Sinkers

Police officers who found themselves suspicious of Lizzie within the first few hours thanks to what they considered her overly cool demeanor decided that her so-called “alibi” of going out to the barn was overly convenient, not to mention difficult to believe because of how hot it had been that day. (“If any girl can show you or me, or anybody else what could interest her up here for twenty minutes, I would like to have her do it,” said Officer Harrington to the police marshal while in the stifling barn loft.) Nonetheless, Lizzie insisted that’s why she went to the barn while waiting for her flat irons to get hot enough to finish ironing her handkerchiefs. After all, she had been planning to join friends at a cabin in nearby Marion where there was a possibility of going fishing, and she wanted to be prepared with the right equipment.

At her inquest, District Attorney Hosea Knowlton questioned her carefully about going up to the barn and tried to get her to justify why she should decide on that particular time on that particular day to go hunting for sinkers. Their exchange on this subject lasted many strained minutes, clearly frustrating them both. Indeed, this one particular exchange on iron sinkers, provided in full below, perfectly depicts why so many read Lizzie’s testimony and conclude she was being evasive and dishonest in her answers to the district attorney. There is no doubt Lizzie’s inquest testimony was one of the top reasons she was considered guilty in 1892, and why even more people today are likely to conclude she really did kill her father and stepmother.

It is important to note, however, that this testimony was eventually ruled inadmissible at Lizzie’s trial. The judges decreed that it was gained through legal trickery and therefore unreliable. If, as one reads through her testimony, one takes into account that context and other likely mitigating factors (such as the impact of traumatic shock on memory), one might notice a concerning dynamic between the hostile interrogator and his seemingly confused witness. Lizzie doesn’t dodge Knowlton’s questions as much as she simply takes them literally and answers them literally. (For why this might be, see Autism Theory.) Her answers seem to increasingly irritate him, so he keeps repeating the same questions, refusing to move on. She continues attempting to answer, even though he makes clear he doubts every word out of her mouth. Comparing the way Knowlton grilled Lizzie with the way he respectfully questioned the other inquest witnesses (who also had shaky memories) is fairly revealing as to why Lizzie’s testimony may have gone so badly. Knowlton was clearly on a mission to trip her up, and it can be painful reading.

For some, reading through this inquest testimony can also bring up the question of why the district attorney, who claimed he was trying to discover “the author of the tragedy,” spent so much time trying to nail Lizzie down on the trifling subject of fishing sinkers instead of asking her what she knew about Andrew’s financial dealings or business projects. Or, what she may have overheard him say about conflicts he might have had with others. Or, what she knew about regular visitors to his home, or even irregular visitors. She had already described to police seeing strangers lurking around the house, and arguments with tenants at the front door, making Lizzie one of Knowlton’s most potentially valuable witnesses. He had only been briefed on the progress of the investigation less than 24 hours before Lizzie was sitting before him, so there was still presumably much for him to learn about Andrew and others who may have had reason to want him dead. So why didn’t Knowlton use his time with Lizzie to question her about those possibly relevant subjects and gain the kind of information she showed up to provide? Was this belabored skirmish over fishing sinkers really the best he could do to help solve the crime?

That is admittedly a minority view; more often than not, readers of Lizzie’s inquest testimony do not note Knowlton’s performance, and they don’t see anything in Lizzie’s fumbling words except someone with a guilty conscience who can’t keep her lies straight. And maybe that’s the case. Maybe after driving a hatchet repeatedly into her father’s head, she haphazardly came up with a story about fishing sinkers to give herself an alibi, and even as she realized she couldn’t justify it very well, she had no choice but to stick with it. Or maybe she really did go wandering up into the barn on a half-hearted search for something she wasn’t sure she would even need simply because she had nothing better to do to pass the time. We will never know, and the following exchange between the district attorney and his only suspect does little except keep the matter as murky as ever.

Lizzie Borden Inquest Testimony, Second Day

Q: [Knowlton] Can you give me any information how it happened at that particular time you should go into the chamber of the barn to find a sinker to go to Marion with to fish the next Monday?

A: I was going to finish my ironing. My flats were not hot. I said to myself, “I will go and try and find that sinker. Perhaps by the time I get back, the flats will be hot.” That is the only reason …

Q: Had you got a fish line?

A: Not here. We had some at the farm.

Q: Had you got a fish hook?

A: No sir.

Q: Had you got any apparatus for fishing at all?

A: Yes, over there.

Q: Had you any sinkers over there?

A: I think there were some. It is so long since I have been there, I think there were some.

Q: You had no reason to suppose you were lacking sinkers?

A: I don’t think there were any on my lines.

Q: Where were your lines?

A: My fish lines were at the farm there.

Q: What made you think there were no sinkers at the farm on your lines?

A: Because some time ago when I was there, I had none.

Q: How long since you used the fish lines?

A: Five years, perhaps.

Q: You left them at the farm then?

A: Yes sir.

Q: And you have not seen them since?

A: Yes sir.

Q: It occurred to you after your father came in it would be a good time to go to the barn after sinkers and you had no reason to suppose there was not abundance of sinkers at the farm and abundance of lines?

A: The last time I was there, there were some lines.

Q: Did you not say before you presumed there were sinkers at the farm?

A: I don’t think I said so.

Q: You did say so exactly. Do you now say you presume there were not sinkers at the farm?

A: I don’t think there were any fishing lines suitable to use at the farm. I don’t think there were any sinkers on any line that had been mine.

Q: Do you remember telling me you presumed there were lines and sinkers and hooks at the farm?

A: I said there were lines, I thought, and perhaps hooks. I did not say I thought there were sinkers on my lines. There was another box of lines over there beside mine.

Q: You thought there were not sinkers?

A: Not on my lines.

Q: Not sinkers at the farm?

A: I don’t think there were any sinkers at the farm. I don’t know whether there were or not.

Q: Did you then think there were no sinkers at the farm?

A: I thought there were no sinkers anywhere or I should not have been trying to find some.

Q: You thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had?

A: I thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had.

Q: That is the reason you went into the second story of the barn to look for a sinker?

A: Yes sir.

Q: What made you think you would find sinkers there?

A: I heard father say, and I knew there was lead there.

Q: What made you think you would find sinkers there?

A: I went to see because there was lead there.

Q: You thought there might be lead there made into sinkers?

A: I thought there might be lead with a hole in it.

Q: Did you examine the lead that was downstairs near the door?

A: No sir.

Q: Why not?

A: I don’t know.

Q: You went straight to the upper story of the barn?

A: No, I went under the pear tree and got some pears first.

Q: Then went to the second story of the barn to look for sinkers for lines you had at the farm, as you supposed, as you had seen them there five years before that time?

A: I went up to get some sinkers if I could find them. I did not intend to go to the farm for lines. I was going to buy some lines here.

Q: You then had no intention of using your lines at Marion?

A: I could not get them.

Q: You had no intention of using your own line and hooks at the farm?

A: No sir.

Q: What was the use of telling me a while ago you had no sinkers on your line at the farm?

A: I thought I made you understand that those lines at the farm were no good to use.

Q: Did you not mean for me to understand one of the reasons you were searching for sinkers was that the lines you had at the farm, as you remembered then, had no sinkers on them?

A: I said the lines at the farm had no sinkers.

Q: I did not ask you what you said. Did you not mean for me to understand that?

A: I meant for you to understand I wanted the sinkers and was going to have new lines.

Q: You had not then bought your lines?

A: No sir, I was going out Thursday noon.

Q: You had not bought any apparatus for fishing?

A: No hooks.

Q: Had bought nothing connected with your fishing trip?

A: No sir.

Q: Was going to go fishing the next Monday, were you?

A: I don’t know that we should go fishing Monday.

Q: Going to the place to go fishing Monday?

A: Yes sir.

Q: This was Thursday and you had no idea of using any fishing apparatus before the next Monday?

A: No sir.

Q: You had no fishing apparatus you were proposing to use the next Monday until then?

A: No sir, not until I bought it.

Q: You had not bought anything?

A: No sir.

Q: Had you started to buy anything?

A: No sir.

Q: The first thing in preparation for your fishing trip the next Monday was to go to the loft of that barn to find some old sinkers to put on some hooks and lines that you had not then bought?

A: I thought if I found no sinkers, I would have to buy the sinkers when I bought the lines.

Q: You thought you would be saving something by hunting in the loft of the barn before you went to see whether you should need them or not?

A: I thought I would find out whether there were any sinkers before I bought the lines and if there was, I should not have to buy any sinkers. If there were some, I should only have to buy the lines and the hooks.

Q: You began the collection of your fishing apparatus by searching for the sinkers in the barn?

A: Yes sir.

Q: You were searching in a box of old stuff in the loft of the barn?

A: Yes sir, upstairs.

Q: That you had never looked at before?

A: I had seen them.

Q: Never examined them before?

A: No sir.

Q: All the reason you supposed there was sinkers there was your father had told you there was lead in the barn?

A: Yes, lead. And one day I wanted some old nails. He said there was some in the barn.

Q: All the reason that gave you to think there was sinkers was your father said there was old lead in the barn?

A: Yes sir.

Q: Did he mention the place in the barn?

A: I think he said upstairs. I’m not sure.

Q: Where did you look upstairs?

A: On that work-bench like.

Q: In anything?

A: Yes. In a box—sort of a box. And then some things lying right on the side that was not in the box.

For more on Lizzie’s supposed trip to the barn during the time her father was killed, see Barn.

For more on her Inquest Testimony, and why it was ruled inadmissible, see Inquest.

For more on the mitigating factors that may have impacted her ability to answer Knowlton’s questions, see Inquest: Mitigating Factors.

For a full transcript of Lizzie’s inquest testimony, visit lizzieandrewborden.com and click on Primary Sources.