The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1922-10-06
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dens daughter by his first wife, were
the only persons In the house at the
time the murders were discovered. and
suspicion naturally attached itself TO
the stepdaughter, as Bridget had not
the slightest motive for the crime.
After breakfast. on the morning OF
August 4, 1898. Mr.. Borden left the
mouse to attend to an errand In the
neighborhood, and Mrs. Borden went
upstairs To arrange the guest room II.
preparation for some expected visitors
Mrs. Borden. as was afterwards
brought out at the trial, left the first
hoor at $780, and il was the last time
that she was seen alive.
Both Lizzie and Bridget Sullivan
were in the kitchen at ten O'Clock
When Mr.. Borden returned TO the
house, and, finding the front door
the only other entrance-locked, came
In through the back way and went up
To his room which communicated only
with the back part of the house and
could not be reached from the front,
IL was about fifteen minutes later that
Lizzie Borden went upstairs. and
! moment later, shrieked out that her
father had been killed. Both the old
man and his wife had been murdered.
practically chopped to pieces. for
| there were no less than Twenty-Five
wounds on the two bodies, while the
! rooms in which they were found were
| spattered with blood almost to the
| ceiling. Investigation showed that
Mrs. Borden, whose body was dis.
covered in the guest room, had been
/ struck down while Lizzie Borden was
| talking to the servant on the first
floor, only a short time before; while
Mr.. Borden had had time only TO reach
his room before being felled by a
blow that severed his skull.
In spite of the lack OF evidence
against her, Lizzie Borden was ar.
rested and charged with the two muir.
ders-but was acquitted on the first
ballot of the jury, as II was shown
that 1t would have been impossible
changed her blood-spattered clothes.
returned to the first floor where she
talked to Bridget Sullivan for half
an hour, and then TO have gone up
stairs, killed her father and again
change her clothes before giving the
alarm, to say nothing of dlsposlng OF
the weapon which she had used.
On the other hand, as the prosecu'
ton pointed out, there was no other
person who possessed both the motive
and the opportunity. Lizzie Borden
had Vlarreled with her step-mother
some time before Her fathers will
left the major portion OF his property
to his wife, unless he survived her
in which case it was to go to his
daughter. The front door and all the
windows on the first floor had beer
locked Therefore no one could enter
without passing through the kitchen
where both Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie
Borden were at work. Finally Lizzie
Borden had discovered the crime
which at once led to the suspicion tina
she had committed 1t. But even th'
counsel for the state had to admit that
the blood-spattered walls and the to
tai lack of any blood stains on Mis-
Borden's clothing presented an in
surmountable obstacle, so far as he
guilt was concerned.
Her acquittal. however, not onl.
added another classic TO the mysteriet
of crime, but presented two questions
; apparently impossible of solution b!
, any reasonable hypothesis How hat
the murderer entered the house wheI
the only available entrance wa
through the kitchen where the twt
women were working? How had h,
managed TO commit two crimes of thi
nature and escape. with clothing whlcl
was certain to have been thorough.
blood stained. without attracting tn
, slightest notice7