The Legend of Lizzie Borden Page #4

And making Emma sleep in

that crap, stuffy room,

while her royal highness

gets the big, airy one all to herself!

I never could abide small, dark places,

even as a child.

Emma knows that.

She wanted me to have the big bedroom.

Didn't you, Em?

Oh, we know all about you and your way,

princess Lizzie.

We know how you twist arms and

throw tantrums just to get your way.

If I were not a lady,

I should twist your arm, Mrs. Borden,

right out of its side!

I will have no more of this!

I have warned you repeatedly, Lizzie.

One way or another, you will learn

not to bite the hand that feeds you,

if I have to cut you off!

You may step down.

Call Dr. Bowen to the stand, please.

Dr. C. Bray Bowen to the stand, please.

Dr. Bowen,

can you describe what miss Borden

had on that morning?

I wouldn't know, sir.

A sort of drab... nameless color,

a sort of a morning calico, I should guess.

- You say it was drab?

- I merely mean to say that the dress was not...

- Answer the question!

- If you just wait a minute...

No, answer the question:

did it appear to you to be

a drab coloured dress?

I am telling you, sir, I don't know.

I didn't intend to try to describe

a woman's dress at the inquest,

and I do not intend to now.

Well, perhaps you can at least tell us

if it was this dress.

Your honor's rarely!

This is the Government's own witness!

I am merely trying to establish whether

or not the witness knows

what the accused was wearing

minutes after the last murder

and if he, a man of medicine,

observed any blood on her.

The witness may answer the question.

I should think it was not that dress.

Your witness.

Now, Dr. Bowen,

going back to the time,

shortly after the discovery

of the second body,

were you summoned to Mrs. Lizzie's bedside

to administer any medicine?

Yes, sir. Miss Russell

came to fetch me upstairs.

I gave Lizzie a preparation called

bromocaffeine

to quieten her nervous excitement

and headache.

And did you subsequently administer

any other medicines of that kind?

- Yes, sir, sulphate of morphine.

- In what dosis?

One eighth of a gram.

However, I doubled that the next day.

And how long did she continue

having the morphine?

All the time she was in the jailhouse.

In other words, she was receiving regular injections

of morphine all the time.

After her arrest, through the hearing

- and while confined in the jailhouse.

- Yes, sir.

Tell me, Doctor Bowen,

does not morphine, given in double doses,

somewhat affect the memory,

change and alter the view of things

doesn't it muddle the thinking,

confuse the mind?

Yes, sir.

It does cause hallucinations.

So that anyone giving testimony

while under its influence

might tend to seem contradictory,

to give conflicting story?

Yes, sir.

When did you stop giving her this drug?

I've not stopped.

She's still receiving it.

Thank you, doctor Bowen.

That will be all.

No further questions, your honor.

You mentioned that miss Borden paid a visit to

your home on the evening before the murders.

That is correct.

Can you tell us the purpose of that visit?

Lizzie was very troubled.

She said that she couldn't help but feel

that something sinister was going to happen.

- Sinister?

Yes. She said that her father was

having trouble with his business associates

and that she was afraid that

someone was going to do harm to him.

She told me that the barn

had already been broken into

and all of her pet pigeons had been killed

I tried to reassure her that it must have

been some of the local boys, out of mischief.

But Lizzie felt sure that it wasn't.

No, papa, no, please.

Papa, please, please, no.

Not the pigeons, papa, please!

Why? Why?

Papa!

All the beautiful birds. Why?

Those young whippersnappers!

Try and steal any more of my pigeons

and see what they find!

- They were mine!

- Yours? Let me remind you, girl,

everything on this place belongs to me.

What's mine is mine

and I will dispose of it as I see fit!

Papa, they were mine!

I tried to set her mind at rest,

but Lizzie confided in me

that even the house had been

broken into in broad daylight,

when she and Emma

and Bridget were at home.

And as she left, she said that she

wished she could sleep with one eye open,

for fear that they would

come in the night

and burn the house down

over the family's head.

And all this the very night

before the murders.

Yes.

Was miss Borden accustomed to

making such nocturnal visits to you?

Only on rare occasion.

And this was certainly

a most rare occasion.

Now, miss Russell, can you tell us please

about the incident which took place

the day after the funerals, while

you were still staying at the Borden house?

An incident involving a certain

Bedford Court dress?

Yes.

That was on Sunday.

Miss Lizzie, miss Emma

and I had breakfast together.

Bridget was not at home.

I went up to the bedroom

and then when I came down

I saw Lizzie standing there

with the dress in her hands.

Lizzie, what are you going to do?

I'm going to burn this old thing,

it's covered with paint.

Lizzie, I wouldn't do that where people

can see me, in broad daylight.

Lizzie, there's a policeman in the yard.

That is probably the worst thing

you could have done.

What if they ask us about that dress?

Why did you let me do it?

Why didn't you tell me?

Thank you, Miss Russell.

No more questions, your honor.

Your witness.

No questions.

Witness may step down, please.

The woman's a fool,

she needn't testify to that.

She's a Christian woman, sir,

it is the truth.

Nonetheless, my dear, we shall nip

this in the bud at once. Fear not.

May it please your honors, at this time

we should like to recall the dressmaker,

- Mrs. Mary Raymond.

- Mary Raymond to the stand.

Yes, I made a Bedford Court dress for Lizzie

in about April of last year.

Now, Mrs. Raymond, will you please tell

the court what became of that dress

on the very day that you completed

the final fitting at Miss Borden's home?

Well, yes, the men were painting

the upstairs hall and landing.

When Lizzie rushed out to show

her new dress to her sister,

she brushed against the fresh paint.

The dress was ruined, of course.

Of course.

No further questions, thank you.

Now, Mr. Hilliard, can you tell us

if this was the hatchet

you found in the box behind

the chimney in the Borden cellar?

It... Looks like it.

The handle was broken like this?

Yes, sir, broken up close like that.

Did you observe anything peculiar about

the break in the handle at that time?

- I did. It was a fresh break, a new break.

- Thank you.

No more questions, your honor.

What can I do for you today, miss Lizzie?

Oh, I... I'm afraid I got some

paint stains on a perfectly new dress.

I would like to buy some nafta with which

to remove them, do you carry it?

Certainly, I'll fetch you some.

I imagine a pint will do.

Oh, yes, that's perfect, thank you.

Please send the bill.

Good day.

Good day.

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