Why Did Alice Change?

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:19 am

Kat @ Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:18 am wrote:
Allen @ Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:37 pm wrote:
Kat @ Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:53 am wrote:So now Morse probably has a key or keys to the side door, yes?
If he does, why doesn't he use them? He still comes to the door and waits to be let in. I'm not sure whether Morse would rate a key to the side door, since Bridget states in testimony that Abby got her key to the side door around the same time she got hers.
Well, methinks that if he is going to be there a year, he's going to have a key. I think he waits to be let in when he is merely dropping by and people are home.
Maybe they changed the lock after he left, requiring a new key for Abby?
Can you give the context of Abby getting the side door key- I think I remember it.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:47 am

Trial Testimony of Bridget Sullivan

Q. Did anyone else have a key to the back door?
A.I think Mrs. Borden had a key to it.

---------------------------------------
( In reference to the back door.)

Q. And do you know whether Mrs. Borden or anybody else had a key to it besides yourself?
A. I know Mrs. Borden had a key for it; Mrs. Borden got a key for it when I got mine.

Q. So there were two keys?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. Where did you keep yours when you came into the house?
A. I hung it up on a nail that was hanging down near the lamp in the kitchen--- the mantel - piece.

Q. That was your rule, to hang it there?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. Do you know where the other one was kept?
A. No, sir; I do not.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 3:13 am

Thanks.
Why would Abby all of a sudden need a key to the back door 2 1/2 years earlier?
Maybe that's when she stopped using the front door? Or started using the side door more?
Or it still seems reasonable that the lock was changed on that side door.
Who knows how many keys were out and about town to that door.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:24 pm

Harry @ Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:55 pm wrote:
I seem to remember a similar discussion and that Morse would use the small bedroom when the guest room was being used in dress making or some other activity by the family. I may be wrong though as it's been a while since that discussion. Maybe that was speculation in that discussion.

I came across this while looking for something for another thread.

Trial testimony of Emma L. Borden page 1553+:

( The questions are in reference to her uncle John Morse.)

Q. Do you remember when the last time he came and stayed over night was?
A.No, I do not.

Q. Was it for a good while before that time?
A. No, I should say not a great while, but I don't remember.

Q.Some time that summer, perhaps?
A. Yes, I think so.

page 1554

Q. And stayed over night?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. Where did he sleep then?
A. I think in the attic.

Q. Did you then have company at the house?
A. I don't think we did.

Q. Had he usually slept in the attic or the guest chamber?
A. Just as it happened.

Q. And what made it happen?
A. Sometimes when we were using the room more especially as a sewing room than we did others, he would go to the attic.

Q. And were you using it as a sewing room at the time he slept in the attic, the time he was there last before?
A. As I tell you, I don't remember; I think very likely.

Q. You do not recall. Did he come to the house pretty often?
A. Just as it happened.

Q. About how many times had he been there that year?
A. I can't tell you.

Q.Well, half a dozen, more or less?
A.Well, I should say half a dozen.

Q. And of those times that he had been there, as near as you can tell, if you can tell, how many times had he stayed over night?
A.Oh, I don't know: perhaps two or three.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:52 pm

Thanks Melissa, you saved me some digging.

Lizzie and Emma must have loved having him around.