The Lizzie Borden Society archive

Forum URL:

1. "Abby's Key"
Posted by Kat on Feb-24th-02 at 3:17 AM

In the Privy, in the Proceedings, in the Hip-Bath, in Andrew Jenning's notebook, pg.218:

"j.  Mrs. Dr. Bowen--called and said that on Tuesday of the murder she was walking up the street with Mrs. Borden and...(edit)...Mrs. Borden said she could,'t get in the front way 'for they had taken her key.'   So she and Mrs. Borden went in by the BACK DOOR (underlined)."

Can anyone figure out how taking away Mrs. Borden's key could further any *plot* against her life?

This is certainly a curious statement by Abby Borden. Who is "they?" When was the key taken and under what circumstances, that is did Abby voluntarily surrender it to someone or was the key taken without Abby's prior knowledge, perhaps out of her handbag? Why was it taken? Why wouldn't Abby just get another key if the one in question had disappeared from among her things? Certainly Abby had access to the entire house, other than Lizzie's (and Emma's) bedroom(s) the doors to which apparently were kept locked. Depriving Abby of her front door key would appear to serve no purpose except to annoy or give Abby (Andrew?) a hard time.

All your questions are valid.  I asked myself a few of them.
If i assume the key "was taken away" that week, I wondered if it had anything to do with Lizzie not unlocking the front door Thursday morning, which everybody made such a big deal of...
If Abby had been called away Thusday by a note then she wouldn't be able to come back in by way of the front door....so she couldn't have *left* Thursday, because she couldn't have re-entered (by the entrance Lizzie implied)...[and Lizzie would have known this (?)]
I knew I'd get confused.
Any more thoughts?

Btw:  Doesn't that *impersonal* use of the word "ThEY" sort of imply the girls?  But Emma was gone, so maybe "THEY" took it before Emma left, using Emma's uncertain return date as an excuse that she needed it?

When was the door opening and locking jobs divided up? With Bridget handling the side door and Lizzie the front? Do we know?

Maybe it was only a week before the murders when those jobs were handed out for some reason. And "they" (the family in toto) had "taken" her key to give it to Lizzie.

Or, perhaps the duties had been divided a while ago and Lizzie lost her key and needed Abby's key to keep up her duites. With this scenario, if Lizzie lost her front door key, she would certainly have mentioned it as it might point to an intruder with a key.

I am back to my first question. When did Lizzie first have the front door duty, or probably a better question (because it might be easier to find) when was the first time Lizzie's front door duties were mentioned?

OK, you guys with TRIAL and Inquest "Word-Search"...what say ye?

This is from Lizzie's testimony at the Inquest (page 55, she is talking about her return to the house after visiting Alice Russell the night before the murders:

Q. When you came back at nine o'clock, you did not look in to see if the family were up?
A. No sir.
Q. Why not?
A. I very rarely do when I come in.
Q. You go right to your room?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Did you have a night key?
A. Yes sir.
Q. How did you know it was right to lock the front door?
A. That was always my business.

Emma testified at the Inquest that it was either her or Lizzie who usually unlocked the front door in the morning.

Bridget's testimony at the trial (page 235):

Q.  During the morning hours, usually, was that door kept locked otherwise than by the spring lock?
A.  I don't know anything about the door; I didn't have nothing to do to it.


(Message last edited Feb-26th-02  7:33 AM.)

Emma's testimony at the trial (page 1565) seems to pretty clearly spell it out as to the front door being locked at night:

Q.  Was the front door usually kept locked at night?
A.  Yes, sir.
Q.  And bolted?
A.  Yes, sir.
Q.  Who attended to that, if you know, usually?
A.  The one that was retiring last.
Q.  Whether they slept up stairs or down? You mean whether it was Mr. and Mrs. Borden or the girl?
A.  Oh, my sister or I.
Q.  One of you usually attended to that duty?
A.  Yes, sir.
Q.  Whichever one was last to bed?
A.  Yes, sir.
Q.  And who usually unlocked it in the morning?
A.  Usually my sister.
Q.  Miss Lizzie?
A.  Yes, sir.

I think "the girls" probably thought of the front door as their part of the house.  Also their bedrooms were directly accessible by the front door so it would be in their interest to see that it was locked at night.

Harry, that seems to be the best explanation in my mind. This territory fight over parts of the house is a very interesting component of this case.

Lizzie and Emma have front stairs, guest room (as their parlor) and their two bedrooms. Lizzie has the "night key" to the front door.

Bridget does not clean the rooms in the front up stairs. Those rooms are supposed to be taken care of by the sisters.

Yet, Abby goes up to the guest room to clean up after Morse's visit. Apparently (according to Lizzie) to prepare the space for her relatives coming for a visit? (of course this is Lizzie's word for it)

So Abby is hatcheted to death in Lizzie and Emma's sitting room. In their part of the house. Whereas Andrew is killed in the part of the house shared by all (except Bridget I suspect, who probably never sat down with the family there).

When I think of my space/your space stuff I remember my relationship with my little brother. We shared a room for a while when we were kids. I remember actually drawing a line down the middle of the room and he had to stay on his side and i had to stay on mine. Funny thing was, he had to cross the line to exit the room. We weren't able to keep to it precisely.

Lines drawn in the sand, or in this house, with keys being taken and redistributed only a few days or a week before the murders seems significant to me. Maybe Abby was trespassing up stairs that morning. Maybe she was poking around in Lizzie's room while she was up there? Maybe she was caught?

Coming in the Front Door is STATUS...going to the side door is for servants and delivery boys.  Taking away Abby's key may have been symbolic of taking away her status...but there MUST be more to it..that's just too subtle all by itself.
I thought the side door WAS the main entrance for the elder Bordens, as it probably had been used as a main entrance by the upper floor family back when it was a 2 family dwelling.

When Abby had *a guest* though, she would probably prefer to come in at the front door.  Her Key would be her status as head female of the whole household...but "they" took it...
To have a duplicate made?
To assure of keeping her ingress and egress to the side door only-- so her comings and goings could be controlled and anticipated?

If the door was NOT unlocked on Thursday of ALL DAYS, maybe THAT was so that Abby could not *escape* out the front door with someone after her if all the locks had to be undone to get out...

The use of "they" seems to be family-wide!  Remember, Lizzie described Thursday (or was it Friday?) as the day "they broke down the door," meaning that the hook and eye was pulled out during the police search. 

Do you think Hiram, as a blacksmith, could make a duplicate key?