New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-06-14
IN LIZZIE BORDEN'S FAVOR
THE STATES CASE EDWINDLING.
MEDICAL EXPERTS CALLED BY THE PROSE,
CUTION HELP THE DEFENCE
NO TRACES OF BLOOD TO BE FOUND on THE
HANDLELEss HATcHET-GHAsrLY EXHIBITS
IN THE CoURTRooM-A VERDICT NAY

HANDLELESS HATCHET-GHASTLY ExHI Fits
IN THE coURTRooM-A VERDICT NAY
BE REACHED THIS WEEK.
VRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT THE rRIBuSRD
NewBedford, Mass. June 13-The eighth day
Of Lizzie BOrdcns trial has ended, and il the
prosecution does not bring its TO a close
pretty soon there will not he enough OF it left
to go to the jury on We have all been led to
suppose from the way the hatchet-head has been
talked about by the States attorneys that there
was on it or about it something in the nature Of
tangible proof that it had been used in tho
murder of Mr.. and Mrs Borden. Mr.. Moody has
said, far more boldly than he had any right to
say it, that he could prove its use. The least
that could he expected after such positive and
direct assurances was that he would be able to
find traces of human blood on it, Everybody
astcnishcd, therefore, when Professor Wood,
after going into long technical explanation as to
how he had soaked this and subimated that. and
used microscopes of lnitable magnitude and in
calculable power, and how he tested this piece
of rust and that piece Of adhcrng FIBRE finally
remarked thai there was no trace Of blood Of any
kind anywhere on the hatchct or on the little
piece Ct handle that had been fixed in its eye
The simple and complete fact is that tho
State has evidence whatever Of the use Of
this hatchet, any other, and the only justiA-
cation of its claim that this used is the fact
that the holes in the skulls Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Borden might have been made by such weapon.
All these eight days. not 10 speak Of all these
eight months they have been holding before
Lizzie Boriens terrified eyes their two huge,
ugly axes, their caw-headed hatchet, their
little hatchet with long handle and
their hatchet-head with no handle a. all;
and they have waved these murderous tools in
the air, and have made passes at imaginary vic
Tins by way Of illustration, and finally II turns
out that not Of them has anything to do with
the cose.
GLOOM WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE COURTROOM.
They havc queer weather down here Yester-
day was dream of beauty; to-day Is dark. damp.
dismal But it was appropriate to the telling
of the weird and grewsome stories which for
seven hours We're being rccited, with the aid
Of hatchets and plaster casts and broken skulls
and bloody carpets and shattered door frames, by
the medical experts A mist from the bay has
hung over the city, ard still deeper one from
that house Of death in Fall River over court
and jury. Four scientific persons have been on
the stand. three of them Harvard professors.
They have told about their superior education
and great experience and then, one by one. they
have explained the Borden tragedy. Every eX-
PLANTATION has dcepencd th" mystery. They have
the human head they have described the con-
struction Of the skulls they have told about
internal carotid arteries, and at the end OF IL
all nobody knows one whit more than he knew
yesterday who killed Andrew j. Borden and his
wife So far as their testimony bears against
Lizzie Borden, it simply amounts to this: That
il the hatchet now without handle had handle
70 IL then. and If she We're woman OF ordinary
strength. II was physically possible for h"r to
have done the killing with it. Not the mill'onth
part of an inch closer than this did they get
to the prisoner at the bar.
MISS BORDEN TREAKrSG DOWN
Miss Borden is breaking down. Her condition
to-day is pitiful There is no longer room for
the feminine prejudice which has arrayed itself
so strongly against her because she has been so
firm and unmoved What the repression and sup
preston Of her emotions during these months Of
confinement must have cost her can be some
what. if inadrouatey guessed from her agita-
ton and anguish to-day. Throughout the MORN
ing session, while the doctors with their plaster
casts marked in red to show where the wounds
had been made in the faces, heads and necks OF
Mr. and Mrs Borden, were testifying, she sas
with rcd eyes and trembling lips and with deep
marks in her pale face looking as long ms she
could listening much as she could, and hhally
,etrcatinr in grief and tears behind her fan.
At one time she had TO leave the room: the re-
cita was more than she could bear. Finally,
at the afternoon session. when the skulls OF her
murdered father and stepmother were broughc
into the room, the Court conferred moment
and then the Chief Justice said in quiet, kindly
voice that the prisoner would he allowed to re-
main in the custody of the Sheriff in another
Fart Of the building while this portion OF the
examination proceeded. II was an act OF genu-
inc mercy. She could not possibly have endured
the scenes which followed. Even to the ordinary
snectator they were terrible. To a woman, the
daughter and stepdauchtcr Of those to whom these
CHASTITY relics belonged and whotwas there ac-
cusrd of having with her own hands made tho
long rents and great holes exposed in them, then
oxbibitlon must have been worse than the tor
tures Of the Spanish Inquisition Her departure
from the room was great relief to her counsel
and operated clearly in the interest OF justice
II does seem as if testimony Of a purely mega
,;v. character must be irrelevant in an issue OF
thi, kind. Nevertheless. the defence, wisely az
il turned out and perhaps they knew it must
turn out objected to nothing The prosecution
was allowed TO put its questions any way II
pleased, and to repeat them often and in as
many forms as seemed good TO it. The de-
fendant's lawyers simply sat and listened.
Hypothetical questions were asked on almost
cvcry phase Of the mystery, without any objec-
ticn from the defence. When, on the cross-ex-
animation. their turn came they asked questions,
too They avoided the subject in none OF its pos
sibe aspects. They were undoubtedly willing
that anything should be said that bore, however
indirectly upon the subject Of the murders As
soon as Professor Wood said that he was able 70
lini no trace Of blood on the hatchet-head, the
defence gave carte-blanchc to their adversaries,
and allowed them to do battle in their own way.
Miss Borden's personal su!lerings would have been
a serious constrant to her lawyers il she had
heen in the courtroom while the skulls were
being handled and the holes and gashes in them
explained to the jury. With her out Of sight and
hearing they were free to do the handling them.
selves and to subject the witnesses to forms Of