Evan Hunter - Lizzie

Antiquated!

... nevertheless becomes her. It is well-brushed hair and greatly aids in rendering her appearance neat and ladylike...

Ah, how kind of you, sir.

This effect is heightened by the shapeliness of her arms, so far as the present style allows them to be seen below the elbows, and by her long, slender, well-gloved hands. Nobody would pick out Lizzie Borden for the fiend incarnate she must be if the indictment at issue here is credible.

She had thought while reading the article that the reporter had appointed himself as judge and jury both, deciding from the cut of her clothes, the configuration of her arms and hands, the style in which she wore her hair, the sensitivity of her nose, and the grossness of her mouth, cheeks and chin whether or not she could possibly be a fiend incarnate.

His words bothered her still.

Today, for the first time since the trial began, she had taken a seat closer to her attorneys, to the left and slightly behind them, within the bar enclosure and removed from the prisoner’s dock where she had previously sat alongside the deputy sheriff. She had come into the courtroom today bearing a small cluster of pansies, the petals of which she now idly touched, perhaps because she was determined to express only attitudes the reporters observing her would consider “entirely graceful and womanly.”

There seemed to be more women among the spectators today than there had been previously. She was not certain how she felt about this. Neither was she certain how she felt about the jury being composed entirely of men, most of them beyond middle age. Aware that she was being studied by reporters, artists, spectators and jury alike, she watched now as the next witness was called, fully cognizant of the fact that her very life was hanging in the balance here in this swelteringly hot courtroom in this small New England town.

“What is your full name, madam?”

“Mrs. Hannah H. Gifford.”

“You live in Fall River, do you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What is your occupation there?”

“I make ladies’ outside garments.”

“That is, by ‘outside’ you mean cloaks? Outside of the dresses?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Had you made cloaks of the ladies of the Borden family?”

“Yes, sir.”

“For how long?”

“Seven or eight years, more or less.”

“Did you do some work for Miss Lizzie Borden in the spring of 1892?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“What did you make for her then?”

“A garment. A sack.”

“Did you at any time have any talk with her about Mrs. Borden, the stepmother?”

“I object to that,” Robinson said.

“She may answer,” Mason said.

“Now, Mrs. Gifford, will you state the talk? What you said, and what she said?”

“I was speaking to her of a garment I had made for Mrs. Borden, and instead of saying ‘Mrs. Borden,’ I said ‘Mother.’ And she says, ‘Don’t say that to me, for she is a mean, good-for-nothing thing.’ I said, ‘Oh, Lizzie, you don’t mean that.’ And she said, ‘Yes, I don’t have much to do with her. I stay in my room most of the time.’ And I said, ‘You come down to your meals, don’t you?’ And she said, ‘Yes, but we don’t eat with them if we can help it.’ And that is all that was said.”

My name is Nathaniel Hathaway, and I reside in New Bedford. I’m an analytical chemist. I was educated as such at the School of Mines in New York. Columbia University. I’ve been practicing my profession since 1879, and I’ve often had occasion to be called as a witness in matters involving it.

I am acquainted with the nature and uses of drugs, and I am acquainted with the drug called hydrocyanic or prussic acid in its diluted form. What is called the two-percent solution. What is known as prussic acid in commerce. When we’re speaking of commercial prussic acid, I can only say it’s quite volatile, very volatile. I can’t give any ratio or degree of volatility. In that volatile form, if distributed in the air upon a person in the vicinity of it, it would cause headache and nausea. It passes off in the air, you see, like a number of other liquids. Ammonia, for one. Hydrochloric acid for another, a strong acid, sometimes called muriatic acid. And benzine.

I’m a family man, I have a house, but I’ve never used benzine for cleansing purposes, except for taking out spots or removing grease. Benzine would be destructive to small animal life, bugs, flies, moths, all those things would go. They’d either emigrate or die. Ether would probably cause death to insects, too. All those creatures. The same is true of chloroform and naptha. They’re all volatile. Their volatility renders them unsuitable for such use, and yet they’re used that way right along in everyday life. All of those articles.

As another example, arsenic is an ingredient of the common article known as Rough on Rats. Something that’s very commonly used in households to dispose of rats. Well, I would rather have the rats than have such stuff about my house. I think we’re all going wrong in using those poisons that’ll kill rats. Because somebody may get it by accident into his own stomach, or find a chance to use it criminally. It’s a dangerous commodity to have in the house, arsenic.

As for prussic acid, what is known as the two-percent solution, you could mix it with water or mix it with alcohol, you could dilute it a hundred times more, until it contained two hundredths of a percent. But as to whether or not that would kill a piece of animal life on a fur, it would be impossible for me to say without experimenting on it. I have used the two-percent solution, tried its effects on insects. It’ll promptly kill them. But whether any greater dilution would accomplish the result, I don’t know.

I tested the effect of prussic acid upon insect life between last night and this morning, took the common prussic acid used in commerce, the two-percent solution, and tried that. On ants. No difficulty about killing them and various nondescript bugs. Unfortunately, I’m not a naturalist — I can’t tell what the various small insects I used were. I remember some spiders.

But to my knowledge, prussic acid in any form is not used for the purpose of cleaning furs.

In my opinion, it’s unsuitable in connection with furs.

It has no suitability or adaptability for use in cleaning furs.

“What is your full name?”

“My name is Eli Bence.”

“Do you live in Fall River?”

“I do.”

“What is your occupation?”

“I’m a drug clerk.”

“For whom do you work?”

“For D. R. Smith.”

“Where is Mr. Smith’s shop?”

“On the corner of South Main and Columbia Streets, in Fall River.”

“How long have you been connected with that business?”

“Something between thirteen and fourteen years.”

“How long have you been employed by Mr. Smith?”

“Something over four years now.”

“And always at the same place?”

“For Mr. Smith, yes, sir.”

Robinson leaped to his feet.

“May it please Your Honors,” he said, “there’s a question here that we consider of vital importance, and I believe the Commonwealth also recognizes it as of that character. This inquiry, I suggest, ought to stop here, and the question be discussed with the Court alone.”

“There are certain preliminary things and characteristics,” Moody said, “that are to be considered, that we want to prove. Perhaps, however, if it would suit the convenience of the other side, we could state what we expected to prove upon that subject better.”

“I’m speaking of this evidence,” Robinson said, “when there’s any question about it. It’s deemed important to both sides, and it’s important for the Court to consider and pass upon it.”