{"id":4490,"date":"2018-07-17T08:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T12:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/HatchetOnline\/?p=4490"},"modified":"2024-08-16T15:26:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T19:26:03","slug":"murderer-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/murderer-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"Murderer Exposed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Spring, 2009, Volume 6, Issue 1, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nMany, many years ago . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

over 116, to be kinda exact,<\/span><\/p>\n

a couple of old people were thoroughly killed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boy, oh boy, did they get whacked! \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Suspicion zeroed in on the younger daughter<\/span><\/p>\n

of the old guy\u2014Andrew was his name.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other victim was his second wife, Abby:<\/span><\/p>\n

these two Bordens, that day, came to fame. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But they didn\u2019t become as famous as Lizzie,<\/span><\/p>\n

the only one the police ever arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lots of groups believed her guiltless<\/span><\/p>\n

and about her \u201cpersecution\u201d they protested. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One thing, they claimed, proved her innocence\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

she didn\u2019t have blood on her at all!<\/span><\/p>\n

Not on her hair, her clothes, or her skin;\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

she was as clean as a brand new doll. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some other folks thought Lizzie a murderess\u2014BUT\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

over the lack of blood they repeatedly stumbled.<\/span><\/p>\n

They thought, they pondered, and tapped their brows:<\/span><\/p>\n

then into a solution they tumbled! \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Naked!\u00a0 <\/span>Buck naked!\u00a0 <\/span>Aha!\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s it!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They were delighted with this naughty notion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus it added an element of daring<\/span><\/p>\n

to a tale already seething with emotion. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Could she have raised the hatchet in the buff<\/span><\/p>\n

and rained down blows one by one?<\/span><\/p>\n

Could she have killed completely starkers, and . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

would this disqualify her from becoming a nun?<\/span><\/p>\n

While chopping people up in your birthday suit\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

um, do you pause to lower the shade?<\/span><\/p>\n

And when you\u2019ve got everything hanging out,<\/span><\/p>\n

do you have to be more careful with the blade?<\/span><\/p>\n

They wondered, \u201cWhat was going through her mind,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

while she was \u2018in all her glory\u2019?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They wondered if the police would dare to add<\/span><\/p>\n

a nude young lady to the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did her state of being unclothed\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

extend all the way to her head?<\/span><\/p>\n

With no bonnet on to have a bee in<\/span><\/p>\n

did she have the decency to blush red?<\/span><\/p>\n

Utterly disrobed, and centerfold-ready<\/span><\/p>\n

was a most un-Victorian state in which to preen . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

But, then, she wasn\u2019t stark naked at all<\/span><\/p>\n

when other people came on the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did she run up the stairs after murder number two?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(and never mind the tell-tale creaking . . .)<\/span><\/p>\n

She knew she had to dress before calling the maid: \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

these days we\u2019d call that \u2018streaking.\u2019 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, she must have gotten dressed in a flash<\/span><\/p>\n

and fastened each loop, snap, and button<\/span><\/p>\n

so quickly, so efficiently, without any delay<\/span><\/p>\n

(likely it was good she skipped the mutton). \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Did she do it, naked or dressed,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

or . . . could it be . . . that she did not?<\/span><\/p>\n

The only ones who really know<\/span><\/p>\n

are buried together, in one plot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did Lizzie Borden get undressed that day,<\/span><\/p>\n

And show her dad and step-mom her bum?<\/span><\/p>\n

They both are, as you would expect . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

sigh . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

absolutely, maddeningly mum.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scary poem by Brenda Kern.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5256,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions\/5256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lizzieandrewborden.com\/hatchetonline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}