NOT GUILTY
A Verdict Which Makes Lizzie Borden Again a Free Woman
New Bedford, June 20 - Court came in at 9 o'clock this morning, the jury was polled and District Attorney KNOWLTON picked up the thread of his argument where he dropped it last night. He congratulated the jury upon the nearing of the end. Counsel, who opened the case for the defense, said motive was a part of the government's case, but the speaker said this was not so; although the consideration of motive was weight in elueidating(?) the facts in the case. "Motives," he said, "are neither inadequate nor even tolerable when considered in connection with a crime. The motives of mankind are as inscrutable as are the ways of divine Providence. It does afford satisfaction to our reasoning to have discovered that there were unfortunate conditions in that family from which we can suspect even the malice existing. I have called your attention to the way in which they live under the same roof.
It impresses me deeply, as I am sure it did you. The malice was all before the fact, the wickedness, the ingratitude had gone on under that roof for many, many months. Because the lips of those who do know are sealed in death, we don't know but that some new phase had come up in the family life, adding to the feeling of malice and jealousy existing in this woman. No suggestion could be made by that poor man as in favor of his wife, but would fan the flames into unquenchable fire. There may be that in this case which shows that Lizzie Andrew BORDEN did not plan to kill her father, and I hope so. But it was not Lizzie Andrew BORDEN who came down those stairs to meet her father, but a murderess, transformed from the ties of affection to the most consummate cruelty ever known. She came down to meet that stern old man who loved his daughter, but who also loved his wife, and the one man above all who would know who had killed his wife, and when she came down stairs she came to meet Nemesis. He knew too much of the family relations, and she didn't dare to let him live. When she came down stairs it was her father she met, but it was also the husband of the step-mother, whom she hated. There was no escape from the crime but to complete the bloody work. This second murder was not planned, but was done as a wicked and fearful necessity, and I say this to relieve my mind of the dreadful feeling that there is a deliberate parricade in the world.
"Bridget was doing her work at the house and the old man was taking the last walk of his life. We found him moving slowly about the city, stopping in various places of business and finally he turned into the yard of the house where his wife lay dead. He went around to the side door and found it locked; went to the front door and tried to use his key but couldn't and was let in by Bridget. He came into the house, sat down and then came Lizzie from the very place where his wife lay dead and then told him a falsehood about his wife. Where was the step-mother? She knew.
"That would keep the old man silent for a moment, but not long. Then Bridget came into the dining-room to wash the windows there and the old man, after paying a visit to his room, came into the sitting room again, and Lizzie, with the spirit of Judas kissing his master, suggests that he lay down to take a rest. She tells Bridget that if she goes down town to lock up the door as she might go out herself. Then Bridget goes upstairs to get her rest and Lizzie goes on ironing, alone with her victim. In less than twenty minutes she calls her servant down and tells her that her father is killed. She had a good fire to iron her clothes with and tells have the evidence to prove it, for Officer HARRINGTON tells us that at 12:30 o'clock there were living embers in that stove and we know that if there was fire there then there was a better one earlier in the day when she was ironing. Why did she stop? There were only a few handkerchiefs to iron, but for all the time she was at work there, there were but few of them ready to lay away for use. And there was nobody who came to that house after the tragedy but asked this woman where she was when it happened; it began with Bridget and ran through all her friends. Her story was not consistent with the facts. Dr. BOWEN asked: ‘Where have you been.' One pregnant question Mrs. CHURCHILL asked, and received a similar answer as to being away from the house. Miss RUSSELL, her friend, asked the same thing, and again came the outdoor story. And when John FLEET went to her room he went there to get her story in the interest of justice; in order to make up his mind as to what course to pursue; he had no more idea of her being implicated than that his chief was; and in that room was the Rev. Mr. BUCK and he heard every word of the conversation between Mr. FLEET and Miss BORDEN, and don't you suppose that if there was anything wrong in the story we should have heard of it? But they come here with the cowardly suggestion that this woman could not tell the truth because she had been drugged. (Here counsel read the evidence of the talk between FLEET and Lizzie upon the first meeting in the house).
"We must judge all facts and circumstances as they appear to our common sense, and, tried by that standard, I assert that that story is simply absurd and not within the bounds of reasonable possibilities. It was one of the very hottest days in the hottest summer we have ever known, and you are asked to believe that she left her work at the ironing board and went up into that hot barn. You were there in that barn and you know what it is even on a cool June day when some kind friend had opened the doors and windows so that you should not be suffocated, but that is not all on Saturday night the mayor of that city and City Marshal HILLIARD heard the story again, but with a variation; to the one she said she went there for lead; to the other that she went for iron. It may be that she went for both, but why couldn't they have brought us up the screen that needed fixing, or show us the fish lines on which those sinkers were to go. Show us something which would help out the alibi? She told Officer HARRINGTON that she could not hear any noise because she was in the loft.
"This was the only place, the hottest, about where she could get and not hear anything. In all your observation have you ever heard of an attempt to create an alibi which was more strange than the circumstances of this one? That barn alibi will not stand and we leave her nearer her victim, and come back and find her father dead and a story on her lips which has no vestige of truth in it."
When Mr. RUBINSKI saw this woman is so entirely indistinct that I shall spend little time on it, for he is a discarded witness. He told MULALLY and he told WILKINSON and he told others, and yet when the first hearing came off he was not called because he had not had things patched up then. Has the effort to draw a line from the street to the barn door any connection with the RUBINSKI story? You saw that there was no line of sight there and we know now that this was after all, a flash in the pan. RUBINSKI was going down the street rapidly and not looking about for customers, for his cart was empty, but it isn't charged here that she did not go to the barn, but what is charged is that her statement of going up into the barn is absolutely beyond human credence. That barn was old and dusty; its use had ceased; it had become a depository of rubbish, and dust had settled upon it. Among the keen-eyed men who first went there was Medley and he seemed to keep his wits about him. He and the woman in the deck were the only ones who appeared to do it. MEDLEY, with a desire to clinch or verify every fact, after hearing her story, went to the barn and looked about it to see if anything had been disturbed. There is not a man on this jury who will believe a man can go on that stand and deliberately perjure himself as against that woman. That story of MEDLEY'S was correct. All the assault on MEDLEY is an attempt to contradict him about time. This is but another nail in the coffin in which we are compelled to lay away the dead and blasted remains of that attempted alibi.
"Something has been said about the demeanor of this woman; but I agree with my learned brother on this point to a large extent. It has been said she had a presentiment, but those things never come in real life; they do in stories; you only think of it afterwards. Lizzie said she came down stairs, and found the body of her father; she could not know the murderer had escaped, and yet she never left that house, but stood there inside the screen door and calmly summoned her friend, and the only sign of an indication of the peril she was in was the sending of Bridget down to the very friend she had so dolefully talked with the night before. And this thing was found out by accident. Mrs. CHURCHILL came home from an errand and was only summoned by the attitude of Lizzie. I don't care to refer to the visit to the cellar at length; all the use I intend to make of that visit is to emphasize the nerve of this woman, who was not afraid to go about that house and cellar. Why she is the woman who told Mrs. REAGAN at the egg episode that this was the first time she had ever failed in anything. Talk about this woman's lack of nerve; that she was physically unable to do it. How could she have avoided getting blood on her clothes? Easily. In the solitude of that house, with ample fire in the stove, with the ample wit of a woman, nobody has suggested any reason why all this could not have been hidden from view. This as to the first murder, but as to the second, the question is more difficult to answer. You cannot answer, for you are neither women nor murderers. But one of the pregnant facts is that the officers were fooled with that garment which lies before us, when they asked for the dress which she wore that morning. Now this dress is a silk dress. Do you think she would wear such a dress ironing or at work in the kitchen? Among the witnesses for the defense there is not one who ever saw her use this dress in the morning, and she never did. She never wore the Bedford cord dress afterwards. We have evidence of the character of the search made in that house; the first search was merely perfunctory, which goes through and don't see what it ought not to see. But there was in that house somewhere a Bedford cord dress stained with paint, and a dress, which stained as it was, was good enough to wear for a morning dress, and when the officers came there Friday where was that dressed stained with paint? Emma alone knew where it was. FLEET and SEAVER could not find it, and they were looking for things on that day. They are not critical observers of dresses. I grant you, but these two men would have seen this dress if it was to be seen. Where was the dress, the cheap dress which Mrs. RAYMOND made and which Mrs. CHURCHILL saw on the prisoner that morning? It was the dress with paint on it, and that dress was concealed on the morning of the search. In that stove which had been used for heating irons there had been found a roll of paper. What did that mean? I can conceive that paper would be an excellent thing to protect the body from flying blood. But it is not our purpose to tell how she concealed the blood. Did it ever occur to you that the coat which that prudent old man would naturally have hung up was placed under his head? It may have been all right, but I simply call your attention to this. A woman's cunning devised how to cover up that dress. And when the officers went away on Saturday they did not say they were not coming again and the Bedford dress was in the way. While the church bells were ringing did she make way with the Bedford cord dress?
"Emma told her she had better destroy that dress and Lizzie said she would. Now see what Alice RUSSELL says, that Emma asked Lizzie what she was going to do and Lizzie answered that she was going to burn up a dress with paint on it. If this is correct, then there was no such talk as that on Saturday night between Emma and Lizzie. You must believe one of the two, Emma or Miss RUSSELL. But you can't believe both of them. Emma says Miss RUSSELL's statement is not true, but you remember how that story was wrenched from Miss RUSSELL'S conscience. It was a singular thing that this dress, after being kept all through these months, was burned on that Sabbath; it was an astonishing think, and Emma could not understand it, and she asked Lizzie what she was going to do. That stern and old Puritan conscience of Alice RUSSELL could not brook telling a lie even to her friend's own detective. ‘Oh Lizzie,' she said, ‘that dress burning business is the worst thing you could have done'‘ and it was; she had been told on Saturday night that she was guilty, and on Sunday she burned the dress. There were two women in that house, Bridget and Lizzie. There is not a single incriminating fact against Bridget, while there are scores against Lizzie; one is poor and friendless; the other high in social position and backed by the best of legal counsel. Suppose it was Bridget who was in Lizzie's place, what would you think. Is there one law for Bridget and another for Lizzie.
"Mrs. REAGAN, the police matron, came on the stand here and told her
story, and I am not willing to dismiss it in so superilious manner as counsel
for the other side, but for the fact that the other side was hurrying and scurrying
about just the moment the event occurred in the matron's room at the police
station.
"It was an ill-advised and unfortunate thing for Mrs. REAGAN to give
that story to Mr. PORTER, but it was done, and I have no doubt that when she
found what harm she was likely to do to this girl, out of the kindness of her
heart, she tried to shield her. And every one of the buzzing, eager crowd of
friends went to Mrs. REAGAN to get her to take it back, but Emma and Lizzie,
who knew, never asked her to take it back. It was not Emma nor Lizzie who said
it was false. Enterprising and officious reporters and friends made her take
it back, but never under oath. The jury can judge as to Mrs. REAGAN'S honesty.
"My friend has been disposed to have some fun over these hatchets, but we do not attempt to connect these hatchets with the case, although we claim the right and the duty to lay before you every particle of evidence in the case. But if the crime was committed by one within the house, the instrument must have been secreted about there somewhere. When the officers went down cellar that afternoon they found there this claw-headed hatchet and all who saw it saw what appeared to be the spots of blood on the handle and blade, and it was their duty to take the hatchet. They found the hatchet covered with what looked like blood, and they paid little attention to the others. It was sent to Professor WOOD for analysis, and he came to the preliminary hearing and said the hatchet was clean and pure so far as human blood is concerned. Had it been charged that this instrument was the one (this four and one-half inch blade that crushed the skulls of the victims, that fact might have been the prisoner's very salvation.
"Then they found a small hatchet head, which showed at first nothing. The evidence of MULALLY and FLEET was a surprise to me, and I did not attempt to reconcile it. But DESMOND was cool enough to think this broken hatchet might have a place in the case, and now it is found that the blade fits exactly into the wounds. Dr. DOLAN and others said the claw-headed hatchet had the appearance of being the very one needed. (Here counsel read descriptions of the broken hatchet as it was found examined.) What did Professor WOOD tell us about this broken piece of wood? That the handle covered with dust had its broken end completely clear of dust; there was not one particle of dust on that end, but in the little crevice where there might have been blood preceding it, was a bit of white dust; it is there now. It has been said that Dr. DOLAN said this claw-headed hatchet was the one used, but he did not say so.
"What he did say was that in the district court he supposed it was, but when the hand of science took up the matter, it was found the hatchet would not fit; it would not go in. We don't say this small hatchet did the business, but we do think the handle was broken off, not accidentally, but to make the least showing of splinters. It has been shown that it had been wet and then rubbed in ashes, and it has been shown that the blade fits almost miraculously into the holes in those skulls. We do not say it was the hatchet, but we say it may well have been the hatchet.
"How clever of that unknown assassin, who knew that Bridget was going up stairs to sleep when she didn't know it herself; that Lizzie was going to the barn when she couldn't have told of it herself; that unknown assassin would never have carried away the hatchet; he would have left it beside the body of his victim. "Gentlemen, if I have not made all the incidents of this case plain, they can't be made plain; all the incidents depend upon facts of which there is no denial whatever. We find this woman was killed at 9:30 o'clock; that she had not an enemy in the world; that the house was guarded day by day; that falsehoods, the very essence of this case, were told by that girl; we find that this girl had considered it best to look after the man who would be the only one to know who did the foul deed above stairs; he had covered up the burglary in the house, but upon this he might not be so close mouthed. And without opening her mouth, except to tell that story of the barn, and even remonstrating with the officers who tried to search her room, we find her in a house where there is a hatchet which could have done the deeds; then we get hatred, malice, falsehood, absurd and impossible alibis, fraud on the officers in the dress matter, and we cap the climax by showing that there was a dress burned which we wanted and they would not give us.
"What's the defense? Nothing, nothing. I say again, nothing. Some dust
thrown in our faces. Some absurd stories about drunken men; of pale and irresolute
men walking the street in broad daylight, and of fighting dogs. Our case is
proven; we can't measure facts, we can't put a yardstick to them, but do they
lead us to the truth? If they do they have done all we can expect of them, give
the prisoner every benefit, and ask yourselves are you satisfied? I submit all
the facts in the case to you with the confidence that you are men of sense;
not to ask you to avenge these deaths or to work for the credit of the commonwealth,
but I put it on higher grounds than this. Let mercy be taken care of; it is
not strange in this commonwealth of Massachusetts; act as you would like to
think of having acted when you stand before the great white throne."
Recess was taken until 1:45 o'clock.
The court came in promptly at 1:45 o'clock, every seat in the room being
occupied. The chief justice then addressed Miss BORDEN by name, telling her
that she now had a voice and could say to the jury what she chose to say. She
arose somewhat agitated and said to the jury:
"I am innocent, but I will leave my case in your hands and in the hands
of my counsel."
"The government claims that you ought to find that these murders were deliberately premeditated. In considering the evidence, you must needs have several legal principles in your mind. One is the presumption of innocence, and this presumption is to be considered in the light of evidence, and it is a principle founded upon that beneficent law which says every man is innocent until he is proven guilty. The character and previous life of the defendant must always be taken into consideration, and I understand the government allows that there is nothing in defendant's past life, previous to arrest, to be doubted. It was not a negative, but in apparently positively good life. Evidence has been introduced to show that she had unpleasant relations in her family. If it is shown that Mrs. BORDEN died first and her father left no will, these two sisters are the heirs at law. Taking all the facts into consideration, is it a fact that there was any motive for Lizzie A. BORDEN to make away with her parents? If you find she was under any actual motive, then you must take this into consideration."
The court further said that in judging wisely, there must be no magnifying or bel-tling, to make anything fit in where it seemingly ought to. Caution was to be observed in taking into consideration the words of Mrs. GIFFORD; remembering that this young woman was not a philosopher, and Mrs. GIFFORD'S testimony must not be detached, but all must be taken into consideration and the general tenor of this woman's life must be looked into.
"Recall the case," the court said: "put one part with another
and see whether you can conceive at this time this defendant had toward her
step-mother a feeling that could be properly called hatred. If this conception
is not warranted by the evidence, then it should not have weight in your mind.
If there is a wrong conception which you start out with, you fill your minds
with what is not right till your verdict is given. The government claims these
acts come under the head of murder in the first degree. The law claims that
in order to prove this, everything claimed must be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt."
"Here the court read from a supreme court decision what constituted
a "reasonable doubt."
‘Continuing, it was stated that the government presents this case on circumstantial
evidence, a legal and not unusual way of presenting such a case. "The chief
difficulty with this kind of evidence is that the witnesses may be false or
mistaken and as in this case, there are generally a large number of witnesses.
But the jury must find whether they are justified in drawing conclusions from
such evidence, and they must use great caution in handling this kind of evidence.
The jury must bear in mind that failure to prove an essential fact would be
fatal to the government's case. If the evidence left the jury in reasonable
doubt as to whether she was where her father was when he was murdered, then
the doubt would be fatal to the government case. It was understood by the court
that the government claimed that an essential fact was embraced in the note
matter; that she had made statements which she knew were false when she was
making them. There are three grounds to base this on; first, the man who wrote
it; second, the man who brought it has not been found and third, there was no
note
The court said the claim was that the defendant had time to think of the matter, if she killed her step-mother, some little time before, she had a period in which to go over the matter in her own mind. What motive had she to invent a story like this? Would not it have been more natural for her to say simply that her step-mother had gone out to make a call? Was it a natural thing for her to say, to invent, when at any time it might be brought against her? It is said no letter was found. -at contemplate the possibility of there being another assassin. Might it not be part of the scheme of the assassin? Might he not have come on her when the note was there at hand, might he not have had reason to remove it as one of the links against him? In circumstantial evidence, unless every link holds good, the chain is worthless."
Here the court gave several illustrations of his meaning. The jury was asked to bear in mind the supposed facts that the defendant had no blood on her clothes when first seen and there was nothing to connect her with the murder so far as outward appearance went. In order to warrant conviction it was not incumbent on the government to show that she alone had the opportunity. Was the defendant in the house when those people were killed? Are the views of the experts correct? Was this defendant capable of doing this work? The government claims that she was not in the barn at the time she says she was and makes other charges which the jury must carefully weigh for its actual weight. The jury was again cautioned against receiving statements for facts.
Calling attention to medical experts' the court seemed inclined to place small reliance upon them as a general thing, and the jury was given to understand that it must give to expert testimony just as much weight as they thought it ought to receive. The commonwealth asked that instructions be given substantially as follows, but the jury must consider whether the instructions called for anything which the government should be allowed. The substance was that there might have been a third party and she must have assisted and encouraged them in the carrying out of the plans for killing of these people, if this were proved this defendant could still be held under this indictment, as in the eyes of the laws one is equally guilty with the other.
The jury was cautioned against noticing in any way the fact that the defendant did not take the stand. The court said the burden of proof is on the government and the defendant is not obliged to shoulder any of it. The jury was not to deal with the evidence in a captious spirit. If not logically guilty you are to say so. The court said it was for the jury to say whether in all the dealings of the defendant with the officers she had sought to oppose them in any way, and that this matter should be carefully examined. The jury was asked to think over carefully whether a person contemplating crime would be likely to tell a friend of it or predict it in any way the very day beforehand. The court asked the jury to say whether it was evil fear or evil premeditation. In the matter of the dress the court asked the jury to say whether they could extract from all the descriptions of the dress enough by which to identify it. The quarrel story the court disposed of in short order and, of course, left it with the jury to say whether it was reasonable to say that such persons were interested in getting Mrs. REAGAN'S story became so without having first ascertained the truth of the matter.
The court said the jury must lift the case above the level of passion into
the clear lines of truth and reason.
At the conclusion of the charge the attorneys consulted a few moments. The
jury was allowed to retire, and counsel agreed upon what exhibits were to be
put into the case, after which they were brought in again, the oath administered
by the clerk of the court and the jury took the case.
Among the exhibits put in were the three hatchets, the bloody handkerchief, photographs of the house, exterior and interior, the blue silk dress, the various pieces of wood, pillow shams, the counterpane, the white skirt and the piece of plastering.
The jury filed into their seats at 4:30 o'clock and were polled. Miss BORDEN
was asked to stand up and the foreman was asked to return the verdict, upon
which he announced:
"Not guilty."
After the verdict had been received the district attorney moved that the
other cases against Miss BORDEN be nolle prossed, and the order of the court
was to that effect.
Chief Justice MASON then gracefully thanked the jury in appreciation of their work and faithful service, and reminded them that the precautions taken with them, which may have seemed irksome at the time, were solely in the interest of justice, a fact which they undoubtedly realized now. The jury was then dismissed and court was adjourned until Monday next, when the regular criminal session will be opened.
The closing scene in the trial was in direct contrast with those which had
preceeded it. Heretofore, all had been decorous and in keeping with the dignity
of the most dignified court in the country. But when the verdict of "not
guilty" was returned, a cheer went up which might have been heard half
a mile away through the open windows and there were no attempt to check it.
The stately justices looked straight ahead at the bare walls. Sheriff WRIGHT
was powerless to wield the gavel which lies ready for his use, and not once
during the tremendous excitement which lasted fully a minute, did he make the
slightest sign of having heard it. He never saw the people rising in their seats
and waving their handkerchiefs in unison with their voices, because his eyes
were full of tears, and were completely blinded for the time. Miss BORDEN'S
head went down upon the rail in front of her and tears came where they had refused
to come for many a long day, as she heard the sweetest words ever poured into
her willing ears, the words
"Not guilty."
Mr. JENNINGS was almost crying and his voice broke as he put his hand out
to Mr. ADAMS who sat next to him and said: "Thank God," while Mr.
ADAMS returned the pressure of the hand and seemed incapable of speech. Governor
ROBINSON turned to the rapidly dissolving jury as they filed out of their seats
and gleamed on them with a fatherly interest in his kindly eye and stood up,
as Mr. KNOWLTON and Mr. MOODY came over to shake hands with the counsel for
the defense.
As soon as possible the room was cleared, although it was a hard task, since everybody wanted to shake hands with Miss BORDEN. When the spectators had finally gone, she was taken to the room of the justices and allowed to recover her composure, with only the eyes of friends upon her, and the caresses of devoted admirers. At the expiration of an hour she was placed in a carriage and driven to the station where she took the train for Fall River, her home no longer, probably, but still the one only objective point for the immediate present.
****
NOT GUILTYNew Bedford, Mass., June 20 - "The court orders that you be discharged and go."
That is the summary of the last words the old state of Massachusetts said to Lizzie BORDEN this afternoon. The suspected witch was in the dock, the fagots had been piled all around her, the cords that were to tie her to the stake were the same that had cut into her flesh and her spirits for ten months; and only an hour before she was set free the hardheaded district attorney was flourishing an unlighted torch before the audience. But it took only an hour for the jury to decide that witches are out of fashion in Massachusetts, and that no one is to be executed there on suspicion and on parrot-like police testimony.
When the jury said "Not guilty" the girl fell as if she was shot. It was more dramatic than anything an actor would have dared to do. If her legs had been moved from under her, she could not have dropped more suddenly. As she fell, tears gushed from hundreds of eyes. After that there was a breaking up of the court room decorum. Yells and cheers burst from the multitude as if it were a political meeting. If the abused, comic opera sheriff rapped for order, no one knew or heeded it. In all probability he did no such thing, for there was only one official of that court who did not feel like cheering, and that was the district attorney. The uproar ceased, and as order began to be restored, it was whispered that two of the three judges had cried like the prisoner. That was the end of the greatest of modern criminal trials, and it left the people where they began; asking one another who killed Mr. and Mrs. BORDEN.
Lizzie BORDEN had cut a great figure in the court room before her acquittal. She had come in showing every bit of the strain of ten months in the custody of the (they left out a line) burners. Her eyes were swollen, and her head was kept down, as if her spirits were very low. In the middle of the proceedings, according to Massachusetts custom, she was called upon to stand up.
"Gentlemen, I am innocent." said she."Lizzie Andrew BORDEN," said the clerk of the court, "stand
up."
She arose unsteadily, with a face as white as marble.
"Gentlemen, have you agreed upon a verdict?" said the clerk to
the jury.
It was so still in the court that the flutter of the women's fans made a
great noise.
"We have," said Foreman RICHARDS boldly.
The prisoner was gripping the rail in front of the dock as if her standing
up depended upon its keeping its place.
"Lizzie Andrew BORDEN," said the clerk, "Hold up your right
hand."
"Jurors, look upon the prisoner. Prisoner. Look upon the foreman."
Every juryman stood up right-about-face, staring at the woman. There was
such a gentle, kindly light beaming in every eye that no one questioned the
verdict that was to be uttered. But God save every woman from the feelings that
Lizzie BORDEN showed in the return look she cast upon that jury. It was what
is pictured as the rolling gaze of a dying person. She seemed not to have the
power to move her eyes directly where she was told to, and they swung all round
her head. They looked at the ceiling; they looked at everything, but they saw
nothing. It was a horrible, a pitiful sight to see her then.
"What say you, Mr. Foreman?" said the gentle old clerk.
"Not guilty," shouted Mr. RICHARDS.
At the words the wretched woman fell quicker than ever an ox fell in the stock yards of Chicago. Her forehead crashed against the heavy walnut rail of the dock so as to shake the reporter of the Sun, who sat next to her, twelve feet away, leaning on the rail. It seemed that she must be stunned, but she was not. Quickly, with an unconscious movement, she flung up both arms and threw them over the rail and pressed them under her face so that it rested on them. What followed was mere mockery, but it was the well-governed order of the court and had to be gone through with.
"You, on your oath, say." the old clerk rattled on, amid the tumult,
"that Lizzie Andrew BORDEN is not guilty."
"We do," answered the foreman.
"So say you, Mr. Foreman?"
"I do." said he.
"So say you, gentlemen?"
"We do," said they all.
"Lizzie Andrew BORDEN," said the clerk, looking in vain at the
empty space where once her face had been. "The court orders that you be
discharged of your indictment and go thereof without bail."
Mr. JENNINGS, overcome as few men are ever seen to be, and trembling like
an aspen, pushed his way to the rail of the dock, thrust one hand between Lizzie
BORDEN's left arm and her face and tried to raise her head. It was more than
he could do. It was like trying to lift so much lead. But she released a hand
and held it out to him and he grasped it and made it red with squeezing. A flutter
of excitement ran among all the women, for the glove was off the woman's hand
and those who had waited a fortnight to see her hand were at last to be gratified.
Mr. KNOWLTON arose and addressed the court:
"There are two indictments," he said, "against the defendant
charging the same crimes in other forms. In view of the verdict and the case
just returned, I desire to now enter a nol pros in the other courts." Then
turning to the counsel of the defense he said:
"I desire to sincerely congratulate you on the result of your labors."
One listened for a quaver in the chief justice's voice, but he spoke only a little unsteadily. The people looked for emotion, because at the words "Not guilty, " every one had seen tears flowing from Judge DEWEY'S eyes, and every one also had seen Judge BLODGETT's face contorted with the violence of his effort to repress his strong emotion.
Thus ended the famous BORDEN trial. The rest of the proceedings constituted Lizzie BORDEN'S levee. When the fatherly ex-governor had raised the woman with his arm about her, she freed herself enough to find her handkerchief and fling it swiftly to and fro across her face, her tear-stained, flaming face. Then all her old friends crowded around her. Mr. HOLMES was the first to press her hand, and Rev. Mr. BUCK, who was weeping, was the next. When she saw the handsome face of Melvin Ohio ADAMS, the famous Boston lawyer, she reached out a hand toward him, but one was not enough for this hearty friends and he took both. Lizzie's sister Emma had no chance to comfort Lizzie or to rejoice with her, for a separate crowd surrounded her and cut her off.
The jurors, still moving like a lot of convicts out for exercise, gathered themselves in a bunch and then, in Indian file, marched down to shake hands with the woman for whom they had done so very much. She gave them a wealth of glad smiles, greeting each of them with a fresh sparkle of her eyes, a warm grasp of hand and a look so grateful and kindly that the heart of every man among them must have been touched.
After that Governor ROBINSON, still supporting his client, led her out of
the court rom and into a near by ante- chamber. He remained with her and so
did Mr. ADAMS, while Mr. JENNINGS held the door and admitted only those to whom
she was indebted for friendship. When she heard that a man who was present represented
the Sun she rose from her chair and gripped the correspondent's hand with as
smart a grasp as ever woman bestowed upon him.
"I thank you," said she, "I thank you very much."
A score of persons crowded in behind the Sun reporter, and when all but her
friends had greeted her and departed there remained with her the lawyers, her
sister Emma, Rev. Mr. BUCK, Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. HOLMES, Mrs. Dr. BOWEN and
her Uncle, MORSE. When Mr. JENNINGS and Mr. ADAMS got ready to go, Lizzie bade
them an affectionate adieu, but when Governor ROBINSON moved as if to follow
them, she begged him please remain with her. He sat down beside her and though
she talked to the others, she kept reaching for his hand or putting her hand
on his knee. Governor ROBINSON was the first man in the world to have come to
her and spoke boldly and confidently of his faith in her and his ability to
secure her freedom. Before he would accept a retainer in her case he said he
would have to talk with her and hear her voice and look into her eye.
Mr. ADAMS and Mr. JENNINGS accompanied him to Taunton jail a mouth or more
ago, and all sat down together. Mr. ROBINSON then asked the others to withdraw.
Said he:
"I have heard your accounts of this case all I want to, now I want to
hear what Miss BORDEN has to say."
He staid in that room alone with her two full hours, and before half that
period was over she had gained the most valuable friend of her lifetime. He
came out and shaking the hands of the other lawyers with his characteristic
heartiness, cried out:
"She is innocent; I am ready to stand by her."
While all her friends were around her in the small room of the court house
this afternoon, she discussed her immediate plans with them. She was going straight
to her room in Fall River with her sister Emma. She had no more doubt about
going home than has a carrier pigeon when it is set free. She was surprised
at the earnest advice she got to keep away from her own house. She was told
that it would be very unpleasant for her to go there. She was warned that a
multitude and perhaps a mob would crowd around the dwelling. She learned with
surprise that possibly some rudeness might be offered her. She would have been
more surprised to know what her friends were holding back, for the truth is,
they feared that even violence might be offered against her or her dwelling.
In Fall River seventy-five in every one hundred persons believe her guilty
to-day. Families are divided there, and the line is drawn between the rich and
poor over her case.
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