The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-10
BOOKS upoS THE BoRDhN CASE
The Great One Vet to he written-Twe
Competent Writers Suweerted.


murders have been made the text OF book
called Tho Mystery Unveiled" just pub
lished in Providence. The book is Interests
ing. III only because IL reflects the very great
interest which the public yet feels in this cele-
brated case. The author argues that one Of
two persons must have committed the MUIR
dors-the younger daughter. Lizzie. or an UNI
known criminal whom he calls Villain" He
proves to his own frequently expressed satis-
faction that the unknown villain could not
possibly have done tho deeds. The basis OF
his argument is the very narrow one.
clearly stated. that the crimes were de-
liberate. and therefore must have been
planned. He then finds IL easy to insist
that part OF the unknown Villains pian eces-
STATED his watching both doors of tho Borden
dwelling all the afternoon and late into the
night OF the day before tho murders and DUR
ing nearly all OF the forenoon OF the succeeding
day. To see both doors the villain must have
stood in a particular spot in the street. Atlast
he got into the house by the side door land this
the author wrongly says was impossible) and
must have remained in there two hours. When
he came to tho second killing he had only
eleven minutes in which to perform it, while
Lizzie Borden was in tho barn.
such is the framework fthis argument. The
reasoning Is close enough. but II is all upon
suppostions for the case Is Of such a nature
that all reasoning about it must be Of that
character: and yet the Judges who tried
the cause. who were men Of marked ability.
did not base their judgment upon these or
similar theories. On the contrary. they did
not suppose Lizzie Borden guilty, but did offer
moro than one suggestion that the murderer
might have been the very unknown villain
whose skirts this author thinks he has thor.
oughly cleared 1t has been said in many an.
other argument against one OF the two per.
sons who might have done the murders TINT
Lizzie Borden lied about note which she said
had called her stepmother out o! the house:
That this lie was invented to postpone tho dis
covery Of the stepmother's dead body MS long
as possible. Upon that and the difficulty Of
eonceiying how any other person could have
daughter was argued by all who believed her
guilty This Is what the court, sr.akine
had o say OF both cheese arEuments.
Take the question oil the note The writer
nas not Esen iIupd nor the letter nor the one
behalf that there was no such necessity for
Mrs: Borden had gone out instead Of being
confronted with the falsehood Was IL q
natural thing for her to INVENT Take it from
her standpoint that there was another assas-
sin suppose he endenvored to remove her
Mrs; Borden from the e, house in order to have
comes and finds her. and after killing her he
removes the letter SO as to hide the fact.
minds OF the Judges was one OF tile most nota-
bic features OF the trial 1t startled the coun-
who had been making prolonged study Of the
case. Ii was an idea brand new with the
Court and II It affected the Jury as It did the
the ncquittaI Of Lizzie borden MS any fact or
argument brought out BY tho trial It sug.
known villain. and it offered the idea that the
house. took pains to kill her and to destroy the
only substantial trace of his own identity.
positions to fnd one to our taste it is more
than likely that we will halt over two. One is
the heart to xiii her people and the amazing
mind to construct plan that went as far as
fhe knG ni then hut
directed against herself she being SO wise as
to be fully aware that the law could not COM
her. The other is that a, mailman or an enemy
the conditions favored his concealnent and
ESCAPE Just as brutal wretch did "a, actually
locality and butchered her without witnesses
bc!2re. during. or Immediately after the deed.
OF the assaiIant." said the Court You must
ask II it is Eeasonable that she could KIN Mrs.
sna hen ss sHs
ing Of Mrs Borden was net {, = part Of the orig
5 s5
Borden dwelling, He must remember that no
only one person saw him in the neighborhood
when no returned to meet his DEATH He must
ask himself whether Lizzie Borden is likely
to have followed one murder with the
ironing Of five handkerchief and to have
followed the other with the caution to
her uncle to :" be careful how he worded the
nows' to her sister Emma. as there Is an old
person where she is stopping" He must re.
member that al the news about the crime and
the prisoner which was published during ten
months after the murders was the one-sfded
product Of the singular police force OF Fall
River. Upon that news exclusively the people
reached their conclusions. and yet. when It
assumed the form OF the only evidence the
police took the pains to obtain. it proved so
slender and so faulty that the jurors said they
would not have stayed out o minute were it
not that they fancied it would not be respectful
to tho Court to ac1uit the prisoner at once.
Several books about The Borden case have
already been published. but the great one that
the subject suggests has not yet been written.
What Poe did to unravel the mystery OF the
fate Of Mary Rogers and Of the Murder In the
low as A. Conan Doyle. will yet do with this
deeper mystery in Fall River. The tale must
show who did commit the Borden murders: not
who did not do 1t, for that is OF no use: nor
that Lizzie Borden did II. for that assumption
has been authoritatively passed upon. IL
Conan Doyle will not undertake the task. per- .
haps Hosea Knowlton will. His marvellous
powers and intense earnestness were not SUI
flcient for the impossible feat OF fastening the
crime on the daughter. and yet he showed
creative ability and Imagination sufficient for
a thrilling three volume novel that has O
genuine murderer Tor its hero. AcUsHNEr.