The Stange Case of Lizzie Borden

 

Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden is the stuff from which legends are made. Schoolchildren recite poetry about her while adults revel in the gory details of her crimes.

Unfortunately, little is known about Lizzie’s inner life.

She was thirty-two at the time her parents were killed. Her sister, Emma was forty-one. The girls lived at home, unattached, with their father and stepmother.

Lizzie’s father, Andrew J. Borden, was most often described as peculiar. A Puritan type, more interested in acquiring money than living life. He got his start as a furniture dealer, partnering with William L. Almy. When Almy retired, they dissolved the business, and Borden began investing in real estate. Over time, he made some shrewd moves and wound up owning many of the city’s choicest properties.

When he died, Borden’s real estate holdings totaled over $170,000. In addition, he held stock in the cotton mill, bank, and other business concerns valued at several hundred thousand dollars more. John T. Burrell, the cashier of the Union Bank, valued Borden’s estate at $200,000 to $300,000 (just under $10 million today).

And yet, for all his wealth, Borden’s appearance didn’t reflect it. He stood tall and erect, but dressed plainly, “almost to the point of shabbiness.” And he was famous for his shockingly bad hats and natty suits. While most of the homes in Fall River had been upgraded to indoor plumbing, Andrew Borden stuck with the outhouse.

Borden had been married to his second wife, Abby, for twenty-seven years. And from all appearances, their personalities meshed perfectly.

Borden home in Fall River (after an image in The Kansas City Star. October 26, 1924)

Papers described Lizzie as emotionless.

She taught Sunday school, attended church regularly, and was a member of the Christian Endeavor Society. She had several close friends, but was reticent. The Boston Globe described Lizzie as “the girl who never danced and never attended parties where there was dancing.”

She showed no interest in men. Although she talked and kept up her share of the conversation, she remained distant.

Lizzie stood five feet five or six. She was round and weighed about 180 pounds. And, “while not handsome,” said The Boston Globe, “Miss Lizzie is decidedly attractive.” Her sister Emma was smaller than Lizzie and “not so attractive.” She was quiet and timid, whereas Lizzie was outgoing and self-confident.

On August 4, 1892, the bodies of Andrew Jackson Borden (70) and his wife, Abby Durkee Borden (64), were found hacked to death in their Fall River home.

Lizzie spent a good part of the morning doing housework. Then she went to the barn for about twenty minutes. When she entered the house, she found her father lying on a lounge in the sitting room. His feet were slightly apart, hanging over the edge. One arm was doubled up near his chin, and the other stretched out by his side. He was covered in blood, and a newspaper lay on the floor next to him.

The room Mrs. Borden's body was found in. (Boston Times. August 6, 1892)

Lizzie screamed hysterically, drawing the attention of housekeeper Bridgett Sullivan, who was resting in her attic room.

“Father is dead,” said Lizzie, pointing to the body.

Andrew Borden’s face was a mass of cuts so deep that his brain was exposed. Officer George Allen counted twelve wounds in his skull.

Dr. S. W. Bowen was the first doctor to examine the bodies. He said Borden was likely asleep when the attacker struck him. “The cuts were 4 1/2 inches. One of them had severed the eyeball and socket.” He noted blood spatters on the floor and wall, but nothing excessive that would show a slaughter.

When he finished examining Andrew Borden, Dr. Bowens asked where Mrs. Borden was. No one knew, so he went upstairs to look for her.

Abby Borden was lying on the floor between the bed and the dresser. She was face down, with a large pool of blood under her head, her back hair disheveled. Dr. Bowen noted twelve blows to her head—the exact number her husband had received.

There was a trail of blood across the floor, from the door to where the body lay near the bed, so detectives assumed Abby put up a struggle. However, nothing in the room was messed up, and no furniture was overturned.

Andrew Borden (after image in Rock Island Argus. December 28, 1895)

After a brief examination of the bodies, Dr. Bowen set the time of Andrew Borden’s death between 10:55 and 11:10. Abby Borden died an hour to an hour and a half before her husband, so before 10:15.

That meant the killer remained in the Borden home for over an hour, waiting to make his second kill. What was he doing? And why didn’t somebody notice him?

Those were questions that the police never answered.

 

Two days after the murders were discovered, Lizzie Borden emerged as the primary suspect.

Detectives discovered that Lizzie had tried to buy ten cents worth of prussic acid from Eli Bence, a clerk at D. R. Smith’s Drug Store, saying she intended to use it to clean her furs. However, Bence refused to sell it because it would not work for her intended use. Medical examiner Dolan agreed. He said the solution would have been useless for cleaning furs, but it was “an exceedingly injurious acid to the human system.”

The police had two other suspects, but quickly eliminated them. John Morse, Andrew Borden’s brother-in-law by his first marriage, was exonerated at the inquest. Testimony showed that he left the Borden home at 8:45 and did not return until 11:40.

The other suspect was Bridgett Sullivan, the housekeeper. But again, the police found her testimony straightforward and quickly satisfied themselves that she wasn’t the killer.

The following day, more evidence surfaced linking Lizzie to the murder. A search of Lizzie’s closet found what the police thought was a tiny blood spot on one of her skirts.

Bridgett Sullivan (after an image in the Boston Globe. August 12, 1892)

Mayor John J. Coughlin discovered an ax in the basement of the Borden home. It had two minor stains on it.

Mayor Coughlin was also a doctor. When he studied the ax under a powerful microscope, one spot looked like someone had tried to wipe it off. The other appeared to be blood.

After securing the crime scene, the police established a timeline of the goings on in the Borden home that morning.

That morning, there were five people in the house: Andrew and Abby Borden, Lizzie Borden, John Morse, and Bridgett Sullivan. Emma Borden was visiting a sick friend in Fair Haven.

Breakfast was served at 7 a.m.—mutton, bread, coffee, and cakes. When they finished eating, John Morse and Mr. and Mrs. Borden went into the sitting room for about half an hour.

Lizzie came down from her room after 9 a.m. and had a small breakfast of cookies and coffee.

John Morse left the house at 8:45 to mail a postcard and visit relatives. Andrew Borden left the house and headed downtown at 9:15. He went to the Union Bank, then stopped at Pierre Laduc’s barbershop at 9:30. At 9:55, he went back to the Union Bank. Then he walked up the street to meet Charles Horton. A neighbor, Mrs. Kelly, saw Borden arrive home at 10:40. The door was locked, so he had to knock. Bridgett Sullivan opened the door for him.

Lizzie Borden in the court room (Rock Island Argus. December 29, 1895)

Bridgett Sullivan saw Mr. Borden when he left to go downtown and again when she let him in the house at 10:40. Abby Borden sent her outside to wash the first-floor windows at about 9:15. That left Lizzie alone in the home for nearly an hour. Finally, Bridgett finished the windows at 10:40, just as Andrew Borden returned home. Lizzie was in the dining room ironing clothes.

Lizzie said she went into the sitting room at 10:45 and saw her father reading the paper. She talked with him for a few minutes, then went to the barn.

Bridgett went to her room on the third floor after Mr. Borden returned. She couldn’t recall anything else until she heard Lizzie’s screams. When she heard them, she ran downstairs and saw Mr. Borden’s body.

Lizzie told the police the last time she saw her stepmother alive was about 9:15. She was going upstairs to change the pillowcases. After that, she assumed Abby had left the house because she had received a postcard from someone requesting to meet her.

When her father got home, Lizzie went out to the barn. She had planned a fishing trip and wanted some lead from the loft to make sinkers. So, she was outside, maybe twenty minutes at best.

She found her father dead in the sitting room lounge when she came in.

For many of the detectives working the case, Lizzie’s attitude was the most significant sign of her guilt. She showed no emotion when the police questioned her about the murders. Instead, she acted like a “disinterested party.”

Abby Borden (after an image in the Boston Globe. August 6, 1892)

Friends explained that Lizzie wasn’t on the best terms with her family. For example, Lizzie and Emma ate their meals at a separate table rather than sitting with their parents. In addition, Andrew Borden was wealthy, but shared very little with his children. Emma and Lizzie’s only income was $15 monthly from a rental property their father had given them.

Many people commented that Lizzie ran in a different social circle and was upset with her father for not using some of his money to host parties and entertain guests. She wanted better clothes and the nicer things that his money could afford.

That might have been part of the problem, but it was likely just talk. The girls had sold the house their father gave them the previous year, and each had $2500 ($81,000 today) in the bank from the proceeds. Lizzie also had bank and mill stocks in her name. So, the girls were far from desperate.

No one doubted that Andrew Borden was a good part of the problem. “It was not in his nature to show much love for anyone,” said Dr. Handy. The other thing Handy noticed on his visits to the Borden home was that the girls didn’t accept Abby as their mother—Emma more so than Lizzie. They referred to Abby as “Mrs. Borden” rather than “mother.”

The evidence against Lizzie mounted in the days after the murder. Lizzie said she went to the barn, but no one saw her enter or leave it. And then, when an officer examined the loft where Lizzie said she had been, he didn’t see any tracks in the dust to show she’d been there. It wouldn’t have been important, except his feet left tracks. Why didn’t hers?

Another stumbling block was a mysterious letter Lizzie said her stepmother received that morning. It led her to believe Abby Borden had left to meet someone. That explained why she hadn’t looked for her after discovering her father’s body, except…the letter was missing.

That same day, reporters interviewed Alderman John Beattie. “My theory,” he said. “Mine alone—is one formed from the circumstances of the case. The brain which devised this case was cunning enough to devise beforehand the means to escape detection. Supposing it was a woman, she was cunning enough to wear a loose wrapper which would have covered her clothes and gloves which would have protected her hands from the stains of blood.”

When the killer finished, she would have burned the wrapper and gloves. And just like that, the evidence would be gone.

Lizzie Borden (Boston Globe. August 6, 1892)

It was one theory of what might have happened, but it was just that—a theory. There was no evidence to back it up.

At the inquest, it came out that two different people saw a strange man loitering outside the Borden home just a few minutes before the murders. The police tracked him down a few weeks later and quickly cleared him of involvement.

Bridgett Sullivan (25), a servant girl, lived in an attic room in the Borden home. She was born in Ireland and came to the United States when she was eighteen.

She had lived with the Borden family for three years and was well-versed in their idiosyncrasies. And while she didn’t paint a flattering picture of harmony among the family members, her testimony did not show that Lizzie had “motive enough” to kill her parents.

The other development was a bloody ax found in the home of a Portuguese man named Joseph Silva, who lived across the river. The rumor was that Silva found it lying on a windowsill the day after the murders. However, when the police checked it out, there was no blood. Besides, it was “too dull for business.”

Finally, on August 11, the last day of the inquest, the police charged Lizzie Borden with the murder of her parents.

State officer George Seaver explained the state’s case.

“It has long been known that Lizzie is a strange girl,” he said, “having unaccountable ways and a strange disposition.

“Andrew J. Borden was old and hard-fisted. He saved his money, cent by cent, until his fortune was amassed. He knew no pleasure in spending money…and had no happiness except in saving.

“His wife felt the same.”

And then Seaver suggested that Abby urged her husband to cut his daughters off. Perhaps that planted the seeds of discontent and hate in Lizzie’s mind.

But was that what happened? Again, Seaver offered no evidence to back it up—certainly nothing that would account for Lizzie’s arrest.

Many people in Fall River doubted that Lizzie committed the murders. “She is not a murderer until the crime has been proved,” said The Fall River Daily Herald. “The police may have made a mistake.” Because of that, the paper urged readers to keep an open mind and not condemn Lizzie until they had all the facts.

After hearing the evidence at the preliminary hearing, Judge Josiah Blaisdell determined that Lizzie was “probably guilty” and sent her back to jail, awaiting the grand jury.

The grand jury investigation ran from November 15, 1892, until December 2, 1892. After examining the evidence, they indicted Lizzie for the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden.

Lizzie was returned to the Taunton Jail and waited six months for her trial. It began on June 5 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Former Governor George D. Robinson represented Lizzie, while District Attorney Hosea M. Knowlton led the prosecution. Both men were “master actors” and knew how to work an audience effectively.

District Attorney Hosea Knowlton contended that Lizzie had the motive and opportunity to kill her parents. But unfortunately, the state had no hard evidence tying Lizzie to the crime. Instead, they focused on Lizzie’s changing story about what happened on the day of the murder. They explained their lack of evidence, saying Lizzie burned her bloody dress to destroy the evidence.

And that much was true. The police caught Lizzie burning a dress when they returned to search the home on August 6. The defense admitted that Lizzie burned the dress, but not to destroy evidence. They produced the dressmaker, who testified that the dress was covered in paint stains. And that was the reason Lizzie burned it.

Governor Robinson contended that the state’s case was entirely circumstantial and there was nothing to tie Lizzie to the murders.

“In olden days, sacrifices were made,” said Robinson, “but in these days, we don’t burn even witches in Massachusetts.”

From there, he explained that the defendant was presumed innocent. “The scale is always tipped in the prisoner’s favor.” All he asked was that jurors carefully examine the chain of evidence “to see if it fits in and whether it is all in, whether the chain is complete before you make up your minds.”

The state considered Lizzie guilty because she was in the house when the murders were committed. So, following that line of reasoning, she should have seen Abby Borden’s body when she went in and out of her room. But she did not.

“People don’t go around their own houses playing the detective,” explained Robinson. Besides, if Lizzie had found the body, “the commonwealth would have said she knew of it and was the murderer.”

It was a Catch-22.

Dr. Bowen brought the skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden to the trial. However, they were never taken out of the bag. Instead, it was opened just enough to throw a scare into Lizzie. Perhaps the district attorney thought that was enough to break Lizzie’s defenses.

“She did not faint,” said Sheriff Kirby. However, her face turned pale, and her lips twitched nervously.

Much of the state’s evidence was ruled out at the trial. For example, the defense got the judge to exclude Lizzie’s testimony at the inquest and her attempt to purchase prussic acid at D. R. Smith’s Drug Store.

Professor Edward Wood of Harvard University examined an axe and two hatchets found in the Borden home. He determined there was “no indication of blood.” The same was true for Lizzie’s dress, which the police had talked about so much. The spot they found on Lizzie’s blue dress was not blood. Her white skirt had a small blood spot six inches from the bottom, but nothing that would show a slaughter.

Finally, the defense pointed out that the prosecution didn’t have a shred of evidence against Lizzie Borden. Their entire case was circumstantial.

The state’s case was weak from the start. They settled on Lizzie through the process of elimination. Only two people were in the house when the murders occurred—Lizzie Borden and Bridgett Sullivan. Lizzie’s testimony cleared Bridgett. She was outside cleaning windows, and when she came in, she went upstairs to her third-floor bedroom. Bridgett told the same story, leading investigators to believe her.

That left Lizzie as the only person who could have committed the crime unless an unknown killer had entered the house. Even so, being there did not mean that Lizzie committed the crime. The police should have spent more time searching for someone outside the household.

The jury seemed to agree with Robinson. They debated less than an hour before returning a not-guilty verdict. After spending nearly a year in jail, Lizzie Borden was cleared of all charges.

Twenty years after being acquitted of murdering her parents, Lizzie Borden was a recluse, “damned by public opinion,” and “ostracized by former friends and enemies alike.”

Everyone had expected Lizzie to leave town and change her name when she got out of jail. But she bought a mansion in Fall River’s exclusive hill section and named it “Maplecroft.” She lived there with her sister, Emma, until the girls had a blowout in 1905. Emma moved out, and they never saw each other after that.

Lizzie Borden died of pneumonia on June 1, 1927. Emma Borden died nine days later. The secret of who killed Andrew and Abby Borden passed with their children.

Today, the smart money is on Lizzie Borden killing her parents, but now as then, it’s only speculation. More than one person has suggested Lizzie was having a lesbian affair with Bridgett Sullivan. Perhaps her stepmother caught the girls together and threatened to expose them. If that were the case, maybe Lizzie killed her in a rage. And then, when her father came home, it was easier to kill him than explain what had happened.

Another theory suggests that Lizzie and Emma killed their parents. There was never any love lost between the girls and their stepmother, so maybe things got unbearable, and they decided killing their parents was the only option.

That could have been what happened. But unfortunately, the solution to the murders is lost to history.

 Before you go ...

If you’ve ever caught yourself saying, “I remember that,” you’re in the right place.

I dig up stories about Old West lawmen, outlaws, gunfighters, robberies, murders, forgotten towns, and all the strange, fascinating pieces of history that somehow slipped through the cracks. No clickbait. No fluff. Just authentic stories and actual history.

If you enjoy what you read and would like to help keep the lights on, consider buying me a Big Gulp.

Every little bit helps pay for books, newspaper archives, research trips, and the countless hours spent tracking down stories most people forgot decades ago.

Buy Me a Big Gulp / NickVulich.com

If the Old West is your thing, you may enjoy these books...

Shot All To Hell

Shot All To Pieces