CHAPTER XIII.
The Preliminary Hearing Adjourned.
About ten days elapsed between the date of Miss Borden’s commitment to Taunton Jail and the date set for the preliminary trial. During this time there was no end of theories advanced by both sides as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. Meanwhile she remained in custody of Sheriff Wright and was apparently undisturbed by circumstances which surrounded her. The days went by in a quiet uneventful manner and those who predicted a collapse of her mental or physical system, while she was a temporary inmate of the jail were disappointed; as there was no outward evidence that the prisoner was at all alarmed at the gravity of her position. In many ways the consideration extended to her by the authorities was manifest. During her incarceration she was visited regularly by Rev. E. A. Buck, her sister Emma and her legal counsel. From all parts of the country came assurances that the prisoner had a host of devoted friends. Ministers of the gospel took occasion to proclaim her innocence from the pulpit. A sample of this friendliness can be seen from the following words of Rev. Dr. Mason of Bowden College Church, Brunswick, Me. He occupied the pulpit of the Central Church in Fall River and in the course of his sermon said “A great, dark cloud has settled down upon one of our families. But God is in that cloud. He is with that poor, tried tempest-tossed girl; he will give her strength and peace; he will make her glad. It is impossible for a wrong to be done in this world that eternity will not undo. Good is coming; good out of evil; light out of darkness. The father is over all. He will vindicate, and raise and glorify.”
At a meeting of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Fall River held about this time a prayer was offered for Miss Borden by Mrs. Hezekiah C. Brayton of Fall River, and the religious societies all over the country called upon the Divinity to assist the unfortunate woman. Throughout the whole proceeding against Miss Borden she was called “unfortunate,” but no man or woman, good, bad, or indifferent was heard to say that the murdered man and woman were “unfortunate.”
Taunton Jail.
Judge Blaisdell, who presided at the inquest and who, being the Justice of the Second District Court, was to be the presiding justice in the coming preliminary trial came in for more than his share of criticism. He was a man of advanced years and remarkable vitality, had served in both branches of the State legislature and was one of the first mayors of the city of Fall River. He had presided as Justice of the Second District Court since its establishment about twenty years ago. He said that he thought he knew enough to attend to his duties no matter who sought to criticise him. A sample of the editorial attacks which were being made upon the Judge was shown to him. It related to the harsh words used in the complaint which accused Lizzie A. Borden of murdering her father. The Judge said that he did not know before that such ignorance existed. The form of complaint was decided upon at least one hundred and fifty years before Miss Borden was born, and was adapted to fit capital crimes. Rev. W. W. Jubb, Miss Borden’s pastor, characterized Judge Blaisdell’s action in sitting on the bench while presiding at the inquest as indecent, outrageous and not to be tolerated in any civilized community. He proposed to use every means to have another Judge preside at the preliminary hearing. Rev. Mr. Jubb, formerly of Morsley, England, had at that time been a resident in America
about twelve months. The act which he criticised was an American constitution nearly two hundred years old.
The preliminary trial of Miss Borden was assigned for Monday, August 22, and the prisoner was on the morning of that day taken from Taunton Jail and brought by rail to Fall River. Clad in the same gown that she wore at the time of her departure from Fall River, and with her face partly concealed with the same blue veil, she stepped from the train in custody of Marshal Hilliard and Rev. Mr. Buck. As she was still possessed of all that wonderful nerve there was no indication in her manner nor bearing that she was a prisoner who had been taken from jail after several days confinement to face the mass of evidence which the State announced it had accumulated against her. And for aught that her appearance might indicate she was the same undemonstrative traveler returning to her home and quietly welcomed by her friends. The trip to Fall River had been made without incident, she sitting motionless in her seat and not even raising her eyes to see the passengers who walked through the car in ostensible search for seats, but really to satisfy their curiosity with a glance at the young woman. In Fall River it was common knowledge that she was to arrive just before 2 o’clock, and so the arrival of Miss Emma Borden and Mrs. Holmes at the police station at 10:30 attracted no attention. The police gave no sign, but after the arrival of Miss Emma, half a dozen of them sauntered slowly towards the depot. As the train from Taunton pulled up at 11 o’clock, Lizzie Borden and the others alighted. Some newspaper men were on the train and others were at the depot. The services of the police were not needed, for there was no crowd to keep back, and the carriage of the authorities drove away in an opposite direction to that of the police station. Then it wound around through alleys and back streets, and finally reached the police headquarters through a rear thoroughfare. As a result there were just five persons at the side entrance through which the party passed, and before the gathering had swelled to hundreds, which it did very promptly, Miss Borden was greeting her sister and friend in the room of the matron, adjoining the court room. Lunch was served there and preparations were made for facing the ordeal of the afternoon. Soon after noon the regular session of the Second District Court concluded. City Marshal Hilliard, acting under orders from the Judge, did not allow everybody to enter the court room. Only those persons who had good reasons for being present were to be at any sessions of the hearing. The scenes attendant upon the commencement of the hearing,
which, in public estimation was to take more of the form of a trial, will long be remembered in Fall River. During the noon hour the crowds commenced to gather in Court Square, and the passageway through the centre of the narrow streets upon which the Central Police Station stands was rendered impassable. There are two entrances to the building on the side, and from each of these, lines strung out, formed at first of men in single file, and then widening out until toward the end they formed large crowds. There they stood for hours and perspired while the police labored strenuously to keep them in order. In the meanwhile the little courtroom, with seating capacity for three hundred, was rapidly being occupied without the knowledge of the patient crowds who were waiting for the doors to open. The curious individuals were not confined to the males, for at 12:30 o’clock all the seats in the large guard room of the station were occupied by women. Apparently none of them were from the lower walks of life and the majority were good looking and well dressed. In but a very few cases were they accompanied by escorts, and an hour before the announced time for the commencement of proceedings they were allowed to file up-stairs. Upon arriving in the court room they promptly occupied all the best seats and then spread out on the sides. After them prominent citizens of Fall River were admitted and these comprised a goodly number. Judge Carter, of the Haverhill Police Court, a friend of Judge Blaisdell, accompanied by his wife, were prominent figures in the centre of the room. Despite all the talk about limited accommodations for the press, tables and chairs in sufficient quantities were placed inside the railing. There were about forty newspaper representatives present. Many members of the Massachusetts bar came to the building and were admitted, and other professional men came into the court room. A peculiar feature was the presence of a large number of physicians, and they manifested a great curiosity in everything relating to the affair. As time passed the crowds outside the building received accessions and a few minutes before 2 o’clock the jam was almost frightful.
An immense delegation of mill girls had swelled the throngs at the entrances and had managed to get near the doors. There they waited while the hundreds in back pushed them about and created work for the officers. At the main entrance a large force of women had succeeded in getting into the guard room, and this compelled the placing of more officers at the stairway leading from there to the court room. At any of the doors it was worth one’s life to attempt to enter or leave the building, and traffic in the vicinity was necessarily