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Lizzie Borden

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For other people named Lizzie Borden, see Lizzie Borden (disambiguation).
Lizzie Borden
Lizzie Borden, circa 1889
Born
Lizzie Andrew Borden

(1860-07-19)July 19, 1860
Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJune 1, 1927(1927-06-01) (aged 66)
Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeOak Grove Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
Known forMurder trial defendant
Parent(s)Andrew Jackson Borden (1822–1892)
Sarah Anthony Morse (1823–1863), mother
Abby Durfee Gray (1828–1892), stepmother
RelativesEmma Lenora Borden (1851–1927), sister
Alice Esther Borden (1856–1858), sister
John Vinnicum Morse, uncle

Lizzie Andrew Borden[2] (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was a New England spinster who was the central figure in the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts in the United States. The murders, subsequent trial, and following trial by media became a cause célèbre. The fame of the incident has endured in American pop culture and criminology. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained notorious in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day.

Murders

The body of Andrew Borden

On August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden had gone into town to do his usual rounds at the bank and post office. He returned home at about 10:45 a.m. Lizzie Borden found his body about 30 minutes later.

According to the testimony of the Borden maid, Bridget Sullivan, Bridget was lying down in her room on the third floor of the house shortly after 11:00 a.m. when she heard Lizzie call to her, saying someone had killed her father; his body was found slumped on a couch in the downstairs sitting room. Andrew Borden's face was turned to the right hand side, apparently at ease, as if he were asleep.[3]

Shortly thereafter, while Lizzie Borden was being tended by neighbors and the family doctor, Sullivan discovered the body of Abbie Borden upstairs in the guest bedroom. The two parents had both been killed by blows from a hatchet, suffering crushed skulls. In the case of Andrew Borden, also cleanly split his left eyeball.[4]

Motive and methods

File:LBsHouse.gif
The Borden house, where the murders took place.
File:LizzieParentsRoom.JPG
The guest room where Mrs. Borden was murdered.

Over a period of years after the death of Sarah Borden (the first Mrs. Borden, mother of the Borden daughters), life at 92 Second Street had grown unpleasant in many ways, and affection between the older and younger family members had waned considerably, if any existed at all.[5]

The upstairs floor of the house was divided. The front was the territory of the Borden sisters, while the rear was for Andrew and Abby. Meals were not always eaten together. Conflict had increased between the two daughters and their father about his decision to divide valuable property among relatives before his death. Relatives of their stepmother had been given a house, and John Morse, brother to the deceased Sarah Borden, had come to visit that week. His visit was to facilitate transfer of farm property, which included what had been a summer home for the Borden daughters. Shortly before the murders, a major argument had occurred which resulted in both sisters leaving home on extended "vacations". Lizzie Borden; However, decided to end her trip, and returned early.

She was refused the purchase of prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) by local druggist Eli Bence, which she claimed was for cleaning a seal skin cloak.[6]

Shortly before the murders, the entire household became violently ill. As Mr. Borden was not a popular man in town, Abby feared they were being intentionally poisoned, but the family doctor diagnosed it as food poisoning.[7]

The trial

Lizzie Borden was arrested on August 11, 1892, and her trial began ten months later in New Bedford, Massachusetts.[7] Her stories proved to be inconsistent, and her behavior suspect. She was tried for the murders and was defended by former Massachusetts Governor George D. Robinson and Andrew V. Jennings.[5] One of the prosecutors in the trial was William H. Moody, future United States Attorney General and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1893 trial jury

During the police investigation, a hatchet was found in the basement and was assumed to be the murder weapon.[5] Though it was clean, most of its handle was missing and the prosecution stated that it had been broken off because it was covered with blood. However, police officer Michael Mullaly stated that he found it next to a hatchet handle. Deputy Marshall John Fleet contradicted this testimony. Later a forensics expert said there was no time for the hatchet to be cleaned after the murder.[8] The prosecution was hampered by the fact that the Fall River police did not put credence in the then-new forensic technology of fingerprinting, and refused to take prints from the hatchet.[9]

No blood-soaked clothing was found as evidence by police. A few days after the murder, Borden tore apart and burned a blue dress in the kitchen stove, claiming she had brushed against fresh baseboard paint which had smeared on it.[5]

Despite incriminating circumstances, Lizzie Borden was acquitted on June 20, 1893 by a jury after an hour and a half's deliberation.[5] The fact that no murder weapon was found and no blood evidence was noted just a few minutes after the second murder pointed to reasonable doubt. Her entire original inquest testimony[specify] was barred from the trial. Also excluded was testimony regarding her attempt to purchase prussic acid.[6] Adding to the doubt was another axe murder in the area, perpetrated by José Correira, which took place shortly before the trial. While many details were similar, Correira was not in the country when the Borden murder took place.[10]

After the trial Borden and her sister moved to a new house called Maplecroft.[5] In June 1905, after twelve years, the two became estranged over their lifestyle differences. They argued over a party Lizzie had given for Nance O'Neil and her theater friends.[11] Shortly after that, Emma moved out of the house to live with her close friend. Lizzie Borden began using the name "Lizbeth A. Borden" at this time.[7][12]

Death

Lizzie Borden died of pneumonia on June 1, 1927 in Fall River, Massachusetts.[13] Borden's funeral details were not made public and only a few people attended her burial.[14] Borden was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery under the name "Lizbeth Andrew Borden", her footstone was inscribed "Lizbeth".[15] Borden had never married, and her will, probated on June 25, 1927, left $30,000 to the Fall River Animal Rescue League.[16][17] She also left $500 in perpetual trust for the care of her father's grave.[1] Nine days later, her estranged sister, Emma Lenora Borden, died from chronic nephritis[18] in Newmarket, New Hampshire, on June 10, 1927.[15]

The house on Second Street where the murders were committed is now a bed and breakfast.[19] Maplecroft, the mansion Borden bought after her acquittal, on then-fashionable French Street in the "highlands" is privately owned, and only occasionally available for touring.

Conjecture

The Borden house, present day. Located in the Corky Row Historic District

Several theories have been presented over the years suggesting Lizzie Borden may not have committed the murders, and that other suspects may have had motives. One theory is that the maid, Bridget Sullivan, did it; possibly out of outrage for being asked to clean the windows, a taxing job on a hot day, just a day after having suffered from food poisoning.[20] Another potential culprit was forwarded by Arnold R. Brown in his work, Lizzie Borden: The Legend, The Truth, The Final Chapter, in which Brown theorizes that the culprit was an illegitimate paternal half-brother named William Borden, as a revenge killing following his failed efforts to extort money from his father.

Yet another theory is that Borden suffered petit mal seizures during her menstrual cycle, at which times she entered a dream-like state, and unknowingly committed the murders.[21]

Nance O'Neil

The book Lizzie by Evan Hunter posed the theory that Lizzie Borden had an affair with the actress Nance O'Neil, whom she met in Boston in 1904. In the early 20th century, it was still considered socially unacceptable for women to become actresses. O'Neil was a spendthrift, always in financial trouble, and Borden came from a wealthy background. The two got along, despite Borden's notoriety.[11]

While there has never been any significant evidence that the two were intimate, the friendship was cited as the cause of Borden's final separation from her sister, Emma.[11] O'Neil was later a character in the musical about Lizzie Borden, entitled Lizzie Borden: A Musical Tragedy in Two Axe, in which she was played by Suellen Vance. Feminist Carolyn Gage refers to O'Neil as an overt lesbian,[8] and although there are few documented details of any affairs, Gage claimed that her sexual orientation was well known in entertainment circles, despite her marriage.

Public reaction

The trial received a tremendous amount of national publicity. It has been compared to the later trials of Bruno Hauptmann, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and O.J. Simpson as a landmark in media coverage of legal proceedings.[22][23][24][25][26][27]

The case was memorialized in a popular skipping-rope rhyme:

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

The anonymous rhyme was made up by a writer as a tune to sell newspapers[citation needed] even though in reality Borden's stepmother suffered 18[28] or 19[8] blows and her father 11. Though acquitted for the crimes, Lizzie Borden was ostracized by neighbors following the trial.[8] Lizzie Borden's name was again brought to the public forefront when she was accused of shoplifting in 1897.[15]

Genealogy

Borden was a distant relative of the American milk processor Gail Borden (1801–1874) and Robert Borden (1854–1937), Canada's Prime Minister during World War I.[29]

Elizabeth Montgomery and Lizzie Borden were sixth cousins once removed, with both having descended from 17th-century Massachusetts resident John Luther. Rhonda McClure, the genealogist who documented the Montgomery-Borden connection, said, "I wonder how Elizabeth would have felt if she knew she was playing her own cousin."[30]

Borden and culture

Publication

  • A regularly published newsletter: The Lizzie Borden Quarterly featured a comic strip titled Princess Maplecroft.

Radio

Television and film

  • An episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents entitled "The Older Sister" retold the Borden story, in which Emma had murdered her parents due to a mental illness she suffered, while Lizzie covered for her.
  • Armstrong Circle Theatre, Season 12, Episode 1, "Legend of Murder – The Untold Story of Lizzie Borden" (first aired October 11, 1961), was a dramatization of Edward D. Radin's book Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story (Simon and Schuster, 1961), which put forth the theory that Bridget Sullivan was the actual murderess. Lizzie was played by Clarice Blackburn and Bridget by Mary Doyle.
  • Elizabeth Montgomery depicted Borden in William Bast's two hour television movie, The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975). In the movie, Lizzie Borden performs the murders after stripping naked (thus explaining the lack of bloodstained clothing).
  • The Sci-Fi Channel Ghost Hunters "TAPS" team investigated the Lizzie Borden house for paranormal activity in episode 12 of season 2.
  • On January 23, 2007, the Crime & Investigation Network aired a documentary on the Lizzie Borden story.
  • In 2004, the Discovery Channel aired an investigative documentary called Lizzie Borden Had an Axe. In the episode, a pair of detectives used modern forensics to exonerate Sullivan and prove Lizzie could have been the killer.
  • In 2008, The History Channel's series MonsterQuest visited the Borden home looking for ghosts.
  • The Travel Channel's show Scariest Places on Earth featured the Borden home as the #1 most scary place on earth.
  • Lizzie Borden appears as one of the jurors of the damned in The Simpsons halloween special, Treehouse of Horror IV.
  • The movie "Monkeybone" shows Lizzie Borden in a cell for coma-stricken people whose bodies have been stolen by their alter-ego upon awakening and gone out to cause nightmares.

Theatre

  • The anthology of short plays, "Sepia and Song", contained a play called "A Memory of Lizzie," with scenes from Lizzie Borden's childhood interpersed with quotes from her trial.[31]
  • Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock premiered at Theatre Tree, Edmonton Canada in 1980. The play is set in 1902, with its "dream thesis" set in 1892, at Fall River, Massachusetts. It explores the events leading up to the trial.
  • The Testimony of Lizzie Borden by Eric Stedman, a docudrama staged in an accurate reproduction of the Borden sitting room which re-created much of Lizzie's actual inquest testimony, premiered at Theatre on the Towpath in New Hope, Pa. in 1994 and was presented in Fall River in 1995.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Bequest for Tomb of Slain Father" (fee required). The New York Times. June 8, 1927. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  2. ^ "Inquest Testimony of Lizzie Borden". University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. Retrieved June 13, 2008. Q. Give me your full name. A Lizzie Andrew Borden. Q. Is it Lizzie or Elizabeth? A Lizzie. Q. You were so christened? A I was so christened. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 27 (help)
  3. ^ "Testimony of Bridget Sullivan in the Trial of Lizzie Borden". University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law: Famous Trials. Retrieved November 15, 2007.
  4. ^ Porter, Edwin H. (1893). The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders. Fall River: Press of J.D. Munroe. Retrieved November 15, 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Linder, Doug. "The Trial of Lizzie Borden". University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law: Famous Trials. Retrieved June 14, 2008.
  6. ^ a b "Prussic Acid In The Case". New York Times. June 15, 1893. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c Cantwell, Mary (July 26, 1992). "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c d Adams, Cecil (March 13, 2001). "Did Lizzie Borden kill her parents with an axe because she was discovered having a lesbian affair?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  9. ^ "On this day in crime history." The Washington, D.C. Examiner. August 4, 2008.
  10. ^ Noe, Denise (1999). "The Murderer Who Inadvertently Helped Miss Lizzie". The Lizzie Borden Quarterly: 8. Retrieved June 3, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ a b c "Sisters Estranged Over Nance O'Neill". The San Francisco Call. June 7, 1905. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  12. ^ "Cast of Characters". LizzieAndrewBorden.com. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  13. ^ "Lizzie Borden Dies" (fee required). The New York Times. June 3, 1927. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  14. ^ "Few at Borden Burial" (fee required). The New York Times. June 6, 1927. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  15. ^ a b c "Dates in the Borden Case". Fall River Historical Society. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  16. ^ "Lizzie Borden's Will Is Probated". The New York Times. Associated Press. June 25, 1927. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ "Lizzie Borden's Last Will and Probate Records" (PDF). Lizzieandrewborden.com. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  18. ^ The Cases That Haunt Us. books.google.com. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  19. ^ "Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast". Retrieved November 15, 2007.
  20. ^ Kent, David (1992). "4". Forty Whacks: New Evidence in the Life and Legend of Lizzie Borden (1 ed.). Emmaus, PA: Yankee Books. p. 39. ISBN 0899093515.
  21. ^ Lincoln, Victoria (1967). "1". A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight (Book Club ed.). New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 44–60. ISBN 0930330358.
  22. ^ Chiasson, Lloyd Jr (1997). The Press on Trial: Crimes and Trials as Media Events. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313300224.
  23. ^ Knox, Sara L. (1998). Murder: A Tale of Modern American Life. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822320533.
  24. ^ Cramer, Clayton E. (1994). "Ethical Problems of Mass Murder Coverage in the Mass Media". Journal of Mass Media Ethics. 9.
  25. ^ Beschle, Donald L. (1997). "What's Guilt (or Deterrence) Got to Do with It?". William and Mary Law Review. 38.
  26. ^ Eaton, William J. (1995). "Just like O.J.'s Trial, but without Kato". American Journalism Review. 17. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  27. ^ Scott, Gina Graham (2005). Homicide by the Rich and Famous: A Century of Prominent Killers. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0275983463.
  28. ^ "Lizzie Borden Took An Ax". Crime Library. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  29. ^ Cole, Michael S. M.D. (1994). Cowan Connections. Privately published. pp. 374–380. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  30. ^ Pylant, James (2004). "The Bewitching Family Tree of Elizabeth Montgomery". Genealogy Magazine. "Rhonda R. McClure. Finding Your Famous (& Infamous) Ancestors. (Cincinnati: Betterway Books: 2003), pp. 14-16.
  31. ^ Foxton, David (1987). Sepia and Song: A Collection of Historical Documentaries. Nelson Thornes. pp. 1–32. ISBN 978-0174324096.

Further reading

A number of works expounding the facts and different theories have been written about the crime. These include:

  • Asher, Robert, Lawrence B. Goodheart and Alan Rogers. Murder on Trial: 1620—2002 New York: State University of New York Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0791463772.
  • Brown, Arnold R. Lizzie Borden: The Legend, the Truth, the Final Chapter. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55853-099-1.
  • de Mille, Agnes. Lizzie Borden: A Dance of Death. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1968.
  • Kent, David Forty Whacks: New Evidence in the Life and Legend of Lizzie Borden. Yankee Books, 1992, ISBN 0-89909-351-5.
  • Kent, David The Lizzie Borden Sourcebook. Boston: Branden Publishing Company, 1992, ISBN 0-8283-1950-2.
  • King, Florence. WASP, Where is Thy Sting? Chapter 15, "One WASP's Family, or the Ties That Bind." Stein & Day, 1977, ISBN 0-552-99377-8 (1990 Reprint Edition).
  • Lincoln, Victoria. A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967, ISBN 0-930330-35-8.
  • Masterton, William L. Lizzie Didn’t Do It! Boston: Branden Publishing Company, 2000, ISBN 0-8283-2052-7.
  • Pearson, Edmund Lester. Studies in Murder Ohio State University Press, 1924.
  • Pearson, Edmund Lester. Trial of Lizzie Borden, edited, with a history of the case, Doubleday-Doran, 1937. Main text is a transcript of the trial.
  • Radin, Edward D. Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story Simon and Schuster, 1961.
  • Rebello, Leonard. Lizzie Borden: Past & Present Al-Zach Press, 1999.
  • David Rehak. Did Lizzie Borden Axe For It? Angel Dust Publishing, 2008.
  • Spiering, Frank. Lizzie: The Story of Lizzie Borden. Dorset Press, 1991, ISBN 0-88029-685-2.
  • Sullivan, Robert. Goodbye Lizzie Borden. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1974, ISBN 0-14-011416-5.
  • Hunter, Evan (see Artistic depictions/Prose Fiction, below) has a video out called Reopened: Lizzie Borden with Ed McBain.
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