Evan Hunter - Lizzie

“We object to that question,” Adams said.

“He may answer.”

“Before the handle was broken,” Wood said. “Not after.”

“I think the question must be answered as put,” Adams said. “If it can be answered.”

“If by the question is meant the hatchet head as it is...”

“I beg pardon, Professor Wood,” Knowlton said. “I don’t think my brother has the right to catechize the witness yet.”

“I haven’t catechized him,” Adams said.

“Yes, but you were getting into a colloquy with him, which I do not think is proper. Mr. Stenographer, will you read the answer?”

“ ‘Before the handle was broken. Not after’.”

“That is to say,” Knowlton said, “the conditions I named could have existed before the handle was broken off. Why do you make that difference, professor?”

“All this goes in under objection,” Adams said. “May it please Your Honors.”

“Because it would be very hard to wash blood off that broken end,” Wood said. “It would be almost impossible to quickly wash blood out of that broken end. It might have been done by thorough cleansing, but that would also stain the fracture.”

“Mr. Seaver, in your capacity as a member of the State District Police Force, did you again go to the Borden house after your visit of Saturday, August sixth?”

“Yes, sir. With Dr. Dolan, the medical examiner.”

“When was that, Mr. Seaver?”

“My impression was it was the thirteenth.”

“Have you a memorandum of your observations?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When was it made?”

“It was made at that time. I made it on a paper at that house, at that day, and afterwards copied it into a book.”

“Would the memorandum assist you upon a matter of this sort?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please consult it, and then state in your own way, without any questioning, what you found in reference to blood spots.”

“There were, on the mop board behind the head of the lounge in the sitting room, five small spots of blood. On the wall just above the head of the lounge, a little toward the kitchen door, we found a cluster of small blood spots, eighty-six in all, within a radius of eighteen inches in length by ten inches in width. On a frame and glass of a picture that hung over the lounge, there were forty blood spots, the highest spot being four feet and ten inches from the floor. The highest spot we found in the room...”

She knew she would faint again.

She had absented herself from the courtroom when they were about to show her father’s skull, but this now, this gruesome recitation...

“... kitchen door, a quarter of an inch from the south side of the...”

Her fingers tightened on the closed fan in her lap. The knuckles showed white where she gripped it. She kept her head bent, staring at the fan and at her own hand clutching it as Seaver went on and on, telling now of the blood he’d found in the room upstairs...

“... marble slab and dressing case, there were fifteen blood spots. On the upper drawer of the dressing case, we found four blood spots...”

She took a deep breath. She raised her eyes. One of the newspaper artists was observing her, his pencil moving busily.

“... faceboard of the bed was besmeared with blood...”

She loosened her fierce grip on the fan. She turned her attention to the witness. She would not faint again. She would not.

“... two blood spots between the dressing case and the window...”

Soon, it would be over.

Soon.

“Dr. Draper, if blood, fresh blood, were put upon metal similar to the head of a hatchet, in August, in our climate, on a hot day — would it dry quickly?”

“If it is a thin smear, it will dry quickly. If it is in any considerable quantity, it will take a very much longer time.”

“Does blood readily and quickly intermingle with the meshes of clothing and coarse substances like dirt or rust, or anything of that sort?”

“Certain kinds of clothing will absorb blood readily. Clothing of wool or felt will not.”

“Cotton clothing?”

“Cotton clothing will absorb the blood readily.”

“What do you say in respect to an instrument having rust upon it, and blood striking it and drying on? Would the blood readily intermingle with the rust?”

“I suppose it would.”

“And if it intermingled with the rust, would it easily wash off?”

“It would wash off less easily than if it were on a keen, dry blade.”

“Assuming that a metallic instrument like the head of one of these hatchets, in August, in our climate, and on a hot day in August, was smeared with blood at ten o’clock, and that the instrument had rust upon it at that time, and that it remained in that condition exposed to the air for an hour — would you expect that the blood would be well dried in with the rust upon that instrument?”

“I should think it likely in a dry day. In a day that was not as moist as today is.”

“A hot day, I put into my question.”

“A hot day, yes, sir.”

“And under those circumstances, it could not have been readily washed off, could it?”

“Answering as I did before, not so readily as with a bright surface or metallic, polished surface.”

“But I will ask you, whether under those circumstances, you would expect to get the blood off unless you got the rust off?”

“I think the blood would come off before the rust.”

“Before the rust?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you think it could be effectively removed so that there would be no trace that could be exposed by a subsequent chemical test?”

“I think so.”

“You have heard the testimony as to the position in which the body of Mrs. Borden was found?”

“I have, sir.”

“And taking that testimony, and the wounds as you observed them, did you form any opinion as to the position of the woman when she was assaulted?”

“I did, sir. I believe that the assailant in the case stood astride of the prostrate body of Mrs. Borden, as she was lying face downward on the floor.”

“As to all of the wounds?”

“As to all except the flat wound in the scalp on the left side of the head. I think that was given while Mrs. Borden was standing and facing her assailant.”

“From what you have heard of the testimony of how Mr. Borden’s body was found, are you able to state what his position was when assaulted?”

“I have an opinion on it, sir.”

“What is that?”

“That the assailant stood above the head of the sofa, above the head of Mr. Borden, and struck downward upon his head and face. I think he was lying on the sofa on his right side, with the face turned well toward the right, and the right cheek concealed in the pillow. I think all the blows could have been received with the body lying in that manner.”

“Can you tell what probable effect would be as to the diffusion or scatter of blood from the wounds of Mr. Borden?”

“Mere guess work, sir, in my mind.”

“Why so?”

“Because of the nature of the wounds.”

“Assuming that spots were seen upon the wall immediately over the head and a little to the front of Mr. Borden, in large number, eighty to a hundred; that spots were seen upon a picture upon the wall midway over the body to the extent of forty or fifty; that spots were seen upon the door which was in the general direction beyond his feet; and that other spots were seen upon the door which was in a general direction behind his head and between him and beyond the space where the assailant stood; in your opinion, would the assailant of necessity receive some spatters of blood upon his clothes or person?”

“I should think so.”