Uncle John Morse

[stargazer]

This may have been brought up before, but was Lizzie deliberately avoiding Uncle John ? If he was going to (maybe) get the farm wouldn't she be very angry about that ? She avoided him the night she came in after having seen Alice Russel, and avoided him at breakfast, too, I believe. Had Mr. Borden left before she came downstairs to breakfast ?

I can picture her in Emmas room watching Uncle John walk away from the house. She did, I think, speak to him after the deed when the police were there, but did she have any contact with him at all after that ?

[Kat]

Lizzie came down Thursday morning and she said she *spoke to them all*- meaning everyone there. Morse had gone tho.
Andrew had not yet left and I think she asked him to mail her letter for her.
We thought maybe she wanted to be sure he went out that morning. He had been ill and maybe he wasn't yet committed to going downtown.

You're right that Lizzie missed seeing Morse that whole trip of his From Wednesday until Thursday near mid-day. He did stay there tho after the murders so it's probable they spoke and interacted - and after her arrest he did bring her food from the house to her jail.
It would be interesting to know if she and he *visited* when he brought her food. Or if she just made him wait.

[stargazer]

Thank you, Kat. I think breakfast is probably one of the most tension filled moments in the day. Yesterday I had a thought that Lizzie and Abby may have had words, and Lizzie was just fuming. If Abby had a soft voice, Bridget would never have heard any exchange. Lizzie may have simply lost all reason, and went for the weapon, checked to see where Bridget was, and then headed up to the guest room. I have to wonder what would have happened if Uncle John stayed home. It would have been awkward, I am sure. Nothing to do but read, and twiddle his thumbs.

[augusta]

I think Lizzie was in her room on Wednesday when Uncle John first arrived. I think she closed her door because the voices downstairs annoyed her.

When she went out to visit Alice Russell Wednesday night, and give her that 'warning' that something bad was gonna happen, she came in the front door. Andrew and John were visiting in the sitting room, I believe, and Andrew had not lit a lamp when it started to get dark. I don't know if he ever did light a lamp in there that night.

When Lizzie came in that night, she went straight to her room and did not peek in to say hello to her uncle. I always thought that was strange. I always thought that she was putting on an act by showing how not-in-cahoots they were. But, who would she be putting on an act for? Bridget was out, not to return till 10.

There is an article in The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook toward the beginning that tells of Uncle John having talked to Lizzie when he came home for that lunch he never got. She didn't seem to have a problem talking to him then.

In testimony, it did come out that Emma and Uncle John corresponded. Lizzie and Uncle John did not. Maybe with her trying to better herself and pull herself up on the social ladder a rung or two, she may have been embarrassed by Morse or disgusted with him. I think I read that he had some eccentricities in his residential town in Iowa. He wore the same shirt until it became too dirty, then threw it away. How many days is 'too dirty'? I think he wore the same suit for like a year.

There is a page of Morse's expenses he was claiming after the trial was over. It's either in Rebello or The Sourcebook. It seems that his bill for laundry was comical.

[Kat]

Actually, the story about Morse's shirt is part of a joke. It comes up when Morse applied for Witness Fees.
Harry has a copy of that story. Maybe he will put that here?

As for Morse's suit~

Rebello has this, pgs.122-3:
"I have never borrowed a dollar of Andrew Borden in my life.' ... A letter from a cashier in an Iowa bank of recent date, shows a handsome balance of Mr. Morse's credit.

Mr. Morse wears a suit of light gray clothes, all he has with him since he has been in the city. There is not a spot apparent on the suit. 'Look at me,' he said, 'as a man of common sense, and say if I could have committed such a horrible butchery and present the appearance I do.'

This last remark shows how keenly the unhappy man feels the injustice that hasty suspicion has done him." Fall River Evening News, Friday, August 5, 1892: 1.

Also, in the Evening Standard there is this about Morse's suit:

Friday August 19, 1892 Page 1

THE FALL RIVER MURDERS.

[subtitle] History of John V. Morse Learned
in Hastings, Ia.
. . . . . .

. . .Even after Morse became comparatively well off there was no laxation in his frugal practices. He would drive to town in an old rattletrap lumber wagon, using a pine board for a seat, when he could just as well have afforded a buggy. He would wear the same suit of clothes everywhere, and on all occasions, and one suit usually lasted him two or three years. Indeed, it is pretty certain that the suit he is now wearing at Fall River is the same one he wore when he left here two years ago.
Only once during the long period of his residence here did he show any inclination to take any comfort in life as he went along. One Winter he electrified everybody who knew him by purchasing a nice new buggy and a new suit of clothes. He suddenly showed a disposition to go into society, and all that Winter he attended parties and such other social gatherings as country and village life afforded.

Looking for a Wife.

It was evident that he was looking for a wife, but no girl seemed to take kindly to the long, lanky, awkward, hard-featured fellow, who dressed like a scarecrow and ate like a cormorant. This was no doubt the reason why when the Winter was over he sold his buggy, laid aside his store clothes and gave up his dream of connubial joy.
[etc]...

[Harry]

Yes, Uncle John was having a little fun with the county treasurer regarding the throwing away of the shirts. This is from the June 23, 1893 Fall River Daily Herald. Rebello (p272) has an abbreviated version of this article.

"Fall River Daily Herald, Friday, June 23, 1893

JOLLYING THE TREASURER.

Uncle Morse Has a Little Fun About
Witness Fees.

County Treasurer Pratt laughingly related the following incident of the closing scenes in the Borden trial to the Taunton Gazette this morning. It was his duty to pay witnesses their fees and among those who came forward was John V. Morse, who is one of those dry, witty fellows one picks up occasionally. Mr. Morse approached the desk of the county treasurer and asked:

“I s’pose I get mileage same as the rest?”
“Certainly! Where did you come from?”
“From Iowa.”
“Ah! and how far is that?” asked the treasurer, looking up in some trepidation as to the funds holding out.
“About 1600 miles.”
“Where were you summoned from?”
“From Fall River.”
“Where do you live?”
“Don't live anywhere about here; just knocking about now.”
“Where do you have your washing done?”
“Don't have any done; when one shirt is soiled I throw it away and buy another.” and there was not a sign of a glint in the joker’s eyes.
“Where have you been stopping recently? Where do you call your home for the present about here?”
“Oh, well, I s'pose South Dartmouth is as near to it as any place.”
“And how far is that?
“About two and one half miles.”
“Well,” said Mr. Pratt, with a big sigh of relief, “I'll allow you three miles,” and the joker took his cash with never a movement of his facial muscles, while Mr. Pratt mopped his brow and greeted the next comer."

[DJ]

Small wonder, then, that Abby "made the [guest room] bed fresh" the a.m. of the Fourth, regardless of Lizzie's alleged visitors.
I wonder whether JVM's B.O. was off the chart, even for his day and time.

[SummerCodSuz]

Agreed DJ and if true, explains why Lizzie would want to avoid him. Would also explain "the girls" desire to move up the hill better if relatives from BOTH sides of thweir family were so miserly.

[Kat]

I always understood this all to be in jest~ Morse's dry sense of humor and he was certainly a talker and possibly a raconteur. He would be found chatting in the Borden yard or chatting in New Bedford or chatting in the hallway at the courthouse.

As a farmer, he wouldn't need more than 1 suit of clothes and that might be Sunday best.

Remember, he only thought to come over to Fall River for possibly part of a day, and at the most 2 days. He thought to have been returning on Saturday to Fall River to finish up business with the farm or with Andrew. He didn't bring anything with him.

Inquest
Morse
102
Q. When you came from New Bedford to Fall River did you have any set time to go back?
A. Not particular, no. I told Mr. Davis I would try to get back the next day. He says you will be gone two days, I guess, I will give you that. I could have gone back the night before at six o’clock or half past.

~~He means go back Wednesday, the 3rd~The same day he came. Morse wasn't sure of how long he'd stay.
I don't know why he would stink?

[Kat]

BTW: Morse may have lived frugally, as he had only himself to please~ but he was not ungenerous. There are newspaper items about how when he died he still held *notes*- or IOU's from people who he did not pressure to pay.