Lizzie never showed any emotion

[snokkums]

You know, one of the things that has always troubled me was that Lizzie never showed any emotion thru the trial. Didn't she look kup to her father? Adored him? This brutal murder doesn't seem to be the thing to do to a person you dearly love.


The other thing that astounds me-- and I didn't know this-- Emma and Uncle John V. Morse pointed the finger at the maid, Bridget. I read this in a paper written by a student, and I was wondering how true this is. I have never hear of this.

[Yooper]

I don't recall anything in the primary source material about Emma or Morse suspecting Bridget. The person who should have suspected Bridget was Lizzie, if she was innocent. As it was, Lizzie steered police away from anyone employed by the Bordens as a suspect. Bridget would have needed a motive for the police to take something like that seriously.

Emotion shown during the trial is not a part of the records kept, so newspaper reporting is the only source and that makes it subject to the reporter's interpretation. Andrew may have lost credibility when he purchased a half interest in the Whitehead house for Abby. It might have looked like he was taking sides against his daughters.

[RichardX]

I think Lizzie was guilty, but the lack of emotion does not constitute evidence of that guilt. It would have been something of a 19th Century Yankee trait not to show much emotion. She did have to leave the courtroom on one occasion when the skulls where brought into evidence.

[NancyDrew]

I think she was coached on how to act when the skulls were brought out in the trial...didn't she faint? I find it hard to believe she actually lost consciousness when she didn't even flinch over the hacked up body of her father.

In my opinion, an important point to remember is that Lizzie was on regular doses of morphine. First 1/8th of a grain (8 mgs) then 1/4 of a grain, and we don't know if her doctor increased THAT dosage in the 10 months or so she spent at the women's facility in Taunton. 1/4 grain of morphine would have made her dazed and numb, but she would have developed a tolerance quickly.

[PossumPie]

1/4 grain of Morphine Sulfate is about 16mg. While this is enough to give a numbing pleasurable feeling, it generally won't dull the senses enough to cause someone not to react to a shock. For someone her size, she probably felt drowsy, and slow, but I think her lack of "drama queen" emotional reactions (as we see so many modern people display) was more her personality. I know when I heard of each of my grandparents deaths, I was 'shocked and saddened' inside but had very little outward reaction, except crying in the privacy of my own room.