Lizzie is mentioned briefly in this BostonHerald.com news item that appears today about a Bewitched convention. Salem seems like the place to be this weekend. Kewl!
From Jonathan Katz’ To-Do Lists of the Dead, 2000:
From the New York Times, June 5, 1894:
In the vol. 174, 2002 of Military Law Review, posted on jagcnet.army.mil website, is a curious reference to Lizzie Borden. Or should I say “Lizzy” Borden.
In what appears to be the text of a speech presented on November 21, 2002, on “Constitutional Dignity and the Criminal Law,” Judge James E. Baker, from the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, is addressing the 26th Criminal Law New Developments Course. About half way through his speech he makes the following statements:
Americans are fascinated by the criminal law. During prime time there are two crime shows on network television every night. Television reflects our tastes, and some suggest, contributes to those tastes by fostering the very violence depicted.
For sure, as Stanford University law professor Lawrence Friedman has pointed out, there is an element of prurient interest to this fascination. The criminal law allows us a look at the lives of the rich and famous, and perhaps, in the fall from fame or wealth of a Claus von Bulow or an O.J. Simpson, we may gain confidence that happiness is not found in wealth or fame alone, if at all. Lizzy Borden and Charles Manson remain a revolting part of America’s culture, and not because of the legal importance of their trials.
I find it interesting that Lizzie is placed in the same context as Charles Manson, which of course insinuates that she was tried and convicted of her crimes, which we know she was not. Perhaps the Judge is not referring to this aspect as their commonality, but rather the gruesome nature of the crimes they were accused of committing. However, since Lizzie was judged as “not guilty” of the crimes, I find it upsetting to see a learned individual such as this use Lizzie in this fashion. He could have easily have used a different person, a Jeffrey Dahmer or a John Wayne Gacy, or even Richard Speck—someone who killed and killed again and were found guilty of their crimes.
Here is the complete speech, all 18 pages, in one PDF for downloading. Enjoy!
Here is a photo I took of the Borden’s Swansea farm last August:
And here, fresh out of the digital camera, is the Swansea farm today, courtesy of Michael Brimbau:
There are quite a few changes, I notice. Not only the color, but the door on the left is different, the pipes (rain gutters?) that run down the front right and left sides are not there anymore, and the door shutters have been removed. It is definitely cleaner looking. Whenever they clean up houses around here, that ususally means the house will soon be up for sale. Stay tuned!
According to the Emery University Violence Studies Newsletter, Fall 1999, a then new book was announced that appears to include an essay on Lizzie Borden. Says the newsletter:
While helping to organize the Violence Studies Program two years ago, Professor Michael Bellesiles discovered that there was no general history of American violence. Encouraged by New York University Press, Bellesiles brought together twenty original essays in the volume Lethal Imagination: Violence and Brutality in American History, which has just been published.
This book includes articles by: Emory Professors Catherine Ross Nickerson, English and ILA, on Lizzy Borden; Professor Mary Odem, History, on the cultural and social contexts of rape; Dr. Arthur Kellermann, Director of the Center for Injury Control, on the impact of gun ownership; and Uche Egemonye, a student in the Law School, on African American women and
yes, the quote just ends. This is how it is in the newsletter.
Anyhow, I ordered the book and will report back regarding Dr. Nickerson’s article. By the by, Nickerson’s essay was reviewed by Lisa Zawadzki in the October 1999 Lizzie Borden Quarterly. It pays to reread those gems every once in a while. You never know what you will re-discover!
Here is a complete list of the book’s contents:
Lethal imagination : violence and brutality in American history (Michael A. Bellesiles, ed.; 1999). Includes Introduction / Michael A. Bellesiles — Kieft’s War and the cultures of violence in colonial America / Evan Haefeli — “Shee would bump his mouldy britch”: authority, masculinity, and the harried husbands of New Haven Colony, 1638-1670 / Ann M. Little — Colonial and Revolutionary era slave patrols of Virginia / Sally E. Hadden — The social origins of dueling in Virginia / Bruce C. Baird — Women of domestic violence in nineteenth-century North Carolina / Laura F. Edwards — Complicity and deceit: Lewis Cheney’s plot and its bloody consequences / Junius P. Rodriguez — Good men and notorious rogues: vigilantism in Massac County, Illinois, 1846-1850 / Nicole Etcheson — Armed and “more or less dangerous”: women and violence in American frontier literature, 1820-1860 / Laura McCall — Seduced, betrayed, and revenged: the murder trial of Mary Harris / Lee Chambers-Schiller — To live and die in Dodge City: body counts, law and order, and the case of Kansas v. Gill / Robert R. Dykstra — Word and deed: the language of lynching, 1820-1953 / Christopher Waldrep — “The deftness of her sex”: innocence, guilt, and gender in the trial of Lizzie Borden / Catherine Ross Nickerson — Treat her like a lady: judicial paternalism and the justification for assaults against Black women, 1865-1910 / Uche Egemonye — “The Negro would be more than an angel to withstand such treatment”: African- American homicide in Chicago, 1875-1910 / Jeffrey S. Adler — Homosociality and the legal sanction of male heterosexual aggression in the early twentieth century / John C. Pettegrew — “The unspeakable Mrs. Gunness”: the deviant woman in early-twentieth-century America / Paula K. Hinton — Cultural representations and social contexts of rape in the early twentieth century / Mary E. Odem –Violence by design: contraceptive technology and the invasion of the female body / Andrea Tone — The Monroe Rifle Club: finding justice in an “ungodly and social jungle called Dixie” / Craig S. Pascoe — Armed and dangerous: guns in American homes / Arthur L. Kellermann and Philip J. Cook.
Eldridge Publishing offers a book of monologues for “teen actors” called 1400 Boxes of Jello and Other Monologues. The book is by Daniel S. Kehde, and presumably, he wrote the pieces included. Here is the description of the content:
These 21 monologues for teen actors are wise, witty and full of twists and surprises. Each opens a unique window on either a familiar fairy tale character, an unusual historical figure, or a present-day youngster. There’s Snow White’s teenage daughter who’s shocked to discover that her mom lived with dwarfs and worked as a maid! Or Lizzy Borden confessing her crimes to her last victims, knowing they will never tell. Or the high school girl whose breakup with her boyfriend leads to tragedy. There’s also the narrator of the title monologue who can’t understand why the victim of a hilarious prank is so upset. This collection of young voices makes for a fun, thought-provoking, and emotionally satisfying experience. #2211 Resource Book - $14.95
I think I need to read this one and report back. Sounds like he has Lizzie as a serial killer!
