Lizzie Borden Society Forum

When the wife of Charles J. Holmes testified at the trial, she is asked about the wrapper Lizzie changed into in the afternoon.

Mrs. Holmes says: "A stripe - a pink stripe and white stripe with what I should call a sheeny figure in it". (Underlining mine.)

Would that mean "shiny"?

A definition I found online. Bolding is mine.

Main Entry: 3sheen
Function: noun
Date: 1600
1 a: a bright or shining condition : brightness b: a subdued glitter approaching but short of optical reflection c: a lustrous surface imparted to textiles through finishing processes or use of shiny yarns2: a textile exhibiting notable sheen
— sheeny \ˈshē-nē\ adjective

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheeny

During the 1800s, sheeny was also a derogatory word for a Jewish person. I too have wondered exactly what Mrs. Holmes meant by that comment, that the figure had a shine to it or it was a figure of an ethnic design?

Thanks for the post, Allen! I didn't know if "sheenY" would be in today's dictionary. It's interesting. There's a little more to it than I thought.

Susan ... Well, that's true. I forgot all about the ethnic slur. I, um, would think that Mrs. Holmes meant it was shiny. (You are so cute!)

Well, I'm glad I gave you a chuckle, sometimes theres not enough laughs to be had in life. I was just sort of thinking out loud about how well we know Mrs. Holmes and what type of person she was. Could she have had a bias that was perfectly acceptable to society during the 1890s?

Harrington's description of the pink and white stripe wrapper mentions what type of figure it was, but, not whether it had a sheen or shine to it or not?

Trial volume 1, pg. 565:

Q. Will you describe it?
A. It was a house wrap, a striped house wrap, with a pink and light stripe alternating; the pink the most prominent color. On the light stripe was a diamond figure formed by narrow stripes, some of which ran diagonally or bias to the stripe and others parallel with it.


Boy, Lizzie sure loved her diamond print outfits, didn't she? The Bedford cord dress had navy blue diamonds on it and didn't the Bengaline dress have white diamonds on the blouse and skirt?

Mrs. Mary Anna (or Maryanna) Holmes was the wife of Charles J. Holmes. He was sooooo respected as a businessman. The family's reputation is impeccable, as far as I know.

If it was the thing to do in Victorian America in that era, then she probably was saying things like "sheeny", too. I would seriously doubt that she would say it publicly and mean it in a bad way, tho.

YES - Philip Harrington's description of the pink wrapper had nothing about "sheeny" or shiny in it. His testimony about the wrapper was a little weird. He was telling every little detail about it - way more than any woman even said about the thing. Didn't he do the same about the dress Lizzie had on that morning? I can't remember.

That's a good point, Susan. It does seem like Lizzie liked her diamond shapes on her clothes.

They can laugh all they want. I simply gave a better description than everyone else. - From the book "Lizzie Borden on Parade" by Sherry Chapman, Chapter 3: "What Could Have Been Said", page 42, "Philip Harrington"