Nathan Murder

[Allen]

The "killer covered with gore" thread got me thinking about something that John Morse stated when being interviewed in the Witness Statements. What got me thinking about it was posting about details of murders that were published in the newspapers and how Lizzie could've found out about blood splatter from reading such accounts. What made it seem really odd is that I was just thinking about it again today when the mail arrived and something I purchased online was delivered with the mail. It was a copy of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly with a drawing and a short story about the Borden murder case. It's dated August 25, 1892. Instead of talking about coincidences I'll just explain the question which occurred to me after reading each of these, and doing a little research.

John Morse interviewed on August 2, 1892 by John Fleet as found in The Witness Statements page 3:

Mr. Morse afterward asked if I suspected that the murderer could have been concealed in the house last night. I replied that I did not. Then I said he might have been in the house, but could not see how he could have been there without some of them seeing him. He said it is very strange that this should be done in the day time, and right in the heart of the city. It put him in the mind of the Nathan murder which was twenty or twenty five years ago. In that case they never found the murderer.

Excerpt from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly New York, August 25, 1892.

She is known to have lived on unfriendly terms with her stepmother, though no feud existed which could possibly account for the commission of so horrible a crime; nor could any motive be found in the disposal of the property of her well-to-to parents. Her case is indeed one to excite sympathy, no less than awe; and upon her innocence or guilt hinges one of the most remarkable criminal cases known in this county since the celebrated Nathan murder, some twenty years ago.



I did a little searching around in the archives and found some information on the Nathan murder from another discussion. Here are the original posts that I found concerning the murders.

Posted by lydiapinkham on Feb-9th-04 at 9:52 PM
In response to Message #4.
As always, Kat, your industry and patience are infinite. A few things struck me for the first time while rereading the passage about Lizzie, Bridget, and Morse's initial statements.

1) Lizzie is quoted throughout as saying "Bridget," not "Maggie." Did she use the usual name for some reason, or did the police change her wording to avoid more confusion than there already was?

2) The man Lizzie describes as arguing with father sounds as if he might be the man mentioned in Rebello, who wanted to rent part of the Borden Building as a dance hall. Andrew refused because the building was near the home and would likely keep them awake. (I just tried to locate the full story, but could not find any more mention than that a dance hall on the third floor would not be "the thing." Am I dreaming this or recalling some other source?

3) For a man who comes home unprepared to find a murder scene, Morse certainly has his story down pat. Again, it may be the effect of hasty note taking, but Morse seems never to hesitate or backtrack. He also is ready with another case to compare it to. Does anyone know about the Nathan case he refers to? If it was unsolved, he might be trying to direct police to seek the crazed unknown killer from outside the house. (He also asks about possible concealment.)
--Lyddie

(Message last edited Feb-9th-04 10:02 PM.)

17. "Re: The lock on the front door"
Posted by Kat on Feb-9th-04 at 11:38 PM
In response to Message #16.
The story of the Nathan murder, or at least Pearson's version of it, is a chapter in Studies In Murder, pgs.123-162, called 'The Twenty-Third Street Murder".
This is a common book and easily inter-library loaned.

18. "Re: The lock on the front door"
Posted by Albanyguy on Feb-10th-04 at 12:01 AM
In response to Message #17.
Benjamin Nathan was a rich, elderly gentleman who was beaten to death in his sleep in his own home in NYC. One of his sons was immediately suspected of killing him for financial gain. It's easy to see why the parallels would occur to Morse. In a further parallel with the Borden case, the son was tried and acquitted in a blaze of publicity and then lived the rest of his life under a cloud of suspicion. The murder was never officially solved.

There's also an account of the case in Stephen Birmingham's "The Grandees" (a history of the great Jewish families of America).

(Message last edited Feb-10th-04 12:03 AM.)

The father was murdered in 1870; his son was not convicted but thought guilty, and lived under a 'cloud of suspicion' the rest of his life. These are not the only parallels of the two cases either. You can read more about them on the link I posted below. My question is this:

Why on August 4, 1892 was John Morse already comparing these two murder cases as being similar? This was the day they occurred. The bodies were still lying where they had been found. No suspects were as yet named. The evidence was still being collected, and the witnesses were still in the process of being questioned. What was it that made him compare the two murders? After you read the account of the Benjamin Nathan murder you will see that the cases ARE strikingly similar in many respects. Were they maybe a little too similar for it to be a coincidence?

http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Pol ... /Most.html

[Allen]

What I was wondering is, did John Morse somehow know what was going to go down in the investigation? Did he have a suspicion then that Lizzie did it? Did he have some inside knowledge? Or did Lizzie maybe hear talk about the case and sort of use this as a blue print for her plans? Both Andrew and Benjamin were attacked while they were sleeping. When comparing the Nathan murders and the Borden murders there are similarities, but the differences are just as interesting. The biggest difference being there were two victims in the Borden murders instead of just one. Anyway it seems interesting to me.

Summary of the information provided on the link.

1. Benjamin Nathan was attacked while he slept with a heavy metal bar. There was evidence of a 'terrific struggle' the walls and floor were blood smeared and chairs had been over turned, and there seemed to be what I would consider defensive type wounds.

2. Four people were at home at the time he was murdered, yet nobody heard anything or saw anything. They were his two sons, and the housekeeper and her own son.

3. The son suspected of the killing, Washington Nathan, was the last one to see him alive, and also the one to find the body. His cries on the morning that the body was discovered brought his brother Frederick rushing downstairs. Frederick knelt over the body and his nightshirt and socks became blood stained. I can find no mention of blood stains on Washington's clothing.

4. There were 12 blows, five of which were about his head. Two of them would've caused death instantly and one crushed the skull.

5. Robbery had been committed. But it was suspected that it may have been done to lead the police to believe it was a murder committed during the commission of a robbery. Keys were missing from the body, the safe had been rifled. Nothing of much value was taken besides a watch and three diamond studs.

6. There was blood evidence to indicate that the killer washed his hands in the sink in the bathroom.

7. The news of the murders overshadowed everything else in the newspapers, even a war going on at the time.

8. Great crowds of people filled the streets outside of where the murder took place to gawk at the building.

9. The leading suspect was the son Washington Nathan. He never lived down the suspicion although he was never officially tried. He was never even arrested. Could Lizzie have thought she could avoid arrest in much the same way he did?

This murder took place in 1870, at the time John Morse was living in Hastings, Iowa which is a good distance from New York. Since he is acquainted with the case I assume the news reports covered a pretty extensive area. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether Lizzie may have used this well known case as a sort of rough outline for her plans? Or whether Uncle John may have known more than he was letting on, or had suspicions about Lizzie so early on in the case?

Could she have seen from reports of this murder or other like it there was a possibility of a struggle during an attack and of blood and planned for it? Poison would have been a more ideal weapon because there is no struggle with an attacker, and with cyanide the deaths could've been instantaneous. But she couldn't get cyanide. I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas on this subject, I'm just throwing around some ideas in my own head. I'm not totally set on the idea that any of this is probable, but the possibilities of it are interesting. Could she have improved upon an already tried and tested murder scenario?

[Harry]

For those of you that have it, the April 2001 Lizzie Borden Quarterly cover story is titled "John Morse's Recollection of the Nathan Murder" by Leonard Rebello.

The case is also covered in Pearson's "Studies in Murder"

I'll read Rebello's article and try to get back later. I'm not that familiar with the case and am reading "Studies in Murder" right now but am not up to the Nathan case yet.

[Harry]

There are two paragraphs in Rebello's article which shed some light on why Uncle John may have mentioned the Nathan case:

"Washington, [Nathan's son, the accused] unlike Lizzie, married and left the country in 1884, residing in the outskirts of both London and France. He died at the age of forty-four in Boulogne, France on July 26, 1892. News of his death and alleged involvement in the Nathan murder surfaced in newspapers including the Fall River Daily Globe, the Fall River Evening News, and the New Bedford newspapers.

John Morse's recollection of the Nathan murder during John Fleet's interview may have been triggered when he read or heard of Washington Nathan's death nine days before the Bordens were murdered. Local papers reported Washington Nathan's death and alleged involvement in the murder of his father in 1870. His refreshed flashbacks of the Nathan murder would have recalled that a wealthy man was murdered with an iron bar in a fashionable neighborhood in the middle of the night. Four people in the mansion that evening never heard anything. The victims son was suspected of the murder and the crime never solved. Perhaps John Morse knew that Lizzie, like Washington Nathan, would eventually be suspected, questioned and released, but never would there be a trial."

My own thoughts are that Morse talked with Fleet about "mid-day" so Morse could not have had any detailed knowledge of the Borden's death. He would know they were bludgeoned with multiple blows and that nobody heard or seen anything. Both those same situations existed in the Nathan murder.

If Morse could have read it in the papers so could have Lizzie.

[RayS]

Edmund Pearson't book "Five Murders" covers this long forgotten murder. Pearson doesn't blame it on one of the people living in the house.
Then or now, living in NY city has its drawbacks. Has any rich person been murdered while living on an estate? That may explain their movement to the country in the late 19th century.

If I misquoted, blame my aging brain cells, again.