The Lizzie Borden Society archive

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1. "Pearson and Howe"
Posted by adminlizzieborden on Jan-8th-02 at 9:25 PM

By kat on Saturday, 12/15/2001 - 10:47 pm [Edit] [Reply] [Msg Link]  
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Rebello, p.138:
"Fulton Oursler, in his autobiography, recalled a conversation he had with Louis Howe, Franklin D. Roosevelt's closest political advisor and friend. Mr. Howe was married to Grace Hartley of Fall River. She was a cousin of Lizzie's and a major benefactor of Lizzie's estate. Mr. Howe told Fulton that 'Lizzy' didn't kill her parents. It was Emma who 'stole back from Marion (Mass.) and killed Abby and Andrew. Emma was "crazy" and suffered from "epileptic fits" according to Mr. Howe. 'Lizzy discovered Emma and sent her back to Marion.'

Fulton later made arrangements to have his friend Edmund Pearson and Louis Howe meet to discuss the Borden murders. Mr. Pearson did not agree with Howe's theory according to Fulton Oursler. Mr. Howe's theory appeared in Edmund Pearson's 'Legends of Lizzie' in the NEW YORKER, April 22, 1933."
--from Oursler, Jr., Fulton, Behold This Dreamer! An Autobiography. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1964, 366-367.

This LEGENDS OF LIZZIE became a chapter in MORE STUDIES IN MURDER, by Pearson, 1936, Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, New York (Rebello, 310), relevent pages 128-129:
(which I just received from inter-library loan today)...

"A laborious theory has reached me from a person in high place, who is related by marriage to the Bordens. He graciously acquainted me with what is called 'the family view' of the crime. It is that not Miss Lizzie but her sister, Miss Emma Borden, was the guilty one.

Miss Emma, ten years her sister's senior, was in Fairhaven on the day of the murders. The new theory rests on the belief that there was a conspiracy between the sisters, both of whom wished to keep the stepmother from inheriting their father's property. Up to this point, it is all probable.

But the further idea was that Miss Lizzie stayed at home, since SHE could clear herself of suspicion. It is not explained why they were sure of this--for she utterly failed to clear herself of suspicion. And Miss Emma, prentending to be in Fairhaven, really slipped away early on that August morning, with the hatchet in her little reticule. She came unseen to Fall River, walked to the family home, undiscovered, though she traversed a street of lynx-eyed neighbors, killed the victims, unobserved by the servant, and went back to Fairhaven, still undetected and invisible.

This theory depends on the notion that the police did not investigate Miss Emma's alibi and satisfy themselves that she had not left Fairhaven. Such a notion is untenable. The police work on this case was, at any rate, painstaking.

A certain peculiarity of what is flatteringly called the human mind, is always to be discovered in the history of any notorious crime. The very people who loftily discard every conclusion which has been weighed, tested and established in open Court, are the ones who willingly swallow any bit of rumor or gossip, so long as it rests on hearsay and backstairs tattle. They almost seem to announce: 'Give me a big, gaudy lie and I'll believe it; but as for proven facts, I simply despise 'em!'

Why anyone should reject the claims of the sister who had every opportunity, and nominate as murderess the one for whom it would have been fantastically difficult, is hard to see..."

--Well maybe a huge inheritance coloured Mr. Howe's loyalties and recollections. Also, Mr. Howe died the same year of the publication of More Studies In Murder, so it might be possible that Pearson added those little bits of libel against the good name of Howe to spice his own commentary.

--Why was Howe TALKING, anyway? Did he wait till Lizzie & Emma died?

--Another thought: HOWE did HOWE escape HOFFMAN?

 
By raystephanson on Sunday, 12/16/2001 - 07:03 pm [Edit] [Reply] [Msg Link]  
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OK, look behind this "cover story": a child of Andrew, who was "crazy", came in and did the crimes; Lizzie shielded this person. Does this sound familiar? Except for the named killer, it matches AR Brown's solution (from the Eagan-Hawthorne story).

Isn't it "close enough" to the truth? Like Lizzie saying "Uncle Hiram was the killer (or involved)".

 
By raystephanson on Sunday, 12/16/2001 - 07:09 pm [Edit] [Reply] [Msg Link]  
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Forty years later most people would not know about the police investigation (two officers sent to check Emma's alibi). It raises another question: what about Emma? Why wasn't she ever married? Was there something wrong with her that was kept secret? Don't talk about looks: "MONEY makes the old young, the ugly beautiful, etc."

Emma's solitary existence suggests something wrong, doesn't it? I didn't read that Indiana publication that says they were abused by Dearest Dad, nor do I have any experience in that area. Why was the younger sister the more outgoing?

Raymond Chandler's famous novel ("The Big Sleep"?) uses two rich sisters as part of the story line. Independently, of course.

 
By kat on Sunday, 12/16/2001 - 10:48 pm [Edit] [Reply] [Msg Link]  
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I understand what you mean...but what i SEE is the "origins" of these theories in "family or neighborly gossip" AT THe Time of the late 20's and early 30's. Pearson (and Knowlton's letters) seem to be a breeding ground for already ripened Borden Murder Theories... And if you're an author,just add some allspice, shake, and ADAPT to fit your pie-pan(A little Holiday allegory there...not to be facetious)

 
By kat on Sunday, 12/16/2001 - 10:53 pm [Edit] [Reply] [Msg Link]  
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As for something wrong with Emma, it's possible...Her little sister Alice died of brain disease, so did her cousin George. And Sarah LOOKED crazy...and if Lizzie killed, there'd be another example of "something not right" in that family.