1. "Bridget's Pay-off"
Posted by rays on Aug-2nd-03 at 12:25 PM

The legend of the Borden Murders said Bridget was paid off. She then left the country to return to Ireland, where she bought a farm for her parents. There is no documentary evidence for this. Writers have noted that Bridget's testimony was not favorable to Lizzie, and questioned this story. The story is true; I will explain why. Word of mouth, or rumor, isn't always correct, of course.

The value of Bridget's testimony is not what she said, but what she left out. Lizzie called Bridget to open the front door for Andrew J. Borden. When Bridget had trouble unlocking the front door, she heard laughter from upstairs. Lizzie later said she was the one who laughed, and Bridget did not say that she saw Lizzie down stairs at the time. Lizzie shielded the visitor, but she also shielded Bridget and all who worked for Father. The police checked them all out, of course.

Bridget may have figured that nothing she said would bring dear Abby back to life. Bridget, a poor servant, had to take care of her future. Its isn't only the JFK witnesses who died young! Bridget left the Borden home never to return. She found a job working for the law. This kept her as a material witness, and allowed the police to watch her. Bridget wore a notable new outfit for the trial, then left the state never to return. Can anyone blame her?

This is my solution to this puzzle.

Copyright 2003 by Ray Stephanson, All Rights Reserved.

Is this the last word, or do you want to discuss it?

Only if you can detect some mistake in logic. I think my facts are correct (what little there are).

Well, Lizzie never admitted to laughing upstairs, ever.  She barely admitted to being upstairs, just that one trip to bring up her clean clothes and baste a loop on one sleeve, a 5 minute trip total. 

Lizzie insisted she was downstairs in the kitchen when Andrew got home.  Lizzie only gave testimony to the police in her Witness statements or in her Inquest testimony, she doesn't admit to laughing upstairs in either. 

Lizzie also didn't call Bridget to answer the door. Bridget testified thusly:

Q.  Will you describe what you heard which attracted your attention?

Page 234

A.  Well, I heard like a person at the door was trying to unlock the door and push it
but could not, so I went to the front door and unlocked it.

Q.  Did you hear the ringing of any bell?
A.  No, sir, I don't remember to hear any bell.

Q.  When you got to the front door what did you find the condition of the locks there?
A.  I went to open it, caught it by the knob, the spring lock, as usual, and it was locked. I unbolted it and it was locked with a key.

Q.  So that there were three locks?
A.  Yes, sir.

Q.  What did you do with reference to the lock with the key?
A.  I unlocked it. As I unlocked it I said, "Oh pshaw," and Miss Lizzie laughed, up        stairs,---Her father was out there on the door step. She was up stairs.

Page 235

Q.  Up stairs; could you tell whereabouts up stairs she was when she laughed?
A.  Well, she must be either in the entry or in the top of the stairs, I can't tell which.

Q.  Was there any talk passed between you and Mr. Borden as he came to the door?
A.  No, sir; not a word.

Bridget didn't leave *never to return*.
She leftThursday night to stay across the street.  Then she was brought back Friday to do the work, stayed Friday night at Second Street, did the work Saturday, then left Saturday night, stayed away the night.  Bridget did return Monday and was told by Mr. Miller not to leave until she was *taken out*.
]Bridget-Trial]

So Bridget did leave "never to return". I think she spent Thursday night across the street. But she was gone for good by next week.

Did I read it here or someplace else that Bridget was quoted as saying "If I ever talked about it, that bad man who killed Mrs Borden would come after me" (or words to that effect).

I thought the testimony (or public opinion) attribute the laughter to Lizzie. Knowlton's charges? So Lizzie admitted being upstairs in her room earlier? That is not admitting to laughter, but it seems to cover whoever was up there and did laugh. Very close reasoning?

Very interesting. But my memory of a book that I read said Lizzie called out for Bridget to answer the door.
That's what servants are for!
Or another reason for Bridget to accomodate Lizzie?

You are right about that is what servants are for. And it was her job to answer the door. I don't think that anyone would have to tell her to do so. Bridget, I don't think, is accomodating Lizzie. Just doing what is expected of her.

Bridget
Preliminary
27
Q.  After you let Mr. Borden in, did you shut the front door up again?
A.  He shut it up.
Q.  When did you next see anything, or hear anything?
A.  Not until Miss Lizzie called me.

--This almost sounds like what you think you remember, Ray.
If an author confused just a bit of this testimony it might construe as Lizzie calling for the door to be answered.

Actually there was a hierarchy as to who and when the front door was answered.
Bridget
Prelim.
73
Q.  Who tended the bell there in the house?
A.  I tended it when nobody was in the house. When Mrs. Borden was in, she went. Mr. Borden went always when he was in the house.

--Stef may have hit on something.  How did Bridget know to answer the door if she didn't know Abby couldn't.  The *Abby's out because of a note* story didn't come about until Lizzie first told Andrew that upon his return and Bridget says she overheard.
Maybe she answered because she was closest?  But still, protocol is protocol...
I have a feeling when Bridget says she is to answer when *nobody is in* she means her employers, who she proceeds to name in order of hierarchy.

Yes, that would totally make sense since it was only Lizzie and Bridget in the house that we know of.

Lizzie's trip upstairs with her clean clothes, according to her testimony, was first thing in the morning after her trip to the water closet.  So, according to her, she was nowhere near upstairs when Andrew arrived home, she was in the kitchen.  She made no alibi for anyone who was laughing upstairs at that time.  Yes, she changed her story, but, that was her final answer, downstairs at that time. 

Yes, Lizzie's closest explanation for *the laugh upstairs* was to offer the fact that someone [Dr. Bowen?] had come to the door Wednesday morning and she was up the stairs at that time, implying Bridget erred in her recollection of which day.

Inquest
Lizzie
62
Q. What had you in your mind when you said you were on the stairs as Maggie let your father in?
A. The other day somebody came there and she let them in and I was on the stairs; I don't know whether the morning before or when it was.
Q. You understood I was asking you exactly and explicitly about this fatal day?
A. Yes, sir.

Well, harking back to the last post and to this one I clicked on, it seems Bridget answered the door to Dr. Bowen Wednesday morning even though we know Andrew was there on the lounge.
Inquest
Bowen 116
"I think Bridget let me in, I am very sure it was the front door."

I suppose Bridget makes allowances for sick employers?
Jeesh!

Good find, I love when we find little things like this.  I wanted to respond to this last night, but, my phone line went down and I had no computer access, blech.  Anyway, how did Bridget know that she was to answer the door? 

Bridget really didn't seem to notice or care that Abby wasn't around, did she perhaps suppose that Abby was up in her room?

When Bridget heard someone trying to unlock the front door, did she know it was Andrew out there?  Or, did she possibly suppose that it may have been Abby who might have stepped out with only her side door key?  Or Emma even? 

OOO this does sound suspicious when you put it that way.  And Bridget does seem rather unconcerned as to Abby's whereabouts all morning.
Is she just being more inconsistent with her testimony than we thought?
[As to the heirarchy in answering the front door]

If we think *conspiracy*, we would assume Bridget knew to be inside in time to let Andrew in after she & Lizzie made sure they knew his arrival by having all the doors locked.  That would answer why Bridget wasted 10 or 15minutes getting ready to wash a part of a sitting room window...and not just any sittingroom window...the one closest to the front door.  That was not her pattern of washing outside, so that always seemed odd to me.
So she is starting with the wrong window and could really just be waiting there in order to answer the door.

It sounds to me like Bridget is expecting Andrew home and knows the front door is locked, hence her choice of window.

An ugly thought occured to me, don't know if it holds any water, but, what if Lizzie thought Bridget was an absolute dolt and had no clue what was going on in that house that day.  And suppose that Bridget did know and was hatching a little plan of her own and helped things along.  When the time was right she tipped her hand to Lizzie and said pay me or I spill my guts to the coppers.  Blackmail! 

Remember how in that show Manor House all the servants below stairs knew everything about the family and what was going on with them, while the family really didn't have a clue about the servants?  Perhaps this was so with Bridget and she held her tongue until she could make it pay?

Some people have said that Bridget's testimony is detrimental to Lizzie, I see it as pretty truthful, but, with omissions; I don't know, I couldn't tell you, I really can't say.  Theres chunks missing from the story that I think Bridget could supply, but, didn't and we are left with "Why?". 

Would Bridget have been listening and paying attention over a period of time and hatched her blackmail scheme  during Lizzie's planning stage?
Or do you think, if still speculating, that Bridget could have come up with that idea on the day itself, waiting to see what enfolded , then went in for her own scheme?  Could Bridget have devised that, independently and at a moment's notice, is I guess my question?

(Message last edited Aug-7th-03  2:34 PM.)

My guess is that Bridget, like so many, took her time when the Master and Mistress was not around. What is your experiences? ever work on an evening or Sat when your manager was not present? Yes, you work, but not w/ someone watching you.

I'm thinking it may have been something over a period of time, she certainly knew things like the girls preferred not to eat with the elder Bordens.  And from the thread where Harry and I supposed that Lizzie and Emma called Bridget "Maggie" to degrade her.  Bridget may have had some resentment built up over the years of working at Chez Borden and would like pay back. 

And on that day it fell into Bridget's lap, her chance to have the upper hand.  Yes, I'm still speculating with this, just a thought that popped into my head.  Theres been so much talk of a pay-off to Bridget, but, what if it was a pay-off due by Bridget's own making?  So, if Bridget was seething at Lizzie all these years, my answer would be yes, she could come up with this at a moments notice, the chance of a lifetime. 

If Bridget noticed escalating hostilities in that household it doesn't say much of her if she did not warn the elder Bordens.
Maybe if she had resentments against the girls, and the murders happened yet she was unaware until it *hit* her, say just before the Inquest?  Then she could make the plan that week, after the killings...after all it won't bring back the Bordens?

I think Bridget walked a very fine line as a servant, she could be friendly, but, not too chummy.  She may have noticed all and felt it was not her place to say anything.  Or, she may have said something to Abby, and Abby being as close-mouthed as she was proposed to be, may not have wanted to discuss it or never mentioned it. 

I personally don't think Bridget knew there was going to be murder that day, but, she may have become aware of it some time before Andrew got home.  She seemed to know right where to find Abby and seemed to be laying in wait for Andrew to get home that day.

Its possible that Bridget didn't have a plan, but, there would have had to be something percolating in her brain when she started withholding info from the police on up. 

I'm with you Susan, every book I read I start to wonder "exactly what did the maid know?"  I mean she lived under the same roof with four people who may have had angry words with one another from time to time and surely she must have gotten an ear full now and then.

I can't imagine being in that house almost 24/7 and not notice or hear anything out of the ordinary.  But as many authors and those of us here can agree, Bridget was a servant and she was more or less bound by a code of servant ethics.  Her opinion was probably not wanted by either Abby or Andrew, if she were brave enough to give it.

But I think Emmer, oppps, Emma and Lizzie might have "baited" her every now and then for some gossip and tid-bits on the old ones.  And I have to agree with you on what she actually had knowlege of on the day of the murders.  I too think it rather strange that she went ahead of Mrs. Churchill on the front stairs and then ran into the guest room and stood looking over Abby's body. Remember when Dr. Bowen asked for a sheet to cover poor A.J. it was Bridget who said she didn't want to go alone up the back stairs to the master bedroom.

That contradiction of her behavior as always had me wondering about her true involvment in the murders.  That's my story....

bobcookbobcook

My speculation of Bridget blackmailing Lizzie may be waaaaay off course, but, everything else I stated about Bridget rings true for me.  I don't think there was anyway for her to be in and out of that house that day and not know something was up.  I don't think she aided and abetted Lizzie with the murders, but, that she may have sat back and let them happen? 

I like that idea, Bob, Lizzie and Emmer pumping Bridget for details about the elder Bordens!  I just get the feeling that Lizzie was a master manipulator and knew just how to do it.

Bridget's Bond

Lizzie's Lawyer would not pay-off Bridget during the trial; that's "witness tampering". Nor would there be any threats; that's "extortion" or "assault". But after the trial it could keep Bridget from suddenly remembering something, like Alice Russell did.

Locked away with the papers from the trial could be a bond, or loan. "Lizzie Borden agrees to loan Bridget Sullivan the sum of Twenty-Five Hundred dollars for her trip to Ireland. When Bridget Sullivan returns to Massachusetts or America, she must repay the full amount plus simple interest at 5% per annum." There is nothing explicit here about a pay-off to leave the country and never return. But that is its effect.

I picked $2500 at ten times Bridget's yearly wages. We know Bridget left this household as soon as possible; she didn't want to work for Lizzie and Emma.

Copyright 2003 by Ray Stephanson, All Rights Reserved.


(Message last edited Aug-13th-03  11:00 AM.)

AR Brown's book (p.104, hardcover) quotes from that famous "Boston Globe" article. At 6pm Lizzie told Bridget "don't talk and you can have all the money you want". Bridget said "the DA told me to answer such questions as was asked of me". It also tells of "a real lawyer" who had been consulted by Lizzie a week before the murders.
But wasn't Lizzie on vacation in New Bedford area?
AR Brown notes that this named lawyer was never questioned as a witness. You may wonder why.

Surely you are not lending any credence to the Trickey-McHenry article?

I think there are referrences to Lizzie visiting a lawyer prior to the murders in several different venues, other than the Trickey stuff.
There's at least the one reference in Knowlton Papers but it proves nothing as the lawyer in question will not confirm or deny knowing Lizzie.
He does refer to McHenry, but apparently wrote to Knowlton on his own office letterhead, and is based in Providence, R.I.
[pg. 94]

--Other items relating to Lizzie seeing a lawyer I could look up if it's really needed.
It's spurious info, anyway, as it would be hearsay and a lawyer could not comment in any significant way, as you are aware.

You all do know that a lawyer has the legal right of confidentiality.

I could say that Ray or Harold or Katrina visited a lawyer before some relative died. But that would prove nothing, since it could just be a coincidence, and involve personal business that can't be disclosed to Nosy Neighbors.

AR Brown says Lizzie's lawyer could have taken the Boston Globe to court and then to the cleaners. But it didn't happen. Brown suggests that at least some of the allegations were true, and Lizzie's lawyer would rather not have them verified in court.

Did a much earlier posting mention that Lizzie earlier travelled to Providence RI? Then with a separate ticket to New Haven CT she could have possibly met with that lawyer. (This is a good technique for private business. D Hammett tells how "Sam Spade" visits an apartment to shake off a tail. When going up in an elevator, press the button below your floor, the button above, and another one. So someone in the lobby can't tell your floor. Then just walk up or down the steps.)

Seeing a lawyer for information is not a sign of guilt in itself.