The Portland daily press., 1893-01-05
[Letter to the Washington star.l


mas callers either on Sunday, or on the
holiday Monday, and there was nothing
in the prison regime to indicate to the
unfortunate girl that the season OF peace
and good will to men was passing.
The continued illness of Attorney Cen
eral Pillsbury, who is down with pneu-.
monia at Northampton, has deferred the
arraignment of Miss Borden many weeks
and it is doubtful if this month sees the
day set for her trial. The suspense and
delay are having marked effect on the
prisoner, and there are some who say
that if her mind is not already affected it
will become so. She does not talk much
but seems to dwell upon the train of
events that has brought her to the prison
doors.
There is one day in the week that Liz
zie Borden has become nervous about.
That day is Thursday. The prospect of
a trial for murder is never reassuring,
but the ordeal will have added terrors
for her if it proves to begin on this par
ticular day. Thursday has been marked
by such startling i'll omens in connection
with her case that she may well dread
its weekly recurrence in the calendar.
Such consistency in portentous happen
ings seems much like something more
than mere condolences; it smacks of IA
tality, and may well awaken the appre-
tensions of young woman quite as res
olute and devoid Of ordinary supersti
tomas Miss Lizzie Borden.
Thursday, Aug. 4, was the day that
drew j. Borden and Abby Borden were
inurdered-a day that must live as one
of horror in the mind of the daughter,
whether she be innocent of the crime or
not.
Thursday, Aug. IL, one week after the
crime, and at the conclusion of long
examination by,.District Attorney Knowl-
ton, Lizzie was called into the dim COR
Tidor of the court room, and there, alone
with the city marshal, faced the awful
charge of having murdered her father
and mother. This, the second Thurs
day, was the day of her arrest and incar-
ceration.
Thursday, Sept l, just four weeks af-
ter the murder, the long preliminary
hearing before Judge Blaisdell ended,
and though many theories of the State
fell with the failure to find blood on the
Ratchet, the unfortunate defendant was
adjudged probably guilty, and was
November grand jury.
=, Thursday, Dec. l, seventeen weeks to
aaday after the tragedy, the grand jury
finished their long consideration of
fle Borden case ana voted to indict this
Youngest daughter of the house for the
murder of both her parents.
In brief, every decisive event in the de-
velopment of the Borden case has oc-
CURED upon Thursday, the same day as
the crime, and the issue at every stage
has turned against the accused girl.
Having been arrested, bound over and
indicted on Thursday, it is not strange
that this day, already stained with her
parents blood, seems to Lizzie Borden
Ireighted with fearful portends of disas-
Ter. Small wonder that she hopes her
trial may begin under different and
Hossib y happier augury.
The Borden case is one of the few
tragedies that continually develop new
phases of interest. Tie more we learn
about it the more remarkable it appears.
The tendency of all strange occurrences
u resolve themselves upon closer scru-
tiny into the familiar elements of the
commonplace is absent here.
The more closely the exact facts are
followed tie better the 'Sstory'' in
newspaper sense. The prominenence
pf the family gives the coming trial
an interest in this part of the State
surprising anything in the annals of the
1fd colony.
The Bordens are to Fall River what
the CAROLS or the Bonapartes are to
Baltimore. The family traces its ances-
fry back without break to William the
Gonqueror. Andrew j. Borden could
Boast both simple faith and Norman
blood" The name is derived from
Bourdonnay, an ancient village of Nor
mandy, where Thousand years ago Liz
szie7s ancestors resided
If After the battle of Hastings they were
assigned estates in the county of Kent,
in England. The earliest American rep
resentatives of the name was Richard
Borden, who came to Plymouth colony
In 1855, and from him by long line of
Richards, Andrew j. Borden was de-
scended.
The name of the first Richards daugh-
ter, Elizabeth, taken from the virgin
queen. under whose splendid reign She
was born. reappears today in the "Liz-
zie" Of the accused girl. The only
family IN Fall River that rivals the Bor-
deus in its wealth, social position and
extensive mill interests are the Durfees,
and these two families have been inter-
marrying for 200 years.
Three Borden sisters, contemporaries
OF Andrew, becamerespectively Mrs. DR..
Nathan Durfee, Mrs. Joseph Durfee and
Mrs Nat. C. Durfee.
When the hand of the law reaches out
and arrests daughter of these houses,
and one who by the very tragedy be-
comes an heiress, it assumes a grave re-
sponsibility-one that neither the city,
county nor state officials would court.
There is this to be said for the much
abused and accused authorities in this
case: There is every inducement for
then not to pursue Lizzie Borden if they
saw any alternative.
Take Judge Blaisdell, who presided at
tie inquest and held Lizzie for the grand
jury. His son married the daughter of
Cook Borden and cousin of Lizzie Bor-
den, and he himself was personal friend
OF all the parties concerned. Take. Dis
trict Attorney Knowlton, friend OF Mr..
Borden and more intimate with Mr.. Jen-
ninos Tizzie's counsel than with any