A New Suspect- Or Just Another Mystery?

[Kat]

This is what I will call my Joseph L. Morse Mystery.

Looking at the wills of John V. Morse & Emma Borden, we find they both made provision for Joseph Luther Morse, Jr.

He is the son of JVM's sister Mary Louisa, who married her first cousin J.L. Morse, Sr.

Their fathers were brothers (Gardner & Anthony Morse).

Now, whereas Morse accommodated quite a few Morse nephews and nieces in his will, Lizzie did not at all- and Emma's nod was only to Joseph, Jr.(Emma was more likely to acknowledge Gardners than any Morse or Borden).
Emma also specifies that she has "intentionally omitted...my relatives and next of kin..." (R.347)
[I think they wrote wills that way tho, to cut down on folks contesting wills- it's pretty specific.]

Joseph L. Morse, Jr (1864-1951, Fall River) was left what sounds like an annuity from Emma and cash money from JVM (if Morse's existing stocks were sold), as a 1/3 share, along with Anna Morse (Wm. Bradford Morse's daughter) and Joseph's sister Ora Morse.

By family lore, this Joseph was thought to be "retarded" and one person I spoke to said he was possibly a "simpleton" who could fix locks and also did handyman work around 92 Second Street.

That reminded me of the Yankee Magazine story by John Ayotte (originally from August, 1966). The magazine reprinted it and includes a letter they received in response to his article, the letter from November 16, 1966.

It was a "Handy-man" story about a guy who helped out around the Borden place- a very simple man- who was named JOE.
This Joe unknowingly disposes of the murder evidence as a favor to Lizzie Borden, but when he finally figures it out he cannot fix what he has done and feels terribly guilty.

These handy-men, both simple and named Joe or Joseph, got my attention. 1966 might be the right amount of time after the crime, where local memories might start erupting with stories like smoke based on some spark of fire. Next-generation stories spun from some tid-bits of truth, so to speak.

There's a bit more: A Bridgewater Professor, Jordan Fiore, was in the Fall River newspapers claiming he had a manuscript that he had been working on about the Borden crime. He died circa 1990 and the family claims they have never found the manuscript! Here's a doozey: Prof. Fiore lived across the street from these Morse- and knew them!

Lot's of questions here! What do we make of this?

The Yankee Magazine story can be accessed here, where I transcribed it this past winter. You don't actually need to read it tho, to speculate!

viewtopic.php?t=4435&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

[Kat]

Thanks to the Terrence Duniho Collection, we have this piece of handwritten Family Tree/Relationship.

Notice the picture of baby Emma we have pretty much authenticated in The Hatchet, recently. It's in a transferred form, as if this piece of paper was very closely bound to the photo at some point and left its imprint.

That is my notation at bottom, specifying "Shaw." I believe this is from Shaw family notes. The Shaw family patriarch was executor of JVM's will.
JVM's sister Selecta married Philip Shaw.

This is the document, from 1951, which shows the "family legend" remark about the possible *retardation* of Joseph L. Morse.

[patsy]

Thanks for sharing this, Kat. Very interesting idea that the Joseph who thought to be retarded according to the notes in the tree and Joe the handyman who supposedly carried a bundle for Lizzie who was described to be spleeny may be the same person. What a mystery.

The letter to Yankee seems plausible but yet I can't help but wonder why the farmer would be so open to tell Joe's story. Thinking in terms of the way people seemed to be closed mouthed in those days, and also it seemed that the person who the farmer talked to was a stranger to the farmer. If so then why tell a stranger. Although the letter writer had shown an interest in Joe which did maybe help in causing the farmer to blurt out the story that had to have shocked the heck out of him. Kind of hard to hold that kind of thing inside. I don't know what to think about believing it or not.

And then the missing manuscript by someone who lived across from the Morse family -- mind boggling now! I'm intrigued.

[Kat]

Oh I agree about the letter- but maybe it is disguised- imparting info- but just a bit off?

The speculation might be : Did "Joe" see anything August 4th?
Was he a killer for hire and paid off over his lifetime?
(Initially, I was trying to *follow the money* using wills.)

Or was he mainly an innocent observer, or one who helped clean up afterwards- the prosecution (and defense per Phillips) seemed to not be ruling out a collaborator before or after the fact.

I must admit I am looking at a family killing by a family member.

And why did those Borden girls not acknowledge their own Morse kin in their wills? Lizzie's will is very practical- but she acts like she has no kin other than Grace Howe!

[Kat]

I've got another suspect. What if we don't have all the Witness Statements? It almost seems like there must be missing suspect info- more people questioned, more suspected.

Anyway, in the Hip-bath Collection there are Jenning's notes from his investigations. Luckily, some of these notes were transcribed and published in Proceedings.

Here is one that has caught me up in Borden-Morse family matters!
This first cite I include to provide context. But what about what Mr. Brigham has to say?

l. B. Brigham Mrs. George--After murder L. showed her her money and bank book and said 'Why should I do it?'

m. Brigham Mr.--told Phillips that one Follett, 25 Calender St. Prov. R.I. told him that Mr. Borden had nephews in Providence--one of them resembles Dr. Handy's description and is capable of committing such a crime, the other nephew was killed in a road house 2 or 3 years ago.

Andrew had no direct nephews- they would have to come thru marriage to Sarah Morse- her nephews.

Has anyone checked as to who these guys might be?

Is "a road house" like a saloon?

[Yooper]

A road house is pretty much the same thing as a saloon, except in a rural setting. It would likely be found between towns on a main road, like an inn would.

The letter from Yankee Magazine, taken at face value, is quite a stretch. "Joe" would have walked through a growing crowd of people outside the house, pushing a wheelbarrow, and would have gone completely unnoticed. If he had worn a Zoot Suit and a placard displaying "Joe's Evidence Disposal Service" he might have been only slightly more conspicuous! One of the very first groups of people suspected of the crime were Andrew's hired men.

The cause-and-effect reasoning attributed to the hired man in the story makes me wonder just how "retarded" he really was.

I have to agree with patsy, why would the farmer tell the story to a stranger, and apparently to no one else?

The principle behind searching the more or less peripheral documents is definitely sound, there may well be nuggets of truth to be found among them.

[DJ]

Kat, thanks for sharing all this, for giving background on J. L. Morse and the bequests made to him by Emma and J.V.M.

The story from "Yankee" is intriguing-- definitely a fireside tale for a crisp autumn or winter evening.

The "hole" I see in it is that J. L. was so concerned about the rubbish, when the hatchet ought to have been in the barn, per Lizzie's instruction, all the while.

Also, if Lizzie had been disposing of evidence, why not that pesky dress she burned, as well?

I do tend to think someone would have noticed J. L. that a.m.-- Bridget? Addie Churchill? Phoebe Bowen, on the lookout for her daughter?

Also, if J. L. were truly a simpleton, I don't think Lizzie would have entrusted the disposal of evidence to him. Also, his appearance at just the right moment appears most convenient, for the sake of the story.

Finally, if he couldn't kill a chicken ....

However, still and all ... one wonders how much Lizzie had to do with him, whether he did chores for her, whether she gave him some "getting by" money under the radar of a will.

Now, Massive Frustration Department: What all was written to Yankee magazine after the publication of the story that prompted this letter?!!!?

[Kat]

I see what you guys mean. Thanks for the feed-back. I was working up this idea that day, all day.

That published story always bothered me.
But I was thinking it is not even important to a theory of this JLM as suspect. The fact that I was told he was a locksmith, and also did odd jobs around Second Street- and he's not in the Witness Statements.

The original article in Yankee Magazine was a re-telling of the Borden story murders by John Ayotte: "The Unfathomable Borden Riddle."

I hadn't thought about all the other correspondence the article might have generated- I wonder about that now!

[Kat]

I was trying to find Morse nephews in R.I. because of those notes by Jennings. A Morse is probably in this thing.

So I remember JVM mentioning his uncle Charles Morse in Warren as a person he lived with when he first came back east to live after renting out his farm.

I looked at a genealogy and that Charles was brother to Anthony Morse, JVM & Sarah Morse's father. So he is pretty much a local Morse, like Selecta & her hubby Joseph.

(Here is what JVM said in his Inquest testimony):

Inquest
Morse
95

Q. Where have you spent the largest portion of your time?
A. The largest portion I guess in Iowa, Hastings, Mills County.
Q. Is that your last residence in the West?
A. Yes, my property is there.
Q. Did you come here with the intention of remaining here?
A. I rented my farm for one year. I did not know how long I might stay. I calculated to stay, then I rented it for another year.
Q. Where did you come to here first?
A. Warren, Rhode Island.
Q. Who did you know there?
A. I have an Uncle there.
Q. No relative of Mrs. Borden?
A. No, brother to my father.
Q. On the other side?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Then that is Uncle to Mrs. Borden too?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. What is his name?
A. Charles.
Q. Charles Borden?
A. No, Morse.
Q. How long did you stay there?
A. I guess about a year and a half.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

So far, I can only find he had 2 daughters. I'm missing the rest of the handwritten pages of this tree. But notice an Elizabeth Morse!

But also notice that Mrs. Charles Morse died July 31, 1892, 4 days before the murders! I wonder if JVM went to her funeral? Also, there were the Wm Bradford Morse kids in town that summer as well! Did they all go to her funeral? I don't think ladies got out of their carriages at funerals back then, but maybe they at least showed up?

More genealogical info on this Charles Morse family might be interesting! If there were any sons...

[patsy]

Not much help. In 1850 in Providence they only show two daughters, Elizabeth and Henrietta.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... Type=close

Couldn't get 1860 census.

Couldn't find them in 1870 but still no sons shown in the later censuses.

In the 1900 census on the LDS family site prototype it shows Charles as a widower living with two single daughters, Elizabeth born Oct. 1837 and Henrietta born March 1843. Same family as in 1880 with Mary as wife.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... Type=close

[Fargo]

Another lead Kat !

I have a 1966 Yankee magazine somewhere with a Lizzie story in it, I am guessing it is the same one. I will find it.

[Allen]

While I have doubts that Joseph was involved in any part of the murders, I do find it interesting that he was said to have been good at fixing locks. We know Andrew picked up a broken lock from one of his stores that morning, and took it home with him. This fact was attested to under oath by Joseph Shortsleeves and James Mather. Maybe a future job for Joseph?



Trial testimony of Joseph Shortsleeves page 177-178:

Q. When he came into your shop what did he do?
A. He Came

Page 178

into the front door, went to the back part of the store, picked up a lock that had been on the front store door. It was all broken to pieces. He looked at it, laid it down again, went up stairs, then went from the back part of the shop up to the front part of the shop up stairs over our head; was there a few moments, and came down again and picked the lock up and walked out.

Trial testimony of James Mather page 186:

Q. Then what did he do?
A. He went then inside and picked up a lock, and then went out again.

[nbcatlover]

Charles Morse's 2 daughters commented on the sanity issue, if I'm not mistaken.

While Emma & JVM left money to "Joe," Liizzie left money to the Robinson cousins. Their father seems to have owned a house in Providence at one time (and lived there with 1 of the sons) shortly after the murders and had stable listings there. I believe the Robinson cousins were related through their mother who seems to have be a Luther. When the Robinsons lived in Swansea (the father Rufus also seemed to have lived in Somerset and Warren), their farm was next to the Vinnicums on New Providence Road. Rufus Robinson at one time was one of 2 Inspectors of Slaughter for the Town of Swansea. The other inspector was a Vinnicum.

So much of this stuff is difficult to prove 100% because there were other Robinsons with the same names. However, the time frame for the changes fits from my research so far.

This is why the case remains so interesting. There is so much that was never revealed at the time of the murders!

[diana]

And why did those Borden girls not acknowledge their own Morse kin in their wills? Lizzie's will is very practical- but she acts like she has no kin other than Grace Howe!

As Kat points out, Lizzie and Emma’s mother had eight siblings and her nieces and nephews would have been the only ‘first’ cousins of Emma and Lizzie because Andrew’s sister’s son died young. So it does seem odd that Joseph Luther is the only Morse cousin who received a bequest from Emma. At the trial, Emma can't even remember the street Mary Louisa lives on, and when she is asked if she visits there, she replies: "Not very often". (Trial:1555) Yet 28 years later she gives $200 per year for life to Joseph Luther Morse, son of this same infrequently visited aunt?

I guess if Joseph Luther was struggling with a mental deficiency, he’d require help from relatives – but according to Rebello, he did pretty well on his own. He got married, became a member of the Narragansett Lodge of Masons, and remained gainfully employed by Covel and Osborn Hardware for many years before he began operating a service involving a hydraulic device preventing doors from slamming shut. He died at age 86 so presumably he collected that $200 for 24 years. (Source: Rebello, 345)

Regarding the family tree document posted by Kat -- because the notation about J.L. seems to be in a different hand than the other entry, I began speculating whether the idea he was possibly “retarded” could have stemmed from the fact his parents were first cousins. But it’s dated 1951 -- just the year after Joseph Luther died. So maybe whoever made the notes knew him personally.

Although Rebello (345) claims Joseph Luther was a distant relative of Emma’s, they were first cousins. The relationship between Orrin Gardner and Emma is more remote. (I think Orrin was the son of Emma’s mother’s brother’s sister-in-law). If I’m right there, Orrin was definitely a more distant cousin than Joseph Luther.

Emma’s bequests to the Gardners seem in line because they were close to her in her later life. But why did Lizzie leave money to the Robinsons? And why did Emma single out Joseph Luther Morse who, at least by Rebello’s account, was self-supporting?

[Kat]

I hear tell that this year a psychic on TV at the B&B predicted a man named "Joseph" committed the crimes but it was ascertained this came out after my original transcription of the letter to Yankee Magazine posting here.

Well, maybe the psychic has a gift- or maybe they read the Forum- or maybe they read that 1966 magazine issue? Hmm....

[Kat]

I have a couple of more suspects to post here from news items.
Coming up shortly...

[DJ]

Yes, I saw that episode a couple of days ago, and heard what the psychic said.

Still, if the man couldn't kill a chicken ....

Also, my favorite psychic, Sylvia Browne, said Lizzie did it.

Dueling psychics aside, Sylvia offers up some sound info: Ouija boards and seances are not to be entered into lightly-- in fact, she begs people not to fiddle with Ouija boards, as there are too many disgruntled, unhappy, and just plain dangerous spirits round and about who may pretend to be the person you're seeking and mislead you, or otherwise scare you witless.

Long before I heard her give this advice, a friend and I were "Ouijing" one night, and we roused something evil. I closed my eyes and saw a grotesque face, and said, "Are you as scared as I am?"

We threw the board back in the box, and I haven't gone near a Ouija board in more than a decade. Nor would I attend a seance, for the same reason.

You're dialing into the Unknown, and you never know who you're going to reach--

Or, you may think this is all hooey!

[Kat]

Well, with Halloween this close, your posting on seances is timely!

[Kat]

Now here is a news item about *Bridget's boyfriend* as a suspect! This person, whether real or imagined, made the papers in 1899.

[Kat]

Bridget was asked about walking out with a beau in testimony.
An earlier news account claimed she had had a fiance who died.

[Kat]

Here is the Sailor Jack suspect from the Fall River Weekly News July 12, 1893

[Kat]

From the same Weekly: the State Police are still working on the murder!

[lynneverhart1]

Kat and everyone else,
Before you boo me off of here, I have to mention this. With all the Ghost Adventure type shows on recently due to Halloween, I was watching one last night on The Travel Channel, and at the end they did a bit on Lizzie Borden. The owners brought had psychic in who did a seance. When she asked Mrs. Borden who killed her, she said Joseph, not Lizzie! I came here to see who was named Joseph as I read all books on the case over a year ago and wasn't sure. When I saw Kat's thread naming a Joseph, I just had to bring up the seance bit, however skeptical people may be, it was interesting.

[Kat]

My sister mentioned this to me, about that psychic!

She asked me when I had first posted the transcription of the letter that Yankee Magazine printed in 1966.

Maybe the *psychic* read that magazine issue herself, or maybe she read it here, back in January, or maybe she is psychic.

Here is the original posting and letter, by Moi:

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:35 am Post subject:

November 16, 1966
When I was a young woman, I heard the story of a man who perhaps at one time held the key to unlock the mystery of the Borden tragedy.

One day many years after Lizzie Borden of Fall River, Massachusetts, was tried for murder of her parents, I happened to meet a man who unexpectedly brought the whole gruesome tragedy into focus again.

I had stopped at a farm in the adjoining county to ask the owner if a new kind of squash he had grown that season would be satisfactory for me to plant in my own small vegetable garden another year.

He answered my query and then as his wife was still busy clearing up after dinner, he showed me over his place. We finally came to a standstill beside a fenced orchard where contented hens were pecking around beneath the trees. As we did so a little oldish man hurried past us with a pan of table scraps and called the biddies to a feast. I watched him casually. I never dreamed he could possibly have any connection with the unsolved Borden murder mystery, nor that, as long as I lived, I would never forget him.

You could see that he understood hens for they circled about him clucking companionably. "That fellow belongs on a chicken farm," observed my host. "But," he added, "It wouldn't work. He could feed the biddies and collect the eggs, but he couldn't kill a chicken for market, if his life depended on it."

The man had turned now and I could see his somewhat vacant but gentle face topped by straggly gray hair. There was a nervous twitch to his mouth, however, and an anxious look in his faded blue eyes that made me ask, "He's a bit nervous over something, isn't he?"

"Yeah, and I guess I'll let you hear what he told me about that last night. You aren't a blabbermouth, and it won't hurt to repeat it to you. He's been worse than he is today, for over a week, but he says he'll be better now and I sure hope so."

Just then the wife came out and we three went around to the front piazza. There the farmer nodded in my direction and said "I'm a telling her about Joe, Molly." Then he turned to our conversation and went on.

"I've always called my men 'Joe' no matter what their real names are. Well, this Joe, every night when we'd finish supper and sit at the table to talk about what had happened during the day, would get up and go into the sitting room to glance over the paper. Then he'd start up to bed for he was tired early since he got up at four o'clock every morning along with me.

"One night he seemed terribly jittery and upset after he'd read the news, and when he left I looked to see what it was that made him feel that way. All that I could come across that was unusual was a piece about the Lizzie Borden case.

" 'Course that was a terrible affair, but it happened so long ago it didn't seem as if anyone ought to be upset about it now. Well Joe, he got more jittery every day. His hands shook, his legs wobbled and he seemed in a daze. "What's the matter, Joe?" I finally asked. "You sick?"

"He said he'd tell me about everything sometime, and then he'd feel better and last night he did just that, and it's quite a yarn. Now I'm the jittery one. He feels better because he's got it off his chest but my wife and I, we don't know what we ought to do about him."

"Tell me and let me share the responsibility," I said.

The farmer looked relieved and in a few moments began again.

"Joe was the runt of a big family that had a good old New England name. They lived on a farm and his brothers and sisters made fun of him because he was too spleeny to do heavy work. He didn't go far in school either. He grew up a loner, for the others were so much stronger and smarter than he was.

"When he was twenty-one his father gave him a little money for a start and he walked to the nearest city. That city was Fall River and here he looked about for a job. He was lucky too. You wouldn't expect jobs to be plentiful in a mill city for someone that could only do light farm labor.

"But there were a good many people there who didn't want a man all day every day, to look after their places, but would like a handy man to do jobs now and then as needed- clean a stable, curry and harness a horse, cut grass, weed a flower bed- you know what I mean.

"Joe was just right for such things and he always kept busy. One man let him sleep in a room over a stable. Cooks were always giving him leftovers to eat, so his living expenses were small and though he didn't charge much for what he did, he got along fine.

"One of the places he worked at, he told me, was the Borden's, and here a curious thing happened. He sort of fell in love with the daughter Lizzie. She was older than he was, but she was so domineering and strong, where he was shy and weak, he thought her wonderful. Said she was a good looker too, and her not being a favorite in her family, just as he hadn't been in his family, made her seem closer to him. He never told her how he felt but he was so glad to run errands for her, I guess she knew she had him wound round her finger, and figured he'd do anything she wanted him to and not ask questions.

"One day, as he was putting litter he'd raked up into a barrel to cart away, Lizzie came to the kitchen door and beckoned him over. She was wiping of a hatchet with a piece of rag. She handed the hatchet to him and told him to put it in the barn. He saw nothing strange about the request or about her wiping it off. Everyone wiped off used tools in those days to keep them in good condition. Tools cost money and money was scarce.

"She tossed the rag into the midst of the litter in the barrel and then said,'Wait, I've got something else to throw away.' She went into the house and in a few minutes came out and handed him a bundle wrapped in paper and tied around with a string.

"He put the hatchet in the barn and the bundle in the barrel in a wheelbarrow, and soon was trundling his load down the street to a lot where fill was needed. He felt proud he could show Miss Lizzie he could handle a man-sized load even though he knew it was light weight.

"After he'd dumped the stuff, he had to rest awhile, and then finding he was not only hot and tired but faint, as it was noon, he felt in his pocket for the quarter Mr. Borden had given him that morning for what he'd done. He'd spent ten cents of it for two fresh crullers and a glass of milk at a little shop he knew about.

"When he'd eaten he took the barrel and the wheelbarrow back to the Borden barn and put them where they belonged. He noticed people going in and out of the house more than usual. 'What's going on,' he asked a woman he'd worked for as she went along the walk.

" 'Abby and Andrew Borden have been murdered,' and added,'with a hatchet,' though she could hardly speak for she was crying.

"Joe said he felt sick all at once and as if he'd slump down right there. He couldn't believe Mr. and Mrs. Borden could have been murdered. And with a hatchet! Why such things hadn't happened since Indian times. If anyone was around killing with hatchets, he'd better hide the Borden hatchet out of sight. He didn't want any more murders. He went in the barn, took the hatchet and put it behind the horse stall. As he did so he remembered Miss Lizzie. She'd handed it to him that morning. What had she been using it for? Not to kill her father and mother. Oh no, he was sure of that, though he knew she hated them at times and she did have a terrible temper.

"He stumbled out into the yard. A policeman passed by and greeted him with a sober nod. Would the police question him later as to what he'd done every minute that morning? Suddenly he remembered Miss Lizzie cleaning off the hatchet with the rag. Was there blood on the rag? He recalled the bundle. Were there bloody things in the bundle? He must go down to the rubbish lot and find out. If there were bloody things he would have to take them to the police and tell how they got there. He couldn't believe Miss Lizzie had done the killings but if she had she must pay for doing them. Would they hang her? He shuddered. All the same he must find out before the police asked him questions. He hurried away to where he had dumped the litter.

"When he reached there he found he was too late. During the noon hour one or two cartloads of clutch had been dumped right on top of his little pile. His was buried so deep he could not possibly unearth the rag or the bundle.

' 'Guess it's a sign I'd better mind my own business,' he thought. In a way he felt better. He wouldn't have to be the one to find out for sure if Miss Lizzie was the killer or not. The police would come up with the murderer. He sure hoped they would. He liked Mr. and Mrs. Borden. He couldn't bear to think they hadn't been let to live out their lives peacefully.

"He went to his room after that and flung himself, spent and shaken, on his cot. For a long time afterward he did his usual work but he felt half-sick and stunned.

"When the Superior Court trial took place a feeling of guilt developed in his mind and he worried. He should have told the police at the beginning. They would have known how to get at the rag and bundle. Now rain and snow and still more clutch had fallen on his rubbish pile. It would do no good to tell about it now. Bloodstains would be washed away and everything be a sodden mass. Miss Lizzie's acquittal and the fact that nobody at all had been convicted of the murders bothered him no end. He could not bear to stay in Fall River any longer and made up his mind to leave it for all time. He especially did not want to chance meeting Miss Lizzie.

Of his life after that, the hired man told the farmer little. He never stayed long in one place and became a pathetic drifter. He'd never gone hungry however; there was always a meal for an odd-jobs man. In summer he often slept on haymows or in the lee of a haystack in a field. In cold weather he looked for work where he could stay in a house nights, though a barn with cows in it was always warm. So the hired man, after he got started, had talked on and on. He never mentioned names of people or places though. Folks were always good to him, he said.

"And now," concluded the farmer, "what shall I do with him? Turn him over to the authorities? Their questions and reporters would drive him crazy or kill him; I don't know which. HE couldn't be called guilty of doing any wrong but concealing possible evidence even if they believed what he said. There'd be no way today to disprove or prove his story either. The wife and I thought we might tell an old judge that comes here summers, all about it. What do you think?" It seemed a good idea. They could abide by the judge's wisdom.

But there was no need to tell anyone. Some extrasensory perception must have made the hired man sure that the stranger who saw him feed the hens was hearing his story, and he didn't know what the consequences would be. That night he quietly assembled his few belongings, then stole down stairs and out into the night, completely vanishing. The farmer never saw him again .

We all wondered what had become of him. Could he have got to a box car on the tracks not far away, and slipping within its safety, later been whisked out to the midwest? Could he have reached the waterfront and boarded a packet that had a soft-hearted skipper? Could he have tramped along woods roads to the cranberry bogs and joined the pickers there? No one ever knew. Joe just couldn't be located.

Do you believe his story? It was plausible.

Do you believe he was a crackpot? Perhaps. He had been through a great deal.

Whatever you believe, I am sure you feel, as we did, that wherever he was, someone would look out for him and care for him to the very end.

It's half a century since I was told I was not a blabbermouth but I feel I'm not betraying a confidence now in telling the story of this pitiable, bewildered man, who tried tried so hard to be independent and make his own living and do what was right. I can never forget him.

Sincerely,
Marion Hicks Campbell

----from Yankee Magazine. The chapter was called "The Unfathomable Borden Riddle" by John U. Ayotte. The editors added this note after reprinting the article:

Yankee Magazine originally published this story [the Ayotte chapter] in August 1966. Soon after the magazine appeared on the newstands, we received a flood of mail related to the article. Certain letters offered surprising testimony- some of it firsthand, most of it hearsay, all of it interesting. Here's one that reads something like an epilogue.

----This was the introduction to the "letter" printed that is transcribed here.

[DJ]

One thing that bothered me about that psychic was that she received those "tap in's" immediately, as if on cue, convenient for the camera.

Also, why wouldn't the supposed spirit of Abby have supplied a last name?

Again, to quote the Church Lady, "Well, isn't that convenient?"