1. "Felix Borden In Baltimore?"
Posted by Kat on Jan-16th-04 at 6:05 PM
Manitoba Morning Free Press, Tuesday, June 20, 1893 Page 2 Transcribed by Harry--'HEW'
"MYSTERIOUS MATTER.
A Strange Story Connected With
The Borden Murder.
New York, June 19. – The World’s special from Baltimore says: Mrs. Ramsey, who keeps a boarding house at No. 333 St. Paul street says that previous to the Borden murders a boy came from New England and boarded with her.
He told her that he was the adopted son of Lizzie Borden’s uncle, and that his name was Felix Borden. He said that his parent’s name was Desroches.
From all accounts he did not live happily with the Bordens, and as a result of a disagreement with them he left home suddenly. Felix told Mrs. Ramsey that his home was in New Bedford or Fall River. He spent his money freely. He did not pay his board bill and left, saying he was going to his home in Massachusetts to get money to settle.
A few days after Felix left, the Borden murders were committed. He returned to Baltimore. On one occasion Mrs. Ramsey spoke to Felix about the murders. She says that he replied: 'Oh, Lizzie did it.' Asked if the young man was ever heard to make any threatening remarks about the Bordens of Massachusetts, Mrs. Ramsey said:
'During the two years Felix lived here he spoke frequently of the Bordens, and judging from his remarks I didn’t think he cared very much for them. He referred, I remember, on one occasion to some old woman up there and did not speak very complimentary of her. I judged from his remarks that he had a quarrel with his people before he came here', [asked] to describe the young man, Mrs. Ramsey said he was a medium sized fellow, with dark hair, and when he left was 21 years old. His description, it is said, tallies with that given by several witnesses on Thursday, who said they saw a strange young man at the Borden gate the morning of the murder. Young Borden left Baltimore last fall and has not been heard of since."
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We don't have a complete tree of Abraham's sibling's progeny as there were quite a few siblings.
Jenning's notes has a reference to Borden "nephews", one dying in a road house.
"m. Brigham Mr.--told Phillips that one Follett, 25 Calender St. Prov. R.I. told him that Mr. Borden had nephews in Providence--one of them resembles Dr. Handy's description and is capable of committing such a crime, the other nephew was killed in a road house 2 or 3 years ago."
--From: The Legend 100 Years After the Crime--
A Conference on the Lizzie Borden Case
Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA
Aug. 3-5, 1992
"The Hip-Bath Collection", Barbara Ashton, p211+
also Privy:
http://www.arborwood.com/awforums/show-topic-1.php?start=1&fid=27&taid=8&topid=202
(Message last edited Jan-16th-04 6:10 PM.)
Thanks, Kat and Harry. Very intriguing, was this Felix Borden ever tracked anywhere? And to which Uncle was Felix referring do you think? We have Uncle John, Uncle Hiram,....? I'm curious as to why he would have been thought to have any connections with the Bordens or their murders? Just a disgruntled relative that knew the Bordens had money and wanted a handout?
That is really interesting! "adopted nephew"? could it be Uncle
Johns?
We know Andrew had no nephews. But he did have a lot of uncles and aunts who might have had children.
In many accounts of relatives they are described as closer than they are. Like these nephews. Like the *Old Gentleman* Borden who had a wife who went crazy and killed her children at #96 prior to 1892.
Abrahams siblings are:
Thomas (209)
Richard (212)
Cook (214)
Ladwick (215) - who had a wife who killed their children.
Zephaniah (216)
Andrew (217) - died as a child.
Sisters of Abraham:
Amey (210)
Hannah (211)
Roana (213)
--Thomas had a daughter Mary Ann, who I don't think married.
She was the reason Andrew went into banking. He was appointed guardian of her estate and he took that job seriously.
An adopted son could belong to anybody.
If to Morse he would not be a Borden nephew, but a Morse one.
If to Hiram, he might be considered nephew as Hiram's wife was Andrew's only living sister. I think if Felix was Lurana's we'd know about him.
That's why, if true, he might be an adopted first cousin to Andrew, just noted as a nephew since he was so young, 21?
Wasn't "Borden" a fairly common name in the Fall River/New Bedford/Provedence Area? There could have been people living in the area who were not related to THE Bordens, yet who shared the name and who realized very quickly that claiming some kind of family link would get them their 15 minutes of fame.
Thanks, Kat. Yes, thats true, if he went with the last name Borden Felix would have to been adopted by an immediate male relative in the Borden family. Its interesting that this never came up in the Preliminary or the Trial, no one was ever asked about this guy.
Do you think it could be as Mark supposes, a relative who decided to cash in on the infamy? His disappearance immediately after such a statement makes him suspect, no forwarding address or anything. Its tantalizing to think that maybe Felix had a hand in things, perhaps he was the catalyst that caused Lizzie to kill. Andrew giving out massive handouts to relatives, Lizzie complaining about it and Abby possibly telling Lizzie to mind her business.
Aside from the regulars who posted it, this sounds like either a hoax (more common in those times) or at best a false lead.
Because most of the known facts were uncovered at the time. Surely this would have been brought to the authorities, like the many stories mailed in. David Kent's book has a chapter on these. The most interesting one was a letter from Albany NY (Joseph Carpenter?) who drew an outline of the solution. Maybe he felt sorry about Lizzie?
True, but only by hashing out these claims and various stories
can we maybe someday come to the FINAL SOLUTION!
It was a couple of days before the end of the trial.
The Crowe's roof hatchet find was also during the trial.
I think, besides the possibility of a hoax or a misunderstanding, these things came out too late to be addressed in court.
Each side was inexorably speeding to an ending.
First, the claim from Baltimore would be provable with a Balto newspaper. Manitoba is SO FAR AWAY as to preclude credibility.
Surely the many people who spent weeks and months on this murder would have found out about it before?
Why after the trial? To avoid a subpoena as a witness! In one book somebody asked why all those OJ photos w/ shoes came out after the trial; same reason. They would either admit to a fake, or face the penalty for perjury (Calif makes it the same as murder in that case).
There was no software that would run on Windows until after the trial. You can form your own opinion.