Miss Alice C. Russell was then called. She said she lived on Borden street, three hundred yards from the Borden house, and had known Lizzie eleven years. She thought it was about 11:30, Bridget Sullivan told her of the affair and she went right over. Lizzie was there in the door. “Did you say anything to Lizzie or she to you?” “I don’t remember.” “Was Dr. Bowen there?” “I didn’t see him.” “Did you go in and see the bodies?” “No, sir.” “Do you
remember how Lizzie was dressed?” “No, I don’t.” “Do you remember anything about it?” “Nothing very connected.” “Do you remember talking to Miss Lizzie after that?” “Yes, but I don’t remember what was said. I remember she said she was out in the barn getting a piece of tin or iron with which to fit the screens.” “Do you recall when that was that she said that?” “I think it was up stairs.” “Were there many people there, and did you remain there, Miss Russell?” “There were people down stairs. I stayed four nights at the house.” Mr. Knowlton—“Have you often visited the house, Miss Russell?” “Yes; have stayed there nights. Have been the guest of the girls. Made my quarters in the guest chamber with the girls. Went there as often as I had reason to go, sometimes twice or three times a week.” “Was there a bed in that chamber?” “Yes sir.” Mr. Jennings—“When you went in where did you say Lizzie was?” “She was standing at the screen door, and asked me to sit down in the chair in the kitchen. Saw no blood on her dress. Saw her hands. Rubbed them. There was no blood on them. Rubbed her cheeks. There was no blood on them or her hair. Her hair, I think, was done up as usual. Her clothes had no blood on them. Don’t know if she had on the same shoes I have seen her wear before.” “Was she fainting from exertion?” “No, she wasn’t fainting.” “Do you remember if Lizzie went upstairs before the officers did?” “No, she did not.” “How do you know?” “Because I remember they were all down talking to her.” “Do you know if an officer went up stairs?” “They went up stairs. I don’t know if I went with them. I can’t connect it with them, if I went too. I remember being up stairs.” “Did they go into Miss Lizzie’s room before she went up?” “Yes; they tried to open Miss Lizzie’s door and it was locked. They had to break it in and pull the hook out. I told them to let me look in first. I went in and they came in after I looked around. Do not know who the officers were. Did not know Officer Doherty by sight. Know him now. I was in the parlor with them down-stairs. Do recollect now one of the officers. It was Assistant Marshal Fleet.” “Did the officers go up to Miss Lizzie’s room when she was there?” “Yes; they went up then and afterwards. It seems to me they were coming all day. They asked her questions and she answered them freely.”
POLICE MATRON REAGAN.
Miss Lucy Collette said that she was at Dr. Chagnon’s house on August 4. She went there at ten minutes before 11 in answer to a telephone message from a clerk at Dr. Chagnon’s. She was to take any telephone message, for Dr. Chagnon’s family were away. All the doors were locked and so the witness sat on the piazza in front of the house. She was there up to 12 o’clock and saw nobody either in the yard or pass through. She could see the whole yard and there was nobody there during the time she sat on the piazza.
The calling of the next witness, in the judgment of many of the spectators in Court, produced evidence of uneasiness on the part of Lizzie Borden. He was Eli Bence, the drug clerk. He said he remembered the day of the tragedy and knew the defendant. She was in his store the day before the tragedy between 10 and 11:30 o’clock. “She asked me for ten cents worth of prussic acid. I told her we didn’t sell it without a doctor’s prescription. She said she wanted to use it on a sealskin cape and I again told her we couldn’t sell it without a prescription, and she said she had bought it before. Then she went out.” “Is the defendant the person who tried to purchase this poison?” “She is,” was the answer. “Who was there?” “Mr. Hart and Mr. Kilroy, the clerks.” This was all that Mr. Bence was required to tell by Mr. Knowlton, but Mr. Adams cross-examined him at great length. His testimony was not shaken.
Frederick E. Hart, who worked for Smith the druggist, said he saw Miss Borden between 10 and 10:30 Wednesday morning: “A woman came in and said she wanted ten cents worth of prussic acid to put around the edges of a seal skin sacque or cape. She did not speak to me, though she was very close to me.” “Is the defendant the woman?” “Yes, sir.”
Frank H. Kilroy was in Smith’s drug store at the time. He said “I saw this lady come in. She went to the counter and asked for prussic acid. Mr. Bence said: “I can’t sell prussic acid without a prescription.” The only other thing I heard was the woman use the words, ‘seal skin cape.’ She left the store then. That was all I heard.” Mr. Knowlton “Are you sure this is the woman?” “Yes, sir.”
Assistant Marshal John Fleet testified as follows: “I was home when the news came from the Marshal, who had sent word to me by a man in a team. I drove down to the Borden house and arrived about ten minutes of 12. I saw officer Allen and Mr. Manning at the front door. Mr. Sawyer was at the rear door. Inside I found Bridget, Mr. Morse, Dr. Dolan, Dr. Bowen and Miss Lizzie. I went
into the sitting room and saw Dr. Dolan standing over Mr. Borden. Then I went upstairs and saw Mrs. Borden. Soon after I went into Miss Lizzie’s room and had a conversation with her. She was sitting in the room with Rev. Mr. Buck. I asked her if she knew anything about the man who killed her father and mother? She said it was not her mother, but her step-mother. Her mother was dead. I asked her if she had seen anyone around the premises, and she said she had not. Then she said she heard a man talking to her father at 9 or half-past 9, and she thought they were talking about some store. I asked her if this man would do her father any injury, and she said no. I asked her if she knew this man, and she said no. She said she did not know that any one had threatened her father or would do him harm. At this point Miss Russell said: ‘Lizzie, tell him all about that man.’ Then Lizzie said that two weeks ago a man had come to the front door and had held a long conversation with her father. The man seemed to be angry, and was talking about a store he wanted her father to let. She said she heard Mr. Borden say he wouldn’t let it for that purpose. She said she thought the man was a stranger in Fall River. I asked her if Bridget was in the house during the morning, and she said she had been washing windows and came in after her father came and then went up stairs. She said she didn’t think Bridget had anything to do with it. Lizzie said that when Bridget went up stairs she went up in the barn. ‘Up in the barn?’ I said, and she said ‘Yes.’ ‘What do you mean by up?’ I asked. ‘Up stairs,’ she said. I asked her how long she remained in the barn and she said half an hour. She said her father was lying upon a lounge in the sitting room when she went out, and when she came back she found him all cut up, lying in the same position as she had left him. She also said John V. Morse had been there, and I asked her if Mr. Morse had anything to do with it. She said it was impossible, for he went away at 9 o’clock in the morning and didn’t come back. She didn’t tell me what she was doing in the yard. Rev. Mr. Buck and Miss Russell were present during the conversation. I then started to search all the rooms I could go into.”