Abby thought she might have been poisoned

[camgarsky4]

This one cracks me when the prussic acid doubters (apologies Teenabee) mention this article as a reason for doubt. If law enforcement visited DR Smith's with an undercover agent and that same visit was a key aspect of the most publicized crime in the nation, there is literally zero percent chance Knowlton and Pillsbury wouldn't have been fully aware and this piece of the case tossed out. Nary a word in the Knowlton Papers.

On the other side of the aisle, there is .00001% chance the defense team wouldn't have dug this up and slaughtered Bence on the stand at the preliminary hearing. Their digging would have been quite simple, it was in the newspapers 2 weeks before the murders.

By the way, there is another article that references the same issue and states the physical comparison to Lizzie couldn't be more different and directly scoffs the article posted above. i love it when newspapers get in a 'pissing' contest. You'll have to take me at my word on the other article, I don't have the gumption to look for it.

[Lorcan]

I tried to find it and I ran across a huge PDF from this website that has New Bedford Evening Standard articles in it. Here's the quote and I'll post the link to the PDF. Not sure if "wife" and "partner" are confusing the situation with the changing terminology over time.

I don't know exactly what that newspaper is trying to say - were there women working on the police force undercover or is this something entirely different?

Lizzie at 5' 3" or 4" (her passport says one and another document the other, but I can't remember which) We'll call her 5' 3.5" - it was said she gained a lot of weight in prison and we have the post trial photo on the porch in Newport where she's standing behind a chair holding a thin book. It's hard to guess weight with those corsets though! Here is the newspaper quote:

An attempt was made on Saturday night to float the theory that Eli Bence, the drug clerk, had
mistaken Miss Lizzie Borden for the woman who purchases oleomargarine and face lotion for State
Inspector McCaffrey. This is absurd. Mr. Bence may be mistaken, of course, but State Inspector
McCaffrey's partner looks about as much like Miss Borden as she does like John L. Sullivan. However
there is no great importance attached to the poison story, for when it comes to a test it was Miss
Borden's word against the statement of Mr. Bence.

https://lizzieandrewborden.com/wp-conte ... andard.pdf

[camgarsky4]

That's it. Thanks Lorcan.

[Inspector]

I was wondering if she might put on weight behind bars as she ordered her meals from a hotel, and evidently ate well while waiting for the trial.
Isn’t reality stranger than fiction?
To think a woman other than Lizzie was going into drug stores, asking for prussic acid all around 92 Second Street in August.
Hmm…did Lizzie have knowledge of it?

[Lorcan]

I don't know why it took me so long to look at the actual photo of the front door from the trial evidence - the windows that are now to either side of the front door appear to either not exist or be covered with wood. So now I think Camgarsky's theory is very much the most plausible. She was walking down the stairs, waited to see / hear who it was and then turned and quickly went back upstairs.

[camgarsky4]

That was a good exercise....made us think thru all the pieces we knew and try to connect them to include what we didn't know. I enjoyed it!

[Inspector]

Good eye. Andrew had the windows removed for privacy.

[Inspector]

If one wants to believe Nellie McHenry, Bridget said Mrs Borden thought someone had been trying to poison them.

That Mr. & Mrs. Borden had been very sick all night, Mrs. Borden asked Bridget if she had heard them vomiting said some one had been trying to poison them and that she was going to see Dr. Bowen but she knew they would not like it? also asked Bridget if she (Bridget) had eaten the same food she answered yes all but the Bakers bread Mrs.
Borden burned the bread then herself in the stove. Bridget ate her breakfast was taken sick went into the yard and vomited it all up.

[Inspector]

I wonder if the reason Lizzie ran back up the stairs was because she didn’t want Bowen, or anyone else to see her that day.
It was sometime between 8:00 and 8:15, a bit early for Lizzie.
Perhaps she was not presentable or perhaps she was dressed, and didn’t want her clothing recognized by anyone who knew her
If Eli Bence was correct, she had plans on Wednesday.