ThinkQuest

ThinkQuest Library has a bio of Lizzie that examines the case as well. Beware: there are a lot of errors here and assumptions made here about situations, motives, and lifestyle choices. I would like to know how they can assume so much without proof. My favorite part is when they say that Bridget has an alibi because she said was taking a nap.

Biography
Lizzie Borden was born on July 19, 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts. When Lizzie was two, her mother passed away. From then on her older sister, Emma, vowed to take care of Lizzie, and she became the mother figure in Lizzie’s life. Lizzie remained close to her father, Andrew Borden. Andrew eventually married Abby Durfee Gray. Andrew had amassed a small fortune over the years, but the Bordens continued to live a lifestyle well below the much more comfortable life that they could have. This always annoyed Lizzie, for her greatest desire was to live the lavish lifestyle of a young, beautiful, and rich woman, and maybe even move onto “The Hill”, which was where the well-to-do lived in Fall River. But Lizzie’s father refused to let her have a social life, with the exception of working actively with her church. The tension in the Borden house was rising, because of Lizzie’s frustration at her father’s limitations and the strain between both of the Borden sisters and Abby Borden. This tension is thought to have eventually led to one of the most famous murders in American history.

Murder
On August 4, 1892, one of the most well known murders in American history was committed. Abby Borden was dusting the house, and she went upstairs to tidy the guestroom. She was later discovered there, lying facedown with numerous slashes in her back. They appeared to some from an object that resembled an axe. Downstairs, Andrew Borden was discovered soon before the discovery of his wife. It appeared that he had been murdered on the living room sofa while he was taking a nap. He, too, had been hacked repeatedly with an axe-like object.

By comparing how much the blood had clotted in each victim, it was clear that Abby Borden had been killed around an hour and a half to two hours before her husband. The only people who had been home during the time of Abby’s death were Lizzie and the hired help, Bridget Sullivan. But Bridget had an alibi; she had been taking a nap in her room because she had felt ill. Besides, Bridget had no reason to murder her employers.

Lizzie, on the other hand, did have motive for murdering her parents. She said that she had been downstairs at the time of her stepmother’s murder, and that she had not heard anything peculiar from upstairs. She also claimed to have been in the barn during her father’s murder. But when police investigated the barn, they saw that it was very dusty, and anyone who entered it would have left footprints. But the only footprints in the barn were their own. Also, the barn was incredibly hot, and common sense told them that no person would stay there for more than a few minutes. However, it should be noted that when Lizzie said this, she had been given some drugs by the police to help calm her nerves, and they could have clouded her thinking slightly.

The police also found a hatchet in the Borden home that looked like it would fit the marks of the wounds. It had also been attempted to be cleaned by someone recently with white ash. Lizzie was also seen burning a dress with a brown stain on it. She claimed that it was a paint stain, but coincidently, brown is the color of dried blood. Emma Borden had an alibi, as did John Morse, a guest of the Borden home at the time of the murders. Although Andrew Borden was known to have many enemies, the police were doubtful that the murders were an outside job, because the murderer would have to hide in the Borden home for almost two hours.

Lizzie Borden was arrested for the murders of her father and stepmother. She hired the best defense that money could buy, and she pled not guilty. The jury was made up of Caucasian men. It was hard for the prejudiced men to believe that this Sunday school teacher, and more importantly a woman, could commit murder in such a violent fashion. The jury deliberated for one hour, and Lizzie Borden was acquitted. Soon after her acquittal, Lizzie moved to “The Hill” with her sister, using her dead father’s small fortune, living the life she had always dreamed of. However, the locals of Fall River ostracized Lizzie for the rest of her life, and this is a familiar rhyme about the Borden murders.

“Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her father forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her mother forty-one!”