The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-06-15
THE LIZZIE BORDEN CASE.

THE LIZZIE BORDEN CASE.
No murder of the last half-century, to say
the least, has had in it the elements of ex-
citing mystery of the Lizzie Borden case.
Her father, quite elderly man, was eco
nomical to the point of miserliness. He
made money by constant, painful saving.
The family lived in substantial home, but
every one worked hard, lived cheaply, and
made every cent count. He married sec
ond wife about % years ago, and had two
daughters by his first wife. The accused.
Lizzie, who has been in prison now about
year, is nearly 80 years old-a plain, every
day woman, not at all handsome, and yet
not positively ugly. She is as common
place in mind as in face and form, and
never did or said anything that would dis
tinguish her in the least from the thousands
of similar girls aud women in the commu-
nifty.
One day last August she startled the
neighbors by calling them in to see a
tragedy which had taken place in the
house. The amazed people found her step
mother dead in one room, having been killed
by repeated blows by Ratchet or ak, and
her father similarly slain in another. There
was no sign of robbery, every thing about the
house being undisturbed; there was no in
dication that a strolling criminal had made
his way into the house, and no motive
appeared for committing the deed. All the
doors of the house were carefully fastened,
for it was the motto of the Borden house
hold: Safe bind, safe find" An outsider
could not have entered the house in any way
without attracting the attention of Lizzie
Borden or the servant girl, who were the
other inmates besides the murdered people.
In fact, an uncle of Lizzie, who was visiting
the family at the time, returned to the house
shortly after the tragedy, and could not get
in until he was admitted. The servant girl
was not suspected of the crime, and the
State authorities finally decided that Lizzie
was the guilty one, and have put her on
trial
The points against her are that the murder
was committed, and all the presumptions are
that it must have been done by some one In
the house. A strong attempt has been made
to show that she and her stepmother were
on very bad terms, and the theory is that the
girl became irritated to the last point of en-
durance by the daily household vexations,
due largely to a policy of grinding economy,
and these so wrought upon solitary, self
ish, shut-in nature, that she formed the
resolution to kill both her father and step
mother.
Against this must be said that there has
been nothing in Lizzie Borden's previous
life that would suggest deed of infinitely
less desperation than the one of which she
is accused There is no testimony that there
were any outbreaks of temper between Liz
zie and her stepmother. Indeed, the testi-
mony shows that the family got on remark
ably well, considering the life they lived. If
she had planned the murder with the cunning
attributed to her is beyond comprehension
that she should have chosen to execute it
in broad daylight, in the middle Of the day,
and at the time that her uncle was visiting
the family. 1t is incomprehensible that
she did not plan to give it the appearance
Then she must be the greatest
actress that ever lived, for within the hour
in which the murders were committed she
must have begun by chatting pleasantly
with the servant-girl in the kitchen, gone
upstairs and killed her stepmother, taken
a bath, changed her dress, come downstairs.
let her father in, talked pleasantly with
him, attended to some little wants for him,
killed him, gone upstairs, took another
bath, changed her dress, and gone on with
her ironing, and then suddenly appear to
have discovered the tragedy.
So far, the evidence against her has been
exceedingly meager. In such a tragedy
there must necessarily be many bloody evil
dences of the work; but, though the house
has repeatedly been searched from top to
bottom by the officers, nothing has been
found to absolutely connect Lizzie with
the affair. Still, the two people were MUIR
dered, and some one must have done it.
Who was it?
WHAT has become of Jerry Simpson?
Why this long flash of absolute silence?
ETG