Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-06-12
Borden were chopped

The con. monwealth's lawyers had been
guarding it as they would guard Aladdins
lamp IL they could get hold Of it, but after
1t had sent their witnesses all away, and
shivered their testimony so it could be
seen through, these lawyers tossed the un-
holy thing on the table at which Lizzie
Borden's lawyers always sit, and there
they left it lying, as ii they wished to dis
own 1t.
There was another exciting contest out
side the courtroom between the two sets
Of lawyers. The district attorney, Mr..
Knowlton, sent two officers to the Borden
home to get the box in which
The Blade Was Found,
and the handle If it was in it, Miss Bor-
den's sister Emma lives in that house, and
her lawyers saw toit that their antagonists
were kept out. That was what happened.
Miss Lzzie's chief counsellor, A. j. Jen-
nings, had better luck. He got the box,
but lo the highly important handle was
missing. Who took II can only he guessed
at. Had it been found, it would have
played hob with the theory that Miss
Borden burned it. However, the police
man who saw il proves AS good a witness
for Miss Borden as the handle itself.
In Favor of Miss Borden.
These reports during the last few days
have seemed to take the part of the inn
prisoned woman. The reason why the re-
ports have seemed to favor Miss Borden Is
very interesting. 1t is that the case made
out against her by the government has been
steadily melting like a cake Of ice in the
sunshine. The presentation by District
Attorney Moody, Monday, has now been
nearly all met by the evidence Of the COM
monwealth's witnesses. They have little
left that they have outlined and have not
repeated through their witnesses. There
is yet to come the contradictory and con-
fusing testimony Of the prisoner about her
doings on the day of the murder, as she
told her story at the inquest, though
weighty circumstantial evidence Of the
same import has been furnished by many
witnesses. Then, too, there is yet to come
the promised testimony of the cloak
maker to whom the prisoner said that her
stepmother was "a mean thing, and we
hate her."
All else that the district attorney prom
ised has been sworn to by his witnesses
under his questioning on the direct ex-
animation, but on the cross-examinations
by Ex-Governor Robinson IL has been
riddled and all but destroyed 1t has
been largely police testimony, and the
witnesses have In many cases spoken as II
by rote, and shown an unmistakable bias
against the prisoner. But far more than
that has happened. They have contra
dicted one another under the almost magi-
cal. all but superhuman questioning, by
that master cross-examiner, Robinson
This has brought TO light the positive
reiterated proof that Lizzie Borden did
hinder the searching Of her room, and that
shs did not burn up the handle of the
hatchet.
Worse still, for the commonwealth, that
handle has been at last traced to the place,
and they must account for its disappear
ance or suffer the consequences by resting
under the fairly grounded suspicion that
IL was hidden or destroyed for purpose
Involving q human life.
Saturday the hatchet laid out more po-
licsmen. First one Of them told when he
found IL he showed IL 20 his captain, and
then wrapped il up In q piece OF brown
paper and took IL 70 the city marshal
Than his captain took the stand All ua-