Cutting Remarks

Today in The Salem News, staff writers Chris Cassidy, Amanda McGregor, and Tom Dalton penned the following quip in a longer column about this and that:

Cutting remarks

Folks in Fall River have an ax to grind with Salem, according to that city’s hometown newspaper, The Herald News.

With the opening of the Lizzie Borden museum in Salem, many in Borden’s former hometown are wondering if the Witch City is trying to steal the legend of the accused ax murderer to turn a profit.

Lizzie Borden, after all, has pretty much no connection whatsoever to Salem.

“Aren’t the witches enough? Can’t we have Lizzie Borden?” Jules Ryckebusch, a retired Bristol Community College professor, told the Herald News.

The paper also compares the way the two cities have portrayed their respective historic tragedies, pointing out that the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast presents the murders as a history lesson “without the tacky neon signs, fake mist and spooky soundtracks of so many of Salem’s witch ‘museums.'”

Then again, many in the Witch City may feel the same way.