Mondo Lizzie Borden

Our good friend and fellow Bordenite, William F. Schley-Ulrich passed away on September 27, 2009. He was 90 years, 7 months, and 3 days old.

Born in 1919, William was a regular contributor to the old Lizzie Borden Quarterly and penned a few major pieces for The Hatchet as well. Bill also was a regular on the Lizzie Borden Society Forum (421 Posts), and would often send me material in the mail on the Borden case. Before he passed away he wrote me and several close friends that he was soon to go and wished to say goodbye.

He was particularly interested in Nance O’Neil and did an extensive study of her films for The Hatchet. He also penned a great work on the books that we know to have been in Lizzie’s library, and what her reading habits must have been like based on these titles.

Bill had lost his lovely wife Marjorie a few years ago and mourned her passing each and every day. She was his angel. They were married for over 60 years and he kept referring to her as his “bride.”

Bill was a true gentleman and a scholar. He will be greatly missed.

This information was passed onto me by Sherry Chapman, one of the FriendsFour.

Here is Bill’s avatar from the Lizzie Borden Society Forum. I think I will always remember him as this Victorian St. Nicholas.

UPDATE: here is an even longer and better story about the latest mock trial in Taunton.

The third and final mock trial, LIzzie Borden Redux, has ended with the jury again finding for the defendant. Lizzie Borden was set free once again.

These retrials were quite interesting. I attended all of them and they were very different from one another. The actors and the judges were the same, but the attorneys for each of the events were pulled from the local areas. In New Bedford we had lawyers defending and prosecuting from New Bedford. Same with Fall River and Taunton.

One of the great good things about these shows is that we got to sit in these splendid courtrooms. The New Bedford courtroom was the best, of course, because it was in that very space that Lizzie was tried and acquitted in 1893.

I videotaped all there events as well, and in the coming days will be posting them to YouTube so you can watch the entire event, city by city, for yourself.

The retrial this week in Taunton was noteworthy because several members of the bar who had tried the Big Dan trial were playing roles. And for this showing, the jury of the audience acquitted Lizzie by the largest margin yet.

The story has been picked up by the AP. Here it is.

A great deal of work went into these productions, and the actors are to be commended for their work. With three different sets of lawyers, each approaching the case in a different way and asking different questions, they performed admirably. It was charming, albeit inaccurate, to have Lizzie herself testify at these mock trials, but even with her giving her story, she was still set free each time. The jury had to admit that there was no evidence to convict her of these heinous crimes. Perhaps if Lizzie had testified back in 1893 a similar outcome would have been in store for her.

Another observation I would like to make is that the living breathing recreation was a great historical event. Even with one as versed in the case as I am, I still learned new things, realized bits and pieces that had gone unnoticed before, and had a greater appreciation for the process of law by seeing these trials. It was as if one were watching the real thing, in a way, and for that, nothing can rival it as a learning experience.

Sometimes it was just the way an attorney phrased something that made me think anew about this case. For instance, when the defense attorney, who was trying to show there were other suspects not pursued and therefore doubt could be cast on Lizzie’s guilt, pointedly declared that Bridget Sullivan was the only one in the house that day who had direct access to a bucket of water and cleaning implements. If she was the killer, she could have changed clothes and bathed and no one would be the wiser. It was a thought that I had never entertained before hearing this lawyer make his case.

All in all, these mock trials were first rate and if you missed even one of them you should consider yourself deprived.

There have been so many events in the past few months centering on Lizzie Borden that I have been hearing folks say that they are in Lizzie Borden overload. Lectures, trial reenactments, plays . . . . and they are not yet over.

On November 19, the last trial reenactment will be held in Taunton. My tickets arrived yesterday. I wanted to see each one as they are different from one another—-the lawyers change which changes everything! The questions are not the same and the focus of the prosecution and defense reflects the change in council each performance.

But after the trial redux, I think that will be the end of Lizzie for 2009. Oh, I almost forgot, the next issue of The Hatchet will be out soon. Announcements to follow in a day or two.

WATCH JILL AS LIZZIE ON THE THE RHODE SHOW!

LIZZIE BORDEN LIVE !!!
THE LEGEND COMES TO LIFE
Written & Performed by: Jill Dalton
Directed by: Jack McCullough
Music by: Larry Hochman
Lighting Design by: John P. Boomer

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

ALL HALLOWS’ EVE CELEBRATION

Saturday, October 31, 2009
8:00 pm
Doors open @ 7:00 pm
$ CASH BAR $
PRIZES & SURPRISES

The Eagle Performing Arts Center
35 North Main Street, 2nd flr
Fall River, MA 02720
Advance Tickets ~ $25.00
WWW.LIZZIEBORDENLIVE.COM
Click on “SCHEDULE ” or purchase at the door
or call the Eagle @ 508-989-9207

Costume Contest & Halloween Costume Parade after the show
1st Prize: One night stay in the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. ( …if you DARE !!! )
2nd Prize: One year subscription to: The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies
Third prize: 2 tickets to the Providence Ghost Tour (good thru Nov 14th)
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…Think you know her?…Think again…
“Sweet, innocent, witty and savagely murderous”

JILL DALTON As: Lizzie Borden
Winner Jacoby Award: MOST OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

“The nod goes to Jill Dalton for her Lizzie Borden in “Lizzie Borden Live.” She runs the gamut of emotions in her performance from that of a mild Christian woman to a ruthless murderer. Her reenactment of the murder of her mother (it was my stepmother!) and father is a chilling scene in this play and Dalton, who also wrote the script, vividly brings it to the audience.”
Jacob Schaad Jr., The Cape May Gazette

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Fall River Mayor Robert Correia praised the play saying that it was powerful and
exceptionally performed.

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“If she was innocent, that was an incredible price to pay,” said Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, who attended the play with his wife. “If she was guilty, she got what she deserved. But it raises aspects and a side of this story I never had considered.”

Dalton is nothing less than superb in her depiction of the character, as her Lizzie is alternating sweet, innocent, witty and savagely murderous. The audience is left to decide which Lizzie is the real one.” Cape May Star Wave

“I heartily recommend you see Lizzie Borden Live. . . . complex and most interesting Lizzie, in the person of Jill Dalton. Cape May Star Wave

“Absorbing performance . . . Dalton runs the gamut of emotions from supposedly mild Christian woman to that of a ruthless murderer.” Cape May Gazette

“Everything from Jill’s facial features (like Lizzie herself) to the way her voice can change throughout the play makes for compelling and oddly sympathetic viewing.” Exit Zero

“Truly superb . . . the script is fascinating. Jill Dalton is an astonishingly talented actress – she changes her mood and characters in a split second. The play should get a Pulitzer.” Charles Alexander, writer for Time Magazine

“Miss Dalton’s performance is a tour de force” Richard Behrens, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies

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Produced by: Up the Hill Productions

Lizzie Borden Live was originally commissioned by: East Lynn Theater Company, Cape May, NJ

www.lizziebordenlive.com

Jill Dalton, award-winning actress, presents: Lizzie Borden Live: From the Page to the Stage

Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA
Monday, October 26, 2009
6:30 PM

Lecture is free and sponsored by the Fall River Historical Society as part of their Lizzie A. Borden lecture series.

Jill Dalton’s Lizzie Borden Live combines historical facts with theatrical license as she portrays one of the most famous women from the annals of America’s Victorian past. This is a fascinating look at how the actress took a historic character and adapted her for the stage. Who knows? Lizzie may just make an appearance.

Jill Dalton, writer and performer, is an award winning New York actress with a long list of television and theatre credits. She was commissioned by the East Lynne Theatre Company in Cape May, New Jersey, to write Lizzie Borden Live, where it had a successful five-week run garnering praise and standing ovations from audiences and critics alike. Her performances in the cities of Providence and Fall River have been lauded with equal praise. Ms. Dalton won the 2007 Jacoby Award for her portrayal of Lizzie in Lizzie Borden Live.

The story is set at Maplecroft, thirteen years after the double murder,at the residence Lizzie bought with money inherited from her father. Ms. Dalton wants the audience to decide for themselves if Lizzie was guilty of killing her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892.“Dalton gives a compelling performance enacting the humanity, humor, irony and sadness of a woman who’s had time to reflect on horrific events” Susan Johnson, Red Rock News.

Dalton’s credits include: Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent; Rachel Getting Married; One Life to Live; As the World Turns; and Saturday Night Live. Ms. Dalton was also a stand-up comic for several years and won the Mary Jo Comedy Show Award for stand-up comedy in New York City. Visit the website for Lizzie Borden Live!

A short clip from the Monsterquest investigation of the Lizzie Borden B&B.

MonsterquestLB

Short piece on Fox Providence on the opening of the Lizzie Borden exhibit, A Tale of Two Cities, held at Gallery X in New Bedford, MA. This appeared on TV October 15, 2009.

A very interesting Flash Film by Pasarmiedo.com. The site is in Spanish, but the content and story are universal. (Japanese titles included!)

Quite worth the looksee!

Investigation Discovery has posted this Lizzie Borden quiz. Nine little questions. What did you score?

Once again, Lizzie Borden has been found innocent in the murders of her father and step-mother in 1892. The crowd who attended last night’s mock trial, presented in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, voted almost 2-1 to acquit her of all charges.

This trial was different than the one in New Bedford, held last week in the very courtroom where Ms. Borden was tried. The lawyers for this trial were from Fall River and Somerset. The actors and the judges were the same, but the questions posed to each witness were different. This is an unscripted event, with the actors playing Emma Borden, Bridget Sullivan, Dr. Dolan, and Lizzie Borden being forced to be on their toes to answer whatever the lawyers will throw at them. I have to say they are tremendously gifted in remembering facts and details of this case. They are quite believable as the characters they play.

The lawyers for both sides have taken this mock trial very seriously. They are prepared and ready to do battle. It is sometimes dramatic and exchanges can get testy. They have been admonished by the judges at times for making statements without asking questions, or asking a question that is soon objected to by the opposing counsel.

Everyone here really knows their stuff.

I must say, after seeing two of these mock events, the evidence is just not there to convict Lizzie. I can’t imagine what went though prosecutor Knowlton’s mind way back in 1893. He must have felt that he was going to lose before it even started.

If you missed last night’s event, you can read more about it in today’s Herald News.

One last version of this mock trial will be held November 19 in Taunton. Tickets are needed for admittance.

To obtain tickets, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to “Lizzie, Redux Request” in care of Clerk Magistrate Marc J. Santos, Bristol County Clerk of Courts, 9 Court St., Taunton, MA, 02780.

Last night I attended the fifth Lizzie Borden lecture, sponsored by the Fall River Historical Society, held at Bristol Community College.

It was a talk by Kim Dennis, Canadian clairvoyant/medium, who said that Lizzie Borden came to her during a session she had at her home in Calgary with a woman named Lizzie. After the woman left, a soul remained, and she identified herself as Lizzie Borden (the woman who Kim was doing the reading for had mentioned that she had been joshed about her name, and that the only Lizzie she knew of was Lizzie Borden).

Ms. Dennis said the spirit told her answers to questions and volunteered some info as well. Here is “Lizzie’s Story”:

Lizzie freely admitted that killed both her parents but she had reasons.

Lizzie had tried to kill Abby a few weeks before with poison but nothing came of it.

That morning she was eating oatmeal with Abby and found out that her father was planning to leave all his money to Abby’s family, and she had it with her.

Lizzie had issues of abandonment because of her mother’s death.

Lizzie had a lazy eye.

Lizzie had a brother named William and a sister named Alice.

Lizzie was a kleptomaniac and thought that if she could get away with murder she could get away with stealing too.

Lizzie was a sociopath who had no conscious. She had no feelings and exhibited none to the police. She was calm and collected. No emotion.

Lizzie was not sorry for what she did, but she only planned on killing Abby. She went out to the barn to clean up after killing Abby, and had plans to go to the library so someone else could discover the body, but Andrew came home early and she had to kill him or she would be accused of killing Abby.

Lizzie had two dresses, blue ones, that looked similar, and she burned one.

Lizzie had chloroformed a cat for mange but also chopped off its head, which was unnecessary—it showed her sociopathic tendencies.

Lizzie stayed in Fall River because she liked the notoriety. But she only went out at night.

Emma left in 1905 because she read something Lizzie wrote and realized that Lizzie had killed their parents, so they never spoke again.

There are cats that haunt the B&B. She has seen Andrew there too, but he walks around outside the house, circling the property.

Lizzie hid the hatchet in a drawstring purse and got rid of it at a later date, it will never be found.

when someone asked if a woman could hit someone with a hatchet so many times, she said yes, it was an emotional hate-filled event (this to me didn’t jibe with the sociopath description).

Lizzie is kept around because everyone is constantly calling her here. If people could just accept that she killed them both, she could move on.

Ms. Dennis and her traveling companion, a woman who introduced her, are writing a book about Lizzie (or it will be part of a book). The woman is a Canadian journalist.

Ms. Dennis confirmed all this information with the folks that work at the Lizzie Borden B&B.

You can read the story in today’s Herald News here.

Kim Dennis, psychic medium, will present a lecture titled “Lizzie Borden – Her Side of the Story” on Monday, October 19, at 6:30 pm, at Bristol Community College in Fall River, MA.

The event is free and sponsored by the Fall River Historical Society.

If Lizzie Borden could tell her story, what would it be? Canadian clairvoyant and medium Kim Dennis believes she was contacted by Lizzie who is ready to reveal the truth behind the Borden murders. Find out how Kim first became aquainted with Lizzie in her living room, and how she paired up with a journalist to document and accurately verify her “insider” information with a trip to Fall River in 2008 and a stay at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. The revelation will astound you and the details may put to rest the theories and finally bring peace to the 117 year old mystery.

Here is Kim speaking about her gifts:

Read it here in the Herald News.

The photographs in this article in the Herald News were taken by me at the last mock trial in New Bedford in September.