1. "See Alice sit!  Sit, Alice, sit!"
Posted by Bob Gutowski on Aug-31st-02 at 6:46 PM

Momentous item in the new FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY REPORT!  Is it my name printed in the "New Members" box?  Well, that's there but, no, it isn't that.  It's a recently rediscovered picture, taken in 1931, of the elderly Alice Russell seated in her room at the FR Home for Aged People.  It was found in an envelope marked "Lizzie's Turncoat Friend," among the family photos of the Minor family (cousins by marriage to Miss Russell).  It has been donated to the Society by the Minor family.  The accompanying article tells how Alice had said she believed Lizzie was innocent until that infamous Sunday, August 7th, when she saw Lizzie burn that dress.  Thereafter, she felt that Lizzie was guilty.  With true New England reticence, she was very careful about to whom she spoke about the case for the rest of her life.      

(Message last edited Sep-2nd-02  11:46 AM.)

Does anyone have a copy of this photo?  I'd love to see a real pic of Alice Russell!  Thanks for the info, Bob!!!;-)

Wow!  That's a real find!  I wonder if it's worth a membership to get scoops like that... I too would like to see dear Alice, who I believe has heretofore been pictured in only that one courtroom sketch.

Found the photo of Alice. SOMEBODY posted it on their sale site on ebay. I am linking to that image directly.



Too be perfectly fair, here is a direct link to the sale where this photo comes from. Note: almost all of the items on this sale disk are available for free either from my web site or other sources on the web.


(Message last edited Sep-1st-02  6:49 PM.)

Thank you, Stefani!  That is too cool!  I've always been curious what Alice looked like in the flesh as opposed to that trial drawing of her.  Thanks! 

That's a great find! 

According to Rebello, Alice moved to the Home (which Emma left $10,000 to in 1927), c. 1930.  She died on Jan. 21st, 1941, of chronic myocarditis and myocardial degeneration...no immediate survivors.  (Her mother had died Jan. 7, 1913.)

Apparently she lived 10 or so more years after this picture was taken.

It looks like she might have been sitting for an interview.  Was there one recorded?

[Edit here]:  PROCEEDINGS, "THey Would Like To Have Been Cultured Girls", Johnson, 1993,  pg. 239, a couple of footnotes denote Agnes de Mille as giving Mrs. Kelly, the Borden's next door neighbor, the credit for any comments supposedly made after the trial by Alice on her role in the case.  The author goes on to warn readers that de Mille was a dramatist.

(Message last edited Sep-1st-02  6:46 PM.)

Isn't it just amazing that items like this can still surface?  Leave it to industrious Faye to have it on eBay already in some form!  As long-time chums of mine will remember, I think Alice Russell is one of the few heroes in this sad story, and if her listening to her conscience about that incident (even if her coming forward was not immediate) led to her having to break with the Borden sisters, at least she could live the rest of her life knowing she'd done the right thing in a very odd and challenging situation.  Brava, Alice, and God bless you - we've gotten to see you at last.  

I think I would rather not see it if I had to link to that site.

I know but I must practice what I preach. Giving credit where credit is due, even when to do so gives that person some advertising, is a risk I must take.

I dare say, from Bob's post, however, this image is probably copyrighted by the Fall RIver Historical Society (previously unpublished photos are copyrighted upon PUBLICATION, not upon being made into prints), and this person's publicizing of it on her eBay sale might violate their copyright. 

Credit for what?  Acquiring it? All that takes is practice.

That is almost like getting to see Lizzie at that age.

I love the way she is just sitting there in that room. It is a true snapshot instead of the usual portraiture we are used to with these people. She IS real to us now. Not just some drawing in the paper. Flesh and blood. So very cool!

She may have been very careful as to whom she spoke to about Lizzie, but, just seeing that picture makes me want to sit down with Alice and have some tea and a loooooooooong chat about the Borden sisters.  Just her insight on them as people alone would be well worth it, even if there was no talk of the murders!