Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-09-22
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''usHtei ny MS nfSt WIFE, were
me only persons In the house al the
time The murders were discovered. and
suspicion naturally attached itself to
'he 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
heighborhood and Mrs. Borden went
upstairs to arrange the guest room in
preparation for some expected visitors.
MIS-. Borden, as was afterwards
brought out at the trial, left the first
moor at $50, and it 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 tho
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.
1t was about fifteen minutes later that
Lizzie Borden went upstairs, and a
moment later, shrieked out that her
father had been killed. Both the old
man and his wife mad been murdered,
practically chopped to pieces, for
there were no lest than twenty-nine
wounds on the two bodies, while the
rooms in which they were found were
spattered with blood almost to the
ceiling. Investigation show cd 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 firsg
floor, only a short time before; while
Mr.. Borden had had time only to reach
his room before being felled by
blow that severed his skull.
In spite Of the lack Of evidei ce
against her. Lizzie Borden was ar
rested and charged with the two Ii dr-
ders-but was acquitted on the first
ballot of the jury. as it was shown
that it would have been impossible
for her TO have killed her step-mother.
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 disposing Of
the weapon which she had used.
On the other hand, as the prosecu-
ton pointed out, there was me- other |
person who possessed both the motive |
and the opportunity. Lizzie Borden |
had quarreled 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 |
on the first floor had been
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 that
she had committed 1t. But even the
for the state had TO admit that
the blood-spattered walls and the to
al lack of any blood stains on Miss
Borden's clothing presented an in.
obstacle, so far as her
quilt was concerned.
Her acquittal. however. not only
added another classic TO the mysteries
# crime, but presented two questions
apparently impossible of solution by
my reasonable hypothesis: How had
he murderer entered the house when
he only available entrance was
through the kitchen where the two
women were working? How had he
managed to commit two crimes of this
allure and escape, with clothing which
vas certain to have been thoroughly
Iood-stained, without attracting the
llghtest notice?