This should go without saying, but.... what you're about read contains adult content. Reader suggestion is advised. If you don't want to know murdery things, stop reading. Mkay... here we go...
August 4th, 1892, Andrew and his wife Abby were brutally murdered in their own home. Now, we all know the rhyme; "Lizzie Borden took and axe, gave her mother 40 wacks. When she saw what she had done, gave her father 41." However, the question remains all these years later, was Lizzie really guilty? With all the evidence being circumstantial at best and the murder weapon never recovered; Lizzie was acquitted of the murder charges in June of the following year.
Let's go back.
Born in 1860. Lizzie. Lizzie Borden. (If you get why I started it this way, I love you! HAHA)
Lizbeth (Lizzie) Borden, born July 19th, 1860, was the third daughter of Andrew and Sarah Borden of Fall River, MA. Her older sister, Emma, was born in 1851 and her other sister, Alice, was born in 1856. Sadly, before Lizzie was born, Alice passed away at the age of 2 from "Dropsy of the Brain" which we now call Edema. When Lizzie was 3, her mother passed away of "uterine congestion and spinal disease" (believed now to be an ectopic pregnancy). A couple years later in 1865, Lizzie's father remarried a woman named Abby Durfee. Due to the age gap between Lizzie and Emma, Emma never felt very much love for her Step-mother; however to Lizzie, this is the only mother that she had ever truly known.
One thing to really note about Andrew Borden, is the fact that he was basically a scrooge. The man was very wealthy but he did things the cheapest way possible. He had grew up with meager means, so when he started to be successful, he was very frugal. He had holding in several textile mills and banking houses. He also was the president of the Union savings bank and was the director of many corporations in the area. The Bordens were basically the richest, or one of the richest families in town. Despite this, Andrew still made his family go without certain amenities that were common for that time frame; such as indoor plumbing and a kitchen icebox. To put things in perspective, when he died, he was worth an estimated $300,000, which today would be upwards of 10 MILLION dollars! Can you imagine having 10 mil and still going outside to go to the bathroom?
Lizzie, like most normal kids, was a little rebellious but overall was a good person. One thing that she used to do that she thought was cool was to shoplift from stores near her home; however with her father being an affluent member of the area; he told shop owners to let her take whatever she wanted and they would be reimbursed. So she thought she was getting away with something, but really her father knew all about it and had covered for her. Outside of the occasional five finger discount, Lizzie taught Sunday school and well very well liked among everyone with whom she had a connection.
Emma and Lizzie had a very close knit relationship. Despite having a step mother, Emma fancied herself somewhat of a mother to Lizzie. Emma was very caring of Lizzie. For example, Lizzie once went on a trip to Europe for a substantial amount of time and when she arrived home, had so many souvenirs that she had a hard time fitting them all in her room; so Emma, who had a bigger room, willing switched rooms with Lizzie so that she could fit all her new stuff! Now THAT is sisterly love.
The few days leading up to the murders, some random/weird things were going on. Abby thought someone was mad at Andrew and was trying to poison them. The members of the Borden family were all feeling some digestive discomfort, so naturally they were "being poisoned". But, remember when I said Andrew was frugal to the point of no icebox, well... the food that they had prepared (Mutton) had literally been sitting on the stove for days and they would just reheat it for every meal. Literally everyone in the house including their maid, Bridget Sullivan (Maggie), was violently ill from this. I don't know if you've ever left out food for several days without properly storing it, but let me tell you; it'll give you digestive issues for sure! It's called FOOD POISONING. I digress...
Next. Emma and Lizzie's uncle, John Morse, on their mom's side of the family very randomly came to visit them. He was one to keep in touch with his nieces and even come to visit for weeks at a time; however, he was always one to give notice. He just showed up on their doorstep one night with no luggage. Odd for sure, but nothing that anyone thought was abnormal enough for him to be considered and immediate suspect when the murders would take place.
And some more weirdness, information that would later come to light with intention to incriminate Lizzie was the fact that she had gone to the pharmacy in town the day before the murders and tried to buy some prussic acid; BUT the person that was behind the counter wouldn't sell it to her. I can't remember the circumstances of it. She either needed a prescription or some type of license that she didn't have to purchase it and so she left. Many people believe, well see she was going to try to poison them and her plan failed so she must have axed them. For now I will just present facts and later I will go into my theory.
Lastly, the day of the murders, people reported seeing a man hanging around the house that no one knew. One eye witness said they even saw him go up to the Borden's house but it looked like he either couldn't get in or no one heard him knock, but that there was some guy near the house around the time that the murder had taken place.
August 4th, 1892.
Uncle John had spent the night. He was going to go about town to buy some oxen and see another niece that he had in the area.
Abby asked Bridget to clean the windows from the outside of the house. This meant climbing on a ladder and cleaning every single window up to the 3rd floor.
Abby went upstairs to clean the guest room for John while he was out for the day.
Emma was out of town visiting friends in Fairhaven, MA.
Andrew went for his morning walk.
Lizzie was home ironing handkerchiefs.
It is reported that Abby was murdered between 9a-10:30a while making the bed in the guest room where John had stayed the night before. It is said that she was facing her attacker but the initial blow made her turn and fall face down on the ground where she received her remaining injuries. Lizzie, who was home at this time, reported that she heard nothing. She was downstairs ironing.
At around 1030a, Andrew came home. The house was locked from the inside and his key wouldn't work, so he had to knock on the door. Bridget ushered him in and Lizzie was helping him to remove his boots while he laid down in the parlor. Upon arriving, he asked where Abby was, to which Lizzie replied that Abby had received a telegram from a sick friend and had left to see that person.
At this time, Lizzie informed Bridget that there was a department sale and said there were some things that she wanted, but "Maggie" said that she wanted to take a nap in her bedroom because she wasn't feeling well. (Note: They were STILL eating that mutton. Ew!) Lizzie took this time to do some barn chores.
Bridget/Maggie didn't get to have much of a nap though. Just before 11:10, Lizzie had come in from outside in the barn and found her father dead and called up to Bridget saying "Come quick! Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him."
Police were called, obviously. They would describe that he was slumped over and had 11 blows to head from a hatchet like object. (I know I've pretty "graphic" but I am going to save from the "gory" details. It's pretty nasty.) While they were investigating what happened, they had asked about Abby, to which Lizzie said the same thing she had said to her father; she had received a telegram from a sick friend and had gone to see them. However, she said that she may have returned at some point if someone could go look for her. It was at this time that Abby's body was discovered by Bridget and a neighbor that had come over during the investigation as moral support. Abby's body was visible from the stairs as her body had fallen next to the bed.
(Also, if you're thinking, well if Bridget saw the body from the stairs, why didn't she see it when she went to take "a nap". The way the house was built, the front of the house and the back of the house was basically cut down the middle. Bridget used a different staircase to get to her room.)
When asking for Lizzie's alibi, she didn't have a good one. She said she heard noises and then she would say she didn't. They checked her room and didn't find anything. Her story was basically that she was just somewhere else. She was ironing. She had gone outside to the barn. That was it. Part of what would go into the foundation for her arrest in suspicion was the fact that she seemed too calm for someone who found her parents murdered.
In the basement, police officers found 2 hatchets, 2 axes and a hatchet head but the handle had been broken off. The one with the broken handle is what was believed to be the murder weapon. Blood was found on it, however it wasn't human blood. So that discredited it as the murder weapon. Since the family had all been sick they decided to autopsy the bodies on the dinning room table. (Um ew) No poisoning was found in their systems.
Emma had been informed of what happened (as she was in Fairhaven) and came home. Lizzie's friend Alice Russell stayed with them that night as did Uncle John. Police kept guard around the property as well. The next day, police did a more thorough search of the property, taking various things they thought would aid them with solving the murders and Lizzie was informed that she was in fact a suspect. Following this, Lizzie decided that it was a good time to burn a dress that she had gotten paint on it. Her friend Alice was suspicious of this and ended up turning her into police.
When Lizzie was in the hearing, she was almost manic. She had be prescribed morphine for her nerves and it was impacting her memory. Her recount of the day changed many times and she was confusing to listen to. In her testimony, she had said that she had helped her father off with his boots (remember) and there was actually photographic evidence after the murders that his boots were still on! (One thing that I find particularly interesting about this case is that cameras were a new concept and this is one of the first, if not the first case to use photographs as evidence.)
Her friend Alice, who had thought she was innocent, changed her tune when she saw Lizzie burning clothes and with her drug induced changing of the story as she was telling it; caused for reasonable doubt and she was indicted and jailed.
The following summer the case was going to grand jury and was getting some press. When Lizzie was about to go on trail, ANOTHER axe murder was committed; (I smell a copy cat killer) but the person that committed that murder was found and arrested. It was said that he was most definitely not around the Fall River area at the time of the murders; so the trial was still going to go under way.
Reasons they thought it was Lizzie
Literally those are the only things.
She was was seen trying to buy poison, but they weren't poisoned.
They hadn't found a murder weapon.
The "telegram" that Abby was said to have received was never found; so this was presumed to be fabricated.
She had zero motive. Yeah her dad was rich but she wasn't the heir, it was Emma. Emma probably would have shared with her but who could know that for certain.
Interesting to note, the times of death are extremely important. Had Abby been killed second, the girls would have had no legal rights to the money because technically Abby would have been alive after Andrew, thus making her the beneficiary. Even though she wouldn't have gotten the money because she was also dead, it would have gone to her family.
The last thing that happened in the trial was SUPER sketchy. After they had autopsied the bodies, the heads were removed. To try to conjure up a confession as a last ditch effort, THEY BROUGT THE SKULLS INTO THE COURTROOM FOR EVIDENCE!!! Upon seeing this (as I feel any normal person would) Lizzie fainted.
After closing remarks, the jury deliberated for an hour and a half and found Lizzie not guilty and she was acquitted of both murders.
Ok so with them acquitting the main suspect and never finding another, there are plenty of theories on who did it.
Obvious theory being that it was Lizzie and she just got away with it. Saying the dress that she burned was covered in blood and that's why she burned it. However, there was a room that was freshly painted and witnesses that saw her buying paint. So the dress could have had paint marks on it like she said.
Another one is that Uncle John did it. He provided police with an extremely over detailed alibi, like one that was filled with information that you wouldn't normally note. He said that he was visiting his niece, but his niece said that the times didn't match up. He also said that he had seen a few police officers in his journey that day and even went as far as memorize their badge numbers? Like why would you do that if you didn't need an alibi. As strange as it was, it mostly checked out. My theory on this, is I think that he was shacking up with someone other than his wife. Maybe doing something shady involving the oxen. Maybe gambling or alcohol. Prohibition and what not.
Some people think it was Bridget because she was made to clean the windows on a hot day? Meh. Witnesses saw her cleaning them. I don't know. That one doesn't seem too well thought out.
Ok, so it's not JUST my theory.
Lizzie had (as I said) no motive to kill her father and step mother. For the most part, Lizzie liked her step mother. It was the only mother she had know. Emma never liked her. Emma was the one that stood to gain the most in the event of their death, especially given the order in which they had been killed.
Fairhaven is 16 miles away from Fall River. The friends that she was visiting said that she was just basically hanging out. At the time of the murders, Emma was alone in the house of her friends while they were out. The reason that this was discredited as a possibility is because "It would have taken too long for Emma to travel." It would have been if she walked, but Emma had access to a carriage.
I read the book "Lizzie didn't do it! Emma did!" by E. Elaine Watson and I feel this theory almost makes the most sense. It is completely plausible that Emma took a carriage from Fairhaven and got to the house. She would have been recognized right? Especially with the Mrs Kravits' that lived in that neighborhood. Two neighbors saw Lizzie come from the barn to the house. Several neighbors saw John leave the house and Bridget washing the windows. Someone would have seen her. BUT, what if she didn't look like Emma? What if she looked like.... hmmm I don't know, a strange man that no one recognized?
I think, Emma left her friends house dressed like a man, went home and killed her step mother and father, left and went back to her friends house ditching her fake clothes somewhere and returning back in time to get the telegram that the murders had taken place.
I do however believe that it was planned by both girls, I'm just not sure that Lizzie was the one swinging around any weapons.
It sounds a little crazy, but so does so much of this.
At the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, they do tours and tell you about the murders and you can stay the night if that is your thing, however; they have replicas of the skulls of Andrew and Abby. Upon looking at the skulls, I am hesitant to think that it was a hatchet that was the murder weapon. Some of the markings on the skulls look like the person swinging it would have had to change positions while swinging. On my latest tour, the guide and I talked of how we actually believe the murder weapon was one of the old fashioned irons that Lizzie was using. It is more in line with the markings.
And that my friends is the weird conclusion to an even weirder murder case that I am weirdly fascinated with. I think it's somewhat because I live here and also because no on really knows that happened. The folklore of it all. Oh well. There are my thoughts. Hope if you made it this far that you are the very least more informed on something that also interested you.
I would 100% recommend that if you like this case and want to learn more about it that you take the tour. My last tour guide was Vic and I cannot sing higher praises!
Go to Lizzie-borden.com to book your tour.
Tour and Bed and Breakfast is located:
230 2nd St
Fall River, Ma 02721