Background: Charles Gifford and Uriah Kirby testified that they both (but separately) encountered a man sitting on the steps leading to their home at 29 Third Street. Both instances occurred around 11pm August 3rd, the night before the murders. Also, interestingly, this is the same timeframe that the Chagnon women heard a noise in the area of the Borden back fence. The man was sitting on steps just outside the Kirby fence gate. Below is the relevant testimony of both men describing the man and the episode. Gifford was the first and once inside the house, he heard Mr. Kirby speaking to the 'asleep' man. So these episodes happened within minutes of each other.
Trial Testimony. Page 1354-55
Charles Gifford, boarder @ 29 Third Street
Q. Will you describe the man?
A. The man, I should judge, would weigh 180 to 190 pounds, and he sat there on the steps apparently asleep[, with a straw hat pulled over his face, and I took hold of his arm and shook him, and in shaking him his hat fell off on the sidewalk, and then I lit a match and held it up in front of his face to see if I knew who it was, and found that I did not, and I went into the house and left the hat on the sidewalk. A few minutes afterwards Mr. Kirby went by.
Trial Testimony. Page 1357.
Uriah Kirby, owner of house @ 29 Third Street Trial Testimony. Page 1357-1359
Q. Now, then, begin and tell us what took place there.
A. Well, sir, he was sitting , and, as I said before, I spoke to him, hollered out to him or spoke loud. He sat there dormant, as it were, on about the middle step, I should think, either the second or third. He lay back against the side of a little fence that ran there. With his hat pulled down nearly over his eye, sitting there very quietly; didn’t seem to move at all; paid no attention to my voice. Then I put my hand on his hat on top of his head and shook him and spoke to him again; no reply. That is all that took place. I left him there and went into my house.
For both men, the hat plays a central role in their recollections. Gifford noted the hat was on the sidewalk when he walked past the man. And yet, the hat is back on the man's head minutes later when Kirby encounters him. Obviously the man put the hat back on his own head. That is pretty hard to do if one is asleep. I can think of no reason to feign sleeping unless you want to avoid explaining why you are there, but also don't want to be ordered or watched walking away. Did he hop up minutes later to cut thru the orchard and climb into the Borden's backyard....making the noise the Chagnon women heard?
I know this is seems like a minor detail, but I find it very intriguing when connected with the 11pm Chagnon noise.
