The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-06-19

OIL the DOTG0n muTuoIS Will lSdSA ANo
last page today or tomorrow. The
verdict of mot guilty. which the
jury to a certainty will bring in, will
stand as the word ''Finis" to as strange
a history as can be found in the an
nails of crime. There is not the least
reason to hope that in the future any
thing will shed any new light upon
the mystery of those two old peoples
death. and until the whole affair dies
out of memory with the contem-
porary generations, it will always re-
main doubtful whether Lizzie Borden
committed the savage crime herself or
whether il was committed by some
undiscovered monster, and of course
the extraordinary met hods by which
the crime was accomplished will re-
main equally obscure.
Hardly ANYBODY will cavil at the
verdict Of acquittal which is SO gener-
ally expected. Everybody, or almost
everybody, appreciates the total lack
of proof against the woman, and
every reasonable person has enough
interest In the upholding of our sys-
tenn of Justice to approve a verdict
that gives the accused the bene fit of
the doubts which the evidence leaves,
Notwithstanding insuperable grounds
for suspicion afforded by all the cir
cumstances of the case.
But while public opinion will ratify
the verdict, as the logical conclusion
of the trial, we believe the public
mind will be very far from acquitting
Lizzie Borden. In the great forum
of public discussion, the evidence.
which was, for good reason, withheld
rom the jury, becomes just as signii-
PANT as that which was admitted.
The popular verdict, besides, is always
a resultant from calculations of prob
abilities. With all these elements in
the case, it certainly looks as black as
black can be for the accused, and We
believe the majority opinio n will al
ways incline irresistibly to the side of
her guilt.
The crime was carried out with
either the most skill and deliberation
or else the most unequalled good
luck attended the murderer and
yelled the traces that might Goa
meet him or her with the
crime. 1t must be admitted that the
crime could hardly have been a very
easy one TO work out and fasten con-
clusively upon the culprit. But max
ing all allowances for innate difficult
les, it cannot but be said that the
Fall River police were, in the hands
of an inscrutable Providence, the
main agency for the hopeless suppress
sion of the truth. Everything they
did appears to have been weak, fool
ish and inconclusive. What they did
not do was consummate in its vio-
lation of all common sense. Their
searches, in particular, stand out with
outpyecedent or match as displays of
Incompetence. They were searches of
the kind which render positive and
definite everything immaterial, and
which leave everything essential in a
state of utter uncertainty. As the
testimony stands, there is absolutely
not one fact" resting upon the evil
dence of the police officers to which
one can in ones own secret heart ac-
cord credence without reserve-not
enc.
All this reveals a vital defect in our
police system 1t is absurdly local
lied. In a European country, the
discovery of a crime like that Of Fall
River would bring a crowd of trained
and scientific metropolitan detectives
to the scene. Everything would be
kept untouched until their arrival,
and their first act would be to make
a complete, minute search, a micro
scopic search, of all the premises and
people surrounding the crime or in
any way involved in it. They would
make an indisputable record of their
observations, too, and only when
they had the facts would they begin
to theorize as to the culprit.
But the stupid and inexperienced
pumpkins of the Fall River
Force not only did their work
i'll, bat they allowed all sorts of out
siders to overrun the house and prem
ises of the Bordens, affording endless
opportunity for dispersion of evidences
of the crime, and introducing new
marks and traces eminently calculated
to battle and mislead. 1t ought really
be the duty of every State to main
tain a small but thoroughly equipped
corps OF detectives for emergencies OF
this kind, and to make their employ
ment depend, not on invariable sue
cess, of course, in detecting criminals,
but upon the in~variable avoidance of
gross errors and blunders.
FREEH0LDERSi ESTIMATES.
The Finance ittee of the Board CT Free
holders will meet June ~, for the purpose of
making estimates for The next fiscal year. The
Freeholders have until July lG to do this but
the estimates must be made on or before that
date. 1t is said that the amount needed by the
hoard will be less than it was for the present