The Portland daily press., 1892-08-31
THE DAYS PROCEEDINGS.
Prof. Woods Testimony Favorable to the
Accused Woman.


Prof. Woods Testimony Favorable to the
Accused Woman.
FALL RIVER, August 30--Court came
in at 1920, and the first witness called
was Prof. Edward S. Woodman, for
whom everybody has been looking for
for days. He said he received a package
containing two stomachs on the 9Th of
August and two jars containing milk
used on the 4th and 9Th of August. All
were properly labelled. The stomachs
were labelled sMr" and ''Mrs. Borden
The stomachs appeared to be perfectly
natural. Mrs. Borden's stomach con-
tanned about II ounces of solid food.
The food was partially decayed and
showed wheat, starch and meat. The
contents contained chiefly meat and there
were vegetables, the pulp cells of which
might be bread or apples. The diges-
ton seemed to be advanced in the neigh
borhood of two and one half hours, more
or less. The stomach was tested for
prussic acid, but with negative re-
suit.
The stomach of Mr.. Borden contained
only six ounces, chiefly water. In Mr..
Borden's stomach there was only a small
portion of starch. The digestion in his
case, the contents being nearly all water,
was much further advanced than in the
case of Mrs. Borden. There were a few
threads of vegetable tissue in his stom-
ach which might have been apple.
Question-"Could they have been
pears?'
Answer-ssYes." s.
The witness had not analysed the milk
and could not report on that.
s.On the 10th of August" said Prof.
Woodman. II received from DR.. Dolan
Ratchet, two axes, a blue dress skirt,
dress waist, white starched skirt, lounge
cover and three small envelopes in which
were hair taken from Mr.. and Mrs. Bor-
den and
Hair Taken From the Hatchet.''
On August IS the witness received a
pair of black stockings. The Ratchet
contained number of suspicious look
ing spots, but careful examination
showed no traces of blood. A big smooch
on the blue skirt looked like blood but
was found not to be blood. The white
skirt had one spot which looked like
blood and was found to be blood. 1t was
directly in front about six inches from
the bottom. The carpet was blood
stained. This was the sitting room car
pet, and there was blood, of course, on
that, There was no blood on the lounge
cover. Among the articles received by
the professor was also a pair of shoes
which had been worn by Lizzie on the
day OF the tragedy.
On cross-examination Professor Wood
said the spot looked larger on the out
side Of the skirt than on the inside. The
size of the spot was about the size of
pin head. The envelope marked "Hair
from A. J. Borden was simply white
hair on the Ratchet was not human hair.
1t was more like that taken from an ami
NAL. The spot on the right shoe was
not blood and there was no blood on
either shoes or stockings. There was
nothing on the two axes. Near the edge
of the Ratchet were spots which seemed
to be blood but were found not to be.
There was spatter on the blade but it
was not blood, and there were spots on
the side of the head of the Ratchet which
looked like blood and the witness
thought they were, but they were not.
The Ratchet was produced and Lizzie ex-
amined it with as much interest as did
her counsel.
The witness said that if person stood
behind the person assaulted, blood strik-
Ing the wall paper would be more or less
elongated and away from the wound or
the point which it had left, and the heav-
lest part of the stain would be the far
thest away. In regard to
The Position of the Murderer,
witness said it appeared to him that the
person stood in the dining room when
the first blow was given.
This was because of the spot found on
the frame of the dining room door. Here
witness was allowed to look at the stain
resuming the stand, said it was not
blood.
The district attorney interposed to say:
s'You didn't have tho fourth Ratchet, doc
tor. supposed you did. I want you to
take it.''
Col. Adams-rd like to have it here,
then. I supposed all were set"
District Attorney-''I thought they
were, but it seems that this was not.
Bring it up, Marshall
Thereupon City Marshal billiard
brought up from down stairs a much
smaller hatchet-what used to be known
as a lathers Ratchet. Col. Adams exam
ined it curiously. Its blade is of much
less width than that of the broadaxe
Ratchet. To make long wound, like
that in Mr.. Borden's face, at least two
blows would have to be struck.
81 want you to look at that and see if
there are any blood stains upon it, doc
tor
''Could hardly tell here" said the wit
ness, looking through his glass. II
couldn't say whether found blood stains
or not in five minutes. l spent six or
eight hours examining that other
hatchet."
The Ratchet was given to Prof. Wood
for careful examination.
Tie witness said it would be impossi-
BILE for the assailant of the murdered
ones to escape getting blood On his body
in some way. Blood would hit the as
sailant from the knees up and blood on
the assailant in the case Of Mrs. Borden