The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders

by Edwin H. Porter

plan in detail. I will try to make it as clear as I can by stating it to you. As you turn and go upstairs from the front entry, you come into a hallway. From that hallway lead three doors: first, a door which leads into a large closet, used at this time for the keeping of dresses, and which is almost large enough to be a small bedroom; another door, which leads into the guest chamber, which is directly over the parlor below, and corresponds to it in every respect. The guest chamber is the chamber in which you will subsequently hear that Mrs. Borden was found dead. It is a matter which is to be carefully considered, that as you turn upon the journey upstairs, as the stairs wind about, and to begin to face into the hall toward the north, you can look directly into the door of the guest chamber. The other door which leads from the hall is a door which leads into a bedroom, and leads toward the rear of the house. Following, then, my direction, gentlemen, as you come up the stairs, turn to your left. As you approach the entry in front of you is the door leading into the guest chamber, and to your right is the door leading into a chamber which at that time was occupied by the prisoner. Between the guest chamber and the bedroom of the prisoner there was a door. I may as well dispose of it now for good. It was a door which always, including the day of this homicide, was kept locked upon both sides, and upon the side toward the prisoner’s room there was against the door a desk which she used. In other words it was not a practicable opening. When you have got up into this part of the house, gentlemen, you can go nowhere except into this clothes closet, into this guest chamber and into the room occupied by the prisoner. It is important to remember that. All access to the other part of the house is cut off not by the natural construction of the house but by the way in which the house was kept. Follow me, if you please, then, into the prisoner’s bedroom. As you enter the bedroom a door leads to the left into a room which has no other entrance than that door. That is the room that was occupied by Miss Emma when she was at home. The only access to it was through the prisoner’s room. There is another door at the rear of the prisoner’s room, and directly opposite the door of entrance which leads into the room occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Borden, which is over the kitchen. The prisoner’s room was exactly over the sitting room. The room in the rear of the prisoner’s room was exactly over the kitchen, and was occupied as the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Borden. That door leading into that room was kept always locked upon both sides. It was locked upon the front toward the prisoner’s room by a hook. It was locked

in the rear toward Mr. and Mrs. Borden’s room by a bolt, and I may as well say here as at any time that the proof that that door was locked upon both sides upon this morning, from the morning down to the time of the arrival of those who came alarmed by this homicide, will be ample and complete. But as we go further, passing to the rear into Mr. and Mrs. Borden’s room, we find a door, and only a single door, leading out into the entryway, which is over the entryway leading into the kitchen. That door, it will be clearly, amply and satisfactorily proved, was locked all through this day up to and beyond the time of the homicide. Now then, gentlemen, if I have made myself clear upon this description, which is wearisome, I know, but it is one of the wearisome duties that we must undertake in this cause. I have made it clear to you that as you go up the hallway you get access to but four rooms, the hallway itself, if you call that a room, the closet, the guest chamber in which Mrs. Borden was found, and the room of the prisoner and the room leading out of that, the blind room, so to speak, that was occupied by Miss Emma when she was at home, and there is no other access whatever to the rear of the house. Now, gentlemen, let me, at the expense of being tedious, go below. As you enter the hallway below, it is, I believe, exactly as above, except, of course, there is no clothes closet there as there is above. There are two small closets, very small ones, as you will see. To your left as you enter is the door which leads into the parlor under the room where Mrs. Borden was found dead. Going straight ahead you enter into the sitting room, which is a room in the rear of the hall at the south of the house, and directly under and corresponding to the prisoner’s bed room. Now you come to a difference of construction in the two stories. You turn to the left from the sitting room as you enter and you enter the dining room, which is upon the north side of the house and is directly under Miss Emma’s room, and a large room, which was used as a closet by Mr. Borden and which joined his room, another blind room. That difference is made either by the taking down or putting up of a partition. You enter the dining room and there is a door of exit which goes into the kitchen. Above, that arrangement is varied by a partition directly down through the room, which would correspond to the door leading from the sitting room to the dining room, leads from Miss Emma’s room to the bedroom of the prisoner, and the door corresponding to the door leading from the dining room to the kitchen leads from the room which adjoins the blind room, which adjoin the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, so that the effect

of that partition is that while there is free communication two ways from the kitchen to the front part of the house downstairs, upstairs this partition reduces those ways of communication to one, and that one, you will recall, always and upon the day of the homicide was barred by two doors, locked. Again, gentlemen, I say that the difficulty of understanding this is great, but I am confronted by the fact that you will be aided by a view of these premises. Mr. Morse returned upon a Wednesday night. It is important to show who occupied the house on Wednesday night. Let us go first to the front part of the house. The prisoner came in the last one that night and locked the front door. Upon that front doer were three fastenings, a spring latch, a bolt and a lock which operated by key. Those three fastenings were closed, by the way, when she came in, the last person that night by the front way of the house. The door leading into the cellar, the other exterior door, had been closed since Tuesday, the washing day, and by complete and ample evidence will be proved to you to have been closed all through Wednesday night and on Thursday morning including up to and beyond the time of those homicides. Bridget came in through the back door that night, found the back door locked when she came, unlocked it, locked it as she went in, went upstairs and went to bed. So, when Bridget and the prisoner had come in at their respective doors, every exterior approach to this house was closed.

Now, in the front part of the house that night the prisoner slept in one room, Mr. Morse slept in the guest chamber. There was no other room in that part of the house, except Miss Emma’s room, which led out, as you still remember, of Miss Lizzie’s room. Mr. and Mrs. Borden slept in the room over the kitchen, and Bridget slept in some room above in the third story of the house. Now, then, it becomes my duty to relate in considerable detail all that occurred in that household down to the time of the discovery of these homicides. In the morning Bridget was the first person up. We may safely assume that upon the proof the only human beings who were in that house at the time were Bridget, Mr. and Mrs. Borden, John V. Morse and the prisoner at the bar. Bridget comes down stairs first, the back way, goes down cellar and gets her fuel, builds up a fire in the stove; then she went to the door, took in the milk, unlocking the door, locked it after she got through. The rear door, I may explain here, was a double door; it was an ordinary wooden panel door which was used at night, and a screen door, which was used, at least, in hot weather, during the day time and

was fastened by a hook on the inside. When the outside door was opened by Bridget at that time it was opened for good for the day, and the method of security was keeping the screen door locked from that time on. The next person who came down was Mrs. Borden. Bridget came down a little after 6; Mrs. Borden came down a little before 7. Next Mr. Borden comes down, and after coming down goes out into the yard and empties his slop pail and unlocks the door to the barn. Bridget saw him do that. Bridget did not see Mr. Morse until they all met at breakfast, a little after 7. Mr. and Mrs. Borden and Mr. Morse taking breakfast together. It will appear what the material of their breakfast was, but it is not important at all for me to state it at this time. After breakfast the first one to depart is Mr. Morse. He goes away at a quarter of 8, and Mr. Borden lets him out and locks the screen door behind him. Soon after Mr. Morse went away the prisoner came down stairs and began eating her breakfast, or what took the place of a breakfast, in the kitchen. While she was there Mr. Borden went upstairs, and while Mr. Borden was upstairs Bridget went out into the yard, because she was sick and desired to vomit. She was gone some minutes, just how long I cannot tell. When she came back, Mr. Borden had apparently gone down town. The prisoner was in the kitchen and Mrs. Borden was in the dining room dusting. There was some talk then between Mrs. Borden and Bridget about washing the windows on the inside and the outside, and Bridget received the directions from Mrs. Borden to do that service. Mrs. Borden disappeared at this time, and it will appear that she told the prisoner that, having made the bed in the spare room, she was going upstairs to put two pillow cases upon two pillows that were there—a trifling duty, a duty which would take less than a minute. You will be satisfied, gentlemen, that that was not far from half-past nine o’clock, and upon the evidence you will be satisfied that she never left that room alive, and that she was killed within a very few moments after she left the room, because no living person saw Mrs. Borden from that time until her death, except the assailant. In the course of beginning the duty of washing these windows Bridget had to go to the barn and down cellar to get some of the implements for doing the work. As she was at the screen door, about to go out, the prisoner appeared at that back door, and Bridget said to her. “You needn’t lock that door, because I am coming in to get my water to wash the windows; but you may,” she said, “if you wish, and I will get my water from the barn,” as she did. The prisoner said nothing, and I believe it to be the fact, as the evidence

will disclose it, that the door was not locked at that time. Then Bridget went into the kitchen and dining room and sitting room to close the windows in the sitting room and the dining room, and there was nobody there—neither the prisoner nor Mrs. Borden, who were the only two human beings in the house at that time except Bridget. In washing these windows there were two of the sitting room windows upon the south side of the house which were out of sight of the screen door, because they were on the other side of the house. Those two windows were washed first on the outside. Then Bridget came to the front of the house, washed two windows facing the street; then she came to the south side of the house, the Mrs. Churchill side, and washed the parlor window and the two dining room windows. During all the time that Bridget was washing those windows she saw neither Mrs. Borden nor the prisoner in any part of the lower part of the house or anywhere else. When she finished washing the windows on the outside she came in at the screen door and hooked it behind her, and began to wash the windows upon the inside of the same windows that she had washed upon the outside. First, she went into the sitting room, which is upon the Kelly side, the south side of the house. She had partly washed one of the two sitting room windows when somebody was heard at the front door.

Now, gentlemen, let us pause a moment and find out, as well as we can, what time that somebody came to the front door, because it was Mr. Borden. Mr. Borden, it will appear, left the house some time between 9 and 9:30 o’clock in the morning. He was at two banks, two or three banks, between 9:30 or at twenty-nine minutes of 11—I am not quite sure which—he was at the store of a Mr. Clegg, who fixes the exact time. The next place we find him is at another store, which belonged to him, upon South Main street, near the corner of Spring and not far from his own home. He left there, apparently in the direction of his home, at twenty minutes of 11. That was a moment or two’s walk from there to his house. The next we see of him is that he is seen by Mrs. Kelly, who lived upon one side of his house, and who was going down town, coming around, apparently, from the screen door, where he had attempted to get in, out upon the sidewalk and toward his own front door, taking out his key to open it. Mrs. Kelly will fix that time at twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes of 11, which cannot be reconciled with the other time that I have stated here. There will be some explanation of that, and we think you will be satisfied that the clock by which she obtained this time was not one that could be depended upon, and that the real fact is that at twenty

minutes of 11 Mr. Borden started to his home, which was but a moment or two’s walk away. Now, then, we fix that as well as we can. When Mr. Borden came home, contrary to the usual custom in that house, Bridget found the front door locked with the key and bolted, as well as secured by the spring lock. Mr. Borden had not rung the bell. He had put his key in and made the noise which people usually do who expect to get in the house by the use of a latch key. But the door was locked and bolted. He came into the house, and as Bridget let him in made some talk or explanation about the difficulty of unloosening the locks. The prisoner from the hall above made some laugh or exclamation. At that time, gentlemen, Mrs. Borden’s body lay within plain view of that hall, dead, probably, more than an hour. Mr. Borden came in, went first into the dining room. There the prisoner came to him, asked him if there was any mail and said to him, “Mrs. Borden has gone out; she had a note from somebody who was sick.” That, gentlemen, we put to you as a lie, intended for no purpose except to stifle inquiry as to the whereabouts of Mrs. Borden. Mr. Borden then took his key, went upstairs, came down again, and, as he came down, Bridget had finished the other window and a half in the sitting room and was just going into the dining room to finish those windows. As she was washing the windows in the dining room the prisoner again appeared from the front part of the house, went to the kitchen, got an ironing board and began to iron her handkerchiefs. While there she told Bridget this falsehood about the note. She said, “Are you going out, Bridget, by and by?” Bridget said: “I don’t know; I am not feeling very well to-day.” “Well,” she said, “if you do I want you to be careful about the locks; I may go out myself. Mrs. Borden has gone out.” “Where is she?” said Bridget. “I don’t know; it must be somewhere in town, because she received a note to go to a sick friend.” Bridget finished the washing of the windows in the dining room and her work was done. She went out into the kitchen, put her cloth away, emptied the water and was about to go upstairs, when the prisoner said to her: “There is a cheap sale of goods down town, Bridget, where they are selling some kind of cloth for eight cents a yard.” Bridget says: “Well, I guess I will have some.” And Bridget went upstairs. Now, gentlemen, probably all that occurred after Mr. Borden came in occurred in less time than perhaps it has taken me to tell it. We can measure time better by seeing what is done in the time than by the estimate of any witness of the time. After Bridget went upstairs there is nothing more that happened

until the alarm is given to her. Now, pursuing the same course, let me so far as possible fix the time of that alarm. I shall have to anticipate somewhat in doing it. Bridget, upon the alarm, came down stairs, was immediately sent diagonally across the street for Dr. Bowen; returned rapidly, and was sent away for Miss Russell. As Bridget went away Mrs. Churchill by accident came to the house, or got the alarm and came to the house. There was a moment’s conversation between the prisoner and Mrs. Churchill. Mrs. Churchill ran out, ran diagonally across the street to a stable, there gave some sort of alarm, was seen by a man named Cunningham, who heard what she said and went to a telephone in a paint shop near by, telephoned to the Marshal of Fall River, who gave directions to an officer to go to the spot. The officer, having a duty which called his attention to the time, looked at his watch and found it was quarter-past eleven. Now, then, gentlemen, stopping a moment, let us try to find out as well as we can these times. It could not have been, upon the evidence, far from quarter of 11 o’clock when Mr. Borden returned. It could not, upon this evidence, have been far from quarter-past 11 when the alarm reached the station. Therefore the time between Bridget’s going upstairs and down again must be diminished on the one side by the time consumed by the washing of a window and a half in the sitting room and two windows in the dining room and the putting away of the cloth and water. On the other side, the half hour between 11 o’clock and half-past 11 must be diminished by the acts of Bridget and the acts of Mrs. Churchill and the acts of Cunningham, which I have described. I shall not attempt to fix that time; you can fix it better and measure it better yourself when you come to hear the evidence of what was done by Bridget between the time Mr. Borden came and the noise was heard upstairs and what was done between the time when the alarm took place and the alarm reached the station house and the Marshal of Fall River.

Now, gentlemen, you will be struck by the fact through the evidence that is to come, that instinctively there leaped to the lips of every inquiring person, of the prisoner, where were you before a thought of the suspicion was over her head. She had been the last person left with her father alive. When Bridget came down that question arose, and she says: “Where were you, Miss Lizzie?” It is not clear what the prisoner told Bridget, whether he was sick, or killed, or dead. That is not important, but the moment the information was received arose the question: “Where were you?” She said: “I was out in the back yard; I heard a groan, came in and