Okla-homey
8/4/2007, 05:41 AM
August 4, 1892 Lizzie Borden took an axe . . .
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1470/lizziestanding8yg.png
Lizzie Borden
115 years ago on this day in 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden, elderly residents of Fall River, Massachusetts, are found bludgeoned to death in their home. Lying in a pool of blood on the living room couch, Andrew's face had been nearly split in two.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7995/borden7xu.jpg
Dad Andrew dead on the couch...whacked while napping.
Abby was found upstairs with her head smashed to pieces.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3133/borden16bu.jpg
Step-mother Abby
The Bordens, who were considerably wealthy, lived with their two unmarried daughters, Emma and Lizzie. Since Lizzie, age 32, was the only other person besides the housekeeper who was present when the bodies were found, suspicion soon fell upon her. Because of the sensational nature of the murders, the trial attracted attention from around the nation.
Despite the fact that fingerprint testing was already becoming commonplace in Europe at the time, the police were wary of its reliability, and refused to test for prints on the murder weapon--a hatchet--found in the Borden's basement.
The prosecution showed that Lizzie had burned a dress similar to the one she was wearing on the day of the murders and had purchased a small axe the day before her parents were hacked to death with the very same type implement.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4634/axe0mb.jpg
The murder weapon. The demure and wealthy Lizzie had purchased an identical item at a Fall River hardware store the day prior to her parents' murder. Fingerprint technology was not used, therefore, the prosecution could not definitively link Lizzie to the weapon
Lizzie was young, sweet-looking and apparently devout and the all male jury took only 90 minutes to acquit, based mostly on their stated view that such a lovely girl could never commit such a heinous crime.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7840/bordenjurors4ip.jpg
Massachusetts v. Lizzie Borden Jury
Although she was now an orphaned heiress rather than a convicted murderess, the media continued to portray Lizzie as the perpetrator. Her story is still remembered today mostly because of the infamous 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.
Ignoring the taunts, Lizzie lived the high life until her death in 1927. At her death, she was buried in the family plot next to her parents.
Okay, if not Lizzie, then who? Most of this info comes from trial record.
Only Lizzie had a good opportunity to commit the murders. At the time of her mother's murder (around 9:30 A.M.), household guest John Morse was visiting relatives, sister Emma was out of town, dad Andrew Borden was running errands around town, and Irish maid Bridget Sullivan was outside washing windows. Only Lizzie was known to be in the house at the time of Abby Borden's murder.
To commit both murders (Andrew Borden was murdered around 11 A.M.), an outside intruder would have either have had to hide in the house for 90 minutes or departed and then returned without being seen.
It looks like an inside job. Police found no signs of forced entry into the Borden home (despite the fact that the Borden's habitually locked their doors) and nothing appeared to have been stolen. No stranger was seen entering or leaving the Borden house on the morning of the murders.
Although Lizzie claimed to have been downstairs at the very time her mother was violently murdered upstairs, she said she heard no alarming noises--this despite her mother having been struck multiple times with an axe and falling to the floor. :eek:
Lizzie had a strained relationship with her step-mother. They usually ate their meals separately. Some theorize that Lizzie resented the fact that her father transferred a Falls River property to Abby's sister, rather than to her. Police noted that during her interview, Lizzie insisted that Abby be described as her "step-mother," not her mother.
In the week before the murders, following an apparent family argument, Lizzie and her sister Emma left Fall River by coach for New Bedford. When Lizzie returned, she chose to stay in a rooming house for four days, rather than in her own room in the family home.
On August 3, the day before the murders, witnesses identified Lizzie Borden as having visited Smith's drug store in Fall River, where she attempted to purchase a poison, prussic acid. She explained that she needed the acid to clean a sealskin cape. The druggist refused to sell the prussic acid.
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8883/insane7zo3im.jpg
P.S. I always thought she did it too. BTW, there was an excellent TV movie done in the 70's in which Elizabeth Montgomery ("Bewitched") played Lizzie. Finally, why hasn't a grunge , goth or shock rock band taken "Lizzie Borden" as their name?
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1470/lizziestanding8yg.png
Lizzie Borden
115 years ago on this day in 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden, elderly residents of Fall River, Massachusetts, are found bludgeoned to death in their home. Lying in a pool of blood on the living room couch, Andrew's face had been nearly split in two.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7995/borden7xu.jpg
Dad Andrew dead on the couch...whacked while napping.
Abby was found upstairs with her head smashed to pieces.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3133/borden16bu.jpg
Step-mother Abby
The Bordens, who were considerably wealthy, lived with their two unmarried daughters, Emma and Lizzie. Since Lizzie, age 32, was the only other person besides the housekeeper who was present when the bodies were found, suspicion soon fell upon her. Because of the sensational nature of the murders, the trial attracted attention from around the nation.
Despite the fact that fingerprint testing was already becoming commonplace in Europe at the time, the police were wary of its reliability, and refused to test for prints on the murder weapon--a hatchet--found in the Borden's basement.
The prosecution showed that Lizzie had burned a dress similar to the one she was wearing on the day of the murders and had purchased a small axe the day before her parents were hacked to death with the very same type implement.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4634/axe0mb.jpg
The murder weapon. The demure and wealthy Lizzie had purchased an identical item at a Fall River hardware store the day prior to her parents' murder. Fingerprint technology was not used, therefore, the prosecution could not definitively link Lizzie to the weapon
Lizzie was young, sweet-looking and apparently devout and the all male jury took only 90 minutes to acquit, based mostly on their stated view that such a lovely girl could never commit such a heinous crime.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7840/bordenjurors4ip.jpg
Massachusetts v. Lizzie Borden Jury
Although she was now an orphaned heiress rather than a convicted murderess, the media continued to portray Lizzie as the perpetrator. Her story is still remembered today mostly because of the infamous 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.
Ignoring the taunts, Lizzie lived the high life until her death in 1927. At her death, she was buried in the family plot next to her parents.
Okay, if not Lizzie, then who? Most of this info comes from trial record.
Only Lizzie had a good opportunity to commit the murders. At the time of her mother's murder (around 9:30 A.M.), household guest John Morse was visiting relatives, sister Emma was out of town, dad Andrew Borden was running errands around town, and Irish maid Bridget Sullivan was outside washing windows. Only Lizzie was known to be in the house at the time of Abby Borden's murder.
To commit both murders (Andrew Borden was murdered around 11 A.M.), an outside intruder would have either have had to hide in the house for 90 minutes or departed and then returned without being seen.
It looks like an inside job. Police found no signs of forced entry into the Borden home (despite the fact that the Borden's habitually locked their doors) and nothing appeared to have been stolen. No stranger was seen entering or leaving the Borden house on the morning of the murders.
Although Lizzie claimed to have been downstairs at the very time her mother was violently murdered upstairs, she said she heard no alarming noises--this despite her mother having been struck multiple times with an axe and falling to the floor. :eek:
Lizzie had a strained relationship with her step-mother. They usually ate their meals separately. Some theorize that Lizzie resented the fact that her father transferred a Falls River property to Abby's sister, rather than to her. Police noted that during her interview, Lizzie insisted that Abby be described as her "step-mother," not her mother.
In the week before the murders, following an apparent family argument, Lizzie and her sister Emma left Fall River by coach for New Bedford. When Lizzie returned, she chose to stay in a rooming house for four days, rather than in her own room in the family home.
On August 3, the day before the murders, witnesses identified Lizzie Borden as having visited Smith's drug store in Fall River, where she attempted to purchase a poison, prussic acid. She explained that she needed the acid to clean a sealskin cape. The druggist refused to sell the prussic acid.
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8883/insane7zo3im.jpg
P.S. I always thought she did it too. BTW, there was an excellent TV movie done in the 70's in which Elizabeth Montgomery ("Bewitched") played Lizzie. Finally, why hasn't a grunge , goth or shock rock band taken "Lizzie Borden" as their name?