The Evening Standard—Wed., August 10, 1892, Page 1
LIZZIE ON THE RACK.
Sensational Statements from Her
Expected.
She was Not Pressed Hard Yesterday
Officials Say.
Strong Feelings of Police Against
Mr. Jennings and Hanscom.
They are Accused of Attempting
to Build Back Fires.
Mysterious Stranger Story Revived
with New Evidence.
Fall River, Aug. 19, — To-day the interest in the Borden murder cases is centrering around the police station where the inquest is still going on.
Miss Borden was driven to the station in a closed carriage accompanied by her friend, Mrs. Brigham, and City Marshal Hilliard.
She looks much brighter than she has at any time since the day following the tragedy.
She walked firmly across the guard room and her face was without emotion.
She was not as closely followed to-day as yesterday by the crowds.
Prof. Wood, the analyst, reached the station early in company with Medical Examiner Dolan.
Shortly after the inquest was resumed the two men were admitted and were behind closed doors about 20 minutes.
When they reappeared they were followed by a couple of policemen carrying a trunk containing bloody clothing and other evidences of the crime.
The trunks were placed on a carriage.
Prof. Wood shook hands with the medical examiner and jumped into the coupe, directing the driver to go to Bowenville station.
There he took the train for Boston, and the trunk was checked for the same place.
It is now allowed that a great deal of hope is being placed in the accuracy of the analysis and the examination of the blood on the clothing.
A few days ago this was not the case, the poison theory and other clews being talked of as of secondary importance.
The servant girl did not leave her friends last night nor this morning.
An officer who visited her found her in a much happier and more contented frame of mind than yesterday, when she was prostrated with nervousness and grief.
She talks in the most affectionate manner of deceased woman, the stepmother of the girls.
There is a strong feeling current in police circles against Inspector Hanscom and Mr. Jennings’ course for the family.
It is alleged that the former is endeavoring to build back fires to destroy the theories of the police and that they are inspiring clews that will tend to blind the actual facts before and succeeding the murders.
Miss Borden will be put on the rack to-day, and sensational statements are looked for.
Yesterday she was not pressed hard, according to an official statement, and hinted at last night.
The police have become active in the search after evidence, and one or two details in regard to the missing letter said to have been received by Mrs. Borden are again being sought.
District Attorney Knowlton is working under the direction of Attorney-General Pillsbury, and it is said that the form of complaint and probably all warrants will be submitted to him.
Much credit is being given in police circles to the work of Dr. Dolan, who has practically neglected a remunerative practice since he was called on to act officially.
The only complaint against him is that his tongue will not wag to other than official inquisitions
The Mysterious Stranger Again.
That the Standard’s mysterious stranger has an existence, and that, too, in the close vicinity of the Borden homestead as late as half-past ten, moving with apparent intent, on Thursday morning, the 4th of August, within less than ten minutes of the time old Mr. Borden reached home, straight toward the Borden residence, was amply established yesterday afternoon by a fresh witness of unquestioned standing and reputation in the community. Dr. Handy, who resides on Rock street says that about 10 a.m. on Thursday he saw a man standing on Second street a little south of the Borden residence, the man having such a terribly unusual appearance as to attract his attention. The stranger was ghastly white and seemed very much agitated. His eyes were particularly wild. He wore a small black mustache. The doctor could certainly identify the man he observed, as he was so struck by his desperate looking character that he turned around in his carriage and gazed at him for a considerable time. Late last evening the police began to put some credence in this rumor, and it was said that a man answering this description was seen by Officer Hyde about the same time.
Dr. Handy was asked in connection with his statement:
Trusts Mr. Knowlton.
“Do you think they would go so far as to arrest Lizzie Borden?”
“I cannot say about that, but I trust a good deal to District Attorney Knowlton. He is a man of strong common sense. He will not move until he feels sure that he is sustained by the evidence.”
” Well, now, doctor, does it seem probable or reasonable to you as a medical man that either a woman like Lizzie Borden, or an old man of the evident characteristics of Mr. Morse, could possibly commit a double murder like this, and yet maintain their composure and show no mental disturbance whatever within less than 30 minutes after such a horror as that had been committed?”
“No, sir, that would be impossible.”
“The after effects of all that blood; all the horror of those wounds, the paroxysms which led to such a frenzy must show itself under all physical laws in some way on the condition of the perpetrator, however strong the effort to control?”
He replied, “It certainly would. There would be the inevitable reaction.”
“I know Lizzie Borden,” said the doctor; “I know the family well.”
“It was not a family at swords’ points? There was not cherished resentment through 27 years against the stepmother; no skeleton in the closet that would furnish a motive?”
“No, I do not think there was. There was a perfectly natural feeling toward the stepmother. Emma called her Mrs. Borden, but Lizzie, I think, might have called her mother sometimes. You see Mr. Borden was exactly what you have termed him, a puritan; he was not as affectionate a man in his manner as some. He was a hard man, perhaps, in money dealings. I used to ride with him a good deal and suggested to him to get a pair of horses for the girls to go riding. He was a just man and the home was a happy one.”
“There was no indication that there would be any serious trouble over a little money?”
“I don’t think the girl’s would take that much to heart.”
“Now, as to that fence, doctor. What do you think about the impossibility to get over it in a hurry?”
“Well, I think if I had two such murders as those on my conscience I would go over easily. Why, it isn’t so high as that one there (pointing to his own back fence,) and I could go over that. Then, again, talk about no tracks in the dust in the barn. What does that prove? Nothing, nothing at all. Why, my wife will sweep a room in the house so clean that there isn’t a speck of dust in it, and I’ll bet you in an hour it will be covered. Marshal Hilliard talks about no tracks in the dust in the barn chamber. Why, there was plenty of time between the time he searched it and when Lizzie went up there.”
“Did you ever know Lizzie Borden to show any indications of insanity?”
“No, sir.”
“Nor of mental hysteria common to women?”
“Not a bit of it; there was nothing of the kind. Lizzie was not that sort of a girl. Although hysteria is common to the sex, she never showed any signs of it.”
Significance of It.
Now here are two reliable persons, Officer Hyde the and Dr. Handy, both of whom saw this strange man, not counting the Kirouach boy’s story, to which he has persistently adhered. There was a man around that house that morning, a man whose singular appearance and pallor indicated just such a nervous temperament as might be wrought to homicidal frenzy at any moment, and then there is Mrs. Joseph F. Durfee. True, the circumstances she narrates happened several months ago, but she saw a young man, a slim man of 25, certainly not 30, on Mr. Borden’s steps in the evening. He had a gray suit. “What I called pepper and salt,” said Mrs. Durfee, “and he threatened Mr. Borden.” “You have cheated me; I’ll be even with you yet; I’ll fix you yet,” were the words she heard. Revenge has been cherished longer than eight or nine months by such individuals as this man’s type indicates. All four of these witnesses furnished a complete link in a clew which has not yet been successfully followed, but simply set aside in the attempt to convict some member of the family.
Still Further.
And, again, very early that Thursday afternoon a Frenchman picked up a man a few miles out in the country. The man’s face presented such a strange, wild expression that it scared the Canadian. He jumped into the carriage, and, jamming a dollar bill into his hands, demanded that the Frenchman drive him through the woods to a neighboring town. His unwilling driver took him as far as his own house, and there the Frenchman’s wife took such a mistrust of his singular passenger that he returned his dollar and refused to go further with him. The man jumped out and pushed on afoot. This man was very white and pale and so nervous that he could not remain still. It seems a remarkable chain, and it sets people thinking. Nobody can gainsay Dr. Handy’s reputation.