Читать книгу Lizzie Didn't Do It; Emma Did! - E. Elaine Watson - Страница 7

It is now about 9:00 a.m. Mr. Borden comes downstairs, puts the key back on the mantel in the sitting room, and leaves the house by the side door. He is going downtown to check on some business details and run some errands. Adelaide B. Churchill, the neighbor on the north side of the Borden property, happens to look out her kitchen window and she sees Mr. Borden outside at this time. He is near the steps at the side of the house and walking toward the front of the property. She watches him turn and walk in the direction of downtown Fall River.

A little after 9:00 a.m. Mrs. Borden leaves the dining room and goes upstairs to the guest room. She wants to dust and tidy up after having John Morse spend the night in the room. During the trial, Lizzie testified in court that her step-mother also did her sewing in the guest room. Mrs. Borden is not seen again alive.

Lizzie begins to iron handkerchiefs in the dining room. While waiting for the flat to get hot enough to iron, she sits down to read a magazine. Bridget is in and out of the dining room. She is shutting the windows both there and in the sitting room so she can wash them. Bridget testified in court that while she was closing windows, she did not see Lizzie or anyone else in the dining room or the sitting room during this time. But Lizzie testified that she herself made “several quick trips upstairs”, so it is possible that is the reason Bridget did not see her in the dining room ironing or reading a magazine. At about 9:15 a.m., after closing the windows, Bridget fills her pail with water and goes outside through the side door to begin washing the windows. Lizzie calls to her from the side door, “Maggie, are you going to wash the windows?” Bridget tells her yes she is, and tells Lizzie she does not need to lock the door…” but you can lock it if you want to; I can get the water in the barn”.

By about 9:30 a.m., Mr. Borden has walked downtown to the Union Savings Bank where he is President. Next he goes to the National Union Bank where he is a stockholder and a depositor. Back at the house, Bridget has started washing the sitting room windows on the south side of the house, on the side where the Kellys live next door. In fact, she stands a few minutes talking to Mrs. Kelly’s girl at the fence. Then she washes the parlor windows on the north side of the house, the two front windows, and the dining room windows. She also makes several trips to the barn to get water without checking to see if Lizzie has locked the side screen door.

Was it during one of Bridget’s trips to the barn that someone unknown entered the house?

It is now close to 9:45 a.m. Mrs. Borden is lying dead on the floor in the upstairs guest bedroom. Bridget testified in court that during all the time she was washing the outside windows, she did not see anyone come to the house. She also said she did not see anyone in the sitting room or in the dining room.

It is around 10:00 a.m. when Mr. Borden arrives at the First National Bank where he is a bank director. His last stop that morning is at the A. J. Borden Building on Main Street, where he talks to some workers there who are doing some remodeling, and then he begins his walk toward home. Bridget finishes her outside washing and goes inside to do the inside of the windows. She lets herself in through the side door (apparently Lizzie had not locked this door after Bridget went outside to do windows) and hooks the screen door after closing it. Next she washes the inside sitting room windows and the window next to the front door. She testified in court that she did not see anyone during this time. The last person she saw was Lizzie at 9:15 when they talked at the back door.