I agree with that observation 100%, I've stated that many times. She wasn't experienced because she had never done it before. As I have stated in the past I think this also explains the incredible overkill as well. In the heat of the moment, an inexperienced killer may panic and would not know how many blows with the hatchet it would take to actually kill someone. Once she had reached the point of no return there was no going back, and she probably just wanted to make good and sure they were dead.Audrey @ Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:12 pm wrote:
My idea is that Lizzie was not an experienced murderer. She may not have known what to expect at all.
1bigsteve Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:12 pm
It's stated by Knowlton that he intended to show that Lizzie had tried unsuccessfully to buy prussic acid on at least one occasion before trying to buy it from Bence on the day before the murders. Unfortunately we never got to hear that evidence. Could she have started the dress after the first failed attempt? Could she have made the dress in case she was forced to take more drastic measures? And after all it didn't have to be perfect, just wearable. That's also an interesting point that she was sewing in her room that morning.Did Lizzie have enough time from the day she couldn't buy cyanide to the morning of the murders to make a "covering?" She said she was up in her room sewing something on something on the morning of the murders. Maybe she was just putting the finishing touches on her "costume?"
I found this in the Witness Statements on page 31:
Fall River August 5, 1892.
In accordance with instructions, I visited New Bedford. I find that Lizzie Borden arrived in that city on Thursday July 21rst, and went to Mrs. Poole's, the mother of a friend, a former schoolmate, living near South Water street. While there she never went out alone, always going in the company of the family, with the exception, that being Saturday morning July 23, when she went on the street to buy a piece of dress goods of some cheap material, being gone about 30 minutes. She went alone and returned alone.