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Lizzie Borden

Murder in Victorian America: The Case of Lizzie Borden Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one. On August 4th, 1892, the police in the little town of Fall River, Massachusetts were called to investigate a murder at the Borden house. Andrew and Abby Borden were found dead and hardly recognizable. Someone had brutally murdered these two people with a hatchet. The case that was to unfold became one of the most talked about murders for over a hundred years. Lizzie Borden was born the youngest of three daughters (middle daughter died as a baby) to her father Andrew Borden and mother Sarah Borden. Sarah died just a few years later and Andrew remarried when Lizzie was 5 to Abby Borden. Lizzie and Abby never got along well, with their epic fights being well known in the neighborhood. Lizzie and her older sister still lived at home as they were spinsters, having never gotten married. In the late 1800's, unmarried women just did not live alone. Andrew tried to keep peace between the two women, but by 1892, tensions in the house had grown so strained that there were locks on every door in the house, Lizzie was eavesdropping through holes drilled in the walls, and Abby was putting pressure on Andrew to get Lizzie out of the house, into a mental institution even. Andrew was a fairly wealthy man and Lizzie knew that if she was sent away, she'd never inherit the money. Lizzie suddenly started being nice to Abby. The day before the murders, she even offered to make dinner. She doesn't eat and everyone in the house, especially Andrew and Abby, become very sick, enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. The next day, the family woke up and ate breakfast. Lizzie's visiting uncle left for the day, Andrew left for work, and her sister Emma left to visit a neighboring town. Abby ordered their servant, Bridget "Maggie" Sullivan, to clean the outside windows and while she went about her work, Abby went upstairs to make the guest bed. Andrew arrived home for a nap and lunch and Bridget let him in. She later recalled hearing Lizzie oddly laugh from the upstairs landing while doing this. Bridget went upstairs to her third floor bedroom as Andrew napped in the living room. At about 11:10AM, Lizzie called up to Bridget, telling her someone had killed father. Andrew had been struck in the face with a hatchet 10 times. Bridget asked about Abby and Lizzie said that she had left the house after receiving a note about somebody being sick. The note was never found. Lizzie sent Bridget for the doctor. Eventually, the police, doctors, and neighbors started to show up. They found Abby also dead beside the guest bed with 21 hatchet wounds in the back of her head. With so many people in the house, it was chaos and the only person who is calm is Lizzie, even though her father and step-mother have been killed. The police eventually found a hatchet without a handle in the basement and the investigation began. Lizzie claimed to have been in the barn loft eating a pear and searching for fishing sinkers while the murders took place, but upon investigation, the police found the area covered in undisturbed dust. The town pharmacist claimed that Lizzie tried to purchase prussic acid, a poison, the day before the murder. A few days after the murder, Lizzie was seen burning a bloody dress in the furnace. As this and other evidence started to mount up against her, the police arrested Lizzie for the murders. In the late 1800's, the thought of a woman murdering anyone was like the thought of a two-year-old hacking someone to death today. Lizzie was put on trial and even with some of the best prosecutors available and quite a bit of evidence against her, she was pronounced not guilty. Lizzie and her sister inherited their father's wealth and sold the house. They moved to the rich part of town and named their house 'Maplecroft.' After a falling out a few years later, Lizzie's sister moved to Rhode Island. Lizzie died in 1927. The house that the murders took place in is now a Bed & Breakfast and can be seen here: www.lizzie-borden.com. Pictures and description by: Jet Black

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