Hiram & Andrew acrimony

[camgarsky4]

We all are familiar with Hiram Harrington's infamous newspaper interview where he described his August 4th conversation with Lizzie and other Borden family insights. One of his comments was describing how he viewed Andrew as tightfisted and unfair with his money. Extract from the interview below.

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Hiram Harrington interview extract
Source: Fall River Globe August 6, 1892
"Mr Borden was an exceedingly hard man concerning money matters, determined and stubborn, and when once
he got an idea nothing could change him. He was too hard for me. When his father died some years ago he offered my wife
the old homestead on Ferry St for a certain sum of money. My wife preferred to take the money, and after the agreements
were all signed, to show how close he was he wanted my wife to pay an additional $3.00 for water tax upon the homestead."
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What hasn't been called out is that Hiram moved into 12 Ferry shortly after BeBe's death mid-summer 1883 and immediately after Andrew bought 12 Ferry from the estate and Lurana in August, 1883. Not entirely sure what a water tax might be, but if its what we would call a water bill today, perhaps Andrew considered that a cost a renter/tenant should pay. The 1884 Fall River directory data was gathered in November of 1883. Since the 1884 City Directory has the Harrington's living at 12 Ferry, that would mean they were already living there no later than November 1883. Andrew bought it from Lurana and the estate in August. Perhaps what Hiram considered being a cheapskate, was instead Andrew thinking the rightful person was paying for what they should pay for.

There were multiple situations that could have created the acrimony between Hiram and Andrew....perhaps it was a combination of all of them. Hiram worked briefly for Andrew, Hiram rented from Andrew, Hiram likely lived briefly w/ Andrew....any and all of those situations could lead to discord.

Date Event Source:
Dec 6, 1882 Abraham Borden dies. Source: Fall River Death Register
July 2, 1883 Be Be Borden (Abraham's wife and occupant of 12 Ferry) dies. Source: Fall River Death Register
August 11, 1883 Andrew buys Lurana's 50% of 12 Ferry for $3,000 Source: Taunton, Ma. Registry of Deeds

1882 - Hiram & Lurana lived at 13 Ferry; Fall River City Directory
1883 - No city directory in 1883
1884 - Hiram & Lurana lived at 12 Ferry; Fall River City Directory - Important to remember that census data gathered November of prior year.
1885 - Hiram & Lurana lived at 12 Ferry; Fall River City Directory

[Kat]

Thank you for your research, and will ponder it further

[camgarsky4]

The fact that Hiram & Lurana chose to rent out 13 Ferry and move into 12 Ferry after Abraham/BeBe died, is another indicator that 12 Ferry was more spacious or had other positive attributes that outshined their own property across the street.

Or I suppose an alternative is that Andrew charged less rent than the Harrington's collected by renting 13 Ferry.

But it seems that one of those two options had to be in play for the Harrington's to rent vs. live in their own house across the street. I vote for the former...12 Ferry house and lawn were more spacious and 'nicer'.

[camgarsky4]

reactivating thread to pursue Hiram Harrington as a potential suspect.......
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Re: Suspect Line Up
Post by Kat » Fri Oct 06, 2023 3:33 am

I think Hiram Harrington is suspicious, especially since both factions, the girls and he agree, that Mr. Borden and he did not get along. That’s a long time to hold a grudge with yr only brother-in-law.
And I just noticed last night that Hiram’s workplace was on Fourth Street!
Slip over a few fences, and voila!

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Also, to bone up on Mr. Harrington, reread the amazingly detailed background on the thread titled "Hiram C. Harrington Family" by our superstar researcher KGDevil!

https://lizzieandrewborden.com/LBForum/ ... 33#p103533