112th Anniversary

[Harry]

On Monday, June 5, 1893, 112 years ago to the day, the trial of Lizzie Andrew Borden finally began in New Bedford.

Day one consisted almost entirely of jury selection and by 5:30 p.m. the jury had been selected and Charles I. Richards was appointed foreman by the court.

[Tina-Kate]

That would have been a *long* day. The newspaper reports said it was stifling hot in that courtroom. Many thought the jury selection would take up to a week, but they got it all done in that 1st day. Most fortunate for Lizzie, the jury was selected & sequestered before hearing the news that Jose Correiro had been arrested & charged that day (Mon June 5, 1893) for the Manchester murder. For all the jurors knew, another axe murder had been committed while Lizzie sat in the Taunton jail. Of course, Correiro had not been in the United States when the Bordens were killed, but the jurors would not have heard of that until after her trial was over.

[Liz Crouthers]

Oh I forgot about that I would have posted but It's my mom's birthday

[Kat]

TRecently there was a Hatchet item about the Manchester murder which shows how the jury could very well have known about Jose Correiro's turning himself in.
There was a time gap between the final picking of the jury, and their being sequestered.
It may have been an hour, or a half hour- some time long enough for them to get their stuff together, which probably included family contact.

We should make a timeline as to the events in that murder so it is more obvious to people that the newspapers were full of Correiro and the hunt for him as the Manchester killer up until June 4th/5th.

Thanks Harry! I knew this date sonded familiar!

[Kat]

Here's a snippet. I cut it out of a longer article. It's a very interesting case! Thanks for bringing it up!
(That says it's from The New York Times, dated June 5th. at the top).

[Harry]

I think it was astounding that they were able to select a jury within one day.

From what I have read neither side wanted any young men. The chief justice did all the questioning and counsel for neither side were allowed to ask them anything.

Lizzie herself had to say the word "Challenge" before a prospective juror, who passed the judge's questions, would be excused because of objection by the defense.

There were also no alternate jurors which would have created quite a dilemna if for some reason one or more of them could not continue.

[Kat]

One of them fainted, right?
Was Lizzie in the courtroom then, or had she been excused?