Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Not only Carrie Nation swung her little hatchet. The Women's Temperance had their own fictional poster gal in Little Mary V
.
“Hatchet Mary” is entirely a fictional character designed to display the active role women on the frontier played in shaping social and political conditions in the West. Hatchet Mary Vanderupp’s white ribbon is worn as a sign of her membership in the WCTU. Founded in 1874, the WCTU (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) was once the nation’s largest organization of women. Although the WCTU energetically promoted the cause of Prohibition, it was never a single-issue organization and continues today to promote causes of interest and benefit to women. The Anti-Saloon League was formed in Ohio in 1893 and after a shaky beginning, under the skillful and stable leadership of Mr. Purley Baker, it became the most vocal and effective of the organizations supporting Prohibition. The American Patriot and The American Issue were the two most familiar and influential of its national publications. By 1917, Montana was a dry state, thanks primarily to the efforts of women like Mary."

Another Yankee gal with a hatchet was Hannah Jumper from the seacoast village of Cape Ann.
It was on July 8, 1856 that Hannah Jumper led her now-famous "Women's Raid." Gathering at Dock Square during the morning hours, Hannah was joined by two men, one carrying An American flag, the other a temperance banner, along with the women of the town, who were armed with hatchets. They proceeded to raid all the shops and even some private homes where liquor was kept, emptying and smashing all the bottles, casks, demijohns and jugs. The gutters ran with liquor." (From the Rockport website)


Gee, with all of these church women owning hatchets- maybe we need to look no further for the source of Borden murder weapon than the Women's Temperance Union!

Carrie urged the temperance ladies to use a hatchet if they had it- or if not one handy- a poker would do just as well. She handed out little "Home Defender" pins for the cause which are now real collectibles.

If you get to Martha's Vineyard in August, there is an Agricultural Society Fair which features women throwing hatchets. No kidding- August and hatchets, just think. Just why, they do not say! This is beginning to seem a New England affliction!
http://www.fivestarreviews.com/Review.aspx?ReviewId=63

A hatchet does seem to be the tool of choice for christian women in Victorian times. We wonder what might have pushed Lizzie over the edge to use such a weapon and commit such a horrendous crime but maybe conditioning of the times made the hatchet "represent" in her mind a "freedom" tool. Kind of a Saint Micheal with his sword.

I agree Steve-my granny was awe-inspiring chopping kindling and decapitating chickens on the farm. There was always a sharp small kindling hatchet in the scuttle by the woodstove for bits which would not fit into the side loading opening. Granny was 4 feet 10 and a real little dynamo of energy and power. Granddaddy never crossed her. She allowed him two drinks a year- a shot glass of Mogan David Concord Grape wine at Christmas and Easter. Hard for us to imagine women comfortable with hand tools now- in the good old days- it was simply a matter of course in daily life.

Shelley, I think you have alot of your granny in you. A real spit-fire.

Thanks for the link and other info!

Please can you provide links to the other *Mary V* and *Carrie* sources? Thanks!
Very interesting!

Any number of links on Carrie Nation can be found online- here is one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation
The little hatchet or hatchet stick pin home defender pins can be found on ebay from time to time- type in Carrie Nation under collectibles.

Mary Vanderupp can be found here http://www.cowboypoetry.com/sundaycreek.htm
or in most books on the Temperance movement.

Me a spit-fire Steve??- naw.. just an old tabbycat. I do like your image of St. Michael and the Sword and a fierce avenging Temperance Angel with a Hatchet though! The thought of such pious churchgoing gals singing hymns and hacking away with deadly earnest is quite the visual. They were sick and tired of their men reducing them to pitiful circumstances and the hatchet got some notice in the bars!

Shelley wrote "The thought of such pious churchgoing gals singing hymns and hacking away with deadly earnest is quite the visual. They were sick and tired of their men reducing them to pitiful circumstances and the hatchet got some notice in the bars!" I am just imagining here how much of an influence, if any, this might have been on Lizzie's way of thinking.

Well, the Temperance Movement and church-going part sure fits in for Lizzie- and probably the hymn-singing too. Between the Suffragettes, Reformers and Temperance gals- the idea of the timid, submissive and docile little stay-at-home lady under the thumb of husband or father took a beating in the late Victorian years. Drinking seems to have been a real problem though, and the FRPD arrest book pages are overflowing with entries for male drunkeness. with wife and family rendered destitute as a result.

Too bad Lizzie B did not get rebellious and decide to get a job! Of course, She may not have been too energetically ambitious if it had come to getting up early and doing tedious daily work to earn a dollar!

Shelley @ Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:39 am wrote:Carrie urged the temperance ladies to use a hatchet if they had it- or if not one handy- a poker would do just as well. She handed out little "Home Defender" pins for the cause which are now real collectibles.

I can't make out exactly what type of hatchet Carrie is holding in that picture. It looks more like a small broad axe than any shingling hatchet I've ever seen.

Does anyone know what happened to Carrie's hatchets after she died? Now those would be collectables!

-1bigsteve (o:

A lot of Carrie's weapons of mass destruction can be found in the Kansas State Historical Society
http://www.kshs.org/cool2/hammer.htm

She was forever being given hatchets and such by loyal admirers. Hmm.. what a great way to obtain a murder weapon!

Wow. Very interesting information Shelley. Thanks for sharing it all with us.

Yes, Carrie was quite a gal,- good thing she had an understanding second husband. She said many memorable things but my favorite quote of hers is used at the site link above

"Oh, I tell you, ladies, you never know what joy it gives you to start out to smash a rumshop."

To those who could not secure a hatchet for the upcoming battle she said, "pokers will do as well."

And here are a few more goodies!
" I felt invincible. My strength was that of a giant. God was certainly standing by me. I smashed five saloons with rocks before I ever took a hatchet. "

I want all hellions to quit puffing that hell fume in God's clean air. "


Men are nicotine-soaked, beer-besmirched, whiskey-greased, red-eyed devils. "

Here's a cartoon, I believe which may be from Punch, of Carrie in action with her little hatchet, much to the disdain of Mr. Samuel Clemens.Poor Carrie is always portrayed as such an ugly witch!

While browsing a heraldry site about knighthood, I learned there was actually an Order of the Hatchet for women.


"There is a case of a clearly military order of knighthood for women. It is the order of the Hatchet (orden de la Hacha) in Catalonia. It was founded in 1149 by Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona, to honor the women who fought for the defense of the town of Tortosa against a Moor attack. The dames admitted to the order received many privileges, including exemption from all taxes, and took precedence over men in public assemblies"

One can only GUESS at their coat of arms!! Sounds like the ladies got a real good deal though.

That is really interesting Shelley. Maybe Lizzie should receive an honorary membership into "the order of the hatchet". God knows she would enjoy the "prefered" status.

Not one to miss a chance to plug the magazine, please note Richard Behrens fine article on Carrie Amelia Moore Nation in The Hatchet, Nov./Dec. 2006, Vol. 3, #4, entitled "Carrie Nation: American Rebel" page 50-55.

Today a Civil War buff friend of mine mentioned the Salisbury and Richmond Bread Riots of 1863, which I had never heard of before. Seems the gals had had enough of Civil War deprivation and needed supplies for their kitchen, and took matters into their own hands -with hatchets. Amazing how many ladies were running around with them in Victorian days. And sure enough, here is a North Carolina newspaper article on the riots. Richard, you may have a whole series of Ladies With Hatchets to write!

http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistor ... index.html

Awesome link Shelley. Ihad never heard of that either. It's starting to make me think that Lizzie might have thought a "hatchet" was the answer to all evil.

Well, you know, Steve- since hatchets are not part of our daily lives anymore, we find the notion of a lady with a hatchet sort of hard to picture. As I am finding more cases of women with hatchets, it would seem that it is not such a far-out phenomenon for the Victorian era. Hatchets are a very handy and well-balanced hand tool to be sure if doing away with something is your aim- be it rum bottles, smashing up a storefront or someone's cranium!

I expect today, with the proliferation of handguns and other methods of causing destruction, maybe Carrie Nation would just use plastic explosives and blow up the taverns. Seems the Victorians were more "hands on" because they grabbed at what was at hand to get the job done- and hatchets were surely at hand. I live in the forest and we chop our own wood and fell our own trees, so I have an arsenal of axes, hachets and chain saws- but most folks in condos would not have any such tools around today.

There was a particularly gruesome murder here in CT a few years back of a man putting his murdered wife through the woodchipper. Actually, we have one of those too! Makes great mulch- woodchips !

Hatchets in years gone by were looked at as "brainless" tools as were guns. People didn't think anything sinister or evil in either one. They were just tools. Any "evil" was in the hearts of the user. Now days people look at the gun itself as being evil instead of the person using it. I wonder why bombs are not looked at as being evil? I think you are right, Shelley, Carrie probably would use a bomb. You don't have to be there when they go off. Bombs are tomorrow's weapon anyway. Ban one weapon and people will use another. Carrie could really clear out a bar in a hurry with a bomb.

I heard about the woodchipper murder. A book was written on the subject. I'm thankful she was dead when she was mulched. Didn't he eject the body shreds into the creek but the police found teeth and ID'd it as her's? He was nailed.

I walked into a Yosemite gift shop one night, after a moonlight walk, with an axe in my hand and no one gave me a second glance. Now if that had been a rifle, "Oh my Gawd, that big bad rifle is going to kill us all!"

Hatchets and axes were just tools in Lizzies day, nothing more. It is surprising that so many women carried or used them too.

Does anyone know what Carrie Nation died of? My sister loved that hatchet-holding photo of Carrie in our encyclopedia as kids.

-1bigsteve (o:

1bigsteve @ Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:55 am wrote: Does anyone know what Carrie Nation died of?
-1bigsteve (o:

Anthr ax

lol I bet the menfolk thought she died of meaness! And a little too late!

This is from Wikepedia:

She collapsed during a speech in a Eureka Springs park and was taken to a hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas. She died there on June 9, 1911, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Belton City Cemetery in Belton, Missouri. The Women's Christian Temperance Union later erected a stone inscribed "Faithful to the Cause of Prohibition, She Hath Done What She Could."

A little something about hatchets, Carrie Nation and the Temperance Movement!

Shelley wrote:Not only Carrie Nation swung her little hatchet. The Women's Temperance had their own fictional poster gal in Little Mary V
.
“Hatchet Mary” is entirely a fictional character designed to display the active role women on the frontier played in shaping social and political conditions in the West. Hatchet Mary Vanderupp’s white ribbon is worn as a sign of her membership in the WCTU. Founded in 1874, the WCTU (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) was once the nation’s largest organization of women. Although the WCTU energetically promoted the cause of Prohibition, it was never a single-issue organization and continues today to promote causes of interest and benefit to women. The Anti-Saloon League was formed in Ohio in 1893 and after a shaky beginning, under the skillful and stable leadership of Mr. Purley Baker, it became the most vocal and effective of the organizations supporting Prohibition. The American Patriot and The American Issue were the two most familiar and influential of its national publications. By 1917, Montana was a dry state, thanks primarily to the efforts of women like Mary."

Hello Everyone, I am also a LADY WITH A HATCHED IN BRAZIL. I went and bought one a month ago. I live alone here in the woods and went out to get one, my gardner was really worried when he saw me with the hatched. I told him I would never attack him, only sexist men, men who charged me too much for work done on the house and men who tried to enter my property when they are not invited. I wish I could post a picture here of my little hatched, is red. This is not a country for a woman to live by herself, unfortunately this is my situation right now.