<Archive Obituary> Lizzie Borden (June 2nd 1927)
Bill Schenley
Her Trial Recalled
Acquitted Thirty-three Years Ago of Murdering
Wealthy Father and Stepmother
Mystery Never Solved
Stoutly Defended by Her Sister, Who Became Estranged
From Her in Later Years
Photo: http://www.unsolved.com/0115-Borden.jpg
FROM: The New York Times (June 3rd 1927) ~
By The Associated Press
FALL RIVER, Mass., June 2
Miss Lisbeth A. Borden, better known as Lizzie Borden,
who was acquitted of the murder of her father and
stepmother in 1893 after one of the most celebrated
murder trials in New England, died at her home here last
night at the age of 68.
Miss Borden, who had lived quietly in this city since her
acquittal, underwent an operation about a year ago and
never fully recovered.
During her later years she had lived virtually alone and
had few if any close friends. So far as known she never
discussed with any one the murder of her parents, and
her lawyers said today that they knew of no will or
statement which she might have left.
The country was shocked on Aug. 4, 1892, when the
bodies of her father and stepmother were discovered in
their home on Second Street, Fall River. They had been
hacked to death.
Lizzie was arrested and charged with the crime. Some
of the most famous lawyers of the day took part in the
trial. The leading attorneys in the trial are now dead.
Attorney General Hosea M. Knowlton represented the
State and Andrew J. Jennings of Fall River was chief
counsel for the defense.
Other persons connected with the trial also have died,
except for a sister, Emma, and possibly Bridget Sullivan,
a servant in the Borden home, who was a leading witness
and returned to her home in Ireland later.
Andrew J. Borden was a retired cotton broker and
owned much valuable real estate in this city. In the
middle of the forenoon of Aug. 4, 1892, his daughter
Lizzie rushed into the home of a woman neighbor and
told her that she had found her father dead in the living
room.
The neighbor returned with her and saw the body, then
went upstairs and found the body of Mrs. Borden in a
bedroom. The autopsy showed that both had been
killed with either an axe or a cleaver.
Case Baffled Authorities
For several days the case baffled the authorities. Finally,
building up a case of circumstantial evidence, they
arrested Lizzie and brought her to trial in New Bedford.
The State sought to show that, in view of the fact that
Miss Borden was her stepmother, Lizzie feared that she
would not get a liberal share of her father's estate upon
his death and decided to do away with both father and
stepmother, that she and her sister Emma might get the
estate at once.
Miss Borden testified that she was not in the house at
the time of the murders. She said that Mr. and Mrs.
Borden were alive when she went out to the barn to
look for some fishing tackle, and when she returned she
found them dead. Her sister, it was established, was
away on an errand. Emma Borden stood by Lizzie,
insisting that her sister could have no possible motive for
the crime.
There was testimony at the trial about a man, possibly
a peddler, who had been seen in the vicinity of the
house on the day of the murders, but his identity never
was established.
Seeks Distribution of Property
In May, 1923, Lizzie Borden appeared in the Probate
Court at Taunton, Mass., in an effort to obtain an equal
distribution of the property known as the A.J. Borden
block, in Fall River, which she owned jointly with her
sister. This was her first known appearance in a court
room since her acquittal thirty years before.
In April, 1913, Emma Borden broke a silence of
twenty years and declared her positive belief in the
innocence of her sister, Lizzie. She said in part: "Often
it has occurred to me how strange is the fact that no one
save Lizzie was ever brought to trial for the killing of our
father and his wife. Lizzie is queer, but as for her being
guilty I say 'no' and decidedly 'no.' Here is the strongest
thing that has impressed me of Lizzie's innocence: The
authorities never found the axe or the implement or
whatever it was that figured in the killing. If Lizzie had
done that deed, she could never have hidden the
instrument of death so the police could never find it."
In 1905 Emma Borden left her sister and made her
home with friends, the action causing an estrangement
between the sisters. Of this, Emma Borden said: "The
happenings in the French Street house that caused me to
leave I must refuse to talk about. I did not go until
conditions became absolutely unbearable."
So far as known, Emma is the only surviving relative of
Lizzie.
---
Photos:
http://www.ballet.co.uk/weblogs/galina/archives/Lizzie%20Borden.jpg
Emma Borden
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/LizzieBorden/emmaborden.jpg
Andrew Borden
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7268/AW-borden.jpg
Abby Borden
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7268/A-borden.jpg
Rufus B. Hillard, police officer who arrested Lizzie Borden
http://www.frpd.org/images/cheif/Chiefhillard.jpg
http://www.curiouschapbooks.com/Catalog_of_Curious_Chapbooks/cntnts/LB-11/maplecroft.jpg
(The Borden house)
http://www.celebrateboston.com/images/daytrips/bordenhouse.jpg
(The Borden house as it is today)
Lizzie Borden in art:
http://www.madametalbot.com/pix/posters/lizzie1.gif
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.
Matthew Kruk
had done, gave her father forty-one."
I think Elizabeth Montgomery did a superb job of breaking the Bewitched
stereotype in her portrayal of Lizzie: