1. "The reluctant Mrs. Wyatt"
Posted by harry on Nov-6th-03 at 6:36 AM

One of the periphreal characters of the Borden saga is Mary Wyatt. She lived over Dr. Bowen in the Bowen/Miller house. She's mentioned very briefly in the witness statements.

"Leander A. Winslow, No. 95 Second street. “Had been standing at the store door for sometime when a lady named Mary Wyatt told me of the murder.”

"Mrs. Mary Wyatt, No. 91 Second street. This woman lives over Dr. Bowen. It is she who first told Mr. M. Chace, L. Winslow, and several others who were standing in front of Wade’s, about the crime. She dodged us for a week or more; and when finally seen, positively refused to be interviewed."

Both these items are from Harrington & Doherty in the Witness statements.

What ever she knew she must have learned from Mrs. Dr. Bowen so I can't see any reason for her level of reluctance to talk to the police.  It's not important but just another curious incident in a sea of curious incidents.

Maybe she just didn't want to get involved?
Earl Rogers once defended a man accused of murder. Aside from the physical evidence, he got a witness who observed it all from far away, using a telescope. She at first refused to come forward because she was a schoolteacher, and was afraid of being fired because of the politics involved (public opinion varied, as in the OJ Simpson case).

It reminds me of Addie Churchill's statement to the police, "Must I, am I obliged to tell you all?  Well, if I must, I can't be blamed.  O, I wish I had not to do this.  I do not like to tell anything of my neighbor; but this is as it is."

Perhaps Mary Wyatt was of the same mind, at the time I don't think they knew that Lizzie was suspected.  So, anything they said to the police might came back and bite them, especially with Lizzie and Emma still around at the time.  They were wealthy orphans, maybe there was a fear of a lawsuit for slander?

I have to wonder if Mary Wyatt has any information that might be important to the case, something she saw or heard that day.  Perhaps she holds a key to the case? 

I think of this also, that someone, the grandchildren of Mrs. Wyatt,
or somebody, will bring forth some new info!  But not getting my hopes
up, I lived in Vermont for 25 years in a small town,
there was a murder there.  But noone would even acknowledge it, all
lips closed, just go away please.  Victoria Lincloln gave us a glimpse
to the mind-set of Fall River at the time and I can understand the
people a bit from living in Vermont, you don't know what the word
"stubborn" really means unless you live in New England, yikes they
are hard core stubborn people! Hard working and moral and all that, but there is a mind-set that is very unique.
  Mrs. Wyatt is long gone and she probably never told a
soul anything.... but maybe there is just someone....

For a person not wanting to get involved she goes about it the wrong way. She told at least 3 people on the street of the murders.

If she was just repeating what Mrs. Dr. Bowen told her then there was no need to worry.  That's all she had to say to police. 

She seems to have gone out of her way to avoid the police and when found refuses to be even interviewed. 

Mrs. Churchill knew some things, hence her reluctance to talk.  You have to wonder whether Mary Wyatt knew something.

(Message last edited Nov-6th-03  11:14 PM.)

Mr. Miller, who was Dr. Bowen's father-in-law, living in the other 1/2 of the duplex across the street where Mrs. Wyatt lived, also did not want to be involved and actually called forth a witness to what Bridget had to say so he could stay out of it.
THEN, we find he is in the Borden yard later, shooting the breeze with all the guys.  Gad-Zooks!  There he is on site!  He even claimed that he did not go there!

Maybe these 2 are of a certain generation which wants to look as if and sound as if they are not gossips, yet really are?
Andrew was his friend for goshsakes and Miller would not appear to be drawn in.

I think it's possible, if any family on that block knew those Bordens, it would be the Miller/Bowen duplex inhabitants.
Maybe those two did know things and  that's why they would not even speak.

(BTW:  Do we know Mary Wyatt's age?)

Hoffman indicates Mary Wyatt was born in 1852, which would make her 40 years old at the time of the murders. She was last mentioned in the 1921 Fall River City Directory. He does not indicate when she died. She was summoned to appear at the Borden trial, but was not called as a witness. 

Apparently neither the prosecution nor the defense believed she had anything of importance to reveal.

Well actually, maybe there was alot to tell that both the defense lawyers and prosecutors didn't want known.  If we go with the theory that both lawyers were paid off by Lizzie then perhaps her testimony would have been too damning in court that would lead to either Lizzie or Bill being found guilty.  Remember the Mellenhouse gang theory?

(Message last edited Nov-9th-03  2:09 PM.)

Thanks William!
It looks like Mrs. Churchill was born 1850 (R. 98) so she would be of an age with Mrs.  Wyatt.
We have the info already here that she *did not want to tell of her neighbor*.
I suppose that kind of reluctance on all their parts, Wyatt, Miller & Churchill, was really to avoid  the scandal of murder.  That could be something people whispered about about them behind their backs, that they had been sucked into such infamy.  In Fall River then, that would be deadly to a person's reputation, tho of all of them I think Miller was safe from that.  It was probably harder for the women to keep reputations.
I don't think Mrs. Wyatt would know much about the Bordens as she was not ever mentioned as their equal, so anything she knew was probably from hearsay and gossip anyway.
I'm beginning to think she was mainly *pulling a Miller* and maybe the witness notes made it sound harder to reach Wyatt than it really was.

Do we know or not if Mrs. Wyatt still had her husband around at the time or was she a widow?  Perhaps her husband had a say-so in the matter and told her not to speak of it to the police? 

Susan:

Mrs. Wyatt was a widow at the time of the murders in 1892.

Thank you, William.    Well, I guess that answers that, but not why she wouldn't speak to the police.   

I think people like Mrs. Wyatt of course wanted in on the gossip at
the time, but their lips were closed to outsiders if they could help
it. One newspaper I have from the day after talks about the crowds
standing around and talking about other tragedies that are also hard
to dig up info on.  The community in the long run definitely protected
Lizzie, forever it seems.  When I went to the Lizzie conference and
the Historical Society I was thrilled to meet Florence Brigham, a
sweet little old lady who knew Lizzie and was wonderful in talking about the case, but she had her speel down pat, just telling info we
already knew.  She signed my brochure even for me.  Does anyone know
if she is still alive? 

I think you may have the right assessment of these characters in this situation.
.............

"The Broken Branch." Lizzie Borden Quarterly VII.2 (April 2000): 22-23.
"Two-pages devoted to the passing of Florence Cook Brigham, former curator of the Fall River Historical Society. One entire page consists of four photographs of Mrs. Brigham, from her youth to later years."

--From: http://www.lizzieandrewborden.com/Resources/BibliographyLBQAuth.htm

This is just a thought and maybe some of you will beg to differ, but maybe Mrs. Wyatt didn't want to get involved because she was afraid of retaliation (from Lizzie?). I might be way off in left field, but thought I'd throw it out and see what happened.

Witness Statements, final entry, 45:

"Fall River, 28, 1892. The following is the result of my interview last Saturday night with Mrs. Whitehead. I could not reach her mother Mrs. Oliver Gray, (the stepmother of the late Mrs. Abbie Borden) until today. I found her at the home of Mr. Benj. Covell, at the top of Second street. I questioned her at length as to whether there was anything new that had come to her mind since she was last seen. She stated that Officer Harrington had been to see her, but since that time she had heard a great deal. She also stated that Mr. and Mrs. Case had gone to Tiverton R. I. or Little Compton, to remain away until after this Borden case had been disposed of; and that Mrs. Case was the woman above all others that was needed to let light in on Lizzie’s actions. Mrs. Gray had heard of the scandal story as coming from Mrs. Case direct. She also stated that for years, whenever she, or any of Mrs. Borden’s relatives, visited the house on Second street, they were totally ignored by the girls, Lizzie and Emma. I then read your anonymous letter to her. She said that was true, every word of it, although she could not imagine who the writer was; and that her sister, Mrs. Bordens, Mrs. Fish in Hartford, was the one, and her daughter in law, that was referred to. I then pressed the old lady very hard as to what was said as coming from Mrs. Churchill. She demurred, and finally admitted she got her information from Mrs. Potter and her sister Miss Dimon, the milliners on Fourth street. I then looked up the above mentioned ladies and found them very hard people to handle. I was with them both two hours, and elicited the following; Lizzie Borden has been practicing in a gymnasium for a long time, and she has boasted of the strength she possessed, not to these people, but to others. The place where she practiced was supposed top be in the Troy Block. I also elicited the fact that one George Wiley, a clerk in the Troy Mill is the one who is authority for the statement that Mrs. Churchill made that she (Mrs. Churchill) said, that there was one thing she saw in the house the day of the murder, that she would never repeat, even if they tore her tongue out."

--Well Mark, if so, maybe the Cases left for fear, but I don't know.  This is by McHenry and he is a dubious source.
It just seems as if some people would be interviewd and some not.
There were people who replied to the sanity survey and I'd think that would be a delicate subject to pull off if one were afraid of Lizzie.  Miller answered that one, yet would not be drawn into the murder case...

  I was going mostly on a feeling when I made that comment. I am still very much a beginner Bordenite and am currently familar with the main players, and this is the first time I had heard of Mrs. Wyatt.

I remember reading discussions and wondering who all these peripheral people were.  We here just happen to like all these characters on the fringes.  They're like our little community.
Have you read the Witness Statements?
They are the first recorded statements in this case, some fresh the day of the murders.
You're right to trust your instincts, truly.