the time of the murder, even in
front of the Borden house within few min
utes of its evident occurrence and the flight
of such a stranger from the city, is clearly
established in the case of the defense, which b
will follow closely upon these lines He
has never been found, and no trace of him
unearthed.
1t is well to remember, in judging of the
case, that trace of this man, q well-de-
fined trail, in fact, was established some
little distance out of the city, but it was
not followed up by the police, who had
their own theory for some days after the
murder, and all reportorial clews as to the
existence of such man we're pooh-poohed
at police headquarters and declared ex-
ploded almost as soon as made. When
outside search was begun with some degree
of earnestness, the fellow, whoever he was,
had all the advantage OF hours of time in
the start of his pursuers.
In Judging of all phases a the case this
man must be taken into account, for the
defense has clearly put him into it, and his
presence has not yet been met by the prose.
cution.
Uncle Morse's Theory of the Crime.
In this connection it is interesting to
note Uncle John V. Morse's theory of the
commission OF the crime, as given by him
to friend recently. He holds that an enemy
of Mr.. Borden got into the house at night
through the cellar window, which was
open, but nothing said of it in the case
that the man secreted himself in the clothes
press; that when Mrs Borden came mp tc
make her bed he found it necessary to XII
her to get rid of her; that he then concealed
himself to wait for Mr.. Borden's return
home; that when Lizzie had gone out to the
barn and Bridget was washing the windows,
he murdered Mr.. Borden and then made
his escape.
This recalls variance in the testimony,
too. There is a buikhead door leading
from the back yard into the cellar of the
Borden residence. This is an upright
door, and not one of the slanting type. A
police officer conducting the search in the
house swore that he found this door locked,
but Uncle John Morse testified that he no.
ticed upon his arrival that this door was
unfastened. This is quite important q:
bearing on his theory as well as upon the
question of exclusive opportunity to COM
NIT the crime which the Government con-
tends it has established, but which the de-
fense as stoutly maintains it has not, and
against which it brings the specter Of the
mysterious "wild-eyed stranger" who is yet
in the case and whose presence is not &C
counted for by the Government witnesses
SO far presented in this extraordinary mys-