Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-07-09
FATEFUL SPOT.
CRIME HoVERS NEAR THE BORDEN HOME
STEAD.
Six Murders Have Occurred Near lis Sts-SOus
Old Tragedies Brought to Mind = The Worst
Was the StangIing Of Miss Cornell by Her Be
traysr, Methodist Minister.

FALL Diver, July s.-There Is some
thing singularly fascinating about a
locality where crime has been commit
ted Forty-three persons passed north
and south, up and down Second street
by the Borden house, within fifteen
minutes, this morning, and just forty
three Of those persons seemed lrreslst-
IDLY impelled to fasten their eyes on the
! plain and closely-shuttered structure
from the time when it came within I'M
mediate range OF their vision until they
had passed it by. But one OF those
forty-three persons had the appearance
OF being q stranger in the city, ana ne
was riding in farmers wagon, the
driver Of which pointed and pointed and
pointed at the plain wooden dwelling
with q relish that showed itself In his
rapid speech and animated face.
Rank ofsnses that smell 10 heaven, TO
paraphrase Shakespeare, have been
committed in that portion OF Fall River
south of the city hall, and the fact that
no less than six human being have lost
their lives by foul means, including the
victims of last summers homicide,
within radius OF half mile OF the
Borden house, in no wise lessons the
gruesomeness Of ths locality.
Two of these crimes, the murder OF
the Bordens and the strangling to death
of Sarah Maria Cornell by Rev. Ephraim
K. Avery, the latter over sixty
years ago, have been so atroclous
and horrifying as to startle the
whole country. The third tragic
event was the deed OF an insane
mother, also a Borden, who, in tit OF
mental alteration drowned her two
youg children in cistern and then cut
her own throat. This woman lived on
the same side Of the street and next to
the Borden house.
There is one other event, which cre-
ated a tremendous iensation. 1t was the
exhuming Of the famous skeleton In
armor from a sand bank on what is no"
Fourth street, not ten yards in the rear
Of the Borden house.
And ugly find was this, but as the
gentleman who wore the clanking brass
must have been buried At least 100 years
before his bones were accidentally
found, their rattle did not materially
disturb or thrill the good people OF the
border city.
In life he was not q Bowen or a Bor-
den or a Durfee, for numerous as the
families were and are In these parts,
the members were all accounted for
So, when certain Longfellow re-
ported the find in verse, and with a
poets license placed halo Of romance
about the CHASTITY discovery, everybody
was quite willing to believe the armor
wearer had been q "Viking bold" and
had sailed the seas in just such a craft
as was named by Norsemen and well
coined at Newport within day or two.
The blessings of forgetfulness and
the flight OF time soften all sin and
sorrow more or less, but the hideous-
ness of the crimes Fall River has wit
messed will probably never quite fade
into indistinction.
Look back more than half century.
The year of grace 1882 is fast draw
ing to close, and the festival OF
| Chrst's nativity is almost upon good
New Englanders. Clear and cold
dawns the morning OF December q
the day OF the discovery OF the muir
der of Sarah Maria Cornell, found
hanging to supporting stake OF a
temporary fence around NOW In the
stock yard of John Durfee, farmer, In
the locality now known as South Park,
a beautiful playground, and o portion
of the border city.
Fall River was not so large then as II
IS now, and the dividing line between
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island ran
differently. Durfee's farm was in Rhode
Island one-half q mile from the Fall
River bridge and one-Quarter OF a mile
from the State line.
or all the crimes in the late history oil
New England, the killing of Miss Cor.
nell was perhaps the most atrocious
and the subsequent trial Of her betrayel
and slayer, Rev. Ephram K. Avery,
was certainly fraught with great IN
terest.
1t was the church against the State
and the church won-for Avery was
acquitted, despite the great amount and
almost conclusive evidence Of guilt
which the State put In.
When Duriee found the body hang.
ing, as stated, the knees OF the victim
were within six inches OF the ground,
her arms and gloved hands were inside
cloak which enveloped her, and her
clothing showed no indications OF a
death struggle. The neck was not
| broken, and the most peculiar and
damning evidence OF foul play was the
knot in the rope around the girls neck.
The knot was what was known as the
Glove hitch, not slip moose, and tc
produce death by strangulation both
ends Of the rope had to be drawn stimuli
taneously.
The rope was imbedded in her neck
over an inch and the gloves on bel
hands showed no sign Of wear or con
tact with the rope.
Besides this there were evidences oil
bruises and injuries on her body that
could not have been seff-infiicted.
The first person to identify the vic.
tim was the good old Fall River doctor,
to whom some weeks previous she had
explained her condition, aud to whom
also she had conided the name OF her
betrayer, Rev. Epbraim X. Avery, q
| Methodist minister Of Bristol, r. /.
1t was some time before any action
was taken to apprehend the guilty one.
The homicide had been committed ia
Rhode Island, so the people OF Fall
River did not act with the promptitude
which would have characterized them
had the crime taken place within the
limits OF the town.
But finally, according to narrative
published in 1888, ''the inhabitants oil
Fall River, on the Massachusetts, side
where they do business of hand and
not quite so clumsily as they do on the
Rhode Island,)" did take action with
the final result, after surmounted many
legal difficulties, OF securing the appre.
| hnnainn of Rev Enhraim K Avery La