The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-06-06
lizzie BORDEN FAINTS
She Breaks Down at the
Sight of the Blood
Stained HatChet.
QUICKLY RECEIVERS HER COMPOSURE.
She Refuses 10 Accompany the
Jury to the Scene Of
the Tragedy.

1oS0-Atber Wtii-ulSu O y JO@A " e.aSAS-p-
ton, theorizing and speculation, the trial
Of Miss Lizzie Borden, charged with hav-
ing hacked the life out of her father and
stepmother, was begun in earnest this
morning.
Every seat In the court room ad been
taken by nine O'Clock, the hour set for
opening the trial proper. The jury,
which had been in the custody OF TWO
deputy sneriffs through the night under
lock and key in one of the hotels here.
was in it's place. So were lall the counsel
on both sides.
The bell on the court rung out prompt
ly at nine o'clock this morning, announc-
ing to all who cared to hear that the
court was in session. just before the
crowd had been perm itted to come IN In
1t were Just nineteen women. No time
was wasted in preliminaries. When the
crier opened the court Clerk Borden
read the formal Indictment. charging
Miss Borden with the brutal murder OF
her parents.
During the reading of the Indictment
Miss Borden, who had been brought in
just before the Justices assembled TO tnelr
places, showed some signs OF emotlou.'
Twice her lips twitched nervously, and
once there was the shee1of tears in her
eyes. But it passed away In an Instant,
aud again there was presented the PIC
ture or the coarse-featured Stolcal Wo-
man, apparently Indifferent TO her sur
| roundinas. Sne might have been tne
least interested of any OF the spectators.
SO far as outward manifestations We're
concerned. during the greater portion OF
/ the time.
+ y - MR.. MoODY's OPENING ADDRESS.
The cQnft room was completely hushed
when Assistant District Attorney w. ID.
Moody stepped over before the jury and an
So all iE1 m were on the Qu1 viye.
! Mr.. MI de his opening with a
| brief 81 tue Borden family, he
called atte6tion TO the fact that Miss
| Lizzie Borden and her step-niother quar-
| re lied because of an act OF her fathers.
which was Of benefit to relative OF the
| second Mrs. Borden.
.'On tbs day before these homicides
| were committed he continued. ''the
prisoner went to drug store and asked
| to purchase some prussic acid. She said
| she wanted it 10 clean seaiskin sack.
| She was told it WAS deadly poison and
| she did not get it There were three wit.
| pesses who identified her as having be-
| in the drug store tnat day"
4fas night. -Miss Borden had TAN
| with Miss Allce NJ. Russell. I'VE shall
commend the conversation OF that even
| ing to your careful consideration, !" said
the speaker. Miss Borden said to Miss
/ RUSSELL
| Father has been having SO much
| trouble that | expect something will be
| done TO him. The house was broken
| into, andt barn has also been broken
1 into Miss Rassell suggested that the
| barn had been broken into by boys. Miss
| Borden tol Id her how the family had been
made i'll the day before.
| "She thought it had been caused by the
| bakers bread. Miss Russell said that
could not be, else all the others who had
eaten of the bread would have been made
| ili also. Miss Borden said that Ihe SER
| want had partaken of 1t but lightly and
| had not been made i'll. Then they dis
cussed the probability of something hay
| ing been done 10 the milk, which was left
| at the house every morning at about four
O'Clock. Miss Russell secuted that idea
also. when the prisoner added. When
came home the other night ] saw mau
prowling about otslde the house. When
he saw me he jumped over the fence and
ran away
MI. Moody then carefully described
the house i'll which the tragedy was en-
acted on August last. He drew par
ticular attention to the fact that there
was no entrance at the rear of the houss.
THE JURY TO VISIT THE HOUSE
He described carefully the position
of the different sleeping rooms OF the
house. The Importance of the minute
description of the house will become APP
parent as the case progresses When he
had finished that. the Assistant Dis
trict Attornev informed the jurors
that later in the day they would have au
opportunity tovisit the house in which
the murders were committed, aud ould
have made clear TO them the condI tions
in the building in Fall River, where the
two hacked bodies Were found.
Mr. Moody got down TO the early morn
ing of the day upon which the tragedy
was enacted. III told az what hours the
different members OF the household had
arisen ana what had passed between
them Immediately after that.
He described how Bridget Sullivan. the
servant. had washed the windows. Dur
| ing all the time she was doing that" he
said. "she didn't see Mrs. Borden or
Lizzie" Then she went down stairs and
| began to wash the windows on the south
| side of the house.
"While engaged thus she heard Mr..
! Borden at the screen door. He went
around the house and let himself in at
| the front door. It was 10:40 o'clock when
| Mr.. Borden started to reach his
home. He was away from his home
| at the time. distance which he could
/ have covered in q minute. As WAS not
the custom in that house. the door was
locked and Dolted. He made the noise q
person would expecting to get In with a
| latch key.
LIZZIE BoRDEN's ALLEGED LIE.
.He came in, aud Miss Borden. from q
| position upstairs, made some laughing
explanation of the unusual locking of the
door. T, her father she said: Mrs. Bor-
den has gone out. She had note from
somebody who was sick.'
| SAT that very moment the body of Mrs.
Borden lay dead in the room upstairs,
and she had been dead perhaps an hour.
| That. gentlemen, we put 10 you as lie,
| intended for no purpose except to stifie
| inquiry as to the whereabouts Of Mrs.
| Borden.
ITO Bridget Sullivan she told the
same lie, when Bridget went upstairs
to get an ironing board, She told
Bridget that Mrs. Borden had received
a note and gone out somewhere about
/ the town she thought. At that time
/ Mrs. Borden was dead. 10 Mrs.
] Churchill, who asked Miss Borden where
/ her mother was. when the alarm was
| first given, Miss Borden said she was
almost certain she had seen her go out.
Mrs Churchill went upstairs and dis
| covered the body.
The speaker called attention to the dis-
1 crenancies that existed In the stories told
| by the prisoner. 1n brief, they were that
sne mad told in one story, IN which she
said that while in the barn she had heard
1 a noise in the house, something III the ma
| ture OF an alarm.
/ She rushed into the house and dis
~ 1.<<. f,t n y.