Hi! Newbie...Q's about John Morse

[RGJ]

Hi! I love the society! I have been reading on and off over the years. I have some questions about John V. Morse. I have done some poking around ancestry records on and off over the years.

1. He seems to have been taken by the court as financially well off. I know at the time he left Iowa and returned to Dartsmouth there was a terrible drought that devastated the cattle industry. Has his financial state been considered?

2. What was so compelling about his alibi that he was dismissed so rapidly as a suspect? He frequented Falls River...would knowing a streetcar number and conductor's hat number on a route be so compelling? Aside from a relative, the Emerys, did anyone else see him? BTW, I do not think he swung the axe, but I could see him leaving the cellar door open...

3. There was some reference to a poster named Jeffrey who had a theory about Morse and a conspirator. Is his writeup available?

4.Did anyone move back to Mass with Morse from Iowa @1890?

5. Did anyone move to Iowa with him after the murders?

tHX!!

[Curryong]

Hi, there, RGJ! Welcome! Hope you enjoy it here.

I'll try and answer some of your questions as best I can. (1) Farming and all rural industries have their ups and downs, as you know. Nevertheless, Morse maintained at the trial that he had independent means so he didn't really have to work again. If that was a lie, nobody found anything to the contrary, including Detective Hanscom, whom Jennings, the Borden lawyer, sent West in 1892 to see if there was anything that they could dig up about JVM. At his death, in 1912, John left an estate of 23,225 dollars. (Rebello: Page 71)

(2) Dr Bowen happened to be visiting a patient in the Emery household and arrived as Morse departed. Presumably the conductor would be questioned. Perhaps he remembered John! The cellar door was actually checked by the first police on the scene plus John Cunningham (who had phoned the police) and a couple of reporters who were nosing about the back yard.

(3) I can't remember Jeffery off-hand. I'm sure if you use the Advance Search button here on the Forum, keying in words like John Morse Conspiracy, etc., a lot will come up about JVM including our Franz's theory on John and the murders!

(4) According to Rebello (Page 75) Morse moved in April 1890 to stay with an uncle in Rhode Island. As far as I know he was alone. He stayed with his uncle for a year and a half. He left in October 1891 to go live with Isaac Davis and his son William, who had a cottage near Dartmouth. They were butchers and owned a slaughterhouse.

(5) Morse left for Iowa in December 1892 from Mass. As far as I know he travelled alone. He had to post a bond with the Fall River authorities, as he was regarded as a material witness. In his older years he spent the majority of his time boarding with friends.

[Aamartin]

he is buried near where his farm was in the small Iowa town of Hastings.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=23017445

[irina]

Welcome RGJ!

I have always found some of Morse' actions to be indicative of innocence just as others see some of his actions as guilty. Sometimes simple things mean more to me than elaborate things. I believe and I think others here do too, that Morse heard a rumor about murder when he left where he was visiting. I figure word of mouth could have gone very far very fast. If so he may have memorized everything around him on the way back. We also don't know how many telephones were around or exactly how news could have travelled at that time.

Ont thing I find that supports his innocence and ignorance of the crime is that he was almost obsessed with the locks on the house, front door and cellar, after the murders. If he was complicit and had messed with the locks beforehand I think he would have been happy to have the locks out of mind, out of sight.

As I was reading your post another idea got my attention. I am very familiar with the idea that some think Morse left the cellar door unlocked that morning. I don't think he did. I believe Lizzie didn't do the crime but her difficulty telling the truth implies she may have been involved, so she was not totally innocent. SHE made a comment about the cellar door which I took as maybe a consciousness of innocence. I think it was the morning after the murders, when Lizzie had come downstairs, and a policeman was present. Lizzie asked Bridget if she was sure the cellar door had been locked. Bridget replied, "Yes, Marm." It's in the witness statements.

It's not new to wonder if Lizzie left the cellar door unlocked. If she did her comment to Bridget would make more sense in context of guilt, that she was trying to shift a bit of blame onto Bridget.

Anyway, you will have a good time with Franz who has an elaborate Uncle John theory.

[twinsrwe]

Hi RGJ, welcome to the forum.