The intruder theory.

[Aamartin]

This will be a project for all of those interested. I propose we pick apart the 'timeline' of the morning, hour by hour to try and pinpoint a possible time span and possible means for an intruder to enter the house. I'd start, but I work nights now and am soon to bed....

Anyone interested? We should only use the source documents, inquest, prelim and trial testimony.

[Franz]

good idea, aamartin.

[Aamartin]

6:15: Bridget goes downstairs, gets coal and wood in cellar to light stove, and brings in milk.
6:20: JVM comes downstairs and goes to sitting room.
6:30: Abby comes downstairs, gives breakfast instructions to Bridget
6:40-6:50: Andrew goes downstairs, empties slop pail, picks up pears and goes into barn.
6:45: Bridget opens side door for iceman.
7:00: Abby, Andrew and JVM have breakfast in Dining Room

[Aamartin]

From 6-7, either everyone was in their rooms, or about the inside and outside areas of the house. Even when the side door was unlocked, no one could have gotten in. Too many people around inside--- and where would he/she go?

[Curryong]

Testimony of John Morse page 149 at Lizzies trial. Would it be possible that someone in the household had been working on the lock over time so that the spring lock would not work properly allowing suspicion of intruders?

Q. I will ask you whether you have observed anything in the use of the front door in regard to the spring lock, Mr. Morse?
A. Yes sir.
Q. What is that?
A. Well, if you shut the door hard, the spring lock would catch; if you didn't, it would not.
Q. Then if it did not catch-
A. You could open it without any trouble.
Q. Push it, or turn the ordinary knob, and it would come right open. And when had you noticed that?
A. That was after the tragedy.

[Mara]

Good info, Curryong. Let's remember, tough, that Lizzie didn't unlock the second of the three locks that morning and slide the bolt back as usual, so even if the spring lock failed, the front door would have been impassible, even with a key, as Andrew discovered.

[Curryong]

Yes, the Borden home could give Fort Knox a run for its money. I wonder whether the old discarded lock that Andrew was supposed to have picked up on his final walk was to replace the faulty one. Bit odd that he allowed his daughters to take charge of locking and unlocking the outer doors. You'd think he'd do the final checking himself, unless he was an early to bed, early to rise sort of guy,

[Curryong]

7.00 am. Lizzie still upstairs.
7.15 am. Bridget in dining room at some stage as John Morse overhears Abby's orders about the maid cleaning
windows.
7.45 am to 8.40 am (approx) Uncle John and Andrew talk in the sitting room. Abby sits with them for a while.
Lizzie creeps downstairs and listens, ears flapping, at the door, then retreats upstairs. (Sorry, scrap that last
bit. Not in testimony!) Abby floats about with a feather duster, dusting things.
8.30 am John Morse sees Abby go into front entry hall.

Possibility of intruders very low. We know front door was locked and bolted. Biddy was out of kitchen, in dining room for a while, might have gone down to privy in cellar. Was side door on snib whole time? Nevertheless, two males still at home.

[Curryong]

Between 8.45 am and 9.30 am many things occur, both consecutively and successively, and many of the times are approximate.
8.45 am Andrew lets Morse out the side door and invites him back for midday meal. Bridget in kitchen at time. Andrew hooks door back after John's departure.
8.45- 8.50 am Andrew cleans teeth in kitchen sink, observed by Bridget, takes key from shelf in sitting room, takes a bowl of water up to his room.
8.50 am (approx) Lizzie comes downstairs. Conversation with Bridget, who is washing dishes in kitchen about breakfast. Lizzie gets coffee, looks as if she is about to sit at kitchen table.
8.50 am Bridget goes into back yard to vomit. Is outside for about ten minutes.
8.50am Andrew comes downstairs in business clothes. Short conversation with Lizzie in kitchen about going to Post Office. May also have read the Providence Journal in sitting room for a few minutes.
9.00 am Andrew leaves for Town via side door. Bridget does not see him after he went upstairs so presumably she is still in yard.
9.OO am Bridget returns from yard. Hooks side door. Finishes dishes, takes them into dining room. Abby dusting door between sitting room and dining room. Gives Bridget orders to wash windows as they are 'awful dirty.'
9.00 am Abby goes upstairs to sort out guest room.
9.00 am -9.30 am Bridget cleans down kitchen stove, goes into empty dining room and empty sitting room shutting windows. Goes down into cellar to get pail, gets brush, goes outside through side door.
9.30 approx. Lizzie appears at side door. Conversation about locking side door. Bridget tells Lizzie she needn't lock it. Bridget goes to barn to get handle for brush.
9.30am to 10.30 am Bridget washing windows outside, commencing on Kelly side of house, away from screen door. Conversation between Bridget and Kelly servant. Mrs Churchill, next door neighbour on the other side later sees Bridget washing windows on North side of Borden house.
This is presumably a window of opportunity for any intruder. We know that the side door was presumably left unlocked by Lizzie after the conversation with Bridget. Neither Bridget nor Mrs Churchill saw anyone on the Borden grounds. That doesn't mean there wasn't one.

[Curryong]

From 10.20 am onwards Bridget went (a) into the kitchen to get a dipper to splash water on the outside windows and (b) then commenced to wash the inside windows. During that time Bridget did not see anyone in the ground floor rooms, both when she was washing the outside windows then the inner, until Andrew came home and had trouble with the door. After Bridget came inside she locked the side door.

[Mara]

Thanks for this, Curryong. Very helpful. I;d forgotten (if I ever knew) about Andrew cleaning his teeth in the kitchen sink. Eeuuw.

[Inspector]

Did Morse walk around from the side door to the front door, where he let himself back in?
Morse stated that he went to the front hall to grab his hat sometime before he left. This would be a good time to undo the locks.
Remember, Morse changed the spring lock on the front door shortly after the crime, so he was very familiar with that door.
It’s also possible that he was let back in, and the door locked behind him.

Ironically, Lizzie supposedly comes downstairs a few minutes after Morse leaves, and nobody witnessed Mr Morse leave that house .

Now this could very easily account for Abby’s crime, and erase Morse’s alibi for it, but not Andrew’s.
Another scenario, is that Lizzie could have easily let anyone in overnight , and escorted them up to the 2nd floor.

[camgarsky4]

Bridget witnessed Morse leave that morning.

Correct, we can know definitively that Lizzie was alone when she got home from Alice's place Wednesday night. That said, she and the other person would be counting on no one seeing them enter from the street or what if Morse or AJB popped their head around corner of sitting room to say hi or to visually confirm it was Lizzie and not some random murderer!

If I'm in that house and I hear an exterior door open and close after dark, I will always call out and ask who it is. That seems very normal and expectant. Would you agree?

[Inspector]

When I say, no one witnessed Morse leave, I am dismissing the two who are dictating everything in the house, namely Bridget, and Lizzie.

I don’t lean toward the JVM re-entry theory, and admit it has its risks, but have to feel it would be easy enough for a man familiar with that front door.
If zMorse re-entered, and was seen , I’m sure he’d have a reason ready.

I have to agree that it’s strange in a house where every door is kept locked, that no one bothered to say—Is that you Lizzie?

But alas, both Lizzie, and Morse present the same scenario.

[camgarsky4]

If JVM reentered the front door, his gameplan would have been blown up if Abby had come back downstairs by the time he went around the house. Remember AJB was still there when JVM left.

I don't think JVM was involved directly or indirectly, but if he was, I would think he would be 'assigned' to AJB vs. Abby.....assuming Lizzie was his cohort. And to break his alibi really requires supporting a pretty complex conspiracy involving the Emery's, their downstairs neighbor and somehow knowing about the 6 priests on the trolley car. If it was JVM, I think his motive would have somehow involved holding AJB accountable for his sisters death.....but that was decades before and with all that time to plan, I suspect he would have come up with something that completely kept him off of the suspect list.

Morse would have zero idea if a neighbor (like Churchill) would have seen him go around front of house and reenter. Churchill saw AJB leave that morning....it was random. Mrs. Kelly saw AJB arrive at his front door......at random. Mark Chace saw a buggy & man in front of house....at random.
You get the drift. If this was a carefully orchestrated murder, which I think it would have been if Morse was involved, such random happenstances would have been avoided.

All this was just opinions......

[Inspector]

As you say,not nitpicking, but Mrs Churchill only witnessed AJB standing stationary at the east side of the rear steps, not heading toward the street, but I do get your points, and he was probably about to head west towards the street.

I think though, that Abby may have still been downstairs when JVM left, and not up in the guest room quite yet.
However more to your point, it would be even more risky if she were still dusting around the dining, and sitting rooms. More chance of seeing him come back in.
However, if she was already upstairs as you say, she would not let out a scream if JVM happened to come back up the stairs….Excuse me Mrs Borden, I forgot my hat.

I agree 100% that it makes more sense that JVM would be involved with AJB’s killing rather than Abby’s.

I’ve always been very suspicious of JVM, but alas, there’s not much there, excepts few strange actions, and comments. Oh, and his looks, but I don’t go by looks.