Bridget's Boyfriend?

[Kat]

1899, the good old Plattsburgh Sentinel (sentinels never sleep ) of NY brings up Bridget's boyfriend.

Those of you with the Prelim., is my memory correct that she is asked about boyfriends?
I'm surprised there's not more investigation into Bridget's possible boyfriend...or was there?

[diana]

Adams questions Bridget at the Preliminary Hearing:

Q. Did you have any men call on you
A. No Sir.
Q. Ever since you have been at this house?
A. Not in Fall River.
Q. While you have been in this house?
A. Not anybody from Fall River.
Q. I did not ask you where they were from. When did you have anybody call on you, not from Fall River?
A. About two or three months before that I guess.
Q. That is the last time any man has called on you at the house?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Has any man walked home with you?
A. No Sir.
Q. Has any man seen you in the back yard?
A. No Sir.
Q. Have you met anybody in the back yard for the last two months?
A. No Sir.
Q. Did you ever meet anybody in the back yard?
A. No Sir.
Q. Or sat down with anybody on the back step, or in the back yard?
A. No Sir.
Q. Never in your life?
A. I have sat down with girls on the back stairs and in the kitchen.
Q. Have you ever sat out on the back side of the house, or in the yard with girls?
A. No Sir.
Q. Or with anybody?
A. No Sir. (Preliminary hearing, p. 51+)

Those questions from the defense certainly tend make it look as though someone may have seen Bridget with a boyfriend on the Borden premises -- but, on the other hand, perhaps they were simply designed to widen the pool of suspects in the minds of the jury.

[Allen]

If those are the only questions that were asked about a man visiting Bridget, I don't think it tends to make it look like someone may have seen her with a man, unless there are more questions? To me it seems more like the attorney is just fishing, rather than trying to back up something he was told about seeing Briget with a man. If that was the case, I would think they would call the witness who saw her to refute her testimony. I don't even see it asked who the man even was that called on her, could it have been a relation?

[mbhenty]

Poor thing (Bridget) What a sad existence some of those girls must of led. Social life must have been nil, living under the same roof as your employer and always at their beck-n-call. No men??? Then again, perhaps she was luckier than she realized?? (ok,ok, not funny)

[Kat]

Thanks Diana!
Do you know where to find the speculation that Bridget had had a finace who died?

[diana]

Are you thinking of the bogus Trickey/McHenry article in the Boston Globe?

"Bridget Sullivan, less than a month before the Borden murders, was deprived by death of her prospective husband.
The date for her marriage was Oct 1; her intended husband was Thomas H. Kernann, a well-known coachman of Newport, who was a victim of consumption. Kernann was a respectable man of good habits and was employed by some of the leading families in Newport.
He worked for Hon. William C. Whitney, the Lorilards and the Vanderbilts, and was one of the best horsemen who ever reined a pair of thoroughbreds over Ocean drive." (Boston Globe Oct. 10, 1892)

[Kat]

Oh Crikey!
I never would have thought that was a Trickey/McHenry item!!!
Thanks!
Is there anymore on Bridget's guys- anyone?
I wonder what "Gramma" would say to this topic?

[KT72]

Poor thing (Bridget) What a sad existence some of those girls must of led. Social life must have been nil, living under the same roof as your employer and always at their beck-n-call. No men??? Then again, perhaps she was luckier than she realized?? (ok,ok, not funny)

I know that at least in Newport the servants did have active social lives. I'm pretty sure they weren't permitted to marry; but the Irish servants at least used to get together regularly to drink, dance, and basically party hardy at a place called the Forty Steps.

Of course this doesn't mean the same thing happened in Fall River......