Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-06-16

Showing what Is Charged Against the
what Refuted,
abridged from the New York Trbune's excel.
lent summary
In the history of crime there have been
few cases of homicide more bewildering
than that now being tried i'm New Bedford,
Mass. Whoever killed the aged Borden
couple exposed even less of motive than of
personality. 1t must have been revenge
full crime, and yet nothing is in sight to
show that either of the victims was hated
by anybody to the extent that ordinarily
prompts murder The theory of the pros
ecution is that Lizzie had long hated Mrs.
Borden; that she suspected her father of
intending to divert a considerable part of
his fortune to her s.epmother and possibly
to some of her stepmother's relations; that
she killed the stepmother to prevent this,
and then killed her father to make the pre-
vention complete aud to. acquire her inner
itance promptly. But so far there is no
evidence to prove this.
The woman with whom Lizzie Borden
lived as her stepmother had been Mr.. Bor-
denis wife for nearly the whole period of
Lizzie's life. She can scarcely remember
her own mother, and all she ever had of
motherly care and affection came from
Mrs. Borden. Her father was 20 years
old. Her stepmother was SO, very stout,
and not especially vigorous. Mr. Borden
was worth $780, 200, and was director in
various financial concerns. The family
lived in a snug way peculiar to themselves.
There is nothing to show that Lizzie Bor-
den was greedy for money. She and her
sister were both properly supplied with
money, and had bank accounts of their
own.
The state has made up its case on the
theory that Lizzie Borden must have COM
mitted the murders, because no one else
had chance to commit them. To prove
this it got together a chain of evidence
which was all right until ex-Gov. Robin
son got hold of it on cross-examination,
when it has been riddled with holes.
1t is a curious circumstance that every
witness for the prosecution has redeemed
its assurance of what he would testify to.
only to weaken, to become confused, to
qualify himself. to make changes and adj.
missions before the eX-governor got through
with him. The details that accuse Lizzie
Borden lack consistency, lack probability.
and might be true and still leave her inno-
cent She was the last person that saw
her father and her stepmother alive.
Nothing whatever in the circumstances of
the case even suggest anybody else as their
murderer.
What the State Has Proved.
The state has proved that on Wednesday
night, the night before the murder, Lizzie
told friend, Miss Russell, as the reason
why she did not intend to Join her sister
Emma OF
that she had feeling that something was
going to happen; that she was very much
depressed, and did not like to leave her
father; that she was afraid he had an enc
my; that she had heard him quarreling
with man the other day about the lease
OF piece of property, and her father had
said that he would not let the man have il
for such a purpose, and that angry words
words passed between them. She said
also that the night before, that is. Tuesday
night, everybody in the house had been
taken sick except Bridget, the cook: that
she (Lizzie) thought something must have
been the matter with the bakers bread or
with the milk, but that wherever the
trouble was, or whether there was really
any trouble or not, she felt very bad, and
was sure something was going to happen.
The state has promised to prove, though it
has not done so yet, that on that same
night Lizzie tried to buy some prussc acid,
giving as her reason for desiring it, the
cleansing of some household utensils.
The state has proved that that Wednes-
day night found no one in the Borden
house except Mr.. and Mrs. Borden, John
V. Morse, Lizzie's uncle, the brother of
Mr.. Borden's first wife; Lizzie herself, and
Bridget, the cook. No suspicion can at
tach to Morse. He arose the next morn
ing early, had his breakfast at 1880 with
Mr.. and Mrs. Borden, left the house at
S:45, went down town, and accounts for his
movements clearly until II 80, when he re-
turned to the house. Both Mr.. and Mrs.
Borden were then dead. Lizzie appeared
that morning after Morse went down
town, and at about Q clock. She got her
own breakfast. While she was eating it
Mrs. Borden was busting in the sitting
room, which adjoined the dining-room, and
Bridget was washing the windows of the
kitchen, and had been instructed to wash
all the windows on the first floor. At 9:15
Bridget saw Mr.. Borden go down town.
From that time or Whereabouts Mrs Bor-
den drops out of sight. Nobody saw her
after that alive. AT what particular mo-
ment she was killed is entirely unknown.
bridget, not seeing nef, at one Time, along
about 10 o'clock, asked Lizzie where she
was, and Lizzie replied that she had re-
ceived note from a sick friend and had
gone out. While Bridget was washing the
windows Lizzie occupied herself apparent
ly with household duties, and Bridget saw
her from time to time going about here and
there in the kitchen, in the dining-room
and in the sitting-room.
circumstances of the Murder,
At 1915 Mr.. Borden returned. Bridget
let him in. The front door at which he
entered was caught with deadlatch, and
also locked. The state makes much of
this fact, but it appears that these Bor-
denis kept all their doors locked day and
night. The front door was always at
least caught with a deadlatch. The side
door was locked, and nobody ever went
out the kitchen door without being requir-
ed to call some one to hook it. They also
kept their own individual bedrooms locked.
When anybody came out of his room he
always locked the door and put the key in
his pocket This fact, habitually charac-
teristic of the domestic economy of the
Borden household, does away with much
of the force of the circumstance that the
front door was on this occasion thus care
fully secured. Having left Mr.. Borden,
IQsfl - 1.