Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Ah ha! Found my disc player and my backup discs from July 2003.
There are some images that don’t fit into a category so I thought we could share.
First, I seem to have a few hatchet pictures. The first one is a very clear HH against a white background.

Hatchet (HH) after unwrapping when it came into possession of the FRHS.
Notice this is the other side than the one pictured above.

I believe this is the author Edward Rowe Snow. He’s the one that did that weird story on Lizzie’s “confession” that was supposedly extorted from her by the Tilden-Thurber gang. ***shudder***
The jaggedy part is a shadow- not what the loose piece of wood actually looked like by then.

The “Roadside America” printing of the display of what looks like a pillow sham and HH.
The display obviously looks bigger than it is- some kind of distortion.
And BTW: I have seen the bedspread but never this pillow sham!

You-know-who with a prop

Might as well include moi

Mas manana
BTW I don’t speak Spanish but I try…

These are awesome, Kat! Thanks for sharing

Thanks, Kat, thanks!

Ditto!

Is that THE pillow sham? Reason, did you see it at the FRHS?

Yes. That’s it!

It looks like more blood on the pillow sham than on the bedspread- if anyone can figure that out!
And BTW the hatchet picture in black and white with the original wrapping from the Warings, is the same picture that’s on the back of the big glossy outer page of the book Did She Didn’t She (Evening Standard).
I figure you’all just need a break from thinking so hard!

Bedspread I posted on another thread, from FRHS website in the past:

https://lizzieandrewborden.com/HatchetO ... chief.html

These next pictures are very important to me, as I believe the handkerchief found near Abbie’s body is a very important overlooked clue to the commission of the crime. That’s why I included a link to my article in The Hatchet: “On the Trail of the Bloody Handkerchief.”(You may or may not want to read it, that’s OK)

This picture is what the handkerchief and Abbie’s hair switch looked like when unwrapped after donation to the FRHS - notice the “waffle shape” style print on the very right, on the fabric.
Plz clic on pic

This is a more current photo of the handkerchief, looking pretty clean, and was taken from vault and displayed at my request to my sister and myself at the FRHS.
Plz clic on pic

A view of the handkerchief laid out for display for the production company who filmed in 2004, at the FRHS.
Sorry for poor quality- it’s a screen grab from the moving picture.

Hmmmm
HH and handkerchief at the FRHS.
Does that fabric look bloody to you?

Are those 3-4 tiny dark spots on the pillow sham pic blood? I was imaging more blood than that.

The dots and dashes of blood are on the bedspread, but that picture before that one is the pillow sham and I think it has more blood on it- the corner looks soaked in places.

Officer Mullaly assisted Doherty in turning Abby, as officer Allen looked on, so her face was exposed to view and they saw that her features looked all mashed in from bruises and livor mortis. As Allen left to inform the Marshal, he noticed a handkerchief “covered with blood . . . lying from Mrs. Borden’s feet toward the window,” which he recounted at the trial. He was asked if he could identify it and replied, “Yes, sir, the border is cut. (A ragged handkerchief was shown the witness.) Yes, that is the handkerchief.” Mr. Moody then told the court, “We offer this, if your Honors please.” Allen further described it as “wet in blood and lying in a—just as you have it now.”
Dr. Dolan had been passing near the area of Second Street, and, as a medical examiner for Bristol County, inserted himself into the scene, taking charge. He was in the room examining the body when Allen was there. At the preliminary hearing, as the first witness called on the first day, within the first ten minutes, Dr. Dolan was asked: “Anything on her [Mrs. Borden’s] head?” Upon his memory, Dr. Dolan described a silk handkerchief “near the head,” more suitable for wearing upon the head when dusting, than as a dusting cloth. It was “not knotted…[nor] cut…torn very freely…[with] some blood on it from the surrounding blood.”

After absorbing the atmosphere of this despicable crime against these two poor old folks, very important questions arise: Why is this handkerchief at the scene of Abby’s murder? Whose is it? It was near her feet – it was near her head; it was not knotted as if worn, but not the right material for dusting. What does it mean? It seems to be the one thing out of place, inexplicable, and the authorities seemed to wonder the same thing. The next year was spent hunting clues in the case and this object was continuously brought up and asked about, its description was repeated in an attempt to place it into some context, with no definitive answers forthcoming. Regardless, this is an important artifact, found with the body of Abby Borden and “wet” in her blood. It has become an item of mystery, now lodged at the Fall River Historical Society and rarely displayed due to the fragile state of the decomposing silk.


—-From article “On the Trail of the Bloody Handkerchief” in The Hatchet, by moi.

This item was actually in the list of evidence displayed at the trial. It had been “wet” with blood.
It was also part of the items that were buried by Morse’s order, dug up by Dolan’s order and reburied and dug up again. But was identified as bloody before it was further contaminated by being buried with other bloody objects.

The Borden display of artifacts at the FRHS has changed over the years. Some items are put away, and others brought out, continuing a process of renewing the exhibits.
The photos of the skulls of Andrew and Abby Borden are actually life-size.

In early days I believe the artifacts were shown in what had been the kitchen area of the FRHS mansion.
This was Lizzie’s jail stool when she was housed in Fall River. Her dinner pail is in the prior picture.

News item pt 1
Plz clic on pic

Pt. 2

camgarsky4 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 6:22 am Are those 3-4 tiny dark spots on the pillow sham pic blood? I was imaging more blood than that.

You know, I see this other pic of the bedspread, and it’s beginning to seem that the picture that I showed that looked like it was just the bedspread draped over a chair (black and white), is actually the spread with the pillow sham on top.
Thank you for asking camgarsky- I’m only just noticing, because the two items don’t match each other!
The pillow sham has pleats at the edges, and the bedspread has tassels!
Reasonwhy, can you describe it?
Plz clic on pic

Kat, I believe your last post, above, is correct. The blanket was not on display at the FRHS when I was there in May of this year, but the sham was. It is now ivory in color, though may have been white when new. It was inside the table-type glass-topped display case, and appeared to be folded in fourths (folded in half once, then again). The pleated ruffle was approximately four or five inches in length. On the top of the folded sham were several clearly visible, though seemingly faded, brown blood stains.

Thank you- I’ve not seen the sham(s). It’s sad to think tho Andrew had a million dollars ( in todays money) Abbie could not have matching bedding in the guest room!
But I am glad to have the new description of what I was looking at- I know it’s hard to unsee the first thing one sees…

Well, we are at least collecting the existing artifacts from the case and accounting for them here.

It’s a good question about why there is not more blood on the bed clothes.
Here is one description by Dolan, and a pic of the rug cut out in the guest room.

Quote, moi
Dr Dolan, in the prelim, says about Abbie's bloody body:

Under her head, and pretty well down on her breast, she was lying in a pool of clotted blood, quite dark, as if it had been there sometime. It was not in the fluid condition that Mr. Borden’s was.

The front of the clothing was very much soaked, that is, down to the chest, and also the back, down about half way, of course going right through to her underclothing.

Here it shows just how much rug was removed to take away the blood evidence

Plz clic on pic

Here is the actual courtroom exhibit of Kieran’s second floor plan of guest room with the chalk marks showing where rug was cut out.

Description from an earlier FRHS website- it also describes the second floor plan, seen above.

This is the official description of the bedspread from a previous incarnation of the FRHS website.

Mr and Mrs Bridget Sullivan in Anaconda Montana

Young Emma (we had her from a screen shot from a tv show)

Abbie deserves a good picture, I think.

Mr and Mrs Abraham Borden This is BeBe, his second wife, Andrew and Lurana’s stepmother.

Very young Lizzie

Miss Alice Russell

Miss Alice Russell Plz clic on pics

Thanks for posting the pics. Wonder why Alice was buried in Westport?

These are great, Kat...thanks so much for posting them!

I had a few miscellaneous photos I'd like to contribute to the thread.

Young Abby...this photo was enhanced. I've always been moved by it because it shows her as so young and vulnerable.

Alice Russell, enhanced photo:

Dennis Sullivan, interviewed in The Witness Statements:
Mrs. John Gomeley was in her room at No. 90 Second street, window open, heard no noise, saw no
one.
At 11.15 A. M. Dennis Sullivan, employed at Allen & Slades, came along and stopped to talk to
Mrs. Gomeley. While going up Second street he saw no person leave the yard or go up or down the
street on whom he could place suspicion.

Obituary:
Photo:

C.V.S. Remington, Bridget's former employer:

John Crowe (of Crowe's yard)

Photo from his obituary:

Young Uncle John V. Morse (enhanced)

The Perry House in Washington Square, Newport, R.I. It’s adjoining the Opera House, which is on the left. The photo was taken in the 1880’s during Bridget’s employment there.

You are both posting some really cool photos!

Cagney - Is the Perry House in the middle with the structure on the roof? What was your source and what is the timing of the Young Morse and Young Abby pics? I've never seen either of them before.

Photo taken outside of the New Bedford courthouse during Lizzie's trial:

hi Camgarsky!

Yes, the Perry House is the building in the middle.

The source for young Abby's photo comes from pg. 22 of Edwin Porter's book, The Fall River Tragedy. This is the full portrait as it appeared there:
I don't have the source of the young John Morse photo. I came across it somewhere in my "Lizzie" research travels.

This photo baffles me. It's purportedly of Lizzie with a cat and was found in an online article here, alongside the known, authenticated photos of her:
https://www.newbedfordguide.com/lizzie- ... 2018/11/13


I can't tell if this is a real person, a mannequin or possibly a post-mortem memorial photo of some unknown woman. What's creepy is that the wallpaper is eerily similar to the Borden's sitting room wallpaper (in Andrew's crime scene photo).

Thanks, Kat and Cagney for the photo treats! Cagney, may I ask how the two photos were enhanced? In the one of Abby, it looks as though she may have exophorbia or exotropia (one eye drifting to the side either sometimes, or all of the time).

Thank you for all your contributions, Cagney! I was glad for others joining in!
I was also glad to see the Perry house; And the newspaper’s visages of characters in the case.

We were lucky, tho, to have been able to authenticate photos, as a consortium of Stef, Harry and myself. We spent a lot of time comparing newly “revealed” pictures with existing visages and were also able to ask experts to confirm what we decided, before we ever showed them.

I think the portrait of Lizzie is not her, tho I am only using my instincts that I honed from those years of past comparisons. Websites you are not a part of, can have suspect pictures- we’ve all learned that from EBay.

It’s iffy about the “early” Abbie “enhanced”- you might want to submit that to the FRHS for confirmation?

The Morse picture is real and was of the set from Swansea research, and part of our Hatchet article. He is third from the right. Stef, Harry, Len Rebello and myself worked together on these. Stef actually has an article also, about facial feature comparisons. That was to prove or not, a newly found Emma picture, actually.
. . . . . . . .
This group picture has other Morse men, and the effects I had added, to post here much earlier, was to ask if these looked like hand signs attributing to Masons (the Lodge, not the family of “Mason”.)
Also, plz see next page for Porter’s Abbie.

https://lizzieandrewborden.com/HatchetO ... emery.html