Lizzie Borden Society Forum

In Lizzie's inquest testimony, she said when she was upstairs in the barn looking out the window, the shade was slanted so she "pulled it down". I am wondering if that means she pulled it down as in off the window or just pulled the shade down to cover the window. During the search of the barn, was anything noted about this?
Also she said when she came in from the barn, she laid her hat down on the dining room table. Was it found on the table during the search? Was that ever mentioned?
Just wondering.
Pammie

Hi Pammie!
It was a curtain in the barn that Lizzie said she fixed:

Q. When you got through looking for lead did you come down?
A. No, sir, I went to the west window over the hay, to the west window, and the curtain was slanted a little. I pulled it down.
Q. What else?
A. Nothing.
Q. That is all you did?
75 (32)
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That is the second story of the barn?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was the window open?
A. I think not.
---
From that window she could view a part of the street I think, maybe a part of the house as well.
I've wondered, and probably others have also, if that was some sort of signal to someone. I'm not sure why she did that or what it means.

I'm glad you brought up Lizzie's hat, because it is always repeated that when she came in she set it on the dining room table- in fact that is said on a video too- but Lizzie said she put her hat down in the dining room, but doesn't say where. Since Bridget says the table is usually set for the next meal, I personally don't see Lizzie putting her hat on the table but I guess her handkerchiefs were there and the ironing board- but that seems a cleaner thing on a set table than a hat that just came from a barn loft. (Ick!)

Q. When you came down from the barn, what did you do then?
A. Came into the kitchen.
Q. What did you do then?
A. I went into the dining room and laid down my hat.
Q. What did you do then?
A. Opened the sitting room door, and went into the sitting room, or pushed it open; it was not latched.
Q. What did you do then?
A. I found my father, and rushed to the foot of the stairs.
Q. What were you going into the sitting room for?
78 (35)
A. To go up stairs.
Q. What for?
A. To sit down.
Q. What had become of the ironing?
A. The fire had gone out.
Q. I thought you went out because the fire was not hot enough to heat the flats.
A. I thought it would burn, but the fire had not caught from the few sparks.
Q. So you gave up the ironing and was going up stairs?
A. Yes, sir, I thought I would wait till Maggie got dinner and heat the flats again.

But have no answer to your original questions! Sorry!

Perhaps Lizzie went to that window to watch for the killer's leaving the house so she knew when to enter? I had never thought about that before.

-1bigsteve (o:

Yes, move the curtain to signal she is out of the house, and then she wastes some time- gives an intruder 10 minutes more or so, then enters to find Andrew...

Then that would mean the killer reentered the house to kill Andrew if Lizzie signaled him with the shades. Why wouldn't he just stay in the house, hidden, and then leave after killing Andrew? Hmm... I think Lizzie had a reason to skulk around in that barn and it wasn't to look for sinkers.

-1bigsteve (o:

I was thinking maybe along the lines of a killer hiding in the cellar. *He* is waiting for Lizzie to leave the house and signal from the barn window because he wants to know Andrew is home and maybe alone and he now has access to kill Andrew. If *he* killed Abbie he can be hiding in the cellar between kills. It might have been possible for the hiding person to see that western barn window from inside the outer cellar door, but I"m not sure. Lizzie loiters in her return, hoping someone sees her outside. The ice cream man does.

Sounds reasonable Kat. I never thought of the killer hiding in the cellar.

-1bigsteve (o:

I never thought of that as a signal until I read your posts. But that would make sense. I always thought that the reason John Morse didn't go right in was because he was waiting for some type of signal. Either to let him know the deed was done, or as a sign that the person got away alright.

I always thought she added that little extra detail to account for more time up in the loft and to make it seem more like she was really up there. One problem with people who lie, they keep adding one more thing and one more thing. Usually in the end they trip themselves up.

As to the set diningroom table, with John, Abby and Andrew, and maybe Lizzie only for lunch- and we do not know for sure if Bridget had set the table with a place for John, probably the table was empty on the west end of it and there might have been room to lay a hat. Of course we do not know how long the table was, whether there was a buffet dresser in there, or she laid the hat on a chair or on the little daybed. I rather doubt it was the daybed because it was off in that jog, very out of the way of the walking traffic pattern.

I used to try to picture an outside killer coming in and because there was gilt in Abbie's wound and none said to be found in Andrew's, I was trying to figure out why. I actually had a picture in my head of someone waiting between killings in the cellar sharpening their hatchet on a sharpening stone. Just sitting there passing the blade against the stone over and over and over, almost in slow motion their mind a blank...
That would remove any remaining gilt, as well.
Then, a signal from Lizzie, and back to work.

Was that broken hatchet a new one? Perhaps after murdering Abby, Lizzie gave it a quick sharpening before attending to Andrew.