Blood question

[DanKatBan]

Hi All,

Apologies because I know for a fact someone has asked this before. There was so much blood in the sitting room that the stain is visible today. So...wasn't there any blood trail on the floor? I'm sure I would have read about bloody footprints, but weren't there any traces of blood that indicated where the murderer was moving or in which direction?

[camgarsky4]

Hi DanKatBan and welcome to the forum!!

Aside from the immediate proximity of the bodies, there were no signs of blood on the floors in either the guest room, sitting room or elsewhere in the house. This is reasonable for Andrew's killing because the sofa alone likely blocked blood from splattering on the killers shoes.....but a bit more difficult to explain with Abby's killing. It seems like the killers feet would have been exposed to the likelihood of blood splatter with Abby's killing.

[mbhenty]

Not much attention was given to blood evidence back in 1892. Although, a foot print in blood could direct police to the path taken by the killer, it probably was not a practice that got much notice. Unless there was quite a bit of it, and the footprint was very obvious. Otherwise I can imagine the first thing someone would want to do would be to mop up the blood as soon as possible.

As for blood spatter, using blood as a tool for solving a crime was unheard of. Although at the time, blood spatter study was on the fringes of discovery. By the late 1890s a European Doctor, I think a Polish fellow, had written a paper on blood spatter for the first time and its imprint, velocity, direction, etc, as a study to patterns and how they were made. Even so... it was not until the nineteen forties or fifties that the study of blood patterns were used to solve crimes.

Today, a foot print is almost as good as a fingerprint, if you can find the killer in possession of the footwear. There's even a national police data base called "Soulmate" which catalogues footwear and the different soul patterns for different manufactures.

But that wouldn't make much difference back in 1892, since all footwear lacked patterns and instead flat smooth leather. Although the outer shapes and sizes of the shoe could possibly be matched. I'm certain that if there was a clear footprint, some policeman would be smart enough to compare it to Lizzie's or Bridget's shoe But by the time they suspected who the killer could be, everything had been washed.

My take is that any blood on the floor was quickly cleaned or smudged by the countless people in the house unaware and corrupting the crime scene.

[DanKatBan]

Thank you both for your patience with a newb!
Did anybody see which door Andrew left from when he went downtown? Assuming he left by the side\back door like John Morse did?

[camgarsky4]

Next door neighbor, Mrs. Churchill saw AJB leaving via the side door around 9am August 4th. She was looking out her side window which looks out at the north side of the Borden house.....same side as the side back door.

Just to make sure you know, if you go to the sister site "Lizzie Borden Virtual Library", it contains most of the primary source documents and lots of other information to build your knowledge base.

[DanKatBan]

Incredibly helpful!!!! Thank you!!!!