Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I was reviewing Doherty's testimony and just realized how many hours he put in that first day.

He arrived at the Borden house a little after 11:30 Thursday morning and spent most of the day there. That evening he interviewed Bence and was back at the house with him about 8 p.m.

Then, If Doherty was able to go home directly after that, he had time for about 3 hours sleep before returning to Second Street to stand guard from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday morning. So a long twenty four hours with a pretty short turnaround between shifts. (Source: Trial, 602-609)

Something else that struck me was that, although Phil Harrington got to the scene about 40 minutes after Doherty, Doherty says he didn't see him until 4 p.m. I found this interesting just because much has been made of the house being small, or configured in such a way that the residents should have been aware of each other's whereabouts. Yet -- even though the joint filing of their reports indicate Doherty and Harrington were partners -- Doherty appears to have gone almost 4 hours without even noticing Harrington was in the house. (Source: Trial,603)

Well I'm not quite sure where Officer Doherty was when Harrington arrived, but it is entirely possible that the reason he went four hours without seeing him is partly because Harrington was not there for the entire four hour period you've mentioned. In the Witness Statements Harrington first describes a conversation he had with Miss Lizzie in her bedroom, and then states on page 6:

I arrived at the house about 12:15 or 12:20 P.M. The conversation with Lizzie took place about five minutes later.

He then describes talking to Dr. Bowen about the scraps of paper, and trying to fit them together, and then Dr. Bowen throwing them into the stove...then:


In a few minutes Mr. Fleet gave orders to several of the officers to cover the several roads leading out of town. Devine and Garvey he sent to Stafford Road, and I was ordered to cover Bay Street. I told him about Dr. Dolan's orders to me in regard to the milk. He replied "yes, I heard him when he spoke to you, but I will take care of the milk, and you go down to the lower road." I spoke to him about the Ferry Street depot, and he said " that is covered."

When at the foot of William Street I saw two suspicious characters, and brought them to the station. Later when the Marshal had a talk with them, he ordered them locked up.

Officer Leonard and I had a call to the N.B Savings Bank. There we found a Portuguese who was drawing out his full deposit of sixty odd dollars. he could speak English but poorly, so we brought him to the station. Officer Leonard went for an interpreter, and the suspect giving a satisfactory account of himself was allowed to go.

I then went to the Borden barn, where the Marshal gave orders to several officers to search the barn thoroughly, and took part in the work downstairs. It was at this time I made known my suspicions of Miss Lizzie.To the Marshal I said " I don't like that girl." He said "what is that?" I repeated, and further said," under the circumstances she does not act i a manner to suit me; it is strange, to say the least."

When we finished the first floor of the barn, we ascended to the loft....


he talks about searching the cellar, and finding of at hatchet. He was then directed to go along with Officer Doherty to inspect all the yards on Third Street south of Dr. Chagnon's. So alot of the reason he may not have seen him, is because he wasn't there.

Oh, good response. And thanks for the maps!

That was lax of me not to check Harrington's testimony.

I see that Harrington says he arrived at about 12:20 and stayed for twenty minutes or half and hour -- then estimates he was back by 2:30 or 3 o'clock. (Trial,574) So you're right -- there wasn't a four hour overlap at all -- at most it would have been two hours -- and quite possibly less than that.

Wow they got a lot done that day!
Very interesting posts you guys!
Iwonder when the rest of the force returned from Rocky Point?
Why the police didn't *spell* the day-long coppers with well-rested vacationers? Maybe they were drunk at the end of their pleasurable day?