There is a news story about Lizzie Borden's handwriting anaylsis.
I don't know if mistaken ideas already lodged in the brain of the amateur analyzer colours their perception of the person they are *reading?*
I don't know if a trained, informed person who was not degreed would even be able to read handwriting without a subjective bias. I suppose if they did not know who the sample belonged to, there might be better cause to believe the analysis somewhat.
This man, Ron Rice is a hypnotist who "also does motivational and therapeutic work...[mostly in] the private sector." He is a private investigator. He analyzed the sample from the letter "I dreamed of you" which the article states is to "Mr. Charles E.S. Adams" (whoever that is)- the wrong person. It's supposedly written to her dressmaker, Mrs. Cummings?
So I don't know if that also informs the analyzer- to whom the letter is written. He also had a picture of Lizzie and a crime scene photo.
I guess he's sort of like a *Profiler?*
Does anyone know anything about this stuff?
Rice states:
"She was beautiful...she had everything...she was physical, athletic, aggressive, intelligent, imaginative, determined and she was capable of great anger."
"Looking at people's handwriting is the quickest way to assess their personality. It's like looking at wiring. If you're insecure, have a poor self-image, if you're violent, depressed or angry, it will show up first in your handwriting."
--I think some employers now look at handwriting before someone is hired into a sensitive or high-profile job?
"She [Lizzie] had all the ingredients. She was a warrior queen. She was close to being a Dominant 1."
--"Dominant 1's" are 5% of the population and are "born to lead," according to this man Rice.
"Lizzie wasn't a Dominant 1, but she was close. She was in a class with Joan of Arc and Eleanor Roosevelt. There was fantastic potential there.
--He goes on to explain that what he wants to know about Lizzie is in her "p"s and "t"s in the 1897 letter.
"Even several years after the murder, the crossline on the 't' isn't anywhere near the stem. That shows tremendous anger, which isn't a bad thing to have. It can be a tremendous asset if channeled right. In Lizzie's case, it just got out of control. Her small 'p's have a high loop that signifies the physical, a long stem that signifies determination and a space between the front and back part of the 'p' that signifies aggressiveness."
--He states the letters are "highly sexual."
The letter is the one which starts: "Where are you how are you and what are you doing?" However, when this article quotes the letter, which is apparently right in front of them, it is misquoted. Anyway...
The man Rice believes that Lizzie would fit in nowadays in our modern society.
"She was an extreme type of extrovert. She gave appearances of being a prim 19th century lady, but I'm sure she would have surprised you if you had been in a room alone with her. She could have been an Ethel Merman or a Marilyn Monroe. But she lived in the 19th century, and was always forced to suppress her true feelings. The frustration must have been tremendous...if you ask 'Was she capable of doing it [the murders]? ' I'd say yes. She had the potential, and she had several motives."
--This is where he brings up ambiguous information. I can't tell if it influences his opinion. He says Lizzie hated Abby, she knew Andrew had changed his will to leave the farm in Swansea to Abby and "she exploded," "aggravated" by having her period, and because it "was one of the hottest days of the summer, or by an epileptic seizure, but it was an explosion."
"At the time, people did not believe a woman was capable of such a violent crime. But believe me, Lizzie was capable of it...If she had become a woman lawyer [in today's society], she would've ended up a real tough lady judge, or she would have been a corporate president. Lizzie was not born to be second."
Letter from Spiering's book Lizzie.
