Homestead on Ferry Street

[Inspector]

Any idea who it may have been who informed Emma and Lizzie that Andrew was thinking of giving them the Ferry Street property besides JVM?

[Lorcan]

I never heard anything that would indicate it was anything other than Andrew deciding it and then telling them. Here is a photo of the house as part of the 3 houses along with a map. Dr. Koorey has an article about the homestead where she details who was living in which of the houses over the years. Maybe we can revive that thread if we find it.

[Lorcan]

My memory was off, it was an article on the Fall River Historical Society website:

https://fallriverhistorical.org/online- ... ni-koorey/

[Inspector]

Thanks you for the photos,
Emma testified that someone told her and Lizzie that Andrew was thinking of giving it to them, and they should ask.
Emma denied it was their idea to ask for it before they were informed by this mystery informant, but I just assumed it was John Morse even though we may not know.

[camgarsky4]

I don't recall Emma making those statements. I was only aware that an unnamed person told them about the Fourth St. transaction.

Would you mind posting Emma's testimony? Gracias!
--------------------------

Ferry Street is one of my 'stronger suits' with the case. Let me know if you have any questions about it or the surrounding neighborhood.

[Lorcan]

From the Inquest:

2374 Hosea Knowlton Can you tell me the cause of the lack of cordiality between you and your mother, or was it not any specific thing?
2375 Emma Borden Well, we felt that she was not interested in us, and at one time father gave her some property, and we felt that we ought to have some too; and he afterwards gave us some.
2376 Hosea Knowlton That, however, did not heal the breach, whatever breach there was? The giving the property to you did not entirely heal the feeling?
2377 Emma Borden No Sir.
2378 Hosea Knowlton That was sometime ago?
2379 Emma Borden Yes Sir, sometime ago.
2380 Hosea Knowlton How long after he gave the property that he did give to your step mother, was it before he gave some property to you and Lizzie?
2381 Emma Borden Well, not very long.
2382 Hosea Knowlton He did it because you and Lizzie claimed that he ought to do it, I suppose? That is, you put in a claim that he should do it?
2383 Emma Borden No Sir we did not.
2384 Hosea Knowlton How then, did he happen to?
2385 Emma Borden A friend came to us, and told us that they heard him say that he thought of giving us the homestead on Ferry street, and advised us to ask for it.
2386 Hosea Knowlton How often has Mr. Morse been in the habit of coming to the house?
2387 Emma Borden Just as it happened.
2388 Hosea Knowlton That is sometimes oftener, and sometimes not so often?
2389 Emma Borden Yes Sir.
2390 Hosea Knowlton That is since he has been here this time?
2391 Emma Borden Yes Sir.
2392 Hosea Knowlton It was not an unusual thing for him to come and spend the night?
2393 Emma Borden O, no Sir.
2394 Hosea Knowlton Did you know he was coming here this last time?
2395 Emma Borden No Sir.
2396 Hosea Knowlton Did he ever write to any members of the family?
2397 Emma Borden He wrote to me, and I think to father.
2398 Hosea Knowlton A regular correspondence?
2399 Emma Borden No.
2400 Hosea Knowlton More than once a year, I mean before he came East?
2401 Emma Borden O, I corresponded with him regularly when he was West.
2402 Hosea Knowlton He was enough of an Uncle then to be a correspondent?
2403 Emma Borden He is a very dear Uncle of ours, of mine.
2404 Hosea Knowlton You corresponded with him regularly?
2405 Emma Borden Yes Sir.

[camgarsky4]

Thanks for posting the testimony!

Interesting that Knowlton's very next question after Emma mentions someone told them about Ferry St, involves Morse. I think Knowlton had the same suspicion we do. Sure seems like Morse might have a touch of 'big mouthitis'.

It was seven months between the Fourth St. and Ferry St. transactions. Depending how long before the sisters were aware of Fourth St., that could have felt like a really long time.

[Inspector]

Thanks for the fast data retrieval Lorcan. I can’t even seem to get the preliminary hearing or any other testimony besides the witness statements to copy and paste.

[camgarsky4]

Inspector - For Trial testimony, I 'snip' and paste if it's a relatively short verse you are adding to a post. Similar to how you add an illustration.

[Lorcan]

When I post the complete Q&A in a single file for the Inquest, Preliminary Hearing, and Trial, I'll try both a google doc and a google sheet then if she wants to, Dr. Koorey can post them on her site. Keep in mind, I do have to make some minor punctuation changes and there is always the possibility I will have made some mistake while doing the cleanup, but it will get us 99% there to having a clean copy that each person can modify the 1% as they see fit.

It's only the Q&A, not any of the arguments with the court and opening and closing statements. The reason I'm doing this is I want to use it as a sworn testimony baseline for a claims database where a witness claims a fact, which might have relationships and dependencies on a person, place, and timespan - then I can use that for conflict analysis in a structured way inside the database.

I'm on vacation next week, so maybe I'll be done by about mid-June. For fun, I'll be in a race to see if I finish it first or the Fall River Historical Society opens "Spring 2026."

[Inspector]

Thanks for the. advice. I only use my iPhone unfortunately.
I’ll see if there’s a snip option instead of copy/paste , although it works fine for the WS.
No fun trying to explain what the witnesses said.
Good luck with your endeavors Lorcan. sounds cool.
Don’t forget your photography enhancing.

[Inspector]

Hey, I think y’all helped me. For all testimony except WS, I have to first copy it to my files, then I can paste.
Thanks.

[Inspector]

A test :: copy and share. this is just a test.
From PH
Bridget wasn’t sure if Morse was still there when Lizzie came down.
. Did she eat any breakfast?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Where?
A. In the kitchen.
Q. What?
A. Cookie and coffee.
Q. Are you sure she took any coffee?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. How much, one or two cups?
A. She does not ever take two cups.
Q. Are you sure she took coffee that morning?
A. She said she was to have coffee and cookie for her breakfast.
Q. Do you know she took it?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. You saw her drink it?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Was that after Mr. Morse had gone?
A. I could not tell.
Q. You saw Mr. Morse go?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Do not you know whether she came down before or after Mr. Morse went?
A. I dont know. She ate her breakfast in the kitchen.
Q. If Mr. Morse went, he would have to go out the side door?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. She was in the kitchen eating her breakfast?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. She came down about nine o’clock?
A. I think it was something before nine, by my thinking.
Q. Five minutes of nine?
Page 64
A. I could not tell you.
Q. Whether it was as early as half past eight?
A. I think it was later than that; of course I did not notice the time.
Q. You think it was between half past eight and nine o’clock she came down?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. She came into the kitchen?
A. I could not tell what time it was. She came right into the kitchen.
Q. She said she was going to have a cookie and some coffee for breakfast?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Where did she sit down?
A. By the kitchen table, and this chair was facing.

[camgarsky4]

Nice job!!!