The Lizzie Borden Society archive

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1. "Mr. Morse's Manner"
Posted by Stefani on Apr-25th-02 at 10:14 AM

Do we all agree, then, that Morse's behavior, both with this supposedly airtight alibi, his farting around in the back yard while the crowd is gathering in the front, his odd remarks and insistance that the cellar door was open, his walkabout later in the evening, and his leaving town soon after his legal responsibilities had been satisfied, is suspicious?

And if so, what could it all mean?

I can't respond, as it might tend to "criminate me".

It means this: Uncle John was cooking up a story to cover up the crime. (He could've been charged as an accomplice before the fact!!!) A R Brown mentions this regarding Uncle John's need to send and receive letters: "Keep your mouths shut and nothing will happen."

They needed to tell enough of the truth to keep the secret.

IMO

I second the motion...Uncle Dearest is **THE** most strangest of all the players.  Bridget, I think is innocent, she kept getting too hysterical over things when questioned by the police.

Lizzie, I think did not actually throw the hatchet, but she most certainly has knowledge of who did.

Uncle John, I think is more in-the-know then he was questioned about. The police gave in too quickly on this man with "air tight".

Some of what Brown suggests may well be true, about the Mellon House gang and who's in control and so on.

Uncle Johnnie may well have had a part in the Mellon House group, after all horses were worth money then, great bartering tool...what fine upstanding socialite male in 1892 Fall River wouldn't want to have a "dude ranch" out in Dartmouth?  What, close to the water and all.

BC

I still wonder if Uncle John WAS given the news by Dr. Bowen, either in person, as they passed one another at Emery's, or if Bowen did call Emery's, and Morse heard of Andrew's murder (or both murders).  This may be why Morse not only memorized all that stuff on the way home, but why he wasn't too eager to head into the house and get involved.   

I have just finished reading, "Lizzie Didn't Do It", William Masterton, 2000.  It is his theory that Mrs. Emery 'had an appointment with Dr. Bowen' who would have come to her apartment to see her.

Masterton theorizes that Mrs. Emery was misquoted in the newspaper when it was printed that, "Dr. Bowen cam in just as Mr. Morse left" pg 145.

What Masterton suggests is that Mrs. Emery actually told the reporter that "Dr. Bowen CALLED just BEFORE Mr. Morse left".  The good Dr. was up to his hips in dead bodies over at 92 Second Street and really didn't have time for a house call.

He probably phoned from the telegram office or the drugstore he stopped at before returning to 92 Second Street.  Mrs. Emery might have told Unkie the sad news and this may have caused him to:

a) memorize the conductors hat number, b) memorize the horse trolley car number, c) memorize the faces of the six priests on the trolley car, d) memorize the Gettysburg Address, e) saunter up Second Street like Prissy (Butterfly McQueen, Gone With the Wind), f) not see the growing throng of people and cops at 92 Second Street, g) pass by the side entrance where Sawyer, the hulk, is stationed, and h) wander in the backyard for a "few" eating pears...ALL before he goes inside.

This dude was zoning for certain...but why???

BC