The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-20
LIZZIE BORDEN'SDEFEN
Gov. Robinson Makes the Opening Ar
GaMeat Before The Jury.


New Bedford, Mass, June l9.--The day
of the arguments in the Borden trial
brought terrific jam to the court house
and over an hour before the time of open
ing the door was besieged by people,
mostly ladies, hoping for seats. There
was not enough seats for tenth part of
the claimants. When court was ready
for opening many ladies were standing In
the aisles, but they were quietly ushered
to the ante rooms and corridors. The bar
inclosure was packed with legal lights.
The jurymen took their seats at sos
o'clock, looking quite refreshed after their
two days rest, and a few minutes later
Miss Borden came In with o bunch of
pinks in her hand and contented smile
on her face. Almost Immediately Gov.
Robinson began his argument.
A CAREFUL DISCUSSION.
Gov Robinson made a careful, logical
discussion of the crime and its discovery
as they appear from the evidence. The
prisoner sat in the dock with her face
covered with fan while he analyzed the
evidence. After cautioning the Jury to
disregard certain parts of the district at
torney's opening as not proved by the evil
dence, the ex-governor proceeded TO dispose
of certain points of the prosecutions evi-
denoe in detail The only connection be-
tween the defendant and the crimes
was blood spot on the stair,
which was explainahle as menstrual
blood The proposition that Lizzie must
have seen Mrs. Borden's body when up
stairs was unsound, because the body
could be seen from only one stair, and
there she would not stop and look IL she
did not suspect something wrong. Liz
ze's statement that her mother had re-
ceived note aud gone out was plain, if
Mrs. Borden told both Lizzie and Bridget
about 1t, and that they could
not believe that Lizzie had lied about 1t.
Lizzies varying statements that she was
in the yard and in the barn were recon-
cilable. The testimony of three meu
proved that Rubinsky saw the defendant
coming to the house from the barn, and
therefore her statement of her where
abouts at the time of the murders was
true When Lizzie spoke of going upstairs
for Mrs Borden she meant the front
stairs, because all knew she could not be
up the back stairs, a sheet had been OBJ
tanned from there, Lizzie's laughter on
the stairs was immaterial, unless guilt
was assumed. The ring buried with Mr.
Borden shows her affection for him. The
custom of locking doors was not TO lock-
the daughters from her parent, but for
protection.
WOULDN'T HAVE GIVEN THE ALARM
Had the defendant committed the crime
she would not have given an alarm so soon.
The defendants emotion at the discovery
Of the crime was not assumed The
family differences, the defendants con-
duct before the murders, and her visit to
the cellar afterward were no evidence of
r.,f, al ara
was u custom in many households and
the burning of the Bedford cord dress was
thus explained. The dress worn on the
morning of the murder was not changed
until noon. The Bedford cord dress hung
until Sunday morning in the closet which
the officers searched The defendant
could not have committed both murders
without changing her dress between
them The matron's story was false.
Experts differed as TO which hatchet
could have been used, and he argued that
none of those produced were used. He
detailed how an outside assassin might
have committed the crime. A recess was
then TAX en-.
DIsGRACEFUL SCENES.
, The scenes about the court house this
afternoon were disgracefll There was
no system about the method of seating
the people and ladies were tossed about
the walks, in the corridors and on the
stairs in q most reckless and careless
manner When Miss Borden came in she
was pushed and crowded about just as
everybody was and there was just touch
of asperity in her manner as she entered
the court room and faced the buzzing
crowd q
Gov Robinson resumed his argument
by saying that the jury was to use its
Judgment in the premises. He called at
tention TO various phases of the case in
review in brief and said: ''It is very
dangerous to take the ground that IL she
did not do it you can't see who did it. The
extraordinary danger of jumping to con-
clusions should be well understood
by you. The fact that il
was in daylight Is nothing. Lizzie
there can be no question, was ironing
downstairs and you remember the ironed
handkerchiefs were put away. You will
see that this is genuine and not fiction,
and these little things go to establish
facts Of greater things. II the govern
ment fails to prove the charge then IL is
YOUR duty 10 say that she Is not guilty
There is not a showing by thegovernment
by which it would be safe to convict her.
You win find her not guilty for
two reasons, one because il has not
been proved, and another because If you
are convinced that she is not guilty, then
you VIII report bndb Sne is not WnaJ Is
there TO prove to you absolutely that she
is guilty2 1t was 3 o'clock when the
governor closed his plea, and q recess of
five minutes was allowed before District
Attorney Knowlton took up his work.
LINE OF HIS vReUMgNT.
The district attorney had not concluded
his argument when the court adjourned
for the day. He devoted himself TO weav-
ing web OF circumstantial evidence
against Lizzie Borden. Touching upon
her good character he called the jurys
attention to a case In Fail River, whore,
a few years ago, some prominent church
members went wrong, saying that
they were rotten to the core and it
was demonstrated that those who stand
close to the sanctuary are not free from
the taint of sin. He argued that it was
malice against Mrs. Borden that inspired
murder. 1t was the act of person who
spent the forenoon in that house and this
fact bears on the case from beginning to
end. He spoke of the skeleton in the
Borden household and Lizzie's
refusal TO call her step-mother
mother" Here the speaker reviewed
the movements of the family on the morn
ing of the tragedy from the time of their
arising in the morning through the time
when Mr.. and Mrs. Borden and Morse
took breakfast together, TO the time of
Morse going away and Mr. BoEden lock-
ing the screen door after him; then Mr..
Borden goes down town, then Bridget
goes out washing windows.