"Happy Trials to You..."

Edisto · Post by **Edisto** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 11:07 am

Somebody has listed on eBay a newspaper from Rochester, NY, covering the Borden "trail" as the listing says. It's one of those listings that cry out for Spell-Check. However, the seller is obviously an optimist. The opening bid for this item is $500. Apparently there's also a second newspaper included with it. Presumably, for this price they are complete newspapers. That's implied, but I'm not sure it's the case.

Another seller has a more reasonably-priced item -- a plaque with photos from the Borden case. Much as I love reading about the case, I'm not sure I want to decorate my house with pictures of Andrew's and Abby's dead bodies. I'm also not sure I want a plaque with lettering at the top that clearly spells out "Forty Wacks." I'd hate to think that the seller ordered ten gross of these from China!

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:51 pm

About twenty years ago, before there was any marketing of Borden memorabilia, the FRHS sold two different glass paperweights. Each had a sepia photograph in it: one was a portrait of Lizzie, and the other was Andrew's body on the sofa.
I bought several over the couple of years that they were offered, but then they were no longer available. I believe Florence Brigham said that production ceased because "the man that made them for us died."
I wish I hadn't been so generous and given them all away. They were rather decorative, in their own, odd way.

Edisto · Post by **Edisto** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 10:58 am

I guess that photo of Andrew's gory remains is rather iconic -- kinda says it all about the Borden case. Nevertheless, I still wouldn't want a copy on my wall. The paperweight is quite another thing. I think I've seen those for sale occasionally. It's terribly funny that Mrs. Brigham would think that the death of the supplier was a reason never to sell that item again. It would probably be fairly easy for someone else to buy the domes and get some sepia-tone pictures made up. Maybe they didn't sell all that well... I've run into the same odd attitude over and over again with regard to the Borden case. Someone recently posted that the FRHS has the handkerchief (if that's what it was) that was found adjacent to Abby's body. Apparently it's in fragile condition and bloodstained. That was given as the reason it isn't on display. But I've seen Civil War items (for example) that were both fragile and bloodstained but that were archivally preserved and then displayed. There's also the story about photographs of Lizzie that have never been published because they're in private hands. If I worked in a museum, and somebody brought in such an item, I would try my darnedest to talk the owner into making copies for the museum collection. Maybe an effort was made, but I wouldn't be so sure.

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 10:40 pm

I'm sure that part of it is explained by a small-town attitude. Those paperweights were made before anybody thought of mass-producing that stuff for public consumption. I'll bet it never occurred to Mrs. Brigham to have someone else make them.
Back then, I ordered photographs, too. They didn't have a stock of them, they had to send the negatives to the phoptographer to get them printed!
One time they took a very long time to fill the order, and Mrs. Brigham wrote to apologize, because someone had stolen the negatives!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:54 am

Whatever happened? Did they find the negatives?

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:00 am

No, I don't believe that they did. They were not the originals, BTW, so they had to make new negatives from the originals and then make the copies. Mrs. Brigham was worried about someone making copies of the photos and selling them, but as far as I know, no one ever did.