1. "Elizabeth Jordan"
Posted by harry on Jan-13th-04 at 6:23 PM

One of several female reporters at Lizzie's 1893 trial was Elizabeth Jordan.  She would have been 28 at the time. I ran across this brief item on her.

http://www.goddesscafe.com/FEMJOUR/jordan.html



(Message last edited Jan-27th-04  10:01 PM.)

Fascinating lady! would love to see her writings from trial. 
Thanks Harry

But what did "Nelly Bly" do at this time? Now that was a reporter (around the world in 80 days).

Thanks, Harry.  I too would like to read what she had to say about Lizzie.  Was she pro or con, or did she just tell it like it was? 

Very interesting, Harry.  There are  booksellers on Bookfinder.com who carry her books. The prices are very reasonable.

I cannot recall who owed the New York World; it was either Hearst or Pulitzer.  In any event, neither subscribed to the theory of telling the truth in any news story.  Their objective was to sell more newspapers than any one else and Hearst and Pulitzer were in major competition not only in NYC.  Therefore, if one could not find specific facts for a story and a deadline was fast approaching, one made up the "facts."  Whatever would lure readers, boost sales, increase advertising revenue and hammer the competition was accepted practice.  These two men gave us "Yellow Journalism" and singlehandedly pushed the US into the Spanish-American War. I believe it was Pulitzer (it could have been Hearst, however--they were equally dishonest) who said to a reporter he sent to Cuba to cover the war:  "You furnish the pictures and I will furnish the war."

I do not know about Elizabeth Jordan.  She might have been a truly decent and professional journalist.  However, if she worked for either of those two Captains of Industry (Pulitzer or Hearst), her ethics would have been tossed out the window and she would have filled in the blanks herself in order to get a story to press before the competition.  I, too, would love to see some of her writings on Lizzie regardless of her slant on the case.

Thanks Bill. I've never read any of her trial coverage.

Lisa Zawadzki wrote a review of her book "Three Rousing Cheers" in the Fall/Winter 1995 LBQ.  The book was written in 1938, some 45 years after the trial. Here's some of Lisa's review:

*Jordan, Elizabeth. "Lizzie Borden and the Murders." Three Rousing
Cheers, New York, NY: D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., 1938: 116-126.

". . . .Jordan was a reporter who covered the Borden trial for the New York World. Here she presented her memories of the events and Miss Lizzie.
Unfortunately, she had a terrible memory. By my counting, this retelling contained at least sixteen major factual errors. Jordan believed in Lizzie's innocence, but her argument is so full of glaring mistakes you'll doubt the woman even attended the right trial.
Still, it was an entertaining read. As bad as her recollection seems, it was interesting to read a first-hand account of a witness to the trial. If nothing else, this essay shows how much misinformation there was on the events and how it was spread. This book was mistakenly credited to Elizabeth "Porter" in Edward Radin's bibliography (Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story)."

It's not good to write book 45 years, or more, after the events.

That's what Arthur Phillips did and boy did he err in his memory.  He set Lizzie's case backwards with his later commentary, if one can do that after 40 years and after an acquittal!
And he was on the Defence!


(Message last edited Jan-14th-04  2:42 PM.)

There is bio info and sources on Jordan in Rebello, page 204+ .

I think it was Pulitzer who owned the "NY World".
Hearst owned the "American".
But I could be wrong.

Doesn't this same manipulation of the news go on today?

(The "I'll furnish the war" line is from "Citizen Kane," I believe, but Kane was based on Hearst.}
--Lyddie