The morning call., 1893-06-07
THE BORDEN MYSTERY.


Mass. for the murder of her father and
mother is one of those sensational cases
which will attract attention all over the
country. On August T. 1892. Andrew T.
Borden, a capitalist of Fall River. went
out alter breakfast to pay a visit to his
bank. He returned about 10 o'clock, lay
down ON sofa in his sitting-room and
fell asleep. His wife was setting things
to rights in her bedroom. At about half
past 10 the neighborhood was aroused by
shrieks from the daughter Lizzie; people
rushed in and found the old man dead, his
head having been hacked to pieces with
hatchet, and his wife also dead in her
chamber upstairs, in her case death having
been inflicted by the same weapon. The
hatchet was found in cellar with blood
stains on it; near it was a cloth with
which it had apparently been wiped.
AT the time of the murders Lizzie was in
the house attending to domestic concerns.
No one else was in the building except
servant girl who, after watching Lizzie
adjust the pillows on her fathers sofa,
had gone upstairs TO an attic room in
which she slept. No one could say on the
Inquest that they had seen any stranger
enter or leave the premises on the day of
the murder. In this absence of testimony
the Prosecuting Attorney made up his
mind that Lizzie was the murderess, her
motive being a desire to obtain posse ssion
of her share of her fathers property,
which she was afraid he was about to will
away from her. Lizzie was a cold, grim
New England woman of so and over. She
had never had a proposal and had no
beaux. though she was known TO be rich
in expectancy. She was a rigid mem Der
of the Congregational church and was
esteemed by the congregation and the
pastor.
The theory of the State was that she had
sent her sister to a neighbor's and the
servant-girl to her attic chamber in order
to be alone; that she had stealthily Ell
tered her mothers room with the hatchet
under her apron. had struck her down
with a swift bio W, w hich derived her of the
power of speech, and had finished her with
two or three more blows; then descending
the stairs that she had found her father
sleeping on the sofa, had silenced him in
like manner, and followed up her first
stroke with eight others. any one of which
might have been mortal. Having done the
deed she went downstairs, tried to wipe
off the hatchet, threw it down. and return
ing to the parlor reused the neighborhood
with her cries. 1t will require a good deal
of evidence to persuade jury to adopt
this theory.
There is another which presents fewer
difficulties. The Borden house stood in
lot at the rear OF which was barn used
by the family to store rubbish. The rear
gate of the lot was unfastened. On the
evening before the murder neighbors living
IN the back street saw two strangers a.
this gate, and think they saw them enter
the yard. They did not observe them 60
ing out. 1t was possible for two house
breakers TO enter the yard. steal into the
barn, and await events. Mr.. Borden was
known to be rich. and was suspected of
keeping money and valuables in a safe
which stood in his house. Let us assume
that two burglars did that night enter
the barn intending to break into the
house, and that they were foiled by the
bolts with which doors and windows
were fastened. They would return dis
appointed to the barn. They might
conclude to wait till the morning, when
the back door would be opened, and take
the chances of sudden rush. When morn
ing came they would wait for an oppor-
tunity. When they thought it had come,
one OF them might have crept into the
house about quarter past 10. ran upstairs,
and, finding Mrs. Borden in her room
felled her with a blow of the hatcbet.
Then finding that the safe. which was his
objective point, was OF in the bedroom the
murderer might have gone hastily down
stairs and discovered what he was in search
of in the parlor. Perhaps while he was
studying how to open the safe Borden.
sleeping on the sofa. might have moved,
whereupon the burglar, having gone so
far, would not hesitate to finish him with
his hatchet and when the neighborhood
was aroused would make his escape by the
back door, without having attained his
purpose. 1t will be observed that this
theory fails to account for the burglars
time between the killing of Borden and
his escape-a period of several minutes.
The accounts of the trial, which will be
supplied by the dispatches, will shed
further light on the tragedy, and may dis
pose of both these theories. Others may
take their place. The ablest members of
the New England bar have been retained
for prosecution and defense. and the
chances are that the truth will come out.
though, of course. the Borden mystery
may be added to the long list of undiscov-
cred murders.