Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-12-28

somebody, came to the opinion that this
uncertain man was the murderer. When
the people of Fall River could regain their
senses, they came to the opinion that the
murderer must have been person entirely
familiar with the habits Of the Borden
family, and as no theft had been commit
ted they came to the further conclusion
that another motive than that of plumber
lay behind the crime.
At all times there were six persons in
and about the Borden house-the murder
ed man and his wife, his two daughters.
the oldest being Miss Emma L. Borden.
Bridget Sullivan, the indoor servant, and
John V. Morse, n man who worked about
the place and took charge of the barn. If
this crime had been committed during the
dead of night, the horror at its perpetra-
ton could not Have been greater, but the
mystery surrounding the case would have
been very much lessened.
At the time the murder was committed
Miss Emma L. Borden was on a visit TO
some relatives out of the city; the hired
man was not about; Bridget Sullivan was
then in her own room, in the attic: Mr..
Borden was lying on sofa In the sitting
room; Mrs. Borden was setting her own
room to rights, and Lizzie Borden was in
the barn.
The weapon with which the murders
were committed was an ordinary AK, such
as is used for splitting kindling wood.
Acting under the orders of City Marshal
Rufus b. Hilliard, all the available police
force of Fall River was put upon the case.
The only person in the house at the time
Of the murders, except the victims and the
murderer, was Bridget Sullivan She was
lying on her own bed, in the attic, when
she heard Miss Lizzie Borden shouting to
her: AZ Father is dead! Go for DR.. Bowenr"
1t was the opinion of those who were at
all able to reason about the crime that the
motive for the murder was money, but
that the criminal, alarmed by the return
from the barn of Miss Lizzie Borden,
made his escape without taking any,
thing. Miss Lizzie Borden, although
overwhelmed by the terrible blow, never
lost her self possession, but to all the
questioning told her story again and
again without any variation, or any of
those signs of hysteria which even a strong
woman might be expected to have shown
under these trying circumstances.
The autopsy proved the murder to have
been of the most cruel character. There
were 13 wounds on Mr. Borden's head. the
majority of which had pierced through the
skull to the brain, and one had severed
the eyeball and right jaw bone. Mrs.
Borden's body was even more severely
dealt with. The skull was broken into
fragments and the flesh literally chopped
into ribbons. In addition, there was a
deep cut between the shoulder blades,
which pierced the lungs. The doctors
were in doubt as to which of the victims
was first killed. and to determine this the
stomachs were removed and the contents
examined. A strikingly remarkable re-
suit of this investigation was the conclu-
sion of the doctors that the woman had
been dead for two hours before the man.
1t further appeared that Mrs Borden had
been struck a murderous blow from behind
while she was making the bed She fell
forward on her face, and the f1end contin-
ued the hacking as before described. An
other curious fact was developed by the
examination Of the stomachs of the muir
dered man and woman, and that was that
they had been undergoing process of
slow poisoning for some time. The inves.