Perspectives and Points of View- The House

[Shelley]

Detail of the current sofa motif- called a lotus I think. Just like on the original sofa.

[Shelley]

Kat! You inspired me to time the jaunt to the cellar today and I amazed myself. Boy, this glucosamine is great stuff. I took off down the front landing at 9:05 a.m. on the dot, was careful of the long skirt on the stairs, trotted through the kitchen, down the cellar to the front wood room, pretended to pull a hatchet out the box, went back up to the guest room and gave an imaginary Abby 5 whacks as the digital number 9:06 clicked over. WOW- One minute FLAT.
And I am NO spring chicken.

[Kat]

Wow! I'm impressed. I'd be out of breath and hot!

Now we have to figure out why she didn't take up some sewing scissors or a picture off the wall, or tried to strangle her!

[Shelley]

A cozy view from the sitting room closet under the stairs with the door open just 1/2 inch and the lens jammed in the crack. Not at all uncomfortable as a hiding place.

[Shelley]

Not as cozy a view from the kitchen closet by the hot stove, lens in the 1/2 inch crack.

Stealthy murderer feet climbing up the front staircase

[Shelley]

The angle at which you need to stand to get 86 drops of blood on the wallpaper over the head and 43 drops on the picture frame. This was a revelation, tried recently with water on a hatchet blade. One has to stand out of the diningroom doorway over the sofa head slightly and angled diagonally somewhat from that diningroom door frame . Standing entirely inside the doorway and totally parallel to the wall over the sofa will not get the spatter results on the sofa wall. In order to get a lot of liquid on the ceiling, one must bring the blade up from the sofa head and snap back over the shoulder of the chopping hand with some energy, ditto the door to the parlor. Based on this observation, it would seem that the hatchet did not swing high up and down repeatedly. Bobbie- we will repeat this when you come!

[Shelley]

Lizzie's clear view of Andrew on the sofa Wednesday night as she went upstairs after her visit to Alice.

[Kat]

Wow! Great pictures! Thank you!

Someone in hiding might want a vantage place to see as many doorways as possible, maybe? I hadn't pictured that.

[Shelley]

The sitting room closet offers a good view of the diningroom doors, anyone entering by the front hall and kitchen entry points- it's a good place to be and loads of room.

[Yooper]

Shelley, could you describe the hatchet swings in a bit more detail, please? If the hatchet was not brought up high as it was swung it could possibly have some bearing on the user. I'm reminded of how females tend to throw a baseball, an observance I made as a kid. Males tend to throw with the arm fully extended, from the shoulder. Females tend to throw with the hand near shoulder height, more from the elbow. This does not apply to all males or all females, but it was true in nearly all cases I observed. I don't know if it necessarily applies to swinging a hatchet, either, but there might be a correlation.

[Shelley]

I think I need to make a video- it is hard to describe. For years I had always assumed the killer stood flush in the diningroom door, leaned in a little and chopped away at the head of the sofa. Then recently I read the blood evidence again and tried some various angles using water and trying to get that pattern described on the wall and picture frame. There was a large spot on the parlor door, one on the molding above the door, a few drops on the ceiling and a few drops on the door at the foot of the sofa which leads into the kitchen. Actually, you do not have to be right in THE house to try this at home with your own hatchet.

When I used TWO hands on the handle, I found I tended to bring the hatchet up a little higher back over my right shoulder. When I used one hand , I seem to have more mobility and did not bring it back as far each time. What I did find out was that to get those patterns on the wall paper, it involves standing inside the sitting room more than I had thought- not so much on the thresh hold and inside the casing of the diningroom door. I also found my hatchet strokes were more diagonal-slashing from my right hand going left over the victim's head in direction.

The fact that the majority of the spatter was on the wall above the sofa, and on that picture frame has really affected my view recently of where the killer stood in relationship to Andrew's body. I am a little over an inch taller than Lizzie, and standing inside that diningroom door casement and trying to swing in to inflict the blows with my right hatchet hand parallel to the sofa wall, it is not an effective method. But to step in maybe two steps, then bend over the head (and the sofa was low) and slice at that diagonal feels perfect, and will leave the pattern on the wall as it was found.


And you are right about how girls throw a ball. I think tonight I will be doing some hatchet experiments with a man holding the hatchet and swinging- just to see the arm extension differences. Yes- I do believe there will prove a big difference.

[Yooper]

Thanks, Shelley! It is possible to trace the plane of an arc to a source. If the general arc of the spatter pattern can be replicated, and a flat, two-dimensional "solid" imagined as a sort of pie slice, the point is the source of the swing. It always seemed odd that there was no spatter found south of Andrew's body, projecting into the room. The arc of the existing spatter tends to indicate that it came more from the weapon than from the target.

There is an interesting gender bias in this case. An intruder is always presumed to be male.

[bobarth]

Is there any way to do a so called template of the blood splatter. Perhaps try to duplicate the splatter on bedsheets as best as can be done from the autopsy reports. Then these could be hung up for comparison when experiments are done.
Just a thought, and I think it might help to visually see the splatter.

[Kat]

About 5 years ago after reading and re-reading the preliminary hearing, I drew this on the back of page 94- in Dolan's testimony.
I hope you can read it.

The writing below the sofa is Jenning's notes
The sentence: "Arc began 3 or 4 inches from head" is also Jennings' note.

My picture is not in proportion, obviously.
Also, my arc is surely too pretty.

Take a piece of paper and follow the blood evidence as Shelley did and draw your own blood spatter. As she says, you don't need to be there.
I'm posting this to show you can do it too, and to show Jennings' notes in the prelim.
I once asked everyone to try this and post their interpretations but nobody did.

Of course, nothing can compare to actually experimenting in the room!
It's very cool that you are doing that Shell! Nobody who makes the commercial videos has done this, I don't think!

[Shelley]

I think I have LeeAnn convinced to let me put up sheets over the picture, sofa and wall, and try this again with red -tinted water. Of course in the end, Andrew is just as dead no matter where exactly the killer stood. Still, it is fascinating to me to compare different ways in which the end was achieved, and Yooper- I DO believe it is a valid thought that men and women may well hold a hatchet, and use it in different ways and I do not think that approach was ever considered in 1892.

I am always a hands-on person and take nothing written for granted- try it- try it yourself at home and see the various different results: one -handed, two-handed, leaning in from a doorway, from the front of "the body", from the back of the sofa arm- until you can repeat the pattern. I also agree that the spatter came off the weapon, not any arterial spurting. In Draper's letter he mentions the carotid artery was severed. Great sketch!

[BaAz5]

Shelley what if you use a template as Bobbie suggested with the original pattern on it and then use a different color(s) for the experiment(s).


Also you mentioned the use of one hand, would that be enough strength to do the damage? (I do realize the hatchet had to have been very sharp considering the eye split. )

Oh geez, I am so excited about this, I can hardly type.

[Shelley]

I suppose it might be a matter of personal preference- but I found double-handed hatcheting awkward in the extreme and it slowed my speed down considerably. I also found I wanted to raise the hatchet back higher over my right shoulder two-handed. An axe, however is a two-handed neccessity due to the weight of the head and the length of the handle- but a hatchet- to me at least- is a one-handed tool. I hold kindling with my left hand and chop down sharply with my right hatchet hand.

Using two hands on the hatchet is a more deliberate sort of stroke, and there is a little more guidance as to where the stroke lands. Single-handed can be more random and is ideal in a frenzied attack when blows are less deliberate, at various angles and depths and rapidfire.

I have a particular theory about Abby's hair on the bed and how it ended up being 5- 8 inches in length. After hundreds of experiments "killing" people on that floor between the bed and dresser- and asking other men and women to re-enact the scene so I can make notes- the BEST scenario I have ever seen -the one which flows very naturally and takes into account so much of the evidence remaining is when the killer pushes Abby down to the floor, face down, sits on her back, and continues to administer the other 18 whacks after the initial one over the ear. Then, by grabbing the hair of the head of the victim ( a rather feminine tendency when enraged) -and putting some tension on it while whacking downward- the hair will shear right off at varying lengths. This is the only way I can ever get a hank of hair to duplicate what was found on the bed.

Yes, that is a good idea, duplicating the blood evidence in red, and using another color to test out positions and method. Sounds like something for a cold winter's night and some old sheets!

[Shelley]

And oh yes- a sharp hatchet of about 2-2 1/2 pounds with a steel head, and an enraged person on the other end could do the damage- and how! I watched my grandaddy decapitate chickens on our poultry farm for 14 years- he held that squirming chicken with his left hand and with one whack cut the head cleanly off with one stroke. I still recall that chicken head with the beak opening and closing and the eye winking up at me. Then he would put a peach basket over the body to keep it from running around in nervous frenzy spurting blood from its bleeding neck. OOOO- I wonder that I am not scarred for life! We country farm kids were tough.

Then granny disemboweled the chicken in the sink and I watched her scoop out gizzard and crop and eggs without the shell coating on them and strings of guts with her bare hands. My job was to dunk 'em in scalding water and hang them up by the feet for plucking. We also ate just about everything that crawls from Muscovy duck to muskrat- so dead things on hooks were a part of life as well as the killing and cleaning of carcasses. And so to bed. . . .

p.s. I also remember Daddy wrangling with snapper turtles with a hatchet- green turtle soup with Amontillado dry sherry is a Maryland delicacy. I always felt sorry for the turtle- cutting the body out of the shell was pretty grisly work. Tastes like filet mignon.

[Harry]

Not as cozy a view from the kitchen closet by the hot stove, lens in the 1/2 inch crack.

Shelley, what is that on the stove, a nameplate?

[Shelley]

It is a weight for flattening bacon or sausage or toast on the griddle. It would make a good "blunt instrument" I suppose

[Kat]

Actually it's a lousy sketch but thanks anyway.
I was wondering if people could decipher the writing of Jennings. It probably mirrors the testimony of Dolan tho.

Anyone want to draw it and post it?
http://www.lizzieandrewborden.com/Crime ... idence.htm
Several sketchs compared would be very interesting.

[Yooper]

Shelley, I expect two-handed use of the hatchet would allow less extension with respect to the pivot point. The radius of the swing would be less and this would lessen the momentum of the hatchet head, given the same force applied. In other words, the longer the radius (arm extension), the greater the velocity, and therefore, the greater the momentum. The arc described in the swing is technically a spiral rather than a continuous arc with respect to the spatter pattern. There is more force applied through the forward stroke than through the reverse stroke, so the pattern should project further forward than backward. There will probably be a right-to-left component to the swing for a right handed user also. We tend to put the target directly in front of us in our line of sight, and swing from right to center for a right handed person. The pattern would likely show a rear-right to front-left configuration to some degree.

[Shelley]

100% agreement on ALL points stated above- in theory- and in practice.

[Kat]

Yooper, did you watch the Modo Video called Frizzy Lizzie? That seemed to me to be a left-handed attack, but I don't know. Sounds like you could evaluate it?
http://lizzieandrewborden.com/MondoLizzie/

[Smudgeman]

Do we know if Lizzie was left handed? Yes, it appears that the girl in that video was swinging left handed, but if she had of put more "umph" into it with the right hand, there would not have been so many blows I don't think.

[Kat]

Any input on the "handed-ness" in that video is welcome!
Thanks!

[Yooper]

I saw the video, and the attack is indeed initiated with the left hand. The hoe, or whatever the implement, is held crosswise to the front of the attacker. It is more or less pushed at the victim with the left hand, using the right hand as a fulcrum. The method would produce very little velocity and very little momentum, relying solely on the weight of the head of the implement and the brute strength of the user to push it through the target. The length of swing is limited to the reach of the left arm and the velocity is constant, no acceleration as with a whipping motion produced swinging a hatchet one-handed.

This is a very inefficient method for using a long handled implement, the weight of the head must be propelled forward, while the weight of the rest of the handle beneath the right hand must also be propelled backward by the same force. In fact, it would be more efficient to pull backward with the right hand as the left hand is pushed forward because this would effectively double the force. While I have no data available, I imagine it would take a fair amount of upper body mass to drive a hatchet head through bone using a pushing motion.

I wonder how closely a coconut might approximate a human skull with respect to hardness or toughness? When we consider that a relatively hard object, a human skull, was further cushioned to some degree by a pillow/afghan/coat(?)/sofa arm, it probably took a fair amount of momentum to penetrate. I don't think I could push a hatchet or an axe through a cushioned coconut, and I am by no means a small person.

The blood spatter resulting from an attack as represented in the video might well be entirely forward and backward, no approximation of an arc at all. The velocity is constant, so all of the dynamics occur at the termination of the swing in each direction with respect to time, as the direction changes from front to back and vice versa.

I had questioned whether Andrew's murderer might have been left handed, but the crosswise component of the swing would probably have blood spatter on the dining room door frame and the mantle or fireplace as a result, unless the murderer stood near the southwest corner of the sofa and at an angle to it.

[Kat]

Thanks so far you guys for input on that video.
Being right-handed, I know I can't imagine the *normality* of having left hand dominate, nor how to approach an attack that way.
I couldn't even tell for sure if that was a left-handed attack.
I bet the players thought Lizzie was that way.

[Shelley]

I recall Dr. Draper's letter saying the assailant was right-handed- and I wonder if there is any more evidence or testimony saying this was so. Today left-handedness is not much of an issue-teachers are not trying to make left-handed students suffer by making them try to write with their right hand. I suspect nobody today pays any attention to it. But in Lizzie's day, there was a certain stigma attached to being different in this regard and it was usually remarked upon. I feel certain that had Lizzie been left-handed, someone would have noted that fact.

And Yooper- you just must come to FR to help in the spatter experiments!

[Shelley]

Regarding the cocoanut- the area of greatest damage on Andrew's face is the left "temple" and orbit for the eyeball where the skull is at its thinnest, and to the cartilege of the nose. With a very sharp intrument- this would not have required as much effort as the attack on the lower right quadrant of Abby's skull. A wedge had actually been sliced right out of her skull, which would indicate to me that this was a very sharp weapon indeed. Okay- let's give the cocoanut a try!

[Nadzieja]

Shelley, thank you for all your hard work, those pictures really give you something to think about. When I read about your experiments they sounded so interesting. Are you planning on video taping them? I was thinking about right hand v/s left hand. Also what about the weight of the hatchet? What I know about hatchets==you might fill up a thimble. Also I never saw a match safe. I couldn't figure it out until I read the description. I know they had kerosene lamps, how long before 1892 was electricity and gas available for lighting? Shelley, you should work in the forensic field. I was amazed at what you actually had to think about even before you start. Hopefully you will get to do it and post the results.

[Shelley]

Thanks! Yes, we plan to tape some of these things in the near future as well as re-create the spatter pattern in the guest room and sitting room. A guest this weekend actually suggested this should be permanently recreated on the walls and moldings and doors.

I will have to check the records to find the date in FR when electricity became available to customers- maybe Harry knows off the bat? I'm an old dog to think of another career, although textile forensics is high on my list of things I dearly wish I had done.

The great thing is that anyone, anywhere can repeat many of these experiments. Coming to Fall River to the actual crime scene is a real plus of course, but armchair detectives, with some careful reading of documents can reproduce some of the findings, time various actions and get some hands on practice from which to draw some conclusions. So get that cocoanut and hatchet and go for it!

I am going to try and scan some of my blood-stained blue-figured calico patterns to see if they will post. Of course the scanner is so bright, I am afraid the results will be unnatural- maybe I will try to duplicate the light level and just do regular camera photography instead of scanning the swatches directly. . By the way, that back hall at the Borden house which leads into the kitchen and goes by the basement door from the side door is quite dark and narrow.

[Shelley]

Of course the outside canopy over the side door stairs which exits now did not exist in 1892 so a little more light would have come in that side door, and the sink room opened up to the left side of this hall- still this morning shot taken last August shows how narrow and dark that hallway is, and is the place Bridget and Mrs. Churchill first saw Lizzie and her dress. The green wooden panel door to the left is the exterior door which is open here just as Bridget said, with the screen door (unseen here) being latched. A flash is also used in this photo. I would bet the lathing strip on the wall where the aprons are hanging is original, and possibly the beadboard wainscotting which goes all the way up the back staircase to the second floor.

[Nadzieja]

Shelley, Where did you learn so much about taking pictures? Wow!! I did go to the crime scene in Dec. My niece was here from Tx and she wanted to see it. I haven't thought about it in many years so we took a trip out. Ever since then, actually being in the house is when I got hooked. I've been looking at the forum, and doing some reading etc.... I don't think she realized what she started, but I must say it has been most interesting. Keep those result coming, especially that experiment. For some reason I'm now hooked on forensic shows and I am amazed at how they find out things that actually happened.

[Shelley]

Every single photo posted here was taken with a Fujifilm disposable camera- I am pretty handy, however with Photoshop! As far as angles, I just put myself in the place of the person doing the action and let the camera be their "eyes". I do have a digital now and hope for better results.

[Harry]

... I will have to check the records to find the date in FR when electricity became available to customers- maybe Harry knows off the bat? I'm an old dog to think of another career, although textile forensics is high on my list of things I dearly wish I had done.
...

The FR Electric Co. started in 1893 according to this article in the Keeley library. It doesn't mention when it was generally available to homes. I think electric was available before that though. Electric street cars were introduced in FR in 1892 and I read somewhere that the Wilbur House had an electric pole in front of it at the time of the murders.

http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/edison.pdf

As a side note, Knowlton was once a director on the board of the Edison Electric Light Co. - way to go Hosea!

[Nadzieja]

Harry, thanks so much for sending that interesting article. I find it amazing that thomas Edison signed the original paperwork. It's quite fascinating to read the old newspapers to see what was going on around that time. Thanks again for taking the time to post it.

[Fargo]

How about the view that Andrew Jennings had as he peeked throught the closet door at the bottom of the front staircase as we see in the picture of with the closet door barely opened and Andrew inside.

[Shelley]

It is not much of a view. If you can bear being inside this closet more than 5 minutes, the great view you get is of the parlor door. You can however hear anyone coming downstairs. Also, the little swivel lock could be turned at any moment by someone outside, and then you would get properly stuck inside the closet. There was a carpet sweeper and dining room table leaves inside on the day of the murder. Any murderer who chose that place to hide out must have been desperate, straddling the table leaves, caressing the carpet sweeper, hooks in your ear, and taking a huge risk of getting locked in. In order to see the staircase right in front while hiding in the closet- the door needs to be open enough to really expose the person hiding inside. On the plus side, you can hear anyone coming in the front door, and see who is in the front hall up to the point of about the radiator at the foot of the staircase.

[Shelley]

A paper Uncle John peering from the hall closet


On the inside of the closet, there is nothing to hold the door cracked- no knob or way to control how wide the door is open.

[RayS]

A paper Uncle John peering from the hall closet
...
On the inside of the closet, there is nothing to hold the door cracked- no knob or way to control how wide the door is open.

As I remember it, that latch on the inside of the door could have a lever that unlocked the latch so it could be pushed open. That's how I remember my house in the 1940s.

[bobarth]

The angle at which you need to stand to get 86 drops of blood on the wallpaper over the head and 43 drops on the picture frame. This was a revelation, tried recently with water on a hatchet blade. One has to stand out of the diningroom doorway over the sofa head slightly and angled diagonally somewhat from that diningroom door frame . Standing entirely inside the doorway and totally parallel to the wall over the sofa will not get the spatter results on the sofa wall. In order to get a lot of liquid on the ceiling, one must bring the blade up from the sofa head and snap back over the shoulder of the chopping hand with some energy, ditto the door to the parlor. Based on this observation, it would seem that the hatchet did not swing high up and down repeatedly. Bobbie- we will repeat this when you come!

Received this email from a friend who is trying to help me on blood splatter. He is also a silent member on the forum and I do have his permission to post his email. There are some cool links and thought I would share. Thanks Darcy!!!

Okay, I know I've been running behind on getting the serology dummy you requested. But trying to get one donated is a bigger pain in the a$% than I expected. Here are a few sites on blood splatter investigation(serology), that will give you a step by step explanation on how to study and understand blood splatter evidence. Hope this helps you and the group. I'll keep looking for a dummy, but it's not looking good. If I happen to get lucky, I'll send it directly to Lizzi'es house, hopefully in time for the trip. Hope your feeling better.

Dar


http://www.bloodspatter.com/BPATutorial.htm

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicin ... patter.htm

http://www.bergen.org/EST/Year5/blood.htm

http://www.safetysource.com/vendorcateg ... =547&uid=0

[Susan]

Thanks for the links, Bobbi. I recall off the top of my head, will have to check on it, that the blood droplets on the wall behind the sofa that Andrew was killed on were pear shaped, fat end towards his head, smaller end towards the kitchen door. From the info I read, it sounds like Shelley's experiment, cast off drops.

[bobarth]

Pear Shaped That is priceless.
I know nothing about blood splatter and am trying to at least learn the basics. Would be nice to know where the killer stood and if Andrew was laying down and it is just plain fun to experiment.

[Susan]

Yes, Page 379 of the Preliminary, Volume 5, Dr. Edward S. Wood's testimony. Though I checked and he seems to feel that the smaller end of the pear would be towards the point where the blood came from and the heavier end further away, if I understand what he said correctly. I know, this murder is just chock full of pears!

[Fargo]

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but in the crime scene photo of the sitting room with the couch removed, if you zoom in on the small part of the dinning room that is shown, it looks like the edge of a table and the arm of a chair at the same height and places where you would expect to find them.