Testimony in the Borden Tragedy
From the Chicago Daily Tribune, August 28, 1892:
What I am Reading
From the Chicago Daily Tribune, August 28, 1892:
September 3, 2006 at 4:21 pm
It’s interesting that Bridget– according to three of these recent, fascinating news clips– all but fingered Lizzie as the culprit, yet she remained in the Borden sisters’ employ after the trial. Hmmmm– makes one think about her possibly hidden role in all this. Was Lizzie meant to take the rap precisely because she was most likely never to be convicted, being a temperance-promoting, Sunday-school-teaching member of a wealthy, upstanding Massachusetts family?
Then again, if Bridget were “in” on it, why wouldn’t she testify that she heard a scream, whereupon she hastened downstairs, to find Miss Lizzie in a swoon over Andrew’s murdered corpse. (At least Lizzie had the good sense– could it have been her attorneys’ advice?– to swoon in court.)
After all, a proper Victorian daughter would have swooned, which was certainly held against Lizzie, not to mention her lingering, “She is not my mother” hatred for the late Abby. I’ve no trouble imagining Lizzie taking a hatchet to Abby, especially since I maintain that Abby must have known her assailant, in order for her/him to come close enough to attack, given her position in the guest bedroom and her lack of defensive wounds. (She didn’t even turn around to face her assailant.)
Also, Lizzie could have easily been waiting in her bedroom, listening for Abby to be in the guest room, where she really HAD to die, in order for Andrew not to discover her upon his return.
Back to Bridget– again, it’s worth noting that she doesn’t become anathema to the Borden sisters, whereas Alice Russell does, when she testifies about the dress. Seems as if that burnt dress really hit a raw nerve. Wonder why?
Also, how much time did Bridget spend upstairs? An hour and fifteen minutes? Or, forty-five minutes? Lizzie could have whacked Andrew and could have cleaned up in forty-five minutes. Certainly, she could have achieved this is an hour’s time.
Abby’s slaying would have proven an informative “trial run,” so to speak, of how much blood there would have been, and how it would have splattered. In an old, long-sleeved dress, with her hair well-covered, Lizzie would have mainly been concerned with washing her face, hands, and shoes.
Bridget’s soapy water could have come in handy.
Remember, the burning of the dress turned Alice Russell’s opinion of Lizzie’s guilt, for the remainder of Miss Russell’s life.
It certainly was an incredibly foolish act, at the very least, along with Lizzie’s comment about Abby, and her rather nonhorrified reaction to Andrew’s death. (Of course, her “I feel something horrible is about to happen” premonition to Miss Russell makes it extremely difficult to excuse Lizzie from involvement in the murders.) Her general attitude seemed to have been “Who cares if they’re dead?” Certainly, the police (and prosecution) picked up on this, to have singled her out as the primary suspect without any true evidence, just motive, means, and opportunity.
Speaking of the last, one thing that doesn’t fit the “outside murderer” scenario is that Lizzie was at the house all morning. Now, why not leave the house with at least one door, if not the cellar window, unlocked? Go out and establish an airtight alibi. Then, return and swoon. If someone claimed she had carelessly left the doors unlocked, she could have replied that Abby must have opened them for some reason.
However, Lizzie’s leaving the house would have made Bridget seem rather suspicious.
Again, hmmmm.
I believe that Lizzie murdered Abby. I don’t believe some bloodied hatchet man or woman “hid” in the house for two or three hours, waiting to dispatch Andrew. Now, maybe someone (awaiting a signal?) came in, dispatched Andrew, then fled. But, then again, said person would have been bloodied, and I doubt he/she would have “hung around” the Borden house, washing up. It’s just as likely Lizzie did it. It’s moot whether or not she loved her father. Stepmother “had to” die, and Andrew would have had a pretty good idea of who had committed the deed, so he had to go, too.
Andrew no doubt had his enemies– be they disgruntled employees, business partners, or out-of-wedlock children. It isn’t difficult picturing someone as penurious as he evidently was making his fair share of enemies. Perhaps someone came in and hacked him, unaware that Abby was lying dead upstairs. Didn’t Lizzie allegedly say something to a nurse, in later years, about a boyfriend who hated her father? Interesting that Lizzie didn’t include her stepmother in the alleged statement.
Anyway, the more one dwells on it, the harder it is to believe that Bridget– as well as Lizzie– could have been around the house all morning, and NOT have realized something was afoot. One would think the sound of Abby’s body hitting the floor, in a dead weight, would have caught the attention of both. Hhhhhm.