“Did you then think there were no sinkers at the farm?”
“I thought there were no sinkers anywhere, or I shouldn’t have been trying to find some.”
“You thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had.”
“I thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had.”
“That is the reason you went into the second story of the barn. To look for a sinker.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You went straight to the upper story of the barn?”
“No. I went under the pear tree and got some pears first.”
“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.”
“I went up to get some sinkers, if I could find them. I didn’t intend to go to the farm for lines. I was going to buy some lines here.”
“You then had no intention of using your own line and hooks at the farm.”
“No, sir.”
“What was the use of telling me, a little while ago, you had no sinkers on your line at the farm?”
“I thought I made you understand that those lines at the farm were no good to use.”
“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 them, had no sinkers on them?”
“I said the lines at the farm had no sinkers.”
“I did not ask you what you said. Did you not mean for me to understand that?”
“I meant for you to understand I wanted the sinkers. And was going to have new lines.”
“You had not then bought your lines?”
“No, sir. I was going out Thursday noon.”
“You had not bought any apparatus for fishing?”
“No hooks.”
“Had bought nothing connected with your fishing trip?”
“No, sir.”
“Was going to go fishing the next Monday, were you?”
“I don’t know that we should go fishing Monday.”
“Going to the place to go fishing Monday?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This was Thursday, and you had no idea of using any fishing apparatus before the next Monday.”
“No, sir.”
“You had no fishing apparatus you were preparing to use the next Monday until then.”
“No, sir. Not until I bought it.”
“You had not bought anything.”
“No, sir.”
“Had not started to buy anything.”
“No, sir.”
“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.”
“I thought I would find out whether there were any sinkers before I bought the lines. And if there were, I shouldn’t have to buy any sinkers. If there were some, I should only have to buy the lines and the hooks.”
“You began the collection of your fishing apparatus by searching for sinkers in the barn.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where did you look upstairs?”
“On that workbench, like.”
“In anything?”
“Yes, it was a box. Sort of a box. And then some things lying right on the side that wasn’t in the box.”
“How large a box was it?”
“I couldn’t tell you. It was probably covered up with lumber, I think.”
“Give me the best idea of the size of the box you can.”
“Well, I should say... I don’t know... I haven’t any idea.”
“Give me the best idea you have.”
“About that large,” she said, and extended her gloved hands, measuring out the distance between the forefinger of each hand.
“That long?” Knowlton asked.
“Yes.”
“How wide?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me the best idea you have.”
“Perhaps about as wide as it was long.”
“How high?”
“It wasn’t very high.”
“About how high?”
Lizzie again extended her hands.
“About twice the length of your forefinger?” Knowlton said.
“I should think so. Not quite.”
“What was in the box?”
“Nails... and some old locks... and I don’t know but there was a doorknob.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t remember anything else.”
“Any lead?”
“Yes. Some pieces of lead, like.”
“Foil? What we call tin foil? The same as you use on tea chests?”
“I don’t remember seeing any tin foil. Not as thin as that.”
“Tea-chest lead?”
“No, sir.”
“What did you see in shape of lead?”
“Flat pieces of lead, a little bigger than that. Some of them were doubled together.”
“How many.”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“Where else did you look? Beside in the box?”
“I didn’t look anywhere of lead except on the workbench.”
“When you got through looking for lead, did you come down?”
“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.”
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“That is all you did?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That is the second story of the barn?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was the window open?”
“I think not.”
“Hot?”
“Very hot.”
“How long do you think you were up there?”
“Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes, I shouldn’t think.”
“Should you think what you’ve told me would occupy four minutes?”
“I ate some pears up there.”
“I asked you to tell me all you did!”
“I told you all I did!”
“Do you mean to say you stopped your work, and then — additional to that — sat still and ate some pears?”
“While I was looking out of the window, yes, sir.”
“Will you tell me all you did in the second story of the barn?”
“I think I told you all I did that I can remember.”
“Is there anything else?”
“I told you I took some pears up from the ground when I went up. I stopped under the pear tree and took some pears up. When I went up.”
“Have you now told me everything you did up in the second story of the barn?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I now call your attention and ask you to say whether all you have told me — I don’t suppose you stayed there any longer than necessary?”
“No, sir. Because it was close.”
“I suppose that was the hottest place there was on the premises.”
“I should think so.”
“Can you give me any explanation why all you have told me would occupy more than three minutes?”
“Yes, it would take me more than three minutes.”
“To look in that box — that you have described the size of — on the bench, and put down the curtain, and then get out as soon as you conveniently could — would you say you were occupied in that business twenty minutes?”
“I think so. Because I didn’t look at the box when I first went up.”