The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-06-15
THE EVIDENCE IN.
Government Has to Reject by Order OF
Court the Poison Theory.
rup

Court the Poison Theory.
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS.
NEW BEDFORD. Mass, June 15-The
prosecution has closed its case. The
poison theory has been rejected by the
exclusion of the testimony relating to 1t.
IL has played odt lis game and has
seemingly failed. Aud yet the states
lawyers will have no cause to censure
themselves. They have done all they
could do with the materials at hand.
Doubtless they would lie pleased to win
"a legal contest of such Worldwide inter
tst as this; what LAWYER wo uld nots Ii
l. zzie Borden shall hear this yer .ict,
mot guilty" the guilty will have SO tar
ba afh "a the authorities as to have left
not even trace OF hims.lf,
and no hone except bliud chance will be
lefG of his discovery. But defeated AS
they may be, and baffied as justice must
remain, In such event neither OF ths
prosecutors will be grisved to have 1t 80.
Neither Of them Is the beartless man
That he has been painte during this
trial. Neither has been actuatei by other
motives thau those Of justice and duty.
Tiey are the states i;ers. whose duly
II IS to obey the law, aud use every
means la their power e. fulfil tnat duty,
and while prosecuting case TO prove
either tne guilt or innocenc, OF the de-
the only course open to them.
Mr.. Kno lton hrmly believed In the
innocence of Miss BJrdeu befors the
hearing UDju I MS that hearing seemed,
cruel as appeared TO bs the treatment OF
the unfortunate girl, the fault WAS
Blaisdell. The district attorn y had n
most severe task to perform;. that task
Was his duty; it was unavoidable. lie
should not be- censured for IL.
1t is not impossible that he may still
b3iieve in the innocence OF Lizzie Borden.
May believe In Lizzie's Innocence.
Yet both he and Mr.. Moody have been
the subjects Of insinuation. For doing
their duty they have been criticised. The
Justice which Miss Borden's friends claim
for her should be accorded at least to
those who are her opponeLts By force OF
Jaw.
Ii they fail to convict, as is not i'm
probable, they should not ON the other
nand be- criticised by those who believe
in the guilt of MISS Borden. The prose-
cutting attorneys have left no clue de-
veloped. They have welded with CO l.
sumnaJe skill tue weapons placed in
their hands. 1t is not their fault If the
Weapons are inadequate. They should
not be censured because they nave beea
forced to become tie cha pious OIL "a
theory of the Fall River police.
Incompetency OF the Police.
The total incompetence of those police
men, their neglige ce. their failure to fiud
evidence of some kind pointing to some
one Is not chargeable to the lawyers for
the state. That almost every claim was
not proven waS due to the detective i'm
agiuation OF the officers. Theirs Was the
duty to furnish evidenc against some one.
1t was Mr.. Knowlton's duty to utilize
that evidence. His failure to get results
Is not his fault. 1t Is the fault OF the
facts.
Yesterday was a day Of contests and
when 1t ended the prosecution had m sde
more progress than the defense. Mrs.
Gifford's testimony was especially dam
aging. It. might be readily explained
that Lizzie was scrnpulous In tue dis
tinction between the terms mother and
stemother. What daughter Is not : No
true woman will ever receive into her
heart and aff, ction any substitute for the
one who gave her birth.
The Holy Name Of Mother
and the love that 1t implies is aud should
be cherished and guarded with zeal-
rection OF Mrs. Gifford's terms Lizzie
was right.
She was also justified in placing her
esteem for her sister above that for her
step mother. The ties OF law aud mar
riage are to be respected. The ties of
blood are infinitely above all others.
The exclusion OF the testimony of
Anna Borden relating to the converse
ton on shipboard will leave Mrs. Glf-
ford's evidences the only direct testimony
offered as to any permanent i'll feeling.
and it will be therefore less difficult to
paliiate or excuse.
Mrs. Reagan also testified to an ILL
feeling existing between Emma aud Liz
zie. Her evidence would . en- TO have
weight, but IL looses much force by the
known contradictions which the defen SO
can offer.
No less than five and probably six per-
sous are ready to testify that Mrs. Reagan
said the story OF l. zzie's quarrel with
Emma was false and she was ready to
sign a paper to that effect il Marshal
billiard would allow herto do so.
Iu view Of these facts we may we'll set
this evidence aside until the defense Of
fers its evidence In reDuttal.
The rest Of the day Was occupied by the
prosecution IN al attempt to station
around the house cornon OF spies In the
shape or nefghbors aud their help who
should have seen any bloody handed
murderer n he had jumped tue fence In
the back Of the yard. Tue attempt met
with more or less success, mainly with
less
Altogether the Gordon was not sue
cess, but 10 was boz ter than nothing, and
neither the testimony OF the Irishmap.
Frencnuan, the Collette girl, Mrs. Kirby
or Mr. Bould proved an, tning. they
didn't sre auy one escape, but that
DO. sn't prove that an escape was not
made.