Col. Adams for the defence called Dr. Bowen who testified to the facts as related in the interview published before. City Marshal Rufus B. Hilliard was also called by the defence and gave his testimony which was not different from that of the other officers. The evidence was then concluded and the court adjourned for the day.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sixth Day of the Trial.
STATE OFFICER GEORGE SEAVER.
The proceedings opened by Judge Blaisdell announcing that he was ready to hear the arguments of counsel. Mr. Jennings arose and said: “May it please Your Honor, this complaint upon which you have to pass to-day, in substance, alleges that on the 4th of August last Andrew J. Borden was murdered by his daughter Lizzie. I must say I close this case with feelings entirely different from those I have ever experienced at the conclusion of any case. This man was not merely my client, he was my friend. I had known him from boyhood days, and if three short weeks ago any one had told me that I should stand here defending his youngest daughter from the charge of murdering him, I should have pronounced it beyond the realm of human credibility. But such is the fact, and upon the decision of Your Honor will rest the liberty and good name of this young woman. There are some things of which there is no doubt. There is no doubt that Andrew J. Borden was murdered in his house at the time given by Bridget Sullivan, Mr. Shortsleeves and Jonathan Clegg. All these give the time from the City Hall clock. Mr. Clegg sees Mr. Borden leave his store at 10:30 o’clock, a time he fixes by looking at the clock. As Mr. Borden entered his other store, one of the men working there saw it was twenty minutes before 11. It seems to me it is fixed almost beyond a peradventure that the last time Andrew J. Borden entered the house was between quarter and ten minutes before 11. Mrs. Kelly is wrong unless the others are wrong. Mr. Borden did not enter his home at twenty minutes before 11 unless Mr. Shortsleeves is wrong and Bridget Sullivan is wrong. The time between his entering the house and the giving of the alarm is from twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Now what took place after he got there? Bridget Sullivan says she left him in the sitting room reading the paper, and within this narrow limit of half an hour Andrew Borden has to talk with Lizzie, talk with Bridget, go up stairs, go down-stairs, compose himself in the chair and place himself upon the sofa. If the theory of the Government is correct, it
certainly took five minutes or perhaps ten minutes from the time Miss Lizzie gave the alarm to the time information was received at the Central Station. Now, I claim that you must deduct ten minutes from the time at which he left the centre of the city to the time he was found dead. If you do that you limit the time of the committing of this crime to fifteen, to thirteen, or perhaps to not more than ten minutes. We have had a description of the injuries, and I suggest that even the learned District Attorney himself cannot imagine that any person could have committed that crime unless his heart was as black with hatred as hell itself.” At this point, for the first time in public since the commission of the crime, Lizzie Borden almost broke down. Her form was convulsed, her lips were trembling, and she shaded her eyes with her hands in order to partially conceal the tears, which were freely flowing.
INSPECTOR ADELARD PERRON.