I was unable to locate any relevant information about Alfred Johnson after 1899. The only one listed as living in Fall River was a lineman for the telephone company. There was a reference to a man by that name acting as a pallbearer in 1912; one of the other pallbearers was the brother of Marie Lihme, who worked as a domestic for Lizzie in 1909.
I’m pretty certain that the Alfred C. Johnson listed on the Sept. 13, 1899 manifest is Lizzie’s servant. As noted in the earlier post, Lizzie's personal maid, Ida Carlson, was married on Sept. 23, 1899. One source alleges that the ceremony was held at Maplecroft. (Lizzie was very fond of Ida and presented her with a framed photo of Lizzie’s cat, Blackie. The photo is dated 1899, and it’s the only known photo of Maplecroft’s interior taken during Lizzie’s lifetime. Lizzie even remembered Ida’s daughter, Alice, in her will).
Alfred and Ida were both employed by Lizzie between 1898-1899. They may even have been related. Given the timeline between Alfred’s arrival and Ida’s wedding, it’s a plausible reason for Alfred’s return after a sojourn to his native Sweden.
Alfred was obviously devoted to the Borden family and Lizzie to him, considering she kept him in her employ for years after the murders. According to his witness statement, he was hired by Andrew in 1883. The ship manifest of 1899 states that he had lived for 27 years in the U.S., placing his initial arrival as 1872. In the 1874 directory, there’s an Alfred Johnson listed as a laborer, “boards Ferry, cor. N. Main.”
What’s puzzling is that Alfred was apparently the #1 suspect almost immediately after the murders. John Cunningham, the newsdealer who notified the police at 11:10 a.m. about the crime, testified at the preliminary that a boy named Pierce alluded to a rumor that one of Andrew’s farm hands had committed the deed.
Fall River Globe:" Suspicion was directed early toward a Swede employee of Mr, Borden who worked on his farm at South Swansea. It was said that he came here to get some wages that were due him, but Mr. Borden said he had no money handy but would pay him when he returned from the bank. Mr. Borden went to the First National Bank this morning and returned shortly after 10 o'clock. Whether or not the Swede called again cannot be told at this writing".
Fall River Globe, 12 Aug 1892: "The cry went out from some source or other that a Swedish farm hand dubbed "the Portuguese" had done the deed. This was the first clue, and it started half a dozen policemen and the city marshal over the river to the Borden farm. The hunt ended the some afternoon and the clue was promptly exploded, for the farm hands were all in their accustomed places and it was impossible to connect any of them with this crime".
05 Aug 1892, "It was supposed that the cause of the trouble (sickness) was in the milk, and it is now thought that attempts at poisoning had been made. Dr. Dolan, medical examiner, has taken a portion of the milk delivered this morning to have it analyzed. The milk is furnished the family from the deceased’s own farm in Swansea, where he has two men employed. They are Frank Eddy and Alfred Johnson, the latter in charge—a Swede, and a servant and employee of long standing and unquestioned trust in the family. Suspicion was directed against Johnson at once, as a story became current that Mr. Borden had had an altercation with one of his tenants. Officers immediately went out on this trail and exploded the basis for suspicion, for Johnson was found to have been on his farm all the morning".
Boston Evening Transcript, 05 Aug 1892 "Other Suspects. The story that a Swede who works under James (sic) Eddy, who runs the Borden farm and comes to this city with milk, was in the house just before the murder; that he and Mr. Borden had had high words over some wages. Mr. Borden is alleged to have owed him, is proved a canard by Chief-of-Police Hilliard, who went to Swansea and found that the Swede had not been away from the farm during the day".
The source of the rumor may have been Bridget. According to Porter:
"Thorough investigation of theories advanced upon the strength of Bridget Sullivan's statement that the crime was committed by the Portuguese employed upon the farm of Andrew Borden in Somerset (sic), resulted in placing them with the other numerous opinions and possibilities which have been exploded by the authorities".
The Sun, New York, Aug. 5,1892: "The remark of the servant girl, “It must have been the Portuguese,” gave rise to a story that Marshall Hilliard says he has proved to be an idle tale, which was that a Portuguese, who had been at work on Mr. Borden’s farm in Swansea across the river, had been discharged and had come back to the house demanding his pay and murdered Mr. and Mrs. Borden.
Mr. Hilliard said that there was not any Portuguese that could be found who worked for Mr. Borden or who had recently been discharged.
Some of the neighbors saw a man whom they took for a Portuguese walking up and down in front of Mr. Borden’s house, but the man they describe as a Portuguese is a Swede, who has worked for years on Mr. Borden’s farm in Swansea and who was his foreman then, and highly trusted by all the family. He proved satisfactorily to the police that he was not and could not have been in Fall River and that he had not been out of his house. He had no quarrel with Mr. Borden, who thought very highly of him".
Fall River Herald, Aug. 12, 1892: "... C[harles]. S. Sawyer believes thoroughly in Lizzie’s innocence. Said he: "When I was on guard outside, on the day of the murder, Bridget told me of a Portuguese employee of Mr. Borden, and suggested that he might have committed the crime. Lizzie was completely prostrated by the shock she had received, but as soon as she heard of Bridget's story she sent Miss Russell out to me to deny the possibility of the story..."
We then have John V. Morse’s inquest testimony:
A:
Mr. Borden, when I was over here sometime in July, that I speak of,
wanted to know if I knew of a man he could get on his farm, to take charge of it, I told him I did not know, I would see. When I got back
I wrote him I knew of a man I thought would suit him, I would send him over. He wrote back to me he had rather I would wait until I saw him. I have his letter in my pocket, if you want to see it.
Q. What was the date of that letter? You may refresh your memory. If you have no objections, I will see it.
(Witness produces the letter dated July 25, 1892.
…………………………………………………….
Q. You came partially in pursuance of that request?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Was that about ten days before you came?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. So they were not expecting you that particular day, but were looking for you at any time?
A. Yes Sir.
During the trial proceedings, the purpose of Morse’s visit on August 3 was focused primarily on purchasing cattle; Morse’s inquest testimony about finding a new hired hand was glossed over at the preliminary and was not referred to again, probably because the prosecution didn’t think it relevant, and Alfred supposedly had a solid alibi.
In
A Private Disgrace, Lincoln attributed the motive for the murders on Andrew’s supposed plan to place the Swansea farm in Abby’s name. Assuming that’s true, was Andrew considering replacing Alfred as manager of the lower farm as part of that plan? If so, why?
If Bridget was the source of the “Portuguese” rumor, why did she immediately suspect Alfred?
Why wasn’t Alfred ever called as a witness?
You can scroll down on this thread to find some interesting discussion about Alfred.
https://lizzieandrewborden.com/LBForum/ ... hp?p=33933
