Ms. Townsend

[mikecoolguy]

Hi Ms. Townsend.
See what you've done to me, I've joined a Lizzie Borden group. Are you happy now? I'm not too interested in Lizzie Borden I just want ot find out who people think killed her parents. So will everybody say who they thinked killed Mr. and Mrs. Borden. I personally think that Lizzie did it but I know eveybody has their own opinion.

[Stefani]

Welcome Mikecoolguy. I saw your web site. Are you really into roller coasters? They make me dizzy. I used to like them, but not any more!

To answer your question, yes and no. I go back and forth on this, not sticking to one opinion for a long time. Right now I am in the frame of mind that yes, she did it. All alone. No help or co-conspirators. Ask me tomorrow, and I might change my mind!

[Kat]

So you are a friend of Tracy?! Our very own Tracy!
Welcome!

Right now I am interested in the David Anthony theory [that Lizzie had a boyfriend and he went crazy and killed her parents] and the Jeffery & Fritz theory that William Davis, a butcher and friend of Lizzie's Uncle Morse, did it.
Of course, in that theory Lizzie had to have helped, by letting them in. And cleaning up after. And going to trial for something she didn't do.
Does that make sense?
Would you go to trial for something you didn't do?

[theebmonique]

Hi Mike.

I am still thinking like I told you in class, that I think Lizzie didn't actually swing the axe, but than she and Uncle John conspired to have somone else do the crime. But every now and then I change my mind.

Ms. Townsend

[Harry]

Hey Mike,

I kinda think Lizzie did the deeds by herself and possibly have had some help later getting rid of the hatchet and dress.

However, my mind is still open to change. It will take some new evidence though.

Glad you stopped in to say hello.

[Susan]

Hi Mikecoolguy, right now I'm in my "Lizzie did it" mode, but, as the others have stated, I change my mind from time to time. Then I wonder about motive also, was it just her father's money or was there more to it than that?

[mikecoolguy]

Right now I am interested in the David Anthony theory [that Lizzie had a boyfriend and he went crazy and killed her parents]

I never heard Lizzie had a boyfriend. That's kind of scary. From a movie Townsend showed us in our science class it just focused on Lizzie killing her dad and step mother, I guess there are alot of different motives and people that could have helped her. I doubt that this could have happened but what if it was the crazy neighbor lady?

[Kat]

Which crazy neighbor lady? The one that was a Mrs. Borden who drowned her children in the cistern and committed suicide? That happened at least 20 years before.

The *possible boyfriend* was 10 years younger, if he was her boyfriend. I think if he asked to marry Lizzie and her father said no because he thought he was crazy- he was right!

[theebmonique]

Kat,

I believe Mike is refering to Mrs. Churchill. I described her in class as what I thought of as a kind of nosey neighbor. Am I right Mike ?

[Kat]

She was a Mayor's daughter with a good reputation, as far as I know. Her husband died and she took care of family and I believe maybe 2 boarders. So she did have to work (in the home).

In her second witness statement, page 11, Mrs. Churchill said:
“'Must I, am I obliged to tell you all?' 'Well, if I must, I cant be blamed. O, I wish I had not to do this. I do not like to tell anything of my neighbor; but this is as it is." '

Later she supposedly said she saw something in that house she would tear her tongue out rather than tell. I don't know how accurate that is.

Here is the quote. It implies that Mrs. Churchill yakked after the murders-But- it is hearsay and was written by Edwin McHenry:
W.S., 46
"I also elicited the fact that one George Wiley, a clerk in the Troy Mill is the one who is authority for the statement that Mrs. Churchill made that she (Mrs. Churchill) said, that there was one thing she saw in the house the day of the murder, that she would never repeat, even if they tore her tongue out."

She refused to look at Andrew's body when Dr. Bowen was providing views, saying she had just seen him that morning and she preferred to keep that memory of him.
When she saw the form of Abby under the bed she turned and left, while Bridget went in to gawk.

We should find out more about her.

[Doug]

Hello, Mike. Welcome to Lizzie Borden! I began to read about Lizzie when I was just a little younger than you are now. For a long time I thought Lizzie was innocent and someone else, most likely Bridget Sullivan the Borden maid, was the murderer. Bridget and Lizzie are the only two people known to have been in and around the house during the time of the murders. But the more I learned about the case the more I began to think Lizzie did the killings, though the reason(s) why are not clear. I also think a few people (like her sister Emma; her uncle John Morse; her friend Alice Russell; and perhaps Bridget) helped Lizzie by not telling all they knew or found out about what happened.

[diana]

I've always had a soft spot for Addie Churchill. Her testimonies seem very consistent -- and she sounds like it's very difficult for her to say something uncharitable about anyone.

When I was doing a comparison of her various testimonies I ran across this bit in her trial testimony. I'd never noticed it before.

She is being queried by Moody as to her trip to Hudner's Market just before the murders were discovered.

[Moody] "Did you delay in the shop there after you bought the articles?
A. I asked my brother, who worked there, to send a telephone message for a woman who was at our house."

Does she mean there was a guest at the Churchill house on the morning of the murders? Or is she speaking about one of the lodgers? For some reason, I thought her lodgers were men.

I know this doesn't advance anything -- but I get hung up on silly little details like this all the time.

[theebmonique]

Speaking of those kids in the cistern, did two die and one crawled out, or was in one died and two crawled out ? And...does anyone know the names of those children ?

Tracy...

[Harry]

[Moody] "Did you delay in the shop there after you bought the articles?
A. I asked my brother, who worked there, to send a telephone message for a woman who was at our house."

Diana, that's an intresting quote. It mentions sending a telephone message. That raises the question, was there a phone in Addie's house? We know there was a phone in Gorman's paint store. And the police made a call from a "McDermot's". Where they were I don't know.

There were several women at the Churchill house. This from the Witness statements, page 8, Doherty & Harrington:

"Mrs. Churchill left her house about 11. A. M. and returned between 11.15 and 11.20. While away her mother, Mrs. Buffington, was in the dining room off the kitchen, wheeling to and fro a baby carriage which contained a sick baby; and although the windows were open, she heard no noise.
Mrs. John Gomeley was in her room at No. 90 Second street, window open, heard no noise, saw no one."

Then on page 9:

"Saturday August 6, 1892. Mrs. John Gomeley No. 90 Second street. “Please fix the time”? “About eleven o’clock, I could not say whether it was before or after, first heard of the case from Mrs. Churchill, she ran through house saying, Mr. Borden is murdered.”

[diana]

Oh good! Thanks, Harry. So Mrs. John Gomeley was one of Mrs. Churchill's boarders. Then her room would be on the south side -- next to the Borden's.

Yes, that house was full of women that morning. There was Mrs. Churchill, Mrs. Buffinton, Mrs. Gomeley, and Mrs. Churchill's sister.

And yet, even with the windows open, none of these ladies heard or saw anything unusual.

BTW -- what I took from Mrs. Churchill's testimony was that because there was no phone in the Churchill house, Addie asked her brother to use the phone at Hudner's Market to call someone and leave a message on behalf of "a woman who was at our house" ( Who I'm now thinking was probably her lodger, Mrs. Gomeley.)

[Harry]

Thanks Diana. The more I read that the stranger it gets. This is Addie's trial testimony:

Q. Where did you go to?
A. I went to Mr. T. Hudner's market.
Q. On what street is that?
A. South Main street.
Q. How far from your house?
A. Just a little ways, nearly opposite our house, only a little north.
Q. Nearly opposite your house only on a parallel street?
A. Yes, sir.
--------------------
Q. Did you delay in the shop there after you bought the articles?
A. I asked my brother, who worked there, to send a telephone message for a woman who was at our house.
Q. Had some brief conversation?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then what did you do?
A. I went right home."

As I read this she asked her brother after she bought the articles to phone. And then she says she went right home. She lived only around the corner and I wonder what was was so urgent that she needed to phone.

I checked the January 1998 LBQ, the Lizbits column by Neilson Caplain on the Churchill house. He has the following on page 19:

"She also said that her household consisted of her mother, sister, son and a niece. While the 1892 City Directory does not list these relatives, it does list three people as boarders at that address; a theater manager, a teacher, and a paper hanger. Adelaide's mother, Comfort, resided in the house until she died in 1899."

The house was destroyed by fire June 1, 1961. How unusual, a fire in Fall River.

[diana]

I'm beginning to think that Mrs. Churchill may have been a little reluctant to let people know that she took in lodgers.

At the inquest she says there is only one family living in the house. No mention here of boarders.

At the Prelim., she answers "yes, sir" to a question as to whether she occupies the whole house where she lives. Still no mention of lodgers.

At trial she is asked by Moody if she occupies the whole house and answers in the affirmative.
"Q: And your household consists of whom, Mrs. Churchill?
A: My mother, sister, son, niece, and the man that works for us." [I'm assuming here, as Hoffman does, that this is Thomas Boulds/Bowles]

So it is not until cross-examination by Robinson that there is any indication that the house is shared with paying guests:
Q. Who are the members of your family, first?
A. My immediate family, my mother and sister and her daughter, and my son and the man who works for us.
Q. I mean those that ....
A. Then we let rooms to other people. [Robinson then expresses disinterest in this and focuses on the issue of the rooms facing toward the Borden house.]
Q. You live on the side of your house towards the Borden's?
A. Live all over the house.
Q. Oh, do you? [Again, it would be interesting to hear his tone]
A. Yes.
Q. Well, your living side is on that side?
A. The kitchen and two lodging rooms are on the south side, down stairs.

Now we know she was making a bed in one of the lodger's rooms -- because she said that's where she was when she saw Bridget.

So according to testimony -- Addie, Addie's son, Addie's sister, Addie's mother, Addie's niece, Thomas B. [aka the man who works for us], and Mrs. John Gomeley live in the house. How can we reconcile this with the 1892 census? I guess it's conceivable that Thomas was a paper hanger and Mrs. Gomeley was a teacher -- but how are we going to work in that theater manager. Maybe he was Mr. John Gomeley? That'll work, I guess.

Harry -- as to the phone call -- I think you and I are interpreting this passage a little differently. Am I right in thinking you feel the phone call was to the Churchill house?

I'm taking it to mean that the phone call was not to the house but rather that Mrs. Gomeley needed to get a message to someone -- there was no phone at Churchill's -- so Mrs. Churchill offered to have her brother telephone Mrs. Gomeley's friend from Hudner's.

[Harry]

Harry -- as to the phone call -- I think you and I are interpreting this passage a little differently. Am I right in thinking you feel the phone call was to the Churchill house?

I'm taking it to mean that the phone call was not to the house but rather that Mrs. Gomeley needed to get a message to someone -- there was no phone at Churchill's -- so Mrs. Churchill offered to have her brother telephone Mrs. Gomeley's friend from Hudner's.

Yes, I was thinking the call was to the house. Your interpretation makes more sense. I guess it depends on the meaning of the word "for". Where have I heard that phrasing before?

When I watch the Columbo TV shows I always laugh when he comes back and says "Just one more question." With the Borden case in mind you can fully understand why he does that. Oh, that we had that ability to ask that "one more question" on some of these things. Like you, little things that don't quite fit or are not clear bother me until I can get some sort of understanding of them.

A while back you were after me to read Masterton. I'm up to chapter 10. It's well written and he's got a great sense of humor. Haven't gotten to his theory yet.

[diana]

I'm so excited that you're finally reading Masterton, Harry! He's one of my very favorites.

I was thinking about all those people who lived in the Churchill house -- and how they must have hung on Addie Churchill's every word during the evening meal that August day. I don't see anything that indicates any of them went to the newspapers with their stories. Good on them.

Using "Churchill" to word search the New Bedford Evening Standard articles -- there seem to be only a few items outside of Mrs. Churchill's actual testimony. One report says that she was crying "bitterly" as she sat with Phoebe Bowen just prior to the Preliminary Hearing. Another item identifies her as the sister of City Auditor Buffinton.

And I remember now why I had the impression that Mrs. Churchill's lodgers were men. It came from an item in the New Bedford Evening Standard on Nov. 17, 1892 discussing testimony at the Grand Jury. According to this, Charles Cook, William L. Hacking, George L. Douglass, and Oliver Durling were sitting on Mrs. Churchill's steps at the time of the murder -- and saw no one around the Borden house.

Hoffman (p.117) says these men also testified at the Preliminary Hearing but I can't find any indication that they did. They were not called at trial -- and certainly Mrs. Churchill never made mention of anyone being on her front steps when she left or came back from the market.

[Kat]

Good stuff you guys on Mrs. Churchill.
It's great to have so much in one place.

Diana, do you think the reportage in the papers of the grand jury proceedings was kind of false- made-up-... gossip... that kind of thing? Because it was secret and no one is supposed to talk- and because in the paper there is some odd stuff suposedly coming out of there- like the ton of boiling water which was all gone when Bridget came back down that forenoon?

[Kat]

Knowlton Papers Glossary:

"CHURCHILL, ADELAIDE (BUFFINTON) 1850 - 1926: born in Fall River, Massachusetts, daughter of Hon. Edward P. and Comfort (Taber) Buffinton. She married Charles H. Churchill, an employee of the water department in Fall River, and was widowed in 1879. She resided with her only son, Charles, at 90 Second Street in the Buffinton family home. An active Congregationalist, She was involved in church activities in Fall River until the time of her death. One of the first summoned to the Borden house following the murders, she provided considerable testimony at the inquest as well as the preliminary and final trials."

--ooo they left out all those lodgers Adelaide Churchill was hiding!

Come to think of it- she also didn't yak about that robbery inquiry from the previous year. Alice hadnt heard about it...

[diana]

Diana, do you think the reportage in the papers of the grand jury proceedings was kind of false- made-up-... gossip... that kind of thing?

Yes I do think just that. It's very frustrating not to know what went on -- or even who testified for sure at the Grand Jury. And relying on newspaper reports is definitely not the way to go. The press seemed very aware that they could pretty much say whatever they wanted and remain unchallenged because of the secret nature of the hearing.

[theebmonique]

I want to thank everyone for readjusting my opinion on Mrs. Churchill. I used to think she was just a nosey neighbor, but now because of all of your help, I can't even tell you why I thought that to begin with. When I teach about Lizzie to my students next year, I will be a much more informed teacher. Thank you very much.

Tracy...

[Kat]

Haulover/Eugene called her nosey too. I don't know if it was going 'round at the time on here, or if that is just a certain view of her.
I wonder what the authors said?
Maybe they wrote some stuff on her that had her looking a bit odd?

Personally, I have thought her probably too busy to watch her neighbors.

I wonder if the Bordens ever yelled or screamed at each other? With the windows open?
ReallY.
I bet Lizzie yelled a bit and slammed doors!

[Haulover]

i got this idea when i was writing that last lizzie poem and realized how much mrs. churchill had seen. the reason why is that she lived right next to them -- in fact had a front-row seat to the kitchen door where a lot of coming and going would be seen, and with that door usually open in summer during the day -- a lot would be heard. when i think about what she said -- to the effect: she hated to speak about her neighbors -- must she? my impression is there was a lot to say -- i would guess more than she said.

reminded me of a relative i had about mrs. churchill's age. she was practically addicted to housework, and her main room of the house was the kitchen. over the sink was a large window that gave full view of the neighbor's side yard and driveway -- and a long view of the street. she had a habit of every time she crossed the room she would "check" the window, almost as though she were a lookout--and also there was a clock right over this window, so she checked that too (i guess that could be very symbolic and telling).....anyway, she told me she knew almost every move "they" (the neighbor) made, she knew "when" they did this, did that, etc.--much as mrs. churchill says mr borden was there when he usually went downtown, etc. i remember once she told me she saw such strange sights during the day just by watching the road.

i don't know if mrs. churchill's window was a "temptation to get nosy" or if its physical proximity just made it impossible to not notice. but just notice her comment about mr. borden usually leaving at a certain time -- that must mean either that her habits are coinciding with his in an observable way, OR she is in the habit of looking for him at a certain time each day. she probably doesn't even know why she does it, i would guess. when i take that apocryphal line of churchilll's -- that she would tear out her tongue over some horrible thing she saw there -- it would not surprise me because she had such a good view of them.

this is one of my if-onlys. IF ONLY mrs. churchill had got up early and stayed right there at that window until lizzie appeared in the door.

[Harry]

I think Eugene has it just right on Mrs. Churchill. She was somewhat nosy without even realizing it. Not only did she notice Mr. B that morning she also observed Bridget washing the windows.

Standing at my kitchen sink it looks directly across to my neighbors house and I find myself looking out that way when doing the dishes. I think it's a natural thing to do.

What did strike me was Mrs. Gomeley's comment that Addie ran through the house telling everyone about what happened. But then again how often are your neighbors slaughtered with a hatchet?

[lydiapinkham]

Yeah, Har, I think I'd do a Chicken Licken number myself if my neighbor called out, "Oh, do come over. Somebody's just killed Father."

--Lyddie

[bsr88]

Hi! I personally think that Uncle John Moorse killed Andrew and Abby. I believe that Lizzie didn't even touch the murder weapon, but think she was involved with the planning of the attack in some way. At my stay in the inn, I (and the people I was with) had an experience that assures me that John killed both of them, and know a lot more than we were willing to find out. I like rollercoasters, too!

[Kat]

Did you have a seance or use the Ouija Board they have there in the sitting room?


Mrs. Churchill saw Bridget throw water on one window. That leads me to think she was a busy person and didn't loiter. I think she did have a schedule that coincided in part to Andrew's leaving in the mornings.
She sees Andrew but she doesn't stop to watch. She notices Bridget, but just in passing the window. It might be Bridget's movement which caught her eye.
She did know the day the windows were washed.
Also, I keep seeing in my mind's eye how very high that Borden house was, above the ground. Mrs. Churchill may not have seen into any windows at the Borden's unless she was upstairs.
As a woman with family and boarders, she probably did spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but I don't think I recall her kitchen window was in a particulary convenient place to be gazing over at the Borden's.
Inquest
128
A. I went into the house, stepped through to the kitchen, laid my parcels on a bench which runs right across one of the south windows that looks into Mr. Borden’s back yard. At the screen door, standing by the screen door I saw Lizzie as if she was in great distress.
Q. How did she show that?
A. Perhaps she rubbed her head. I knew something was wrong, of course, by the appearance. I opened one of the south windows, one had a screen in and the other did not, I says “what is the matter Lizzie?” She said “O, Mrs. Churchill, do come over, somebody has killed Father.” I went right through the house and went out the front door and went over. When I got there she sat on the second stair which is right at the right of the screen door as you come in, the back stairs.


Inquest
126
Q. Had you seen any of the household, or anybodyelse in the yard?
A. I saw Mr. Borden I should think about nine o’clock, the hour he usually goes down street. I was in my kitchen doing kitchen work. I happened to see him out in the yard.
Q. You saw him going out?
A. Yes, he was going as if he had been out in the yard, out by the barn, coming out around the back steps.
Q. He went out on the street?
A. I dont know. When I looked at him he was standing there by the steps as if he was headed for the street, to the west.
Q. You did not see him go to the street?
A. No Sir, I was tending my work, I did not look after he went by.
Q. Did you see any other member of the household?
A. No Sir. I saw the girl later washing the windows.
Q. How much later was it she was out washing windows?
A. It might have been ten o’clock. I cant tell.
Q. Washing windows on the outside?
A. Yes Sir.


127

Q. How long should you say she was out there, that you saw her washing windows?
A.. I cant tell. I stepped into my bed room for something, I saw her throwing water up on to the parlor window.
Q. She was washing the parlor window then?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Do you remember how long before that time she had been out washing the windows, whether that same week, or the week before?
A. I dont think she washed windows but once a week, and Thursday was generally the day.
Q. It was the habit to wash the windows once a week?
A. She generally did.
Q. Did you see her wash any other window beside the parlor window?
A. No Sir.
Q. Did you see any other member of the household beside Mr. Borden and the girl?
A. I did not.
Q. You did not see anything of Mr. Morse?
A. No.
Q. Did not see him go away?
A. No.
Q. Nor you did not see Miss Lizzie out in the yard?
A. No Sir.
Q. Or any other person not a member of the household, before the tragedy?
A. No Sir, I did not see anybody pass out there that morning.

[Harry]

Yeah, Har, I think I'd do a Chicken Licken number myself if my neighbor called out, "Oh, do come over. Somebody's just killed Father."
--Lyddie

That's funny Lyddie. "The hatchet's falling, the hatchet's falling ..."

I can't even imagine the chaos on Second Street that morning. Lizzie may have been the only calm and collected person.

[bsr88]

Kat:

Yes, we used the Ouija board that they had in the sitting room. We didn't use it there, but we took upstairs to the Knowlton Room where we stayed. We found out some incredible things, and it seemed like it would keep telling us more and more and more. We were talking to Lizzie about the murders, John, and the murder weapon. When I go back, I hope to use it again to find out some more answers.

[Kat]

How many in your group and how many used the board?
What did it tell you?

[Harry]

So according to testimony -- Addie, Addie's son, Addie's sister, Addie's mother, Addie's niece, Thomas B. [aka the man who works for us], and Mrs. John Gomeley live in the house. How can we reconcile this with the 1892 census? I guess it's conceivable that Thomas was a paper hanger and Mrs. Gomeley was a teacher -- but how are we going to work in that theater manager. Maybe he was Mr. John Gomeley? That'll work, I guess.

I checked the glossary in Knowlton on Mrs. Gomeley:

Gormley, Elizabeth A. (Byrne) 1870 - 1902: born in Providence, Rhode Island, daughter of John and Eliza (Conlon) Byrne. She was married to John H. Gormley, a man who held a variety of occupations during his lifetime. In 1892, they resided at 122 Third Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, he being employed as a saloonkeeper. She died at her home in that city. As she explained to the police in Fall River, she was 'at the home of Mrs. Adelaide B. Churchill when that woman "ran through the house," telling her of what had occurred at the residence of Andrew J. Borden. Summoned as a witness, she was not called upon to testify."

She would have been only 22 at the time of the murders. You have to wonder why she was at the Churchill house.

Now I am more confused than ever as to who lived/ boarded at the Churchill house.

I also found out that Thomas Boulds could neither read nor write.

[diana]

Darn it, Harry! -- I had them all settled in there, too.

I'd even be willing to theorize that maybe Mrs. Churchill answered the door to the person making up the listings for the City Directory and she preferred the term theater manager to saloonkeeper when listing Mr. Gomeley's occupation.

But now Knowlton's glossary contradicts Doherty and Harrington's witness statements as to where Mrs. Gomeley lived ... I wonder what the source for the 122 Third Street address is? The police report is that Mrs. Gomeley was in her room at 90 Second Street on the morning of the murder.

[Kat]

I stumbled onto a Caplain item in his Lizbits section of the January, 1998 issue of the LBQ. He mentions Mrs. Churchill and her house etc. This sounds like what might have given some the impression that Mrs. Churchill was nosey- but I don't think it holds water. One reason is because at the very beginning of his article he claims that
"If the spirit moved her, Adelaide Churchill could look from her house right into the Borden kitchen."

Then he continues, "And, as neighbors do in many a small town, she noted all the goings and comings on the Borden back stairs."

Mrs. Churchill, we have noted, did not notice Morse's arrival or departure, for one big thing. For another, no one really could see into the Borden kitchen, if you think about it. The kitchen itself was in the southeast corner of the lower floor- and the entryway would be long and dark in an age of no electricity.

Anyway, Neilson Caplain goes on to describe Churchill's house yet states it is simply his "own conjecture, hoping that at least a good idea of the appearance of the house is portrayed." This is after explaining that "there are no pictures of the whole front facade of the house..."
He thinks the house was of "a popular style of architecture in Fall River in the mid- 1800's. A few examoples of this type are still standing along the streets in town." (.c. 1998)
This is more believable to me as this man knows Fall River and he is basing some of his conjecture on that "sketch of the neighborhood that appears so often in the Lizzie books."
......

This is my intro into Caplain's info he provides on the residents of Churchill's house in 1892. It sort of qualifies the upcoming transcription:

"She [Mrs. Churchill] also said that her household consisted of her mother, sister, son, and a niece. While the 1892 City Directory does not list these relatives, it does list three people as boarders at that address; a theatre manager, a teacher, and a paper hanger. Adelaide's mother, Comfort, resided in the house until she died in 1899."

[lydiapinkham]

Maybe Mr. Gomely is the man who approached Andrew about locating a saloon in the Borden block. He'd have motive and opportunity if he boarded next door.

--Lyddie

[Kat]

Hi Lyddie!

I think that man who wanted a store for a purpose Lizzie says did not suit Andrew is supposed to have come from out of town, according to her.
However, Andrew was supposedly quoted as saying that he didn't care for a dance hall in his building.

I've wondered about those boarders at Churchill's for a while- if any could be implicated in the crime- or even had something to do with that daylight robbery at the Borden's.

[lydiapinkham]

It is curious that we have no questioning for those other residents--unless their inquest testimony went down the tube with Bridget's.

(I didn't really think he was the prospective boarder;
I suspect he tended the saloon rather than owned it--otherwise he and the wife would probably have had their own home. (Unless they made a greater haul from the Great Borden Robbery than anyone admitted.) But it does make for a bit of idle fun.

--Lyddie