but I may say, gentlemen, there was nothing to indicate a motive of that sort. In and about the rooms where these two homicides were committed there was not the slightest trace of a struggle. The assailant, whoever he or she may have been, was able to approach each victim in broad daylight and without a struggle and without a murmur to lay them low before him. Mrs. Borden was found prostrated between the bureau and the bed, her face upon the floor and the right side of her head hacked to pieces by blows, some of great force, some of uncertain and vacillating weakness. Mr. Borden was found reclining on a sofa in the sitting room and apparently had passed from life to death without a struggle or a movement, and his head, too, bore the same marks as the head of his wife bore. It will appear that no one, and it is confirmatory evidence, not in itself of the strongest character, but confirmatory of the conclusive evidence of the opportunity in the house—it will appear that no one was seen to escape from any side of that house nor to enter that house on the morning of August 4.
Gentlemen, let me stop a moment and see where we are. The Commonwealth will prove that there was an unkindly feeling between the prisoner and her step-mother; that upon Wednesday, August 3, she was dwelling upon murder and preparing herself with a weapon which had no innocent use; that upon the evening of Wednesday, August 3, she was predicting disaster and cataloguing defences; that from the time when Mrs. Borden left the dining room to go upstairs for this momentary errand, up to the time when the prisoner came down stairs an hour later from this hallway which led only to her chamber and that in which Mrs. Borden was found, there was no other human being except the prisoner at the bar present; that these acts were the acts of a human being; that they were the acts of a person who, to have selected time and place as it was selected in this case, must have had a familiar knowledge of the interior of the premises and of the whereabouts and the habits of those who were in occupation of them at that time. We shall prove that this prisoner made contradictory statements about her whereabouts, and, above all, gave a statement virtually different upon the manner in which she discovered these homicides. We shall prove beyond all reasonable doubt that this death of Mrs. Borden was a prior death. Then we shall ask you to say, if say you can, whether any other reasonable hypothesis except that of the guilt of this prisoner can account for the said occurrence which happened upon the morning of August 4. Now, gentlemen, my
present duty is drawing to its close. The time for idle rumor, for partial, insufficient information, for hasty and inexact reasoning, is past. We are to be guided from this time forth by the law and the evidence only. I conjure you to keep your minds in that same open and receptive condition in which you have sworn they were; I pray you to keep them so to the end. If, when that end comes, after you have heard the evidence upon both sides, the arguments of counsel, the instructions of the Court, the evidence fails, God forbid that you should move one step against the law or beyond the evidence to the injury of this prisoner. But if your minds, considering all these circumstances, are led irresistibly to the conclusion of her guilt, we ask you in your verdict to declare the truth: and by so doing, and only by so doing, shall you make true deliverance of the great issue which has been committed to your keeping.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Third Day of the Trial.
Civil Engineer Thomas Kieran gave an exhaustive statement of measurements he had made on the premises. James A. Walsh, photographer, of Fall River, testified as to the accuracy of the pictures he had made of the victims and the house on the day of the killing. John Vinnecum Morse was the third witness called. His examination was conducted by District Attorney Moody, and was not different in any manner from that at the preliminary trial. Abram G. Hart, treasurer of the Union Savings Bank, testified as to Mr. Borden’s movements on the morning of the 4th of August. As also did John T. Burrill, cashier of the Union National Bank, Everett M. Cook, cashier of the First National Bank, Jonathan Clegg, a hat dealer, Joseph Shortsleeves, a carpenter, and John Maher a carpenter.
The afternoon of Wednesday, the third day of the trial was devoted entirely to the examination of Bridget Sullivan. Bridget’s testimony did not differ materially from that given in the lower courts. Her direct examination was the same as appears heretofore. On cross examination by Mr. Robinson these facts were disclosed.
She had lived with the Bordens nearly three years and it was a pleasant family to live with so far as she knew. She never saw any quarrelling but she didn’t see the family all this time. It was customary for Lizzie and Emma to eat alone; sometimes, however, they ate with the family. They usually slept later than the others. Lizzie spoke to Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Borden spoke to her. Lizzie gave her a civil answer on the morning of the murder. Going back to the house with his questioning Mr. Robinson asked her if she locked the screen door when she returned from the yard, and told her that she had testified before that she did not know whether she had hooked it or not. This confused the witness and she finally said she didn’t know whether she hooked it or not. She did not remember what was asked her about the family eating together, when she was questioned at the inquest, but she was ready to say now that they
always ate together so far as she knew. Bridget had nothing to do with the front part of the house and seldom went in those rooms; she could not go into those rooms unless she got a key, which was kept on the mantel in the sitting room; there was a door bell for upstairs, but she knew nothing about it; nobody else occupied the attic with the witness the night before the murder. She got up at 6:15 by her bedroom clock. There was a clock in every room. Mr. Robinson required her to tell again what was on the breakfast table. Bridget added that they had butter, which occasioned some little merriment. He tried Bridget’s memory by asking her what Mrs. Borden did on Wednesday morning. He got an answer. She was positive that Lizzie had on a blue wrapper Wednesday morning, but she could not tell the kind of dress she wore Thursday morning. In the afternoon she had on a pink wrapper. There was a kitchen closet in the back corner of the north side of the house which she had occasion to enter; it had a window in it, but she did not know how it was—open or shut; all the time she was washing windows the screen door was unhooked; she did not anticipate that there would be any trouble, and she went to the barn six or seven times to get water; this was while the door was unhooked. She went to the corner of the yard on the south side of the house and talked to Mrs. Kelly’s girl, and anybody could have entered the side door and not be seen by her. “Well,” said Robinson, “the coast was clear while you stood talking to the Kelly girl!” “Yes,” said Bridget, “I could see the front door but I could not see the side door.” Bridget did not enter the front part of the house that morning until she heard a noise at the front door; the last time she saw Mr. Borden before he went out was when he took his pitcher and key and went up the back stairs; while she was drawing water in the barn, she saw no one and did not look for any one. She might have seen them if they came and might not; witness could not tell anything about the parlor or its windows; if any one was in that room she would not have known it; after she had finished work she came into the house and locked the door on the inside; as she let Mr. Borden in the front door she heard Lizzie laugh, but did not see her; Lizzie was afterward talking with her father about the mail; she did not pay any attention to what was said, but the talk was pleasant.