Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1913-04-25

and power that the possession of a
large amount of money cannot fail to
give Lizzie Borden read the writing
on the wall. 1t was then she first be-
gan to feel the pressure of public opin-
ion-that she first realized that former
cordial greetings were growing colder
and more cold-that friends who once
would stop for chat or drop in for
an informal visit passed her by with
scant mods and averted eyes-that she
came to understand the tremendous
force of unexpressed criticism-lhat
the conviction came home to her than
which no earthly situation is more
crushing or more annihilating-that
she was being Stunned by every hui
man being, with an occasional rare
exception, who had formerly made up
her life and happiness. 1t was all the
more terrifying because it was so In
defnable. There was no tangible fin
ger of scorn-no open declaration Of
hostility-just that insistent. madden
ing, universal aloofness.
She was criticised because she did
not wear mourning for her parents.
Her every going in and coming out
was discussed, and all manner and
kind of construction placed upon every
ordinary, unimportant detail of her
mode Of living and acting. Some
thought she drove her horses too rap
idly and recklessly down the main
street. Some averred that she had
never shown the proper grief over
her fathers death. Others insisted
that she was making altogether too
sudden and too blatant display of the
money that had come to her with the
murder of her father. She could do
nothing right. II she tried to be happy
and forget the awful shadow that had
come into her life her critics called
her heartIess. II she appeared on the
streets in a sober, subdued frame of
mind there were all sorts of gossip
ings and predictions and clackings of
tongues-such an attitude could mean
but one thing to their minds;
So the years went on, one after an
other of her friends dropping away
from her, until today Lizzie Borden.
looking for all the world like any
other stout. matronly woman you
might meet on the, street. is without
doubt the most isolated free woman
in New England.
Seems Without Emotion.
She is today just what she was de-
scribed as being when she faced trial
| for her life twenty years ago-a stolfd.
immobile, Unconditional appearing wom-
an-her large, strong features ex-
pressing the same determination that
characterized her when she faced her
accusers on the charge of parricide.
II this woman has ever had an emo
ton it can honestly be said that she
has invariably succeeded in conceal
ing 1t from any human eye.
She goes about today just as she
went her way, f1rm-mouthed, direct
eyed and battling of understanding dur
ing the days following the discovery
OF the mutilated bodies of her father
and her stepmother, during the in
quest that resulted in her arrest, day
after day during the preliminary trial,
at the end of which Judge Blaisdell
found her probably guilty throughout
the grand jury hearing when twenty
out of twenty-one grand jurymen vot-
ed to indict her-all during the eight
months of her confinement in Taunton
jail while she waited the sitting of the
superior court and during the long
hours OF her thirteen days trial by
jury which ended in her acQuittal and
release.
Months Without Visitor.
Not in fifteen years has Lizzie Bor-
den attended the church where up to
her thirty-third year she was leader
working for charity presiding at
meetings of the Christian Endeavor,
singing in the choir active In all
church socials and gatherings. Not In
years has she entered any store or
shop in the city where she was born
and spent her girlhood and young
womanhood as the younger daughter
Of one of the city's richest and most
respected business men. Not to the
knowledge OF anyone has she engaged
In any charity for the past ten years.
Months pass by without human
| foot crossing her threshold other than
those Of menials and tradeBpeople. A
visitor at the Borden door Is such q
rare and curious sight as to occasion
comment throughout the neighbor-
| hood.
Not only the house Of tragedy on
| Second street, where she was born
and brought up and which il still In
her possession. but also her present