Mondo Lizzie Borden

An odd article appeared online on Azstarnet.com, “the online service of the Arizona Daily Star“, about animal abusers. It begins:

I read the newspaper with great interest. A few stories jump out, either at me or my mother: These are stories about people tormenting animals or keeping them in conditions not fit for any living being. It is well documented that the vast majority of humans who enjoy hurting other species go on to more interesting prey — us.

The article then goes on to list several infamous people from history who liked to “harm puppies and kittens when they were children.” The list includes “Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer and that great humanitarian Adolf Hitler.” I don’t even know if this is correct, but the author, one Lee Reynolds, then makes the audacious statement that “I don’t know much about Lizzie Borden’s past with animal life, but she evidently “took an ax” and made use of it.”

So there you have it. A new turn to the worm. Lizzie grouped in with serial killers who abused animals. Quite a new low for her, don’t you think? Especially when she was acquitted of the crimes and was such a famous benefactor to animal rescue leagues in later life. I guess the old girl is fated to be manhandled by history. Seems a shame though. For whatever Lizzie Borden was or did or maybe did, she was no Jeffrey Dahmer or Adolf Hitler.

From the Seattle Weekly of November 15, 2006:

W(h)acked. Making up for a lack of representation on stage, Live Girls! Theater has dedicated itself since 1999 to producing new work by women. Stephanie Timm’s world premiere of W(h)acked might be the first to take to take the idea of a world without men to such extravagant lengths. Sister Lottie Limerick-Peevy is the Lizzie Borden- style icon of a small group of female serial killers whose victims are exclusively male and, by necessity, pure as the driven snow. Given that a good man is hard to find, their acts of murder have been few and far between. Live Girls! Theater, 2220 N.W. Market St., 800-838-8006, www.livegirlstheater.org. $10-$15. 8 p.m. Thurs.-Fri., 4 & 8 p.m. Sat. Ends Sat. Nov. 18.

Check out the LiveGirlsTHeatre 2006 season here.

Link.

Greetings, Mystery Lover.
We are pleased to announce that Dunn & Powell Books Mystery Catalogue 80 is available for viewing or download at our website (available in three formats):

http://www.dpbooks.com/cat80.txt (plain text)
http://www.dpbooks.com/cat80.htm (html for maximum compatibility)
http://www.dpbooks.com/cat80.pdf (pdf , best for printing – you need the free Adobe Acrobat software – see link at our website)

Catalogue 80 features 961 items including a large number of pre and post-war mysteries, many in dust jacket and a selection of mystery anthologies and mystery reference titles. Among the highlights: the original Edgar statuette awarded to Patrick Quentin for THE ORDEAL OF MRS. SNOW, the first three volumes of Stephen King’s epic THE DARK TOWER in limited editions, a signed first edition of REBECCA and a large number of vintage pulp magazines.

(If you do not wish to be notified of future Dunn & Powell Books Mystery Catalogues, please reply to this message and add “Remove” to the subject line.)

Thank you and good hunting,
Steve Powell & Bill Dunn

Dunn & Powell Books
The Hideaway
13 Hideaway Lane
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Phone (207) 288 4665
Fax (206) 202 305
dpbooks@adelphia.net

This is the creepiest ending to any movie ever—the very end of the 1975 made for TV movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden, starring the great Elizabeth Montgomery. I present it to you here for your enjoyment.

In an online article on Broadcasting & Cable about Fox’s TV show about OJ Simpson’s new book O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened (yes, that is actually the title), writer John Eggerton waxes poetic about Lizzie Borden.

Read the article here.

Here is a little clip from TV6 in Fall River on Professor James Starrs talk about Lizzie. He claims that there is no evidence she did it. You might remember Starrs as the go-to guy for exhuming the bodies—wanted to use modern forensic medicine to help solve the case. He was denied the exhumation by family.

Short episode from American Justice on Lizzie Borden. I posted it on YouTube for your enjoyment.

Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock is being brought to life this weekend at West Virginia University.

WVU students perform in murder mystery
By Shelly Davido, Staff Writer

The West Virginia University Division of Theatre and Dance is now showing its second production from the 2006-2007 season. “Blood Relations” by Sharon Pollock will run this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Creative Arts Center.

According to a press release, Canadian playwright Pollock’s story surrounds the tale of young Lizzie Borden, a girl accused and acquitted of the brutal murder of her mother and stepfather in June 1893.

Is she guilty or innocent? The audience members play the role of jury and judge as scenes of the tension and desperation of Borden’s world unfold.

Set in the strict and at times bleak Victorian era, “Blood Relations” examines the lives of Lizzie, her mother, her stepfather, her sister Emma, the maid Bridget and a visiting uncle.
“Blood Relations” is directed by visiting professor Lee Blair. Graduate student Mary Weisse provided scenic design, with costumes by Jerrad Bierce, lighting by Kate Jaworski and technical direction by Dan Wilson.

Several WVU students are in the cast, including Liza Skinner as Lizzie Borden, Kellsye Carnill as Emma Borden and Rodney Creech as Andrew Borden.

“Blood Relations” will run this evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre in the Creative Arts Center. The play will also run Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m.

Tickets for this product ion are $15 for the general public and $12 for WVU faculty and staff, senior citizens, students and children. For tickets or other information, contact the Mountainlair or Creative Arts Center Box Offices at 293-SHOW.

I put this on YouTube for your enjoyment. An oldie but goodie.

I found this somewhat new publication: a 2006 reprint of Porter’s Fall River Tragedy, by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. It is overpriced at $95, but I really like the cover!

Porter, Edwin, H. The Fall River Tragedy. A History of The Borden Murders. 1584775467.

2006 ISBN 1584775467 Porter, Edwin, H., Reporter. The Fall River Tragedy: A History of The Borden Murders. A Plain Statement of the Material Facts Pertaining to the Most Famous Crime of the Century, Including the Story of the Arrest and Preliminary Trial of Miss Lizzie A. Borden and a Full Report of the Superior Court Trial, with a Hitherto Unpublished Account of the Renowned Trickey-McHenry Affair Compiled from Official Sources and Profusely Illustrated with Original Engravings. Fall River: J.D. Munroe, 1893. 312 pp. Illustrated. Reprinted 2006 by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-546-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-546-7.

Cloth. * Compiled nearly contemporaneously with Lizzie’s sensational trial, the author aims to provide “a connected story of the whole case, commencing with the day of the tragedy and ending with the day that Miss Borden was set free.” He touches on such topics as the discovery of the murders, the adjournment of the preliminary hearing and some the many theories that were advanced before any arrests were made. The book is handsomely illustrated with photos and line illustrations of the deceased, the accused the jury and others. Porter was the Police Reporter of the Fall River Globe.

Link.

A recent addition to Google’s video section. Pretty funny stuff. Enjoy! (8 min. in length).

My silence of late has a very good reason behind it—I have been heavily involved in designing and publishing the latest issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies. The last issue of this year was released this morning!

Subscribers can access the online version and order the print edition (with a choice of B&W or color!) here.

Non subscribers can join for a mere $20 per year for all four issues at the same address above.

If you are a non-subscriber, and would like to buy either a hard copy (NOW IN FULL COLOR) or buy a download of the current issue, please visit my store at LuLu.com.

Enjoy!

November 2006 ISSUE CONTENTS:

FEATURES

The Case of the Purloined Curio by Richard Behrens
Newmarket Lights by Kat Koorey
Lizzie Borden’s South Main Street, 1896, Part II by Neilson Caplain
Bridget’s Bad Day by TK Rouse
Carrie Nation by Richard Behrens
Bridget’s Kitchen by Sherry Chapman
“Take Me For a Buggy Ride, Please” by Michael Brimbau
“Call Me Lizbeth” by William Schley-Ulrich

DEPARTMENTS

Dear Abby by Sherry Chapman
Denise Noe’s Lizzie Whittlings: Permutations of The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Cutting Room: Critical Notes on the Borden Legacy–Lizzie Borden and Sisterhood by Eugene Hosey
New & Views That Wouldn’t Fit the Compositor’s Bench by Douglas Walters
Forum/Outspoken
News

The front and back cover photos were taken by Michael Brimbau.