The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-09-01
lizzie EBOUND0VER
THIS AFTERNOONS SESSION.
Attorney knowlton Makes the Ar
gument for the State.
IsPEcrAL no TuE NEws. |


MAY 1t please the Court" he said. al
ings in this long and sorrowful case and
your patience attests your fidelity. Justly
esteemed the most awful OF crimes. mur-
der brings to the minds OF all the thrills
of awe aud grief.
Even the strong may not be ashamed
to confess fear at the awful details OF this
crime. Fear and pity come first. but the
reaction makes every man a detective.
aud IL Is human nature to do everything
that lies in its power to discover the
guilty:
was case that called upon us TO let go all
considerations and feelings and discover
the fiend. This Is that case.
when the news was spread abroad the
youngest daughter Of this man had been
charged with this crime by an official OF
grief, anger and indignation that you and
the public have felt.
''All the bitter criticism that has been
heaped upon your honor and myself at
test the beauty OF human sympathy.
am proud TO belong to that humanity and
this girls friends and her noble sister.
1 know my course dictated by duty Is
not pleasant, but that Is not to avoided.
Does any one suppose that took pleas
ure In this cruel duty imposed on mei
There are four stages In the discovery
of the crime. The fist is that of simple
inquiry. shall not reply to the remarks
of my friend that have adopted methods
which do not suit him.
"The statue provides for the inquest
aud 1t Is the interest OF the common
wealth It shall be secret.
1.-THE second stage IL when il is seen
that the evidence points toward anyone.
That 10 thu Attr xys .,nfnfr
through to-day. That Is not final, how
ever.
There is third step, that Of the grand
jury The Commonwealth does not ex-
pect you to find any probability very
strong against any one. The prosecution
does not know that itself.
1.-THE Commonwealth simply asks your
honor to decide as TO tho balance Of prob
ability now as to the crime.
Here was n man retired from business,
OF frugal habits and without any enemy
in the world SO was that venerable wife
Yet they were both murdered.
II grantoit was improbable. There is
not man or woman in the world whom
we have the thought could have done It,
Yet We are not dealing with probabili-
ties. The fact confronts us that IL was
done.
Moreover. it appears that the point of
noccnt wife, Abbie Borden. There is mo
tive here. i never met the man that be-
lieve capable OF doing it, vet il was done.
'Howr With q batchets In was done
by one who Is physical or moral coward.
1t was done from behind aud by one who
did not wish them to see him or her do it.
Now, the testimony of DIR. Draper
shows that these blows were not The
blows Of a strong hand. They were the
weak blows OF feminine hand. They
wero not heavy blows. They were
not even evidences of malice. For
they were not frenzied blows They only
and again, and by chance one of them
went through the weakest part of the
skull.
a Now faced by the TACT of the death.
who is to be benefited by their removal
II Is not TO be supposed that the govern
ment has more evidence than IL has
given in here, but some strange things
have come to liRht.- Here was this girl
brought up from babyhood by this
woman, whom for twenty-five years she
called mother. and then repudiates her
and calls her Mrs. Borden
"We have this terrible fact to face.
Has your honor learned from years of
experience that there are no more fruitful
sources OF inveterate hatred than the re-
lations OF stepsons and daughters with
stepmothers.
''rhink of the frugality of the old man.
He had no lights in his house, no water,
and not even bath tub. He married a
woman who was in sympathy with him.
frugal and saving as he was.
do you suppose there was any love be-
tween these peoples They did not live
together.
Mrs. Russell called repeatedly upon
her in an upstairs room. and have found
the only person In the world with whom
she did not live in accord.
81 know this is not Droof of ouiIf 7 40
not claim it as such. simply tell 1t as it
Is.
Again. my colleague has not told us
how anybody could get In or out. Until
Mr. Borden returned the front door was
locked.
"The house was, perhaps, the most pe-
culiarly locked house Of any in Fall
River. Mr.. Borden kept his room locked.
Miss Lizzie did the same, aud you could
not 20 from one part Of the house to an
other without keys
"The barn was locked at night and
opened by. Mr.. Borden In the morning.
The back door was hooked or some one
was In the kitchen to watch 1t all the
time.
do not say this is convincing, but il
sets us to thinking. have not dwelt |
upon the possibility of conceiving of an |
Ing for AN hour and a half with the chaa- |
ces OF detection.
"Uan conceive of william but cannot
Of william who is also fool
"This must have been DONE l saw, by |
some one who knew the movements of |
he whole family. 1t was done by some |
one who knew the fact Of Mrs. Borden's |
being up stairs aud that Bridget was |
washing windows or up stairs
1T In not In the bounds of reason to say |
that some one else has not been suspected |
They all have been suspected. and all
have been examined.
II know OF no difference between the
equitable Lizzie Borden and reputable
bridget Sullivan's star chamber inquest.
!, Innocence need not fear questioning.
bavo never treated woman discount
Dusly. Miss Sullivan was subjected to
most vigorous questioning. She gave an
accurate account Of herself from the time
,he got up tiil she went out to wash win
lows.
who was there left2 Only Ave OF them.
There was no one In the lower pare Of the
house. When Bridget went out to the
barn Lizzie appeared at the screen door.
why 4. does not need n mind reader TO
Inswer. No one was In the house bat
lizzie, and that was the time when Mrs.
3orden was killed.