1. "Hey, the Hay!"
Posted by Kat on Dec-16th-02 at 9:03 PM

From Harry's post, Thread "Contents of the Barn", post #3,
citing Rebello, pg. 87:
".The north side of the barn was filled with a least a half ton of hay and some sea grass..".

--I had wondered why there was so much hay, since we found out the horse had been gone a while.
Well, I suppose maybe Andrew had his man harvest it at the Swansea farm and bring it to town to sell, storing it in the barn loft?  There were stables located nearby.

Witness Statements
Notes By Geo. Seaver
Pg.'s 36 & 37
(August 11--Statement of Frederick Eddy)

" When I go to Fall River with hay or anything for market , I have always been in the habit of going to Mr. Borden's house to dinner. Sometimes I have eaten dinner with them; often I have not got there until after they were through dinner."

Cool find.  So, that may have been why Andrew wanted to get rid of the farm at Swansea, hay, eggs, and possibly some chickens, how much money could it have been making?  When I think farm, I think other crops and livestock.  Was there any livestock like cows at the farm?  I seem to recall someone posting that the Borden's milk possibly came from their own farm.  Hmmm. 

Yes, that was me, and I have since confirmed that, but could not tell you exactly where.
You think he wanted rid of *the farm*?

He did have two.  Maybe one was for vacations and one was a working farm?

So, then which farm was it that Andrew was supposedly going to let John Morse take over?  The vacation farm or the working farm?  I'm sorry, the more I know sometimes, the more I forget. 

I presumed it was the working farm but I could be wrong. Were they close together location-wise? Mabe our frugal Andrew would have had the industrious energetic Morse running the working farm and keeping an eye on the other place?

Rebello, pg. 50:
"Andrew Borden owned two farms in Swansea, Massachusetts, referred to as the upper and lower farms."

and:

"Harold Hudner Shares History of Lizzie Borden's Summer Home," Spectator, Somerset, MA: May 15, 1991.

Attorney Harold Hudner, who occupied the Borden summer home in Swansea, Massachusetts, since the 1940's, recalled the history of the home. The Cape Cod style house was built in 1790 and later purchased by Andrew Borden and William Almy from the Gardner family. It was the Borden summer home and generally referred to as, 'the farm.' Mr. Hudner did not believe Lizzie committed the murder. 'I stick up for her because I live in her house.' Mr. Hudner went on to say that the home was sold by Emma and Lizzie to the Gardner family and he bought it from Frank Gardner.

Note: Att. Hudner purchased the home in 1947.

Borden Summer Home for Sale

The summer home of Andrew J. Borden in Swansea, Massachusetts, for sale-$174,000

New Listing
Gardners Neck Road Area
Historic
J. Gardner House & Lizzie Borden Summer Home c. 1790

Fall River Herald News, March 14, 1996: 23 (Classified Ad)"

--From where do we know that Morse was to take over a farm?
Morse testifies that Andrew talked to him about donating some of that property to an "old Ladies Home" *if they would have it* .

(Message last edited Dec-22nd-02  12:54 AM.)

AR Brown questions the generosity of Andy donating the farm to the "old ladies home". Maybe Andy meant to donate to the "old ladies" i.e. his old maid daughters? Didn't Emma retire to such an isilated house?

Yah, that's funny.
Andrew referring to *an old ladies home* meaning Emma & Lizzie...
It was Alice who retired to a home.

But, where do we hear that Morse was to be given a farm at Swansea?  Author, newspaper, gossip?

It's one of your favorite sources, Kat.  Victoria Lincoln writes in detail about the possibility of Morse taking over the farm as a precipitating factor in the murders because it was to be deeded to Abby for some reason. 

"It was known in some quarters two weeks before the murders that Morse expected to move over to Swansea; it was known at the National Union Bank shortly before the murders that the farm was about to be put in Abby's name."
(Lincoln, 55)

"Two weeks before the murders, Uncle John drove his niece---the proposed housekeeper---over to Swansea to look the place over, she had not seen it before. This little fact, which I learned from the Providence Journal, has never been mentioned in print elsewhere, since its relevance to the crime was unknown. It was briefly interesting to a reporter only because Uncle John lied about it and was caught out. (I do not wonder that he lied about it. If it had come out that the farm was going to be put in Abby's name, people who had known of Uncle John's expectations concerning the place might well have decided that Andrew had changed his mind at the last minute and thus precipitated a quarrel-or a murder.)"
(Lincoln, 59)

"In the terrific heat wave that began just two days before the murders, the treasurer of one of the mills asked if he weren't going over to Swansea to get out of the heat. Andrew suddenly and strangely opened up. He said that there was a lot of trouble going on in his house and he couldn't talk about Swansea until it was settled.
(Lincoln, 60)"

Ut-oh, Victoria strikes again!    Check out my post under Lizzie A. Borden, lets see if we can remedy this thing once and for all. 

As Ricky Ricardo, another made up character, always says:
"Aye Yie Yie Yie Yie!!!!!!"