Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1893 — LIZZIE BORDEN IS FREE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LIZZIE BORDEN IS FREE.

The Accused Sinks Insensible When the Verdict Is Announced. Lizzie Borden, charged with the murder of her father and stepmother at Fall River, Mass., has been acquit-

ted in the New Bedford court, and it took the jury just one hour and thirty minutes to reach that conclusion. The trial, from the beginning, has been of unusual interest, and the scene in the .court-room while the jury was being polled ana was announcing its verdict was an impressive one. The court-room was pack-

ed. Restless spectators drew their watches and consulted them, and little knots discussed the probable result of the jurors’ deliberation. Suddenly, amid the hum of conversation, the door through which the jurors must come opened. Perfect quiet reigned. Slowly the jurors filed to their box and resumed the seats they had vacated when retiring. The. clerk broke the silence with the poll of the jury, followed by the customary question as to whether they had agreed upon a verdict. "We have," calmly and clearly came the reply from Foreman Richards. Then followed a few seconds of awful suspense, while the assemblage leaned forward and listened to the next question.

“Gentlemen, what say you? Is the prisoner guilty or not guilty?" “Not guilty." For sixty seconds there was not a sound. Then the crowd of a thousand men and women broke into a cry of joy and approval that told the waiting thousands about the courthouse that Lizzie was a free woman. Lizzie had stood while the foreman spoke. When he had finished she started, stepped forward, put out her arms as if she would throw them about the'neck of Mr. Richards, ar d then sank to the floor lifeless. The multitude swept from the room in a minute, and there were left only the judges, the jury, the lawyers, Lizzie Borden, her sister Emma and uncle, John V. Morse. Restoratives were applied to the unconscious woman. In ten minutes she was restored, but apparently oblivious to any of her surroundings. Thi§ condition continued half an hour, during which the three judges patiently sat in their places and waited. An attending phy-

slclan said the prisoner was capable of taldng part in the forxualities necessary. The judges nodded briefly, and In three minutes Miss Borden was free. Then Chief Justice Mason stepped down from his bench, and,reaching out both hands toward Lizzie Borden, he grasped her right hand and said: “Miss Borden, your trial was a fair one; your acquittal a just verdict. Let me congratulate you." Judges Dewey and Blodgett shook hands with Lizzie. She walked out of the court-room with no deputy sheriff at her side, entered her carriage and was driven to the Old Colony depot, where she took a train for her home at Fall River. Story of the Crime. The murder of Andrew J. Borden and hl» wife, Mrs. Abbie D. Borden, is among the most atrocious crimes In the history of the country. Mr. Borden was a wealthy business man of Fall River, Mass. His first wife, the mother of his two daughters, Lizzie and Emma, died over twenty years ago. and Mr. Borden married again. On the morning of the tragedy, Aug. 4, 1992, there were five persons in the Borden homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Borden, Lizzie, the servant girl, Bridget Sullivan, and Lizzie’s uncle. John V. Morse, a brother of the first Mrs. Borden. Mr. Morse at 9 o’clock parted from Mr. and Mrs. Borden, receiving the parting injunction from the latter: “Be sure, John, and be back for dinner." At 10 o'clock Mr. Borden quitted the house, returning home about 10:30. Bridget Sullivan admitted him by the front door and says that after a few moments Mr. Borden sat down in the sitting-room. A few minutes later Lizzie oame through the sit-ting-room into the dining-room with an ironing board in hands. During this time Maggie did not know where Mrs. Borden was. Lizzie had told her that Mrs. Borden had gone out. At 10:B4 Maggie went up-stairs to lie down and had been there only ten or fifteen minutes when Lizzie called her. She hurried down and Lizzie told her that her father was dead and ordered her to summon Dr. Bowen, who lived within hailing distance of the Borden house. Dr. Borden and two other neighbors. Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Churchill, hurried over to the Borden house and stood speechless over the horribly mutilated body of Mr. Borden. The body lay on a couch in the sitting-room, with eleven gaping wounds in the head through which the blood was oozing. The left side of the face and head was hacked and chopped, the jaw was split open, and one eye rested on the cheek. From the scene of horror the spectators turned, and one of them inquired about Mrs. Borden. "I think I heard her come in," was the reply of Lizzie, and two of the visitors went upstairs to her bedroom.' There, lying face downward on the floor, the body of Mrs. Borden was found. Thirteen deep wounds disfigured her head, and a long out laid open the left oheek bone. She had been hacked as a woodsman would chop a tree. With the exception of what Lizsle Borden herself tells, this is in substance all that is known of the doings of those in the Borden house at the time of the murder. Lizzie was arrested charged with the murder, and has been acquitted.

LIZZIE BORDEN.