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1. "I May Have Found A Clew!!!"
Posted by Susan on May-25th-02 at 8:54 PM

I was reading through the witness statements today and found this interesting little tidbit under Albert E. Chase, don't know if anyone has ever posted on this before or not?

                      Albert E. Chase

Fall River, September 20, 1892.  I this day visited the Borden house under instructions from the City Marshal.  I saw Miss Emma Borden, and she went down cellar with me, and shoved(sic) me a window in the northeast corner room nearest to the barn, and north of the cellar door, which she wanted to have fastened up, and wanted me to note the condition that it was in before anything was done.  I found one light of glass broke in the upper sash bad(sic)the appearance of being pushed in, and raised up about 5 inches.

Was this so on the day of the murders?  I checked the photo of the rear of the house, the window closest to the barn, but, can't see if one of the panes of glass is broken or not.

Do you think it is possible that someone broke into the house through one of the rear cellar windows?  Does anyone have any more info on this, I don't recall having seen it in the trial volumes at all. 

I remember disregarding this information because it was so remote in time to the murders.  August 4th to September 20th, anything could have happened to a window, even unto spectators or the denziens of the household responsibe for breakage.

In the Trial, see Joseph Hyde, pgs. 836- 842.
He was on watch outside the east cellar window Thursday night and witnessed the nightime trek down the cellar stairs of Alice and Lizzie, and Lizzie's controversial return alone, later.
He is intimately examined as to the windows and where he stood and what he saw, as to the girls movements and AS TO THE WINDOWS themselves.
There were "bars in all the windows but two, in the one on the east end and one on the northwest corner."

-(Whatever that signifies...not knowing if that is the same window.  But he surely would have noticed a broken window.  And if not him, then any number of other people on search and on watch.?..)

Kat, I reread what Chase had said, the glass didn't appear to broken so much as pushed in and up out of the sash!  I'm wondering if it had been that way from August on into September or not.  Pretty interesting little find, life at the house after Lizzie is incarcerated! 

Well, yea, ya know when Morse supposedly locked some Gawkers in the barn, and was told to let them out?  He was upset at all the strangers walking all over the property.  He was reminded by an official that there was, after all, a LarGE REWARD posted, and that people were curious.

I don't recall if this really happened...but it makes sense for citizens to get nosey with a huge reward at stake.
I 'm not really sure of the ratio of $ between then and now.
Is it $5,000 x 18? = today's money equivalent?

Heck, I'd be snooping around, too!
In, fact:  MEET YA THERE!!!

Yes, I would love to have lived in that time period and been one of Lizzie's girlfriends and had privileged snooping rights! 

I just was wondering if there was any more info on the broken window anywhere, it wasn't brought up in the trial, but, that Emma finds it important to show Chase before it gets fixed leads me to believe that maybe it was something she had stumbled upon and may have been a clew! 

By then Emma was living alone except for the servant(s).
My impression was that she wanted reparations for the damage, or at the least have it documented for some reason.

Thats entirely possible, Kat.  I don't know, but, it is an interesting little tidbit of Emma's life.  Who do you think was going to pay for the broken window?  The city, the police force?  Was Emma going to send the bill to Chase after she had it fixed and wanted to show him it before so that he would know why he was getting a bill? 

If she's her father's daughter, she might just do that.
I don't know anything about "Homeowner's Insurance" at that time, though--whether complaining to the authorities would either make the city pay, or if that statement had to be taken to apply for insurance damages.
I guess I don't even know if there was actual damage?

It's interesting to picture Emma essentially NOW ALONE in that house. 
Was she scared the maniac would return, as well as being upset over Lizzie in jail?
Did SHE now look under beds at night?
Or in closets?
Or did she KNOW she had nothing to fear for her own personal safety?
I also wonder whose bed she slept in, whose room she took over.
As eldest daughter and heir, she would now be entitled to the master bedroom...could she sleep there unconcerned?
Or did she lock herself away every night in her little womb of a room?
What could occupy her time every evening before bed, alone with her thoughts....

All very interesting questions indeed, Kat!  I don't know, Emma seemed so shy and retiring, my guess is that she would stick to her own room.  She probably locked the guest room up and probably didn't spend much time in the sitting room anymore, but, she may have been more resolved to the fact that murder took place in the house.  Afterall, wasn't it she, according to John Morse, who cleaned the blood off of the woodwork in the sitting room.  I wonder if she did the same in the guest room?

And can you imagine how much she had to pay for a housekeeper to work in that house of horrors?  Did the housekeeper sleep in Bridget's old room, or not live in the house at all?  Was she ever interviewed?  It would be very interesting to hear what she saw or heard with Emma living all alone!

Just for the sake of Emma staying in the home alone when she had her inheritance now would make me believe that she had no fear of the maniac returning to do her in.  But, she still must have had nerves of steel to stay there all alone.  Why not live in a boarding house or hotel?  Go live with Alice Russel?  Why not just buy Maplecroft early so that when Lizzie got out there would be the new house to go live in?

Oh, and interesting side note, I found through one of the links on the board(don't remember which one?) that after Lizzie got out of jail and sold 92 Second street, she put all the furniture from the house in a storage facility by the waterfront and it was all washed away in a storm!          

No, the window was NOT broken in August or it would certainly have been noticed then. Most likely vandalism from a trespasser when no one was home, or asleep. IMO.

I wish that Chase would have made it more clear as to when Emma found the broken window, but, I guess he never dreamed that there would be people like us going over everything with a fine tooth comb over a 100 years later!