The Trial of Lizzie Borden(36)

After examining the interior of the house and the yard in careful detail, the jurors took an extended tour of the neighborhood. They looked at all of the neighboring properties, especially Adelaide Churchill’s to the north, Dr. Kelly’s to the south, Dr. Chagnon’s orchard to the rear (east), and Dr. Chagnon’s house on the other side of the orchard, kitty-corner with the Borden barn. Jennings showed them Alice Russell’s house on Borden and Third. From there, they traveled to A. P. Gorman’s paint store (the location of the telephone used to report the murders) and the A. J. Borden building at the corner of South Main and Borden. They continued their procession up South Main Street, “creating considerable commotion and causing the greatest excitement.” They were taken to D. R. Smith’s (where Lizzie was alleged to have tried to buy prussic acid) and to Jonathan Clegg’s store, near the corner of Spring Street, the last place visited by Mr. Borden. The jurors retraced Andrew Borden’s last walk, visiting the Union Savings Bank and B.M.C. Durfee Savings Bank. “The tired and hungry jurors then filed out to the Mellen house,” where they dined before taking the 6:35 p.m. train back to New Bedford. “So far as this day’s experiences are concerned,” Howard concluded, “although Lizzie had her bad luck in the morning, the jury surely suffered in the afternoon.”

For the benefit of its readers, the Boston Globe printed a map consisting of “a Bird’s Eye view of the Borden home and its vicinity . . . for readers who intend intelligently to follow the Trial of Lizzie Borden.” The heading enjoined the reader: “Cut This Out and Keep It.”

While the jury traveled to and from Fall River, the judges enjoyed a respite and, after dinner, took a carriage ride around the city. According to the Fall River Daily Herald, “They were particularly attracted by the three or four survivors and inanimate representatives of New Bedford’s past industry, the old time whaling vessels, lying abandoned and slowly decaying at the wharf.”

Backyard of Chagnon residence, courtesy of Fall River Historical Society





WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1893




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Under the heading “Where to Look for Your Wife,” the Fall River Daily Globe advised: “The New Bedford man who comes home and finds it deserted . . . needn’t be alarmed. There has been no elopement; the dear creature is probably in the crowd of morbid females who are storming the door of the county court house, trying to get admission to the Borden trial.” For the large number of women on hand, Wednesday, June 7, was the true beginning of the trial. Joe Howard dubbed it “woman’s day” in honor of the “multitude of New Bedford’s fattest and leanest of the feminine gender” there to partake of the proceedings. The Fall River Daily Globe dubbed the female regulars the “Valentines and Daisies.” “Taking all the most eligible seats and settling themselves with little black bags containing lunch and fennel seed,” these female spectators “prepared for a long and enjoyable session.” Julian Ralph commented that “about half of the women were of commanding rank, and the other half were in calico.” He added, “A little sprinkling of very swarthy Portuguese girls added novelty to the crowd.” Lizzie Borden herself seemed in better spirits on Wednesday. Her color had improved and rather than sitting “all but motionless” as she had the prior two days, she followed the proceedings in a more animated way, shifting occasionally in her chair.

BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE BORDEN HOME AND ITS VICINITY WHICH THE JURY VISITED YESTERDAY

Reproduced as a Useful Reference for Readers who Intend Intelligently to Follow the Trial of Lizzie Borden

1 – Borden Home

2 – Borden Barn

3 – The well

4 – Fence with barbed wire on top

5 – Side entrance

6 – Churchill residence

7 – Dr. Bowen’s house

8 – Dr. Chagnon’s house

9 – Kelly house

10 – Yard from which officers watched the Borden house in the days following the murders

11 – Kelly’s barn

12 – Pear orchard



A bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood, Boston Globe



The jury selected, the scene of the crime toured, and the opening statement delivered, now, finally, came the witnesses. As Joe Howard observed, “the chief interest in these celebrated cases attaches itself to the personalities involved—some as accessories, some as witnesses.” Most important were John Morse, Lizzie Borden’s uncle, whose bedroom had been the scene of Abby Borden’s murder, and Bridget Sullivan, the Bordens’ domestic servant. Aside from Lizzie, they were the only other surviving inhabitants of the household that morning. Joe Howard observed: “Those are three very peculiar people, Bridget, Lizzie, and uncle. Combined they form a suggestive trinity.”

But before the members of the household could testify, Knowlton recalled Thomas Kieran to continue his explanation of the plans he had drawn and to which the jurors could refer. Kieran, however, had taken it upon himself to perform “extra work of a curious kind,” various “line of sight” experiments about which the animated Jennings questioned him on cross-examination. Jennings, remarked Ralph, was “the smallest of the lawyers in size and the biggest in nervous energy.” When Jennings asked Kieran about the exterior views, Knowlton objected, arguing “the jury have seen the exact thing and have the measurements.” Chief Justice Mason agreed but let Jennings ask a few questions about the view from Second Street to the Borden barn door and about the various fences on the surrounding properties. Jennings then asked Kieran about those curious experiments that seemed to fall outside the scope of his remit. First, he instructed a man to stand inside the front hall closet. Over the prosecution’s objection, he testified that the door was easily shut and, even when ajar, the man might not be seen from assorted points in the front hall. Next, he instructed his assistant to lie down on the floor, mimicking Abby’s death pose, to test if he could see a body as he descended and ascended the stairs. He explained that he could see the figure when ascending from “the center of one of the stairs which brought my eye a little above the level of the floor” and could not see the same person from the landing in front of Lizzie Borden’s bedroom. Jennings asked, “And that you say was when you were particularly looking to see?”