The Evening Standard—Saturday, August 13, 1892 Page 1

VOWED VENGEANCE.

Motive Found for Murder of
Andrew J. Borden.

He Once Caused Conviction of
Sailors for Mutiny.

Men Who Suffered Recently in
Fall River.

Police Think Lizzie Will be Held
for Grand Jury.

Eyes of the Authorities Still on Bridget
Sullivan and Morse.

Lynn, Aug. 13. — The Lynn Item will to-day publish a story stating that Andrew J. Borden of Fall River gave the principal testimony that convicted the ringleaders in the mutiny on the ship Richard J. Borden while on the voyage from a foreign port to this country; that he and his wife were on the vessel; that his testimony in the courts was declared by the sailors to be false and exaggerated, and that the men who suffered by it vowed vengeance against him. Most, if not all, of them have been released, and it is submitted that several of them were in Fall River at the time of the murder.

[The vessel referred to by the Item is undoubtedly the schooner Jefferson Borden.]

Fall River, Aug. 13. — The reaction in the Borden cases has set in and to-day the popular feeling is noticeably quiet.

There is very little violent discussion going on in the streets and what cases were seen were the outgrowth of expressions against the imprisoned girl.

Three days ago it was the peculiar cry that Miss Lizzie was a criminal and should be placed behind prison bars.

To-day although the district attorney and judge have given their opinions on the evidence there are many thoughtful and influential men who believe that the trial will substantiate Miss Borden’s protestations of innocence.

There is now but one policeman at the Borden homestead and he is doing patrol duty in the street to prevent curious people from annoying the family.

The police have recommenced their regular patrol duty, and only three men are hunting up further evidence of the murder.

The city marshal said this morning that he was confident that the evidence to be submitted at the hearing of the 22d inst. would be strong enough to warrant the holding of Miss Borden for the grand jury.

That body will not convene until November, and the time of the special session of the Superior Court that must be held will be decided on afterward.

While direct police surveillance has been removed from Mr. Morse and Miss Sullivan, their whole connection with the case will be gone over by the police again within the next few days, and they will not be far way should the police need them.

There will not be a great many witnesses summoned for the preliminary hearing unless the present plans are changed.

The proceedings will be open to reporters.

The marshal again denies the statements made editorially and otherwise in many Boston papers to the effect that no search was made until after the funeral.

A search was made three times during the afternoon of the day of the murder, and Miss Lizzie’s room was searched thoroughly and other portions of the buildings.

Police inquiry is being made again into the details of a mysterious robbery which took place at the Borden homestead about a year ago.

A ladies watch and several articles of jewelry were taken from a dressing case in one of the upper rooms, and to this day the police have been unable to trace the thief.

Footprints in the Barn.

“Before saying anything about what I saw in the Borden house, I wish to call attention to a point that seems not to have reached the inquest,” said mason Charles H. Bryant.

John Donnelly, the hackman, was among the first to enter the barn, and walked all over the loft. Then up goes Officer Medley and takes a walk around and goes before the coroner with the highly important information that he examined the dust-covered floor of the barn very carefully and could find no tracks, although he said he could easily distinguish his own.

” Now, if he could distinguish his own so easily, why didn’t he find John Donnelly’s, and if he couldn’t find John Donnelly’s heavy prints, how could he expect to find Lizzie Borden’s? The air is full of theories. I’d like to hear a few people explain that.”

Bryant was engaged to break open the chimneys of the Borden house in search of a concealed weapon, was sitting in the Wilbur House soon after noon, and was easily led into telling what he saw and heard and the conclusions he reached.

” I was engaged as an expert, ” said Bryant, and carried out the instructions of the authorities. I do not know Lizzie nor Emma Borden, one from the other, but both were in the house and gave me every assistance. Indeed, if anything, I thought they were over anxious that I should make a complete examination.

Nothing in the Chimneys.

“So far as the chimneys were concerned I saw at a glance that it was useless to tear them open, for I could see through every flue in the house, and I told them so, but still the district attorney told me to go ahead, and I dug into them.

“That finished, I asked Miss Borden if there were any flues in the garret, such as might have been put in for a stove at some time, and she said she did not know, but I had better look. I made a careful examination, but found nothing.

“Then we made inquiries about an alleged cistern said to be in the cellar and the girls said there had been one at some time, but it was an old wooden affair, which had doubtless been filled up—at any rate she had not seen it for a long time. They told us what part of the cellar it had been in, and we pried around there for some time with a crowbar and found nothing.

“During the whole time the girls, as I say, were at our service and expressed every willingness to show us through the house, giving us the keys to all the rooms.

“I was in every room of the house except the front entry and observed things closely all the while. I may say that the house is furnished very plainly—notably so. The ordinary American mechanic with an ordinary salary has his house furnished as well. There was nothing in the house to indicate the wealth of the people who lived there.”

“Did you know Andrew J. Borden?”

Anecdote of Andrew J. Borden.

“Not intimately, but I know he was a close-fisted business man. Here is an incident: As one of the committee of the Knights of Pythias I called upon him to see about leasing his lot on Main and Anawan streets where his big block now stands. He said he could call at the lodge rooms the next night and did so, and without any ado went straight to the business. He said he would lease the lot for a term of 20 or 50 years on a sliding scale of its assessed valuation, asking nothing but 6 per cent on that amount. That struck us as very favorable; then he added as the condition that we build a structure costing not less than $65,000. That was all right. Then he added that at the end of the lease the building should belong to the estate.

“That knocked the whole thing. But you see how careful he was on behalf of his heirs, for he must have been dead at the expiration of the lease by 30 years at least, living his allotted time. We wanted him to provide for the sale to the estate at a figure to be fixed by judges, but he had said his say and would hear to nothing else. This is an incident fairly illustrative of Andrew J. Borden’s character. He is well-known to have been a hard business man, but I do not know that his treatment of his daughters was such as to furnish a possible motive for such a deed as this.”

Charged With Only One Murder.

Lizzie Borden is charged with murder, but not with the murder of her step-mother. Nearly every newspaper which printed an account of the arrest of the young woman made the mistake of charging her with two murders, whereas the prosecution accuses her of committing but one.