Neilson Caplainby Neilson Caplain
First published in May/June, 2006, Volume 3, Issue 2, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.
Lizzie Borden was bored. It was a nice fall day and she had nothing to do. “Where are all my friends,” she thought, “the ladies of the Church and the Temperance Society? Obviously, they are not anxious for my company anymore. And how about my sister, Emma? Oh tush, she is no fun at all!”
“To be fair I am not totally isolated—there’s Helen Leighton, Grace Howe, and a few others. Helen and Grace have been such steadfast friends I am going to name them in my will. But of all the 90,000 people in this town of Fall River, Massachusetts, lets face the truth, my friends are few and far between.”
Soon after her acquittal, Lizzie had told herself, “I have heard much talk of the Exposition in Chicago, and that’s where I will go to shake off those awful memories of inquest, hearings, incarceration for ten months and finally, the trial.”
After that pleasant excursion, Lizzie avoided appearances in public, fearful of attracting dreaded attention. One of her maids and the cook took care of the shopping for household needs. But this day, she daringly felt ready for change. “I won’t let the day go to waste. I’ll go downtown, run a few errands, and browse the stores.”
It was an election year and William McKinley won. His opponent, William Jennings Bryan, seemed too liberal to her. William S. Greene was Mayor. “Better him,” she thought, “than former Mayor Dr. Coughlin who was the first to say I was suspected of murdering my father and step-mother.”
“Some people accused me of the Manchester murder as well. It also was accomplished with an axe. Too bad for them I was in prison at the time so they weren’t able to pin that one on me. Too bad for them!”
Lizzie had the coachman trot out the horse and carriage. “I’d like to go to North Main Street,” she said. “Drop me off at Pine Street.”
Recent news reports rumored, and people gossiped, that Lizzie was about to marry a man from Swansea. “Balderdash!” Lizzie said to herself, “No man is going to get his hands on my money!”
Thinking of newspapers, Lizzie was reminded how the reporter Henry Trickey had written a front-page article in the Boston Globe in October 1892, that was absolutely false. Imagined witnesses pointed the murderous guilty finger squarely at her. She was glad that the Boston paper was forced to apologize within two days.
Erasing thoughts of newspapers from her mind, Lizzie crossed to the West side of Main Street and glimpsed the First Baptist Church a block to the North and the First Congregational Church beyond that. They reminded her of her own church, the Central Congregational. The First Congregational was her father’s choice, but she and Emma remained faithful to the Central Church on Rock Street. She now attended services infrequently since the worshippers in neighboring pews stood aloof and barely acknowledged her presence.
She headed south on North Main Street and passed the Brown building, whose numbers included 174 to 188. Eliphalet S. Brown had a dry goods store there. The building also housed the American Furnishing Co., dressmakers Mary A. Hughes and Elizabeth Dunn, Eye & Ear Doctor Herbert T. Nottage, a Lodge room and an insurance office.
Continuing her pleasant stroll she passed by Frost & Atwood, number 168 (furniture) where Sargents used to be, and E.B. Wood, number 162 (pianos). On the side of that same building, a corridor led to the Casino. Lizzie sniffed in distaste. It was a place for men who played billiards, so she walked quickly past and came to the Horton Building at number 154. It seemed a place devoted to music. The rooms were used to teach music, dance and piano.
George W. Bliss had a grocery store at number 152. Lizzie preferred to have her groceries bought at John Deane’s place on South Main Street. They have the lowest prices and the biggest variety of food there.
Crossing Elm Street, she came upon the site of the new Library building under construction. The cornerstone was laid September 30, 1896.
Then on the corner of Bank Street there was the First National Bank and the B.M.C. Durfee Safe Deposit and Trust Company at number 80 and 84. She stiffened with pride for she had investments in the latter institution. Her father had been a Director of the Trust Company. Physicians, lawyers, police headquarters, the Associated Charities organization, occupied the offices on the upper floors.
On the Southern corner of Bank Street, she breathed the warm aroma emanating from the bakery of Mason Fisher at number 64 but resisted the urge to stop in to purchase a sweet or two.
Next, she walked by Nicolet & Laidlaw’s jewelry store at number 62 North Main. Here she lingered, eyeing the display windows filled with diamond necklaces and bracelets. She remembered the rumors floating around town that she was a kleptomaniac. They said her father reimbursed Mr. Gifford for what she had surreptitiously taken. “That’s my secret,” Lizzie murmured to herself. “I’ve got other secrets, too. But I’ll never tell, not ever!”
Also at number 62 was the Atlantic Portrait Company. Frank Buffinton’s florist shop and William B. Edgar who sold electrical supplies were located at number 60.
Further along there was the tailor shop of B.F. Simmons & Son and the office of James E. Watson, Undertakers (#58). The latter reminded her of George Robinson, her lawyer, who died early this year. At the trial, he called her “his little girl.” She sniffed, “Being his little girl didn’t stop him from presenting an enormous bill for his efforts.”
Having no taste for undertakers, Lizzie hurried by to pass a tobacco store at number 54 and George Anthony’s Confectionery at 56. Dr. John H. Sweet received patients at number 52.
She strolled by Flynn’s confectionery store (#36) and the Syndicate Furniture store (#32) and came to E.J. Sokoll’s restaurant (#24) and then the Union Market (#20).
Next came McMulty’s saloon (#16), certainly out of place on this part of North Main Street, Lizzie thought. Now she passed Slade Bros., selling tobacco (#12), and after that Clorite’s fruit store (#10). The apples, pears, and other fruit looked enticing. Lizzie was tired. She paused to purchase an apple to munch on as she continued her walk.
The Richardson House Hotel was on the corner of Central Street and North Main (#6). The hotel was the largest in the city, but Lizzie had never crossed the front door. Nor, for that matter, had she ever entered any of the other hotels in town. The building housed the apothecary shop owned by William G. Bennett at number 2.
Lizzie crossed Main Street to the East side and she began her walk back to where her carriage was waiting. She paused for a moment to rest in front of the Postal Telegraph Cable Co. office on the corner of Bedford Street at number 1 North Main. Pardee & Young, the coal dealer, also had an office there. Continuing on, Lizzie walked by a news dealer (#7), the rooms of a piano teacher (#9), Shove & Fisher men’s clothing (#11-13), a hairdresser (#15), and finally, at the corner of Granite Street, E.S. Anthony’s Apothecary (#17).
Across Granite Street, the Wilbur House Hotel occupied numbers 25 to 33. There followed F.M. Bronson, Carriage Maker (#39). Lizzie knew Mr. Bronson well for it was he who manufactured her carriage. The next store was occupied by E.T. Negus & Co., Decorators (#45), Samuel Wood, Jeweler (#45), Mrs. Jane Durfee, Dressmaker (#47), Davis & Fish, Provisions (#49-53). These places were followed by the Fall River National Bank building (#57-59) where was located also the Troy Cooperative Bank.
Lizzie smiled as she noted the Troy Bank. Jerome C. Borden was President. Even though he had little to do with her after the trial, at least he was the only one of her relatives besides Emma to testify in her defense.
In the rooms upstairs, Lizzie recognized the names of the artists Eveline N. Buck, Lillian F. Wilbur and Ella Zuill, all students of the eminent still-life artist Robert Dunning. Several of their oils graced the walls of her home on French Street.
Richard P. Borden, the lawyer in the firm Jackson, Slade & Borden occupied offices, as did the realtors John P. Slade and John B. Huard. There were many other tenants, but none that Lizzie knew.
Crossing Bank Street she came upon the Narragansett Hotel, numbers 79-85 North Main. In the hotel building, on the corner, was the Fall River Five Cent Savings Bank and the Second National Bank. Charles J. Holmes was Treasurer in one and Director in the other. Lizzie recalled fondly that Mr. Holmes and his wife were of great comfort during and after her ordeal in 1892-93.
In the same building, S.R. Buffinton & Co. maintained an office dealing in coal, and Mason F. Padelford had his Optician office.
After going by a Chinese laundry Lizzie came upon the Evans House, a hotel at numbers 95-103. Borden’s Bakery was located at number 97 and the Society of Friends held services at number 99. The Church provided space for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Society.
Lizzie whispered to herself, “Some people say I evicted the Temperance Society from the A.J. Borden building because the women were cold to me after the trial. Others say they moved voluntarily. I am the only one who knows the real story.”
Moving along Lizzie came upon the store of J. Edward Newton who sold bicycles at number 101, and the apothecary shop of Samuel J. Smith (#105).
Across Franklin Street, she noted the Mellen House Hotel, a place of bitter memory. It was there, she recalled, that at a meeting of the City Marshall and the District Attorney it was decided to bring her to an Inquest to answer for the murders of her father and stepmother.
Lizzie could never forget the ordeal of her imprisonment in Taunton and her trial in New Bedford. Now she preferred to think about that day in June 1893, when the jury decided “Not Guilty” and the Clerk pronounced, “Lizzie Andrew Borden. The court order that you be discharged of this indictment and go thereof without delay.” On that happy day, she was driven to Fall River and celebrated her acquittal at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Holmes on Pine Street.
Lizzie found her driver patiently waiting. She told him she enjoyed her visit downtown, but she was tired and wanted to go directly home to rest. “We’ll do the same on South Main Street some other time,” she said.
