"A man came here this morning . . .

[Harry]

The Witness statements contain many fascinating statements, and due to there being no further follow up, invite speculation.

On page 2, in Assistant Marshal Fleet's notes dated August 4th, he quotes Lizzie as saying:

"... A man came here this morning about 9 o'clock, I think he wanted to hire a store, talked English. I did not see him; heard father shut the door, and think the man went away."

Putting aside who the man was, Fleet's notes say that Lizzie said "heard father shut the door".

Now would a man who wanted to do business with Andrew come to the side door or the front door? I can't imagine him going to the side door. If he went to the front door that would mean Andrew had to unlock it and open it. He would then have to lock it when the man left.

Perhaps Andrew was not familiar with the condition of the front door locks. Lizzie testified it was herself who had charge of locking the front door. There is no record of anyone else leaving or entering by that door after this supposed visitor.

So if Andrew somehow mis-locked the door it would account for his not being able to open the door upon his return.

Just speculating.

[Yooper]

I would think that anyone who installs three locks on a door might tend to be well aware of their condition at any given time. There was an apparent pattern to lock usage at the Borden's. The front door was triple-locked overnight and single-locked during the day. Andrew expected the door to be single-locked when he returned and Bridget let him in, otherwise, why even attempt using the key, why not just knock?

If someone was there at 9:00 and Andrew let him out, he probably would have left the door single-locked for the day.

[Kat]

Oh my gosh! You have the front door open that morning Harry. I forgot about that statement. We had, in the past, been more caught up in who the man was (Clegg?) than the fact that the front door may have been opened that morning.
That changes a lot.
(And maybe the man brought up the newspaper? )

[RayS]

I'm sure your notes and references are correct.
But I do not remember any such thing on the 4th. Maybe the date is wrong and this was the day before?
Uncle John left around 8am (?), then Andy left around 9am, while Abby was still alive.

PS Or maybe this was the Secret Visitor, and he was hidden in that side closet while Andy just pretended to send this person away?

[This is just my speculation, I wasn't there w/ a video camera.]

[Kat]

Morse supposedly left about 8:45 am and Andrew supposedly right around 9 am, yes. Lizzie says he left around 10 am.