Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Here's another one of those little things I find curious.

John Donnelly was a hack driver who on the morning of the 4th was asked by the police to assist (at least according to him) and he and a Charley Cook went up into the loft of the barn.

In the Fall River Herald dated August 13? (Sourcebook, p117), Donnelly is quoted as saying:

"... I noticed the little pile of hay - hay that had been cut from the Borden yard - and remarked that it looked as though some one had been sleeping or lying upon it, but I saw nothing there of a more suspicious nature than that."

There was testimony that the farmhand at Swansea did the chores at 92 Second St. which included the cutting of the grass. Since Andrew no longer had a horse isn't it strange that he would put it up in the loft of the barn? Of course that assumes Donnelly is correct that it came from the Borden yard.

In the witness statements, page 20, Charley Cook says: “Was with John Donnelly in the barn. Saw nothing that looked like the imprint of a man. Donnelly had been drinking."

Donnelly testified at the Preliminary but not at the trial. Cook at neither.

This is not the Charles Cook that ran some of Andrews holdings.

Yes, that is strange, if it did indeed come from the Borden yard. Was it another sign of Andrew's frugality? Cut the grass (boy, it must have been long!), dry it in the barn and then bring it out to the farm to feed the animals there?

And that brings to mind another question, if it wasn't from the Borden yard and was just hay that was laying there, why didn't Andrew have one of the farm workers bring it out there to use? Was it there for some possible future visit of someone that would need to put a horse up for the night in the barn?

Here's Bridget, in her usual informative manner --
Q. There was some hay in the barn. Was that hay that had been left over from the time that the horse had been kept there?
A. I suppose so. I don't know.
Q. Did you know of any hay being put in after the horse had been sold or disposed of?
A. No, sir, I don't remember. (Bridget: trial 194)

And Fleet's report on the hay:

Q. Did you notice anything with reference to the hay on the first time that you went up, take any particular notice of it?
A. Nothing more than the hay was piled up as hay should be in a barn, piled up on the north side of the barn.
Q. Did you happen to know or see the quantity of hay there was there the other day that the jury took a view?
A. I did, yes.
Q. How did the quantity of hay that was in the barn the other day, the day of the view, compare with the quantity on August 4th?
A. Well, there might be half the hay there.
(Fleet: trial 482)

So it looks like someone was using the hay for something in the year following the murders.

That is curious.
Maybe Andrew sold the *grass* once it became hay.
But horse-eating hay is a particular kind, isn't it? It can't be just anything, because it could make a horse sick if there were contaminates.
I would think the farms would produce enough for themselves, no need to import hay from town.
Maybe it was used to stuff mattresses or something and was sold for stuffing novelty items?

Somehow I can't picture the Borden backyard allowed to grow as high as the length it takes to make hay. Do you suppose he meant it came from the Borden yard at Swansea?

Whatever the answer- if it was yard grass, it seems like a lot of trouble to get it up in the loft and let it sit there unless it paid back somehow.

I think I read last night in the trial that there was a *vegetable cellar* in the Borden basement, and we know there were barrels or kegs of vinegar- someone called them cider as well.
It's beginning to sound like Andrew had a little *operation* going on there Chez Borden.