Speaker 1: Unsolved mysteries. The Burden case is undoubtedly without parallel in
Speaker 1: the criminal annals of America. It is perhaps the most
Speaker 1: puzzling murder which has occurred anywhere in the whole world.
Speaker 1: The perpetrator of this double murder was saved from the
Speaker 1: gallows by a most extraordinary chain of circumstances, circumstances which
Speaker 1: perhaps would not recur in a thousand years.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: The Borden Place in Paul River, Massachusetts was a house
Speaker 1: of silences, a house of moody, brooding silences brought about
Speaker 1: by pent up hatreds, catty jealousies, niggardly feelings in money matters,
Speaker 1: and two daughters who hated their stepmother, a stepmother who
Speaker 1: hated with equal intensity her two step daughters. Even from
Speaker 1: the outside, the Borden House, where it stood on South
Speaker 1: Main Street, had about it an air of ineffable doom,
Speaker 1: the atmosphere of a place that cursed. It is exactly
Speaker 1: thirty seconds before eleven o'clock on the morning of August
Speaker 1: the fourth bridget, the maid, finished with her morning duties,
Speaker 1: is resting in her room on the third story. Mister
Speaker 1: Borden is lying on the couch in the living room.
Speaker 1: Emma Borden is away from home, and Lizzie, Lizzie Borden
Speaker 1: is standing on the back porch.
Speaker 3: Bridget Bridgie, come here, what's the brother?
Speaker 1: That's Lizzy?
Speaker 2: Go down quick.
Speaker 3: Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him. Still go
Speaker 3: in wick it don't go in, get a doctor. Run
Speaker 3: across the street and get doctor Bowen. Is there anything
Speaker 3: wrong living? Missus Churchill? Summer and it'skill father? Please please
Speaker 3: come over. I'll be over right away.
Speaker 2: Doctor isn't home.
Speaker 3: I left word for him to come this. Lizy, where
Speaker 3: were you when this happened? I was out in the yard.
Speaker 1: I heard a groan, the screen.
Speaker 3: Door was bide open. I came in lively, Lizy, where
Speaker 3: is your father in the living room? Where were you
Speaker 3: a Lizy when this happened? I went to the barn
Speaker 3: to get a piece of iron.
Speaker 1: Where's your mother?
Speaker 3: And I don't know? She had a note to go
Speaker 3: see someone who was sick. It must have been in town,
Speaker 3: but I thought I heard her come in. I don't know,
Speaker 3: but what she may have been killed too. Father must
Speaker 3: have an enemy.
Speaker 1: What'd to hear about your father?
Speaker 3: It's doctor Bowen and he has bought Sir Alan with him. Oh, doctor,
Speaker 3: doctor in the living room.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, I'll stand back. Come on, doc, No,
Speaker 1: no need to examine him to see whether or not
Speaker 1: he's dead. Give me see somebody. How long have you
Speaker 1: been dead? Duck hmm fob ten minutes? Still warm, Lizzie?
Speaker 3: Yes, doctor.
Speaker 1: Where were you when this happened? I was over at
Speaker 1: the barn. Where were you, Bridget in my room upstairs?
Speaker 1: Did you hear anything? No? Were you asleep? No?
Speaker 3: I've just been lying down for a few seconds.
Speaker 1: I listen. Nobody could have killed this man the way
Speaker 1: he's been killed without making some noise a weapon either, officer.
Speaker 1: Let me see your hands, Bridget, that said, turn around?
Speaker 1: Oh nothing there you, miss Lizzie. Let me see your hands. Me. Yes,
Speaker 1: you whoever killed this man must have left them traces,
Speaker 1: and you were the only two people in the house.
Speaker 3: There's no signs of blood on busy, not even inside
Speaker 3: her botts. I've looked, Bidget you go upstairs, see mothers.
Speaker 1: Come in.
Speaker 2: Not alone, miss Lizzy.
Speaker 3: I'm not going up those stairs alone.
Speaker 1: I'll go with you. Oh, doctor, dotor Lizzy. Oh that's
Speaker 1: that's missus Borton yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, I knew something like this would happen.
Speaker 1: Why why I just did? That's all Alan, Yes, doctor cheez.
Speaker 1: Missus Borton's been ginning anyone from one hour to two hours,
Speaker 1: and he's been dead only a few minutes. Yes, on
Speaker 1: every one of you say where you are, I'm going
Speaker 1: to search for the weapon. But neither Officer Allen nor
Speaker 1: any other of the many members of the police force
Speaker 1: ever found the weapon. Missus Church Chill from her window
Speaker 1: across the driveway, saw no one enter or leave the house.
Speaker 1: Missus Borden, the murdered woman weighed nearly two hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: yet no one heard a sound when the murderer failed her.
Speaker 1: Not a sound, not a cry, not a clue, but suspicions. Yes,
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden lay in prison, staring at the whitewashed ceiling,
Speaker 1: hearing again and again the same words, different voices, but
Speaker 1: always the same words. Where were you, Lizzie Borden when
Speaker 1: this happened?
Speaker 3: Where were you, Lizzy Borden when this happened?
Speaker 1: Were you Lizzie Borden when this happened? Where were you,
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden when this happened?
Speaker 3: Where were you Lizzie Borden when this happened?
Speaker 1: Where were you, Lizzy Bordon when this happened? Where were you,
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden when this happened? The Superior cord of New
Speaker 1: Bedford on this day, June the twentieth, now in session,
Speaker 1: Chief Justice Albert Mason presiding. All stand while a Justice.
Speaker 3: Takes his seat.
Speaker 1: Mister Robinson, you may begin your closing appeal to the jury.
Speaker 1: Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the witnesses describe
Speaker 1: the sitting room in which mister Borden was killed. Of
Speaker 1: the walls, the ceiling were splattered with blood. Now, Gentlemen
Speaker 1: of the jury, almost two hours elapsed between the murders.
Speaker 1: At no time was Miss Lizzie Borden out of the
Speaker 1: sight of Bridget the maid or mister Borden before his death,
Speaker 1: or a period of more than twenty minutes. How could
Speaker 1: she cleanse herself of blood stains in that length of time?
Speaker 1: I repeat, how could she cleanse herself of blood stains
Speaker 1: in that length of time? She could not. I remember that,
Speaker 1: according to the state, Lizzie Borden must have killed her
Speaker 1: stepmother about nine thirty, got rid of the weapon, cleansed
Speaker 1: herself and appeared before bridget the Maid before nine forty five. Again,
Speaker 1: she had between ten forty five and eleven o'clock in
Speaker 1: which to kill mister Borden, again disposed of the weapon,
Speaker 1: and again cleanse herself of blood stains. Impossible, Gentlemen of
Speaker 1: the jury. Impossible. Within fifteen minutes of mister Borden's death,
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden was examined by Missus Churchill, who stated that
Speaker 1: there were no bloodstains on Lizzie Borden's person, not even
Speaker 1: inside her bodies. I have finished, I ask that you
Speaker 1: think carefully and seriously upon the evidence presented when you
Speaker 1: return your verdict. The distinct attorney may address the jury too,
Speaker 1: Gentlemen of the jury. The defense contend that Lizzie Borden
Speaker 1: did not have time to cleanse herself after killing her stepmother.
Speaker 1: Now that is something that no one can say. The
Speaker 1: medical testimony cannot and does not specify the exact moment
Speaker 1: at which Missus Borden was struck down, and Lizzie Borden
Speaker 1: may have had ample time in which to rid herself
Speaker 1: of the tell tale bloodstains. In regard to the killing
Speaker 1: of mister Borden, I admit the difficulty. I cannot answer it.
Speaker 1: You cannot answer it. But gentlemen of the jury, Lindsey
Speaker 1: Borden was the only person who could have committed the
Speaker 1: double murders. And so I say to you, gentlemen of
Speaker 1: the jury, as presiding judge in this case, that if
Speaker 1: the state have not proved their case, then you must
Speaker 1: find Pa the prisoner and return a verdict. So you
Speaker 1: may retire to consider your dirty while the jury retire
Speaker 1: to consider their verdict. Consider the case. It is not
Speaker 1: easy to remove bloodstains. Bloodstains can be removed more or
Speaker 1: less easily from the smooth skin of the face, but
Speaker 1: from the hands. No Remember too, that there was no
Speaker 1: bathtub in the Borden home. Do not lose sight of
Speaker 1: the fact that no weapon was found, no burned clothes
Speaker 1: were found, and the murderer must have been literally saturated
Speaker 1: with the victim's blood. Consider too that at any moment,
Speaker 1: Bridget the maid or mister Borden could have walked upstairs
Speaker 1: and discovered the murderer killing Missus Borden. The jury have
Speaker 1: been out almost an hour. It is four point thirty,
Speaker 1: and they file to their places in the jury box.
Speaker 1: Ah the gentlemen of the jury agreed upon a verdict.
Speaker 1: We are your honor, Liziborden, stand up base the jury weigh.
Speaker 1: The jury find the prisoner not guilty. A careful reading,
Speaker 1: without emotion or favor of the trial transcript must convince
Speaker 1: any unprejudiced person that Lizzie Borden did not commit the
Speaker 1: double murder. Since this is an unsolved mystery, any solution
Speaker 1: is necessarily a supposition based, however, upon the known facts.
Speaker 1: A possible solution will be presented after you have heard
Speaker 1: from your sponsor.
Speaker 2: My sister. So as.
Speaker 1: On two occasions previous to the board and murders, the
Speaker 1: Barden home had been robbed of jewelry and money. Straight
Speaker 1: tramps had probably perpetrated the robberies. And remember that these
Speaker 1: gentlemen of the Highway leave secret markings on walls and houses,
Speaker 1: informing their brothers of the road that these houses are
Speaker 1: easy to rob, or perhaps a mark that tells that
Speaker 1: the householder is kindly and that food will be forthcoming.
Speaker 1: It is the morning of the murder, Lizzie.
Speaker 3: Lizzie, Yes, mother, I'm going to clown to visit a
Speaker 3: friend who isn't feeling well. Now, Mother, I'm going to my.
Speaker 1: Room to dress first.
Speaker 2: Have Bridget washed the windows?
Speaker 3: Yes, mother, Bridget Oh, Bridget, Yes, Missus Lizzie, I'm going
Speaker 3: to do some morning. Will you wash the windows?
Speaker 2: Yes, miss Lizzie.
Speaker 1: I've got the water and everything ready.
Speaker 2: Now I'm going right outside.
Speaker 3: Both of the ants high quite as well. I'll go
Speaker 3: over the barn. Get the lead.
Speaker 2: Make these thinkers from a fishing line.
Speaker 1: A tramp hidden in the basement since early morning makes
Speaker 1: his way into the house. This is his opportunity for
Speaker 1: petty theft. The house is empty, he thinks. In the
Speaker 1: upper room, he comes face to face with Missus Borden.
Speaker 1: He silences her one hundred cry with a blow. Annick
Speaker 1: seizes him and he turns to flee. Escape is impossible.
Speaker 1: Lizzie Borden has returned from the barn and tremblingly. The
Speaker 1: murderer hides in the same room where he's victimized dead.
Speaker 1: Here's your father, miss Lily. I'm going out of my
Speaker 1: room for a few minutes.
Speaker 3: Very well, bridget Oh, Hello father, Hello Lizzie, you may
Speaker 3: open me.
Speaker 1: Father, Well, I'm not the same, Lissie. I'll tie I'll
Speaker 1: I'll lie down for Bess.
Speaker 2: On the sofa.
Speaker 3: Now all right, I'm going out to the barn for
Speaker 3: a piece of irons.
Speaker 1: The murderer still hidden in the upper room. Here's the
Speaker 1: door slam. He creeps downstairs to the living room, sees
Speaker 1: mister Borden on the sofa, and, thinking his asleep, tries
Speaker 1: to creep past him. Borden looks up, sees the bloodstained figure,
Speaker 1: but like Missus Borden, he is silenced with a blow.
Speaker 1: Before he can say a word, the back door creaks,
Speaker 1: Lizzie's returning. In a moment, the human tribe will be raised.
Speaker 1: The murderer's only chances to hide in the basement and
Speaker 1: wait for an opportune moment to escape, and so Fall
Speaker 1: River had an unsolved mystery for the police, despite a
Speaker 1: statement that a murderer could have entered the house through
Speaker 1: the basement, didn't even look in the basement till the
Speaker 1: next day, and the murderer had, of course made his
Speaker 1: escape in the dark of the previous night.