The Lizzie Borden Society archive

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Posted by Harry on Mar-10th-02 at 2:30 PM

OUR VIEW -- Lizzie, Fall River forever entwined

The Herald News Staff February 27, 2002

It makes sense that a history teacher from Marshfield would get steady bookings traveling around New England, telling audiences about the gruesome murder case associated with one of Fall River's most infamous citizens, Lizzie Borden.
It also makes some sense that Christopher Daley has never delivered his lecture in this city. It isn't that he dislikes Fall River, having visited this city many times to do research on the Borden case. His assumption that Fall River had been "saturated" with Lizzie is probably correct in some people's minds.

If the Borden case was controversial in its day, it's no less so today, particularly in this city, and that's not just because the case remains unsolved.

For one thing, city residents seem divided on whether Fall River should be associated in the minds of outsiders with a bloody ax murder case. They're likely to complain that the city's more respectable attributes -- our historic mills, our cultural district, our waterfront and beautiful Victorian homes -- get brushed aside by Lizzie mania.

It's no wonder that when the city explored plans to build a Lizzie Borden museum back in the early 1980s, there were local protests.

On the other hand, Fall River can't divorce itself from its own history. Like it or not, Lizzie Borden remains one of our best-known citizens, and there's no doubt that this case continues to fascinate millions of people across the country, and the world. It offers the same shock value and intriguing mystery as the Jack the Ripper case.

And why not? People love a good mystery. That's one reason why television shows about murders -- from real-life case profiles on "America's Most Wanted" and "The New Detectives" to fictional cases on "CSI" and "Law And Order" -- bring in such big ratings.

Fall River has been on the right track in recent years in its efforts to promote tourism, bringing more people here to our factory outlets, waterfront attractions and fine ethnic restaurants. But that doesn't mean we have to shun Lizzie. After all, the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast and Museum, located at the same Second Street home where the murders were committed, has been a huge success.

For that matter, the Lizzie history available at the Historical Society has been a big hit as well.

Besides, embracing Lizzie doesn't mean glorifying a murderer. She was acquitted, after all, and many theorists now believe that Lizzie truly was innocent. Daley himself promotes the theory that the murders were arranged by John Morse, Lizzie's uncle.

The city would do well to remember the Lizzie Borden who emerged from her trial as a wealthy woman, and decided to share the wealth by, among other things, founding the animal shelter on Durfee Street.

When Daley spoke at the Medford Public Library last weekend, he attracted a strong crowd. Many of them were true Lizzie buffs, people who had read nearly every book on this crime. They peppered him with tough questions about minute details on this intriguing case.

How can we shut the door on that kind of Lizzie mania? Quite simply, we can't. So let's assume that 1892 jury was correct, and embrace Lizzie as ... an eccentric spinster? An early feminist icon? A devoted animal lover? Who knows?

But if Daley wants to help spread the word about one of our best-known citizens, more power to him. Lizzie's story will never be erased from our history books, so let's stop trying to do that.

In an article by Gabriela Schalow Adler, PHD., (our new publisher of the Lizzie Borden Quarterly), called: "What's In A Name? EDMUND PEARSON AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF BIOGRAPHY INTO LEGEND", pg13:

"...For one thing, true-crime stories seem to have a perennial appeal.  Although the true-crime story is generally regarded as a distinct genre, a case can be made that it has strong links to, and could be viewed as sub-genre of biography .  After all, true-crime stories are fact-based narratives about individuals' lives.  In Lizzie's case, these true-crime narratives are the only existing biographical works about her.  As we examine the role they played in criminalizing her in American popular culture, we must look more closely at the genre itself.  Biography involves much more than the narrative of someone's life.  It is a literary form, and as such provokes a variety of viewpoints and theories .

...the issues raised are important.  O'Brien, for example, points out the contradictory strains in traditional theory, where the subject's essence is conveyed, but in the form of a story, using novelistic techniques .

...In other words, this form of biography (still dominate in the popular sphere) is not something which naturally occurs, but is the result of a particular set of beliefs about the world.  I suspect that many readers would, after considering these points , (Many points EDITED) agree that realism is not "real", and while biography can be a responsible treatment of a life, it cannot recapture it with exactitude or present it without artifice ...."

--I hadn't realized I liked true-crime so well, because I thoroughly enjoy BIOGRAPHIES.
--This may also refer, in some way, to Rays' cryptic remarks about "not reading history backwards." (If I'm off-base on this interpretation, Rays, let me know...)

"Reading History Backwards" refers to letting events after color or influence the original event. That's the risk for an untutored individual in writing a history from current recollections and legends. You can think of Masterton, or Rebello (whose book I didn't read). Or those "histories" of 40-50 years ago.

In 1960 JFK won by one of the narrowest margins in the century. In 1964 pollsters discovered that "2 out of 3" voters remembered voting for him!!! History as we would've liked it to be?

Just keep an open mind, and remember that a writer either has a "hidden agenda" (paid by publishers or ?), or influenced by his own experience. See "Fatal Justice" about the Jeff MacDonald conviction.

I think I'm right about LB's "innocence", but I first heard of the legend before the facts in AR Brown's book.