1. "Lizzie owned book on E-bay"
Posted by Gt-Master on Jul-23rd-03 at 6:21 PM

If you compare the initials of Lizzie on www.lizzieandrewborden.com under galleries>lizzie artifacts>lizzies signiture with that of the book being offered, they are pretty close. Perhaps too close. The period seperating each letter is in basically the same place especially the 1st period within the lower loop of the L. it's funny that there almost exact. Just someything to ponder.  Mark

Welcome to the forum! Are you bidding on the book
or are you the seller? If you are the seller do
you accept favors????

No I'm not bidding on it. I would have to see Miss Lizzie herself sign the book in person before I plunked down $150.00 for it.

Yes welcome!

You live in Fall River, can you give us a little bio, please?
I've read your profile.
If you prefer not that's Ok.
Your post was very interesting!
And to have a member who knows how to *attach* is a big plus, thanks!
I'm not a person who responds to the Second Hand Shop posts and e-bay items, as I don't know anything about it, but I do read it avidly & appreciate the info.  KK

Welcome to the forum, Gt-Master!  Oooo, a Fall Riverite!  Hope to see you posting more around the forum.

Welcome Mark!!

I agree with you about the too close nature of the signatures and the point made by others that pencil is not the usual manner of book inscription. Lizzie seems to me to be the bookplate type of person, but I have no proof of that, just my feeling.

Maybe all these pencil initials were put in there by the estate when she passed away. Maybe the seller is only assuming that they are Lizzie's initials and they are really an estate mark to remind them which books were from her house and which were not? If so, perhaps they are really C. Cook's marks. Not worth $150 bucks but an interesting thought.

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome. I've lived in Fall River all my life & can remember my grandfather telling me that when he was 9 or 10, he used to see Miss Lizzie "tooling around town" in her Black sedan. I've always been interested in the Lizzie case but still can't deciede if she did or not. To tell you the truth, I don't think that I would want to know either way. If anyone should have any questions taht I might be able to answer about Fall River, Miss Lizzie, or the meaning of life, please feel free to ask me.  Mark

Have you ever been inside Maplecroft, like during the conference in 1992, when we were told it was open for tours?
And are you participating in any of the free events/lectures that are part of the celebrations this summer?
I think I would most like the Masterton lecture, coming up, and the one on the 'Old Fall River Line' that was the 23rd.

(Oh I should post the schedule, in case anyone needs it:)

May 14: "Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words": "A room becomes a universe of magic, morals, and mischief" when Marilyn Murphy Meardon portrays the Virgin Queen in this fascinating program.
May 28: Annual Members' Meeting, Robert Kitchen, "The Life and Times of P.T. Barnum"
June 14: Appraisal Fair with Skinner, Inc. What are your treasures really worth? Why not join us and the appraisers from Skinner's Auction House and find out?
July 9: Robert Kitchen, "The History of Spindle City," an illustrated lecture on Fall River.
July 16: Philip T. Silvia, Ph.D., "People of Pride: Immigrants and Mill Life in 19th Century Fall River."
July 23: Edwin Dumbaugh, Ph.D., "The Old Fall River LIne."
July 30: Mary Blewett, Ph.D., "The History of the Fall River Mills."
August 6: Joyce G. Williams, Ph.D., "A Night with Lizzie Borden."
August 13: Prof. Brenda Bouchard, "Women's History of Fall River: The Woman's Union 1873-1910."
August 20: Joseph Feitelberg, "An Evening in Battleship Cove."
August 27: David Greer, M.D., "Two Hundred Years of Medicine in Fall River."
December 6: Annual Members' Holiday Open House
December 14: Victorian Christmas Fair.

--The August 6th date "Williams" has been changed to "Masterton".

(Message last edited Jul-25th-03  9:16 PM.)

I've been in the front "sun-porch" at Maplecroft thats about it. I must admit that it was on Halloween. Yes, I'm guilty of telling my 6 year old that I know a really great halloween place that has the best treats! My daughter wanted to know why we kept going around the block & ending up at the same house over and over!  Mr. Dube (the current owner of Maplecroft) was kind enough to give my daughter a blue comb with his advertisement on it.
I think that one day we'll be able to walk right into maplecroft like the house on 2nd st.. I never thought that I would ever get a peek inside the doorway of 2nd st. but wouldn't you know, about a year ago, there I was sitting in the same place that Andrew was on that hot Fall River day so many years ago.  Mark

P.S. I wouldn't miss that Masterton lecture for anything. This 200 year celebration that were suppose to be having is going to be big so it should be fun. I'm sure that the local newspaper will print a nice section titled "A Look Back" or something like that. Mark

Oh that is a Great story!
Iam laughing at you guys going back & back.  That is so like something Stef & I would do!

Please, we love *Visiting Second Street Stories*, can you tell us about that experience?  Just the subjective part, not what they *told* you...

Hey KAT, in reply to your question, my 1st visit to the 2nd st. home was really memorable because it was with my mother who had gotten me started in this whole Miss Lizzie affair. When my mother was 3, her father went off to war & her mother couldn't or didn't want to take care or her & her brother so they were placed in the Childrens Home on Robenson st. The same home that is listed in Emma's will. While in the home, my mom used to go thru boxes of "stuff" that was donated to the home for the kids. Whlie going thru some boxes, she came across a book or article on the Lizzie Borden case. I'm not really sure what book or article it was. She was in this home from the time she was 3 until she was 16 (what a way to spend your childhood huh?) so it had to have been something printed before 1956.
What ever this item was that she read, it sparked her interest in the case and she really has never looked back. Her interest in the case is what got me started when I was around 10 or 11. I can remember when most of my friends were off at summer camp, my siblings & I were off with mom, the arm-chair sleuth combing Oak Grove cematary trying to find Miss Lizzie's eternal resting place.
I can also remember going by the house on 2nd st. with mom before it was open to the public & mom whipped out a small hammer from my play tool kit so that she could chip a peice off of the granite foundation of the house. It was really comical to see my mother banging on the foundation of this house which is across from the city's main bus terminal trying not to attract attention. LOL 
Well, years later when the house was opened to the public, I asked my mother to go with me to see it. She had always wanted to see the inside but now my Queen Mum is getting up there in her age & her morals have changed a little from the days of being a amature stone-chipper. She's a christian lady who does't believe that it's "right" to get pleasure out of someone elses death or misery so she politlely declined to go. Well I took her to see a few of the mansions in Newport, RI that day because I was on vacation that week & I love to bring my mum on short day trips to places that she could never see in her childhood. On the way home, we drove by the house on 2nd st.. I paused outside for a moment to judge my mom's reaction. It only took about a 1/4 of a second for me to see that "curiosity sparkle" in her eye. The same sparkle I knew from the times we would picinic in the cemetary because grave-hunting was hunger producing work.
Well, she said "OK, I'll go in to look but just as an observer, not a spectactor". I had to let out a small laugh at her reasoning. I replied ' OK I'll be the spectator!" 
I could tell as soon as we stepped in the doorway that it was like seeing the Taj-Mahal for the 1st time. I couldn't believe thet we were standing at the same door that Maggie hurriedly tried to unlock for AJB as Miss Lizze stood at the top of the stairs laughing! I can remember the whole tour that someone was talking something about the case but i never really heard a word that they said. i was to busy acting out the whole crime in my head while walking thru the actual scene of the crime in real time. It was Awesome. The one thing that I remember the most about the house was that the house didn't have any hallways. I've grown up in some of Fall River's worst 3 tenament houses & they have always had hallways or some thing that resembled them. Thae house was small but big at the same time if that makes any sense. The width of the house was small but the legnth wasn't. I plan on goin again this year (late Aug.) so I'll be sure to give an update then. I just hope that they let me take pictures this time.  I hope this post wasn't to long.  Mark

(Message last edited Jul-26th-03  12:09 PM.)

Mark, that was a WONDERFUL story! Thank you for sharing it. Isn't it odd to think of the kinds of things that children in the past, like your mum, had to endure. I read a book a while back about the Orphan Trains of the 1930s where children who could not afford to be raised by their parents during the Depression were loaded on trains and given away at various stops along the route west. Families were broken up and no background searches were done on the new parents. Sometimes, these children were taken in and adopted by farmers who were looking for free help on their farms. Today such an idea would not fly, but back then it was considered benevolent.

Your mum must have some great stories of growing up during that time in that place. 

The story about being in the house and feeling it as large is the exact same thing that happened to me. EVERYONE must go to this house that is interested in this case. There is no other way to experience the crime without it.

Welcome Mark, great story! 

Hi Mark --  Thank you for sharing your visit to Second Street! 

You're a born story-teller, that you are!
If your mum is still around, please give her our regards!

Thank You. Mark