The Trial of Lizzie Borden Part 1
Day 1June 5, 1893
The trial of Lizzie Andrew Borden was held in the city of New Bedford before the Superior Court for the County of Bristol, Massachusetts starting on June 5, 1893.
The Presiding Judges:
Chief Justice Albert Mason;
Associate Justice Caleb Blodgett ; and
Associate Justice Justin Dewey.
The Prosecution:
Hosea M. Knowlton (District Attorney for the Southern District, later to be the Attorney General of Massachusetts); and
William H. Moody (District Attorney for the Eastern District, later to be Attorney General of the United States and an United States Supreme Court Justice).
The Defense:
Andrew J. Jennings (the Borden family lawyer);
George D. Robinson (former Governor of Massachusetts); and
Melvin O. Adams (a Boston attorney).
The first day of the trial was devoted to the jury's selection. Of 148 persons summoned, 108 were examined. The following twelve persons, listed below, were selected to the satisfaction of both the defense and the prosecution. In the selection process, Lizzie Borden herself objected to various individuals.
George Potter - Westport, MA
William F. Dean - Taunton, MA
John Wilbur - Somerset, MA
Frederick Wilbar - Raynham, MA
Lemuel K. Wilber - Easton, MA
William Westcot - Seekonk, MA
Louis B. Hodges - Taunton, MA
Augustus Swift - New Bedford, MA
Frank G. Cole - Attleboro, MA
John C. Finn - Taunton, MA
Charles I. Richards - North Attleborough, MA (Foreman)
Allen H. Wordell - Dartmouth, MA
Charles I. Richards was designated foreman of the jury.
Day 2
June 6, 1893
The day began with the Clerk's reading of the indictment and addressing the jury members with the admonition that they must try the defendant as "good men and true".
District Attorney Moody proceeded to read the opening statement for the Commonwealth. The statement included discussions of the following salient points:
- The troubled relationship between Lizzie and her step-mother;
- Lizzie's visit to the pharmacy for the prussic acid;
- The conversation at Alice Russell's house the night before the murders;
- A detailed description of the house in which the Bordens lived;
- A summary of the events of the morning of August 4th, pieced together from witness statements, police reports, the various testimonies of John V. Morse, Bridget Sullivan, Emma Borden, and the statements of several people who saw Andrew Borden on his final walk;
- Lizzie's inquest testimony, particularly the contradictions in her alibi;
- Officer Medley's search of the barn which determined that no one could have been up on the second floor;
- The medical evidence placing the times of death for both Andrew and Abby;
- The dark blue silk dress that had been presented to the police as the dress that Lizzie had worn on the morning of the murders was not the same as a light blue cotton dress that she had actually worn;
- Alice Russell's account of Lizzie burning a dress on Sunday, the morning after she was informed by Mayor Coughlin that she was a suspect;
- The hatchets and axes found on the premises including the "handle-less hatchet"; and
- The lack of any apparent motive discounted the possibility that the murders resulted from a random act of burglary by a stranger.
Moody claimed that the Commonwealth will prove the following:- Unkind feelings existed between Lizzie and Abby Borden;
- On August 3rd Lizzie was planning the murder and preparing a weapon;
- On August 3rd she was preparing her defense;
- Lizzie Borden was the only person with the means to commit the murders;
- Lizzie Borden made contradictory statements in regard to her alibi; and
- Abby Borden died prior to Andrew Borden.
WITNESSES FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
THOMAS KIERNAN
Thomas Kiernan, a civil engineer, acting at the request of the government, had made surveys and plans of the layout of the Second Street neighborhood and the interior of the Borden house. His measurings of the distances between the Borden house, the police station, and City Hall amongst other locations, were useful in determining the timing of the police arrivals and when Andrew Borden's last walk occurred. He also measured the view of the barn from the street, which had some relevance in determining the credibility of any witnesses from the street who had claimed to have seen Lizzie Borden in the side yard. Kiernan's testimony was interrupted by a motion to bring the jury to 92 Second Street, accompanied by Mr. Moody and Mr. Jennings, to view the premises. An understanding of the layout of the house was crucial to any understanding of much of the witnesses' testimony. The jury was cautioned that they were not going to 92 Second Street to hear testimony, but only to observe the house and the objects therein. Lizzie Borden was invited to come along with the jury, but she refused to do so. According to some newspaper reports, throughout the proceedings, there was a cow mooing in a pasture outside the courthouse window. The bovine accompaniment often distracted the audience, as well as the jury and the justices, but no attempts were made to silence it.
Day 3
June 7, 1893
THOMAS KIERNAN - continued
The testimony of Thomas Kiernan, civil engineer, continued with a description of the lines of sight to the barn and its doors. He also described how he had experimented with establishing an accurate line of sight from the front staircase to under the guest room bed where Abby Borden had been found dead. He had also had a man hide inside the front hall closest, presumably to determine if the killer could have remained hidden within the house for the ninety minutes or more between the two attacks. A measurement of the distance from the position of Andrew's body to the blood spots on the doors was also given.
JAMES A. WALSH
James A. Walsh was a photographer in Fall River who had been called in by the medical examiner to take photographs of Mrs. Borden at the crime scene. Walsh testified that on the day of the homicides, he photographed her body in the presence of Doctor Dolan and others at half-past three in the afternoon, and photographed her head at half-past four. This indicates that her body was still in its death position as late at half-past three, although the furniture and her exact positioning may have been moved before his arrival.
JOHN V. MORSE
John V. Morse was Lizzie Borden's uncle on her birth mother's side. Morse was a crucial character in the story, since he was an intimate of the family and was staying at the house at the time of the murders. Morse's testimony provided some crucial pieces of the puzzle, but also raised some interesting questions.
Morse gave an account of his arrival in Fall River on Wednesday, August 3rd, and of the events on the morning of August 4th prior to his leaving the house for Weybosset Street. Morse's testimony contains nothing that contradicts in any significant way the timeline as given by Moody in the opening statement except that Morse left the house at approximately 8:30 a.m. as opposed to quarter-of-eight as stated by Moody.
Morse testified that, upon his return to Andrew's house after the murders, he did not notice anything unusual about the house, and that he casually went to the backyard to pick some pears off the ground. At the time he arrived, roughly about 11:40 a.m., there was a significant number of policemen inside the house, a growing crowd of people outside, and the man Sawyer guarding the side door. It is difficult to believe that Morse would have seen the crowd and the commotion and yet took a few casual moments to go pick some pears from the backyard orchard, but he nonetheless swore that he did not notice anything amiss as he went from the front of the house to the rear.
ABRAHAM G. HART
JOHN P. BURRILL
EVERETT M. COOK
JONATHAN CLEGG
JOSEPH SHORTSLEEVES
JAMES MATHER
Collectively, these men were amongst the last to see Andrew Borden alive outside the household before his murder. Abraham G. Hart was the Treasurer of the Union Savings Bank on North Main Street, just north of the Borden's home. He testified that Andrew Borden, who was bank president, came into the bank somewhere around 9:30 a.m., and stayed for about five to seven minutes, adding that the man did not look well physically. This testimony is important, for, if Abby Borden was killed at 9:30 a.m., Hart's placing Andrew at the bank would mean that Andrew was out of the house at the time, leaving Abby alone with Lizzie while Bridget was outside cleaning the windows.
John P. Burrill was the Cashier of the National Union Bank, which shared a room with the Union Savings Bank. Andrew Borden was a stockholder and depositor in that bank. Burrill testified that he saw Mr. Hart talking to Mr. Borden at the time specified but claimed that Andrew stayed somewhat longer than Hart had related; Burrill claimed Andrew remained there for ten to fifteen minutes.
Everrett M. Cook was a cashier at the First National Bank of Fall River, which had its offices further north up Main Street. This bank shared a room with the B.M.C. Durfee Safe Deposit and Trust Company, of which Mr. Borden was a director. Mr. Cook testified that Mr. Borden arrived at about a quarter to ten, and stayed for about ten minutes.
Jonathan Clegg was a hatter and provider of "gent's furnishings", who testified that while he was occupied at Number 6 North Main Street, he saw Borden on the street and called him in to talk to him. The two had known each other for about fifteen years and the conversation was no doubt quite friendly. According to Clegg, the time that Borden left him was about half-past ten. Clegg was going to move his business to another store owned by Andrew Borden up South Main Street which was having some construction work done, and Borden headed off in the direction of that property after talking to the hatter. Clegg testified that he had visited the Borden home on the two days preceding the murders about the new store. Lizzie Borden told the police that she had overheard her father on two separate occasions arguing with an unseen man over letting some property; Andrew objected strongly to the nature of the man's business and refused the rental. However, it is highly unlikely that Clegg was this man since Andrew had let him property, and they were on amiable terms.
James Mather and Joseph Shortsleeves were carpenters working on Mr. Clegg's new store near the corner of Spring Street and South Main Street. At about 10:30 a.m., they were occupied with lowering a window towards the sidewalk in the front wall of the shop. They noticed Mr. Borden walking towards them. When he reached the shop, he entered without acknowledging them, stopped for a moment to examine a lock on the floor which had been broken, and then ascended to the second floor where he remained for a few moments. After coming back down, he left the store and started to walk across South Main Street; he then stopped suddenly, and came back to the window where the carpenters were working. He chatted with them for a few moments, then re-entered the store and picked up the lock, putting it in his pocket. Then Andrew left, at roughly 10:40 a.m., passing up Spring Street towards his home, there to be killed within the half-hour. Much was to be made of this lock salvage, that it was proof of his stinginess, or that it may have been the white parcel seen in his hands by Mrs. Churchill.
BRIDGET SULLIVAN
Bridget Sullivan's testimony initially described her work history in the United States and her term at the Borden household. She described of what her household duties consisted, largely sharing the housework with Abby and the two daughters, each of whom took care of their own chambers and the parlor. Bridget's account of the events of Wednesday the 3rd and the early morning of Thursday the 4th did not in any way contradict the earlier testimony of John Morse. When questioned by the prosecution, Bridget provided some suspicious details about Lizzie's behavior, including Lizzie's announcement that Mrs. Borden had received a note and was called away to tend to someone who was sick. Bridget also described how Lizzie had tried to get her interested in a clothing sale up North Main Street, almost as a ploy to get her out of the house. And a chilling detail was added: that, as Bridget struggled to open the front door for Mr. Borden, she heard a laugh at the top of the stairs, which she took to be Lizzie, standing only a few feet away from Mrs. Borden's dead body.
At this point, for the first time, the jury heard an account of the discovery of the bodies. Bridget described the dramatic events of Lizzie calling her down from her room, crying out the news that Mr. Borden had been killed; and how Bridget then ran for help, first to Doctor Bowen's house, and next to Alice Russell's house. Then Bridget quoted Lizzie about how she was coming in from the barn and had heard a scraping sound, a detail that would contradict what Lizzie had subsequently told other people. Bridget also swore that no one had ever discovered any note addressed to Mrs. Borden.
As soon as the defense got their turn at questioning Bridget, they began badgering her into uncertainty about everything. Under persistent cross-examination, she confessed that relations between the Bordens had been normal, and that she had witnessed no conflict between Lizzie and Abby. She also conceded that she did not see Lizzie at the top of the stairs, but only heard a laugh; that, when she was outside washing dishes, she could not recall if the side screen door was locked or unlocked; and that, from her position on the other side of the house, she could not see if anyone other than Lizzie had entered the house. Bridget also acknowledged that she could not be certain if a note had come for Mrs. Borden or not. Bridget also could not describe in detail the dress that Lizzie had on the morning of the murders, although it is clear that the prosecution would have loved to have her rule out the dress they had in the courtroom. The cross-examination gave the overall impression that Bridget was uncertain about a lot of things.
MRS. CAROLINE KELLY
Mrs. Caroline Kelly was married to Dr. Kelly of Fall River and lived in the house directly south of the Bordens' residence. She recounted that she had been on her way to see the dentist when she noticed Mr. Borden coming round to the front of his house and stooping to insert his key in the front door. She put this incident at almost exactly 10:32 a.m., but later, when under cross-examination, admitted that the clock that she had consulted right before leaving her house was running slow. She also testified that he was holding in his hand a little white parcel.
According to syndicated columnists Joseph Howard, Lizzie Borden had a hacking cough in the courtroom, two Congressmen were in attendance, and a group of "colored brothers" were also present, "mostly in spectacles."
DAY 4
June 8, 1893
DR. SEABURY W. BOWEN
Dr. Seabury Bowen, besides being the Borden family physician, was also the first medical professional to reach the scene after the discovery of the body. He had seen the Bordens the day before the murders, when they consulted him with complaints of unexplained illness. Both Abby and Lizzie suspected that their maladies were due to either tainted baker's bread or milk.
Dr. Bowen's testimony offered nothing to contradict either John Morse's or Bridget's accounts, but he did quote Lizzie as having said both that she was in the barn looking for some iron, and that Mrs. Borden had been called away by a note. He described his arrival at the house and his examination of the bodies. He also denied the reports that he had initially misdiagnosed Mrs. Borden, explaining that, from his vantage point on the stairs, in viewing the body under the guest room bed, he at first thought her to have fainted, but upon closer examination, realized that she was in fact dead.
Dr. Bowen then examined the photographs taken at the crime scenes, confirming that the bodies were pictured in slightly different positions than those in which they had originally been found. The bodies had been moved and examined, before being re-posed for the camera.
Moody's questioning of Dr. Bowen broke down when he tried to get the doctor to describe the dress that Lizzie Borden had been wearing when he arrived at the house. The doctor insisted that he did not remember the color of it, but the prosecutor pursued him relentlessly. Robinson, for the defense, pointed out to the court that the government was harassing its own witness, and Moody ceased this line of questioning.
BRIDGET SULLIVAN
Called back to the stand by the defense, Bridget Sullivan was further questioned by Robinson in great detail about the dress that she had worn on the morning of the murders. An implication was thus raised that those who remembered Lizzie's being attired in a light blue dress that morning were, instead, actually remembering Bridget's attire.
ADELAIDE CHURCHILL
Adelaide Churchill took the stand and told her version of the events of August 3rd. She had the distinction of being the first person from outside the household to enter the home after the discovery of the bodies had been made. There is nothing in her testimony that contradicts any of what had been said by John V. Morse, Bridget Sullivan, or Doctor Bowen. Mrs. Churchill described in vivid detail her arrival at the house and her discovery of the bodies (she had gone with Bridget up the front stairs and was one of the first to see Mrs. Borden's body).
In the cross-examination by Robinson, Mrs. Churchill testified that she had been in close proximity to Lizzie for a prolonged period and that Lizzie definitely had no blood on her clothing or hair. Robinson also manipulated the questioning to make it seem that Mrs. Churchill had heard from Bridget about Abby having received a note concerning a sick person needing assistance, and that Mrs. Churchill didn't hear this directly from Lizzie. A quick damage control maneuver by Moody revealed that Lizzie did tell Mrs. Churchill about the note, and that Bridget had also subsequently mentioned it.
MRS. ALICE RUSSELL
Alice Russell's testimony started with the dramatic story of how Lizzie visited her on the evening of Wednesday, August 3rd, claiming that someone was trying to hurt her family, and how Lizzie was thus living in a state of dread and paranoia. Then Alice Russell, urged by Moody, testified that on the morning of Sunday, August 7th, Lizzie Borden burned a dress which Russell describes as a Bedford Cord in her kitchen stove, claiming that it was stained with paint. This is testimony that was completely new, and that had not been given in the Inquest or the Preliminary Hearing. The effect of this testimony was electric, and Lizzie must have felt much betrayed by her old friend by her having given it.
JOHN CUNNINGHAM
A.J. Cunningham was a news dealer (a man who collected money for newspapers) who happened to be on Second Street, south of the Borden house, at the time of the discovery of Andrew's body (roughly 11:05 a.m.). He testified that he had witnessed Mrs. Churchill running across the street to Hall's stables, where, in his presence, she had talked to a small group of people about trouble at the Borden house. He immediately went to Gorman's Paint Shop at the corner of Second and Borden Streets to telephone Marshall Hilliard at the Central Police Station. He claimed the clock in Gorman's said ten minutes to eleven, which was impossible, since the events that led to Cunningham's encountering Mrs. Churchill happened after the City Hall clock had chimed the hour. Cunningham also had the enterprising sense to telephone the Fall River Daily Globe and Daily News, before crossing over to the Borden premises to be on the scene. He thus met with the two reporters immediately upon their arrival. In a good example of just how compromised the crime scene became on that day, the three started an impromptu search of the backyard, combing the grass for clues and then trying to open the cellar door.
Lizzie's defense team scored a few points by poking fun at Mr. Cunningham, having him describe how there were no footprints noticed by him in the backyard, even though Bridget had been walking around on the grass all morning.
GEORGE W. ALLEN
George W. Allen on the day of the tragedy was a committing officer, one who has the duty to escort a prisoner from the District Court to a place of confinement. He testified that at 11:15 a.m. on August 4th, he was informed by Marshall Hilliard to go to the Borden home and check out a report of a row there. Officer Allen checked the clock because it was his typical time of day to commit his prisoners. He sprinted to the Borden house, initially encountering Mr. Sawyer, to whom he gave orders to stand by the side door of the house. He was the first police officer to arrive, finding Dr. Bowen, Alice Russell, and Mrs. Churchill already by Lizzie's side. He checked Mr. Borden's body, which had not yet been covered with a sheet, and then did a simple check of the closets on the first floor of the house. He then returned to the police station, making a request for additional officers, before proceeding to Rock Street to fetch Officer Mullaly from the patrol barn. The two officers then returned to the house.
Officer Allen went on to describe the bodies and the crime scenes. He noted the presence of a bloody handkerchief that was found a few feet from Mrs. Borden's body, and of a table with two stacked books on it found adjacent to Andrew's body.
FRANCIS H. WIXON
Francis H. Wixon was a deputy sheriff of Fall River who happened to be at the Central Police Station when the call came in about the Borden murders. Wixon was witness to Officer Allen reporting to the Marshal what had happened, and went off on his own to the Borden house, accompanied part of the way by Officer Doherty. They arrived at the home about 11:35a.m. Moody elicited Wixon's testimony concerning the coagulation of blood on Mr. Borden's face and how it differed from the blood found on and about the body of Mrs. Borden. Moody, in doing so, was seeking to establish that Andrew had died considerably earlier than did Abby, but Wixon was not a competent witness for such forensics. Wixon further described how he climbed over the fence in the backyard, cutting himself on barbed wire in the process, to talk to some men he had observed sawing wood in an adjacent yard.
JOHN FLEET
John Fleet was the Assistant City Marshal of Fall River. He was at his home, tending to his sick wife, when news of the trouble came to him. He immediately took a police buggy to 92 Second Street, arriving at approximately a quarter to twelve. Fleet described how he went to the house in civilian clothes and there interrogated Lizzie Borden in her second-floor bedroom. Fleet's testimony is dynamic, revealing Lizzie's own account of what had happened between the arrival of her father at the house and the discovery of his body. He asked Lizzie if she thought that John Morse or Bridget Sullivan were capable of the murders, to which she responded in the negative. When he accidentally referred to Abby as Lizzie's mother, Lizzie snapped back, "She is not my mother, sir; she is my stepmother; my mother died when I was a child." This response elicted much negative feedback from the police and helped to draw suspicion onto her from day one of the investigation.
Assistant City Marshal Fleet then detailed how he inspected some hatchets and axes that were found in the basement. Later he went to Lizzie's room with some officers and demanded to search the room. At that time, he had a second interview with Lizzie. He noted the proliferation of locks about the house, including a lock on the clothes closet opposite Lizzie's bedroom; it was in their closest that Lizzie kept her dresses.
Returning them to the basement, Assistant Marshal Fleet discovered the controversial "handle-less hatchet", lying in a box on a chimney shelf in the middle cellar. This hatchet head was presented to the court by the prosecution as the probable murder weapon. Fleet observed that the hatchet was covered on both sides with a fine dust, and that the handle, which was broken near the hatchet head, seemed to have been recently broken.
DAY 5
June 9, 1893
JOHN FLEET
The cross-examination of Assistant Marshal Fleet continued with Robinson brutally tearing at the witness, trying to get him to contradict himself and to admit that the police did not search the house as diligently as they should have. Robinson succeeded in his effort to get Fleet to admit that he had dismissed the handle-less hatchet as a possible murder weapon, despite the facts that he perceived a fresh break in the handle and that the dust was different in texture from the dust found on the other blades retrieved from the Borden basement. Moody tried to salvage the situation on his redirect examination by having Fleet explain that he then put more credence in one of the other hatchets being the probable murder weapon. Fleet testified that this other hatchet appeared as though it had been freshly cleaned, and there were what looked like blood stains on it. This, the claw-headed hatchet, Fleet stated, was put aside for further examination.
PHILIP HARRINGTON
Philip Harrington was a police officer who arrived at the Borden home shortly after 12 noon. He interviewed Lizzie Borden in her bedroom, during which time Lizzie told him about a strange man who had had an argument with her father over a property he wanted to rent and to whom Mr. Borden was oddly resistant. He also testified that, while in the kitchen, he witnessed Dr. Bowen going through some scraps of paper, one of which had the word "Emma" written on it in pencil, and to which Bowen was consigning to the low-burning embers of the stove. Dr. Bowen explained to Harrington that the papers had something to do with his daughter, and that they were of no consequence. Harrington further described how he saw some other papers, these being about a foot long rolled up cylindrically, also burning in the fire.
PATRICK H. DOHERTY
Patrick Doherty was a special officer with the Fall River Police Department who arrived at the Borden residence in company with Deputy Sheriff Wixon. He inspected the bodies, and interviewed Lizzie Borden. He also searched her bedroom and spent about an hour in the barn helping to pitch through the hay, hoping there to locate the murder weapon.
MICHAEL MULLALY
Michael Mullaly was a patrol officer for the Fall River Police Department. Stationed at the Rock Street wagon house, Mullaly arrived at the Borden house after being summoned by Officer Allen. He interviewed Lizzie Borden; searched the attic, with Bridget Sullivan available to unlock doors; took part in the retrieval of the hatchets and axes from the basement; and was present when Assistant Marshal Fleet retrieved the handle-less hatchet head found in the cellar. Mullaly's testimony contained a shocking revelation that in addition to the handle-less hatchet found in the box, Officer Mullaly and Assistant Marshal Fleet had also discovered the corresponding hatchet handle. District Attorney Knowlton's surprise at this discovery is clearly evident from the record of the proceedings; it is apparent that neither he nor the defense attorneys had heard of this before and it came as a complete surprise.
JOHN FLEET
The revelation by Mullaly that the hatchet handle corresponding to the handle-less hatchet had been found in the cellar prompted a re-call to the witness stand of John Fleet. Fleet, being unaware of the surprise that Mullaly's testimony had just engendered in the courtroom, denied ever having seen the handle. This incident, plus many others like it, strengthened the impression that the Fall River police had incompetently bungled the Borden investigation.
CHARLES H. WILSON
Charles H. Wilson was an officer of the Fall River Police Department. He came to the Borden house about 1 p.m. on the day of the murders and was present when Assistant City Marshal Fleet interviewed Lizzie Borden in her bedroom. He admitted that Lizzie was promised that the searching of her room would be as quick as possible because she didn't feel well. He also admitted that the search of the attic was not very thorough.
At this point in the trial proceedings, District Attorney Knowlton proposed that someone be sent to the Borden house to see if the hatchet handle was still in the box in the cellar.
ANNIE M. WHITE
Annie M. White was the official stenographer for Bristol County, and was in that capacity during Lizzie Borden's Inquest testimony. Her testimony was interrupted, and then suspended, pending a discussion between Lizzie's lawyers and the Court as to whether the Inquest testimony should be excluded as evidence during the trial.
GEORGE A. PETTEE
George A. Pettee was a long-time resident of Fall River who had occupied the upper story of the Borden house right before Andrew Borden and his family lived there. He became aware of the tragedy shortly after the first officers started to arrive on the scene. He actually entered the premises and examined the bodies, even going so far as to place his hands upon Mrs. Borden's head. When Moody proceeded to question Pettee about his opinion as to whether Mrs. Borden died before Mr. Borden, the defense quickly objected as to the competency of the witness to provide such an opinion. Mr. Pettee's presence on the scene was another example of the heavily-compromised crime scene: Mr. Pettee was neither a law enforcement official nor a medical man.
AUGUSTUS P. GORMAN
Augustus P. Gorman was the proprietor of Gorman's Paint Shop, located at the corner of Second and Borden Streets. He testified that the old clock in his store was not reliable, and suggested that, for this reason, John Cunningham's claim of what time he had called the Fall River Central Police Department was also not reliable.
Day 6
June 10, 1893
FRANCIS L. EDSON
Francis L. Edson was the acting sergeant of police on the day of the crime. Sergeant Edson related that he and Officer Mahoney of the police force went to 92 Second Street on the evening of June 9, 1893, presumably to search for the hatchet handle that Officer Mullaly had revealed he had found in the basement on the day of the murder. Despite his efforts to persuade his way into the house, he was refused admittance by Emma Borden. Edson continued to testify that on August 5th, 1892, he had removed the hatchets and axes from the basement of the Borden house for delivery to Marshal Hilliard, but that he did not take charge of the handle-less hatchet.
On Monday, August 8th, Sergeant Edson took part in a search of the house under the command of Captain Desmond. He described the search of the cellar and revealed that Officer Medley pulled the handle-less hatchet, a crucial piece of evidence, out of his pocket to show Sergeant Edson, an act that suggested that some break in the chain of evidence may have occurred. Defense Attorney Robinson tore into Edson on the cross-examination, further emphasizing possible incompetency in the police department and their handling of the crime scene. Robinson ironically punctuated his point by asking Edson about all the promotions that had occurred in the department since the tragedy; he also cited the presence in the house of Edwin McHenry during the August 8th search. McHenry was the detective, it was later revealed, who conspired with the Boston Globe's reporter Henry G. Trickey in a shameless act of yellow journalism. Robinson went so far as to explicitly state in court that McHenry may have been covertly working to gather evidence for the government's case.
BENJAMIN F. MAHONEY
Benjamin F. Mahoney was an officer of the Fall River Police Department who accompanied Sergeant Edson to 92 Second Street on June 9th, 1893 to search for the hatchet handle mentioned in Officer Mullaly's testimony. He repeated the story of how they were denied entry to the premises.
WILLIAM MEDLEY
William Medley was a patrol officer on the day of the crime. He described how he arrived at the house and had an interview with Lizzie Borden. Having heard from her that she had been up in the barn when her father was murdered, he inspected the dust on the upper story of the barn, perceiving that there were no footprints on the upper floor. He even put some of his own footprints there for comparison.
He described how during the search on Monday, August 8th, he found the handle-less hatchet lying in its box in the cellar and put it into his pocket after showing it to Captain Desmond and Sergeant Edson. Further, Medley admited on the stand that he could not, in this case, tell the difference between coal dust and wood dust, so could not state which one had been on the hatchet head. He also admitted that he did not observe the handle of the hatchet in the box.
Mention of Edwin McHenry, the apparent-rogue detective, is made once again when Officer Medley testified that he once went to the house with McHenry to take some measurements. However, Medley could not state definitely who was employing McHenry or to whom he reported, suggesting that McHenry was working in an unofficial and unethical capacity.
DENNIS DESMOND
Dennis Desmond was an acting Captain on the day of the murders. He testified that he made a search of Lizzie Borden's dresses and did not see one with paint stains or spots. He also verified Medley's story of the discovery of the hatchet head. He said that the dust found on the hatchet was of a much coarser nature than the dust found elsewhere in the cellar. Desmond seemed like a rather procedural and disassociated policeman as he described the search in which they found nothing of what they were looking. He stated that he was "looking for anything which might have a tendency to solve what we were after." When asked if he was looking for blood spots on a dress, he replies, "I cannot answer that." Regardless, he didn't find anything of whatever it was he was looking for.
GEORGE F. SEAVER
George F. Seaver was a member of the Massachusetts State Police who was part of the searches of the house on Saturday, August 6th, and on Monday, August 8th. With Assistant City Marshal Fleet, Seaver went to the clothes press outside Lizzie's bedroom, and examined the dresses there in the light coming in from the window. They did not find a light blue dress, such as had been described by Alice Russell as having been burnt by Lizzie, nor did they find any dress covered with paint stains or spots. However, they did not, at that time, examine any other dresses within the house. On August 13th, Seaver examined the crime scene again and at that time also did an exhaustive counting of the blood spots and took measurements of their relative distances.
Upon cross-examination, Robinson embarrassed Seaver, who was admittedly a former carpenter, by questioning his ability to determine whether the wood retrieved from the handle-less hatchet was ash or oak; and also whether the wood had been freshly broken. Robinson also demonstrated that Seaver had no specialized knowledge of dresses or dress materials and sought to show that Seaver's observations as to the dresses found in the clothes press were likewise suspect. Robinson further pointed out that Seaver was purposefully searching the dresses for evidence of blood; yet, inexplicably, failed to examine the dress that Lizzie was wearing. Seaver also admitted that he had made notes about the dresses, but that he had subsequently mislaid or lost them.
Robinson confronted Seaver with the name McHenry. Seaver stated that he had seen the man at the police station several times, but otherwise knew very little about him. He even denies having gone to the house with McHenry as claimed by Francis Edson.
DISCUSSUION ON ADMISSIBILITY OF LIZZIE BORDEN'S INQUEST TESTIMONY AS EVIDENCE
A discussion was opened to determine the admissibility of Lizzie Borden's Inquest testimony. A stipulation filed by the Districted Attorney indicated that the parties agreed that the following facts were true: that, at the time of her testimony, Lizzie Borden was not under arrest; that she had not been granted the presence of an attorney; that she had not been informed that her testifying might incriminate her; that she was essentially under house arrest; and that, in the days before the inquest, she had been informed by the City Marshal and the Mayor that she was suspected of being guilty of the crimes.
