doing this time. Perhaps she was using the water closet. Then again she might have been adding to a collection of menstrual pads soaking in a pail in the cellar; it was that time of the month for Lizzie. There is still another possibility; Lizzie could have added more sinister bloodstained objects such as a dress or undergarment to the pail. Apparently no one ever checked.
After Shocks
For many days after August 4, the Borden crime was the lead story on the front page of every newspaper in Fall River and vicinity. Early accounts of the crime were loaded with factual errors. The article shown below contains at least seven misstatements. The most interesting of these is the assertion that, "the murder suicide theory finds many supporters." So far as I know, no one has ever committed suicide with a hatchet.
FIGURE 1.2 Newspaper Article on Crime
On the other hand, newspaper accounts are the first place to look for insights into the Borden case. They are full of intriguing suggestions that were never followed up, mostly because they contradicted the legend that gradually became frozen in place. For anyone hoping to solve the Borden mystery a hundred years later, the primary source has to be the local newspapers. In 1892 there were three dailies in Fall River. The Evening News was the most reliable and authoritative; it was also the dullest. At the other extreme was the provocative and often controversial Globe; the Herald was somewhere in between.
Two items of particular interest in the Fall River papers of Friday, August 5, are shown below. The reproduction at the left cites the reward offer made by Emma and Lizzie Borden, promising $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. Although it appeared daily for over a year, no one ever claimed the reward. Sorry; it's too late now!
FIGURE 1.3 Two newspaper articles
The newspaper headline shown at the right refers to an article which first appeared in the Fall River Globe, a newspaper generally hostile to the Bordens. It relates to a statement made by a clerk named Eli Bence who worked at Smith's drugstore in Fall River. He said that on the day before the murders a young woman came to his store and attempted unsuccessfully to buy ten cents worth of prussic acid, a deadly poison. Bence identified this woman as Lizzie Borden.
On the morning of August 6 (Saturday), the double funeral of Andrew and Abby Borden was held in the sitting room where Andrew was murdered. The bodies were arranged so as to conceal the marks of violence; everyone agreed that undertaker Winwood had done a marvelous job. There were about 75 mourners present in the house; a crowd variously estimated at 1000-4000 people jostled around outside.
The services, in which the customary eulogy was omitted, were conducted jointly by Reverend Buck, Minister for Missions of the Central Congregational Church, and Reverend Adams of the First Congregational Church. Until quite recently, the entire Borden family had been members of Central Congregational. Andrew left in a cold fury when the deacons refused to meet his selling price for a piece of property. He bought a pew in First Congregational which he never used.
According to legend, Lizzie shocked Fall River society by refusing to appear in black for the funeral. The legend was wrong; two independent newspaper accounts said she wore a black lace dress. She and Emma were, of course, the principal mourners; they led the funeral procession to the Oak Grove cemetery where the Borden lot was located. At the cemetery there was a surprise that disappointed the curious onlookers. By order of Medical Examiner Dolan, there was no interment; the bodies were held in a receiving vault pending further examination.
On Saturday afternoon a second search was made of the Borden house. Six people took part: Marshal Hilliard, Assistant Marshal Fleet and Captain Desmond of the Fall River police department, Detective Seaver of the state police, Medical Examiner Dolan and Andrew Jennings, the Borden family lawyer. They had the complete cooperation of Lizzie and Emma Borden, who made it clear that they wanted the search to be as thorough as possible.
Indeed it was thorough. The Providence Journal reported, "Stoves, mattresses, bureau drawers, clothes, cupboards and shelves were examined. No place big enough to conceal a weapon as large as a table knife or clothing of the dimensions of a glove finger escaped the eyes of the officers."
One of the rooms searched was a second floor closet called a "clothes press" which contained dresses belonging to Lizzie and Emma. Detective Seaver took each dress off its hanger and examined it carefully. In a few cases, Assistant Marshal Fleet took a dress to a window to look at it in stronger light. They were looking for blood stains; they didn't find any.
The search started at 3 P.M. in Bridget's attic bedroom and ended at about 6:30 P.M. in the cellar. A further examination took place on Monday morning, starting in the cellar where a stone mason took a brick out of the chimney to make sure nothing was hidden there. The handleless hatchet was rediscovered; this time it got to the police station. The officers then went out into the yard where they probed an abandoned well and took apart a pile of lumber piece by piece. The search ended in the barn, where all the hay was moved and some of the floor boards torn up. Afterwards it was reported that, "Absolutely nothing was discovered which would lead to a clue or assist in any way in clearing up the mystery."
Suspects du Jour
To this point, we've concentrated upon what happened at 92 Second Street on August 4, 1892, and successive days. This account is based largely on contemporary newspaper reports corroborated later by court testimony. Actually the newspapers dealt mostly with speculations as to who committed the crime and how he or she did it. Public opinion on this subject changed from day to day.
Initially it was assumed that the murderer came in off the street to wield his hatchet. He could have hated or feared one or both of the victims, probably Andrew. Then again, considering the excess violence involved, he could have been a homicidal maniac striking at random. This is what people in Fall River feared. As a newspaper reporter put it, "It is not exactly reassuring to reflect that a maniac with an insatiable thirst for human blood may be at large, emboldened by his success and looking for additional victims."
There were several reports of suspects who behaved weirdly. A farmer named Joseph Lemay said that while walking through the woods near his house he heard someone say, "Poor Mrs. Borden." Looking around, Lemay saw a rough looking, unshaven man dressed in black sitting on a stone. The man had blood stains on his shirt. He picked up a small hatchet, shook it at Lemay, and began to grind his teeth (his own, not Lemay's). Then he got up, jumped a wall, and disappeared. Small wonder that the police were never able to locate this truly unique individual. Within a day or two of the murders the police became convinced that Abby Borden died first, a considerable time before Andrew. Their conclusion was apparently based mostly on the fact that no one saw Abby after about 9 A.M. on Thursday morning. In contrast, Andrew Borden was seen as late as 10:45 A.M. The assumption of a time lapse between the murders virtually ruled out the possibility of an "outside job". A person coming in off the street to kill Abby Borden would have to conceal himself for an hour or two waiting for Andrew to show up. That, at least, was the way the police looked at it. Very early on they began to look within the Borden house for likely suspects.
The first insider to be suspected was John Morse. The police and the public were inclined to doubt that it was just a coincidence that the Bordens were killed less than twenty four hours after Morse came to visit them. Moreover, as we have pointed out, his behavior when he returned to 92 Second Street after the murders was peculiar to say the least. However, the police soon lost interest in Morse. His alibi, that he had been visiting his niece at the time of the murders, seemed solid.
