KEEP OUT

[FairhavenGuy]

I just found this in an old scrapbook of newspaper clippings. It’s from the New Bedford Standard, but there’s no date. Estimating a year from other nearby articles it seems to be about 1895. I haven’t checked to see if Len Rebello has it in his book or not.

BORDEN HEIR’S LATEST

Now Order All to Keep Away From Scene of the Murder

Fall River, Sept. 9--The heirs of Mr. And Mrs. Borden have cause the following notice to be erected on the Second Street premises, where the two murders were committed on Aug. 4 1892: “Trespassing on these premises is strictly forbidden (by the owners.) C.C. Cook, agent.”

Mr. Cook is a local real estate man who now has the Borden property under his control. During this year a large number of visitors have looked over the property, and some of them have been bold enough to walk in the yard, around the barn, and examine fences, etc. Most of them came from Boston when the Christian Endeavor and Knights Templars conventions were in session. The tenants who now occupy the premises have been very much annoyed the past two weeks and the notice is a result.

The fact that it has been posted has attracted much attention, as it now marks the house more distinctly than ever before.

[Harry]

Wow, great find Chris! Never seen it before. I don't believe it's in Rebello.

Rebello has the following on page 34:

"Residents of 92 Second Street

1872 to 1894 Andrew J. Borden, businessman, Emma and Lizzie
1895 to 1897 Asa Gifford, janitor, Music Hall
1899 to 1920 Marcus A. Townsend, carpenter"

The "girls" sold the house on June 15, 1918 to a John W. Dunn. We also know that they had boarders there while they owned it.

Note how the 1872 to 1894 entry above doesn't list Abby. Just a mistake I guess. And neither Lizzie nor Emma was a resident in 1894.

Also 1898 is missing.

[diana]

I don't remember seeing that before either, Chris -- thanks for sharing it!

[Kat]

That's good Christopher!

Was that reward was still in place? If so-lots of people would tend to trespass!

Here are the first tenants of the Borden sisters, Oct. 1893.

[Susan]

Neat find, Chris! Interesting how there were armchair sleuths even then who visited the house and tried to solve the crime, much like us today.

Thats quite interesting Kat if that news article is correct about the Borden house being on the market once Lizzie and Emma vacated the property. It must have been a tough house to sell, let alone rent so close to the tragedy.

[Kat]

I think there was a *crazy* Peckham who wandered into town confessing to the murders?

Here's hoping one of our genealogy buffs will figure out who these tenants are.

Louis Hall had lived at 81 Second Street in 1892, according to Harry's address list.

[snokkums]

Those are such neat finds I enjoyed reading through them

[Kat]

Here is Mr. Hall's bio, in The Knowlton Papers.

"HALL, LOUIS L.: operated L.L. Hall and Company - Livery, Boarding, Sale and Exchange Stable, 129 Second Street, Fall River, Massachusetts, beginning in 1892. According to his statement made to the Fall River police, he was 'in view of the Borden house, for some time before eleven o'clock' the day of the murders. He did not testify at the trial. In 1895, he left the city of Fall River for Taunton, Massachusetts."

--He was on the witness list for the trial but didn't testify. It looks like he didn't live at #92 for very long, leaving town by 1895.

[Harry]

I just found this in an old scrapbook of newspaper clippings. It’s from the New Bedford Standard, but there’s no date. Estimating a year from other nearby articles it seems to be about 1895.

Chris, I found the identical article in the Boston Globe. It was dated September 8, 1895.

The Globe also reported on a large Christian Endeavor meeting in Boston in June.

[FairhavenGuy]

Thanks, Harry,

The scrap book seems to run from 1895 to about 1905, but articles that can actually be dated are few and far between (an article about a Fairhaven High School graduation in 1904, for example). Dates can be roughly estimated, but that's about it.

It's interesting how newspapers would lift things word for word from other newspapers. Sort of a primitive version of Associated Press, I guess.

Here are two more I found.


LIZZIE BORDEN GRATEFUL

Sends a Check to Firemen and Praises Their Work

Fall River, Feb. 4--Chief Engineeer Davol of the fire department has received a check for $100 from C.C. Cook, agent of the A.J. Borden block, accompanied by an explanatory note stating that the gift is from the owners of the block, Misses Emma L. and Lizzie A. Borden, and tendered in recognition of the excellent service rendered by the chief and fire department at last Saturday morning’s fire.




BORDEN JUROR DEAD

Lewis Bradford Hodges of Taunton, who died at his home in that city last Thursday, was a juryman at the Borden trial held in this city in 1893. Mr. Hodges was born in Taunton, April 2, 1834. During the Civil war he was first sergeant in Company G, Fourth Massachusetts volunteers, and served through the term of service of his regiment in the campaign in Louisiana.

(Edited to correct earlier transcription error.)

[Susan]

Interesting finds, Chris. I did a search and found there was a fire on South Main Street in Fall River in 1916 February 15-16th and there was also one in 1928 February 2nd. Don't know if this fire was one that specifically hit the Borden block only at some point, couldn't find anything that happened before February 4th, the date of the newspaper clipping. The 1928 fire was after Lizzie and Emma's deaths, but, thought I would include it.

1916, February 15-16 ~ Estensive conflagration on South Main, Borden and Spring Streets.

1928, February 2 ~ A conflagration which destroyed many buildings in the business center of the city.


From this site: http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/phillips3-17.pdf

[FairhavenGuy]

Susan, the fire, I think, has to be before 1905, because that piece was pasted into the book before the obituary for Mr. Hodges, and Rebello has a 1905 death for him.

The articles pasted into this scrap book are in chronological order.


By the way, the juror was Lewis Bradford Hodges, so I've got to check again to see if I transcribed wrong or the newspaper article was printed incorrectly. (The book's not in the same place I am at the moment.)

[Harry]

It might be the 1899 fire I posted a while back in the Privy:

viewtopic.php?t=1294

[FairhavenGuy]

The 1899 fire was the evening of January 19, which was a Thursday.

This article says " last Saturday morning's fire."

[Harry]

This should be it. This Boston Globe article dated Jan. 29, 1905 lists a fire at the AJ Borden building on the 28th. The 28th was a Saturday. It doesn't say whether the Bordens were insured.

[FairhavenGuy]

Looks like you got it that time, Harry.

Awful lot of fires in Fall River weren't there.

Charles Cook was an insurance saleman, so I'll bet Lizzie and Emma had a whole array of nice policies paid for by the estate. . .

[Allen]

I have an article from the New York Times dated September 30, 1875 which is simply titled " The Fall River Fire". But this may have been to early to be your article.

I have a whole list of articles I'd like to obtain that I have written down the date and headline for that appeared in the times starting from about 1875 until after the time of Lizzie's death.There are two that I have not obtained yet that I am very curious about. My list is four pages long I've been copying them all chronologically. The items I am interested are simply titled " The Borden Family's Trouble's" and "The Borden's Financial Trouble's" and they are from 1879. I have no way of knowing how it pertains to our Borden's but I might skip ahead and find out. These appear at the same times that there are many articles about striking in Fall River so I am assuming that maybe they do deal with the Fall River Borden's.

[Allen]

I really had no idea just how devastating the 1928 fire was until I was looking around on the Keeley Library site and found the reproduction of a pamphlet about the fire with many pictures included and a complete list of all the businesses that were affected by the fire.

http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/fire.pdf

[Susan]

Good work piecing it together, guys! That was quite an extensive fire in the Borden building, I had no idea that had ever happened to it. Were Lizzie and Emma split by this time yet?

[Harry]

Good work piecing it together, guys! That was quite an extensive fire in the Borden building, I had no idea that had ever happened to it. Were Lizzie and Emma split by this time yet?

Yes, Emma was still at Maplecroft in January 1905. She didn't leave until June.

No fire, but things got a little too hot for Emma there too.

[DWilly]

Good work piecing it together, guys! That was quite an extensive fire in the Borden building, I had no idea that had ever happened to it. Were Lizzie and Emma split by this time yet?

Yes, Emma was still at Maplecroft in January 1905. She didn't leave until June.

No fire, but things got a little too hot for Emma there too.

Ah yes, Emma leaving. Another one of those unsolved mysteries that plagues us. It does look like it took a number of years and events to finally push Emma over the edge and out the door.

[Kat]

I had contributed to the April. 2005 Hatchet issue this snippet from 1-20-1899, about the fire.
There was more than 1 fire?
Was there a pyro on the loose?
Is this suspicious?

[Kat]

On the website, here is a link to the 1928 Fall River fire. It came pretty close to the Borden house area.

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/Galleries ... erFire.htm

Stef had bought the booklet on this. The pictures are incredible!

[Gramma]

The fire of 1928 was awful.
I remember stories by Mom about how Grampa and Uncle Dick Lang struggled to carry my great grandmother down three flights of stairs on a chair as she was so heavy and old she could not walk the stairs. She lived near the fire and they were afraid it would spread to where she lived and she would never have time to get out. She stayed with my grandparents and died there 11 Jan 1929.

Gramma

[Kat]

That's quite a story,Gramma! Thank you for sharing it.
You should write a memoire for The Hatchet.

Harry found another fire affecting Borden property!
No one is blaming Lizzie yet?

[Allen]

Fall River really seemed to the victim of many outbreaks of fire! It seems to almost be plagued by fire. I got the information for these from The Philips History of Fall River. There were more fires listed, I just listed the ones here that I thought did the most damage or caused the most loss. The Mills seemed to be generally hard hit by fires. I guess it's true that the conditions in those Mills made them dangerous places.


October 6, 1821 - " The Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory, operating 1,800 spindles, was burned to the ground."

The Great Fire of 1843 - "As late as 1861 the effects of the fire were still felt"..."Nearly 200 families are turned houseless, and many of them pennyless in the street."

November 12, 1867 - " The Niantic Thread Mill, at the corner of Division and Mulberry Streets, was completely destroyed by a gale."..." Loss $50,000. About eighty employees were thrown out of work."

December 5, 1867 - an explosion of one of the boilers of the main building of the Globe ( Bay Street) Print Works on Globe Street ( owned by the American Print Works) started a fire which entirely consumed the structure. All buildings in the immediate vicinity were damaged to a greater or lesser extent. "..." About 200 employees were rendered idle."

December 15, 1867 -" About 3:30 Sunday afternoon, during a heavy snow storm, fire was discovered in the new granite structure of the American Print Works."

May 14, 1868 - " The Fall River ( White) Mill on Pocasset Street, built in 1827, was destroyed by flames."

The Granite Mill Fire September 19, 1874- " The most appalling disaster in the history of our cotton manufacture."

November 2, 1875- "Fired wiped out the Massosoit Cottom Mill on the west side of Devol Street, at the foot of Cherry Street.Loss $150,000, insurance $147,500."

June 29, 1876 -" Mill No. 2 of the American Linen Company, at the Foot of Ferry Street, built of granite, with a pitched roof, suffered fire damage on the upper two floors."

November 2, 1877- " Early in the morning and explosion, thought to have been due to a leakage of gas during the night, took place in the Border City Mill No. 1., a brick structure of five stories, followed by fire. The front of the Mill burst outwards, damaging the Reindeer ladder truck."

November 2, 1878- " The Augustus Chace Thread Mill on Globe Street was damaged by fire to the extent of $50,000, fully insured."

October 2, 1882- "On Saturday afternoon fire destroyed the Flint Mill excepting the engine and boiler house. The loss was not estimated. Insurance $620,000."

April 24, 1884- " At 6 P.M fire started amongst cotton in the basement of the Sagamore Mill No. 1, a brick structure, which was destroyed within a few hours."

January 23, 1889 -"Flames discovered at 3 P.M damaged upper story and roof of the Anawan Cotton Mill on Pocasset Street. The loss was $11,700. A man was taken out unconscious died soon after."

December 30, 1889- " A fire occured above the engine room in the Richard Borden Mill during the afternoon. Captain Squire S. Davis of ladder truck No. 2 suffered serious injury when a hose pipe was wrenched from the grasp of firemen, striking his right leg and causing a fracture. Two amputations were necessary, the second above the knee."

July 16, 1890 -" John D. Crowley's junk shop at the corner of Anawan and Summer Streets. A Brisk west wind blew sparks on wooden structures as far as South Main Street."..."From this report it appeared that the total loss on buildings was $264, 470 and of other property $262,015 a total loss of $526,485."

June 14, 1895- " Fire following a boiler explosion at 8:30 A.M in the loom harness factory of Henry J. Langley on County Street consumed the entire plant."

Fire of February 15-16 1916 " for five hours during the night , the Fall River Fire Department, aided by apparatus from other localities, battled with a blaze on South Main, Borden, and Spring streets; the heaviest haulocaust known since the great fire of 1843."..." The total loss was estimated as between 1,5000, 000 and 200,000,000."

February 2, 1928 -The Great Fire of 1928 " The total loss was estimated as betweem $1,500,000 and 2,000,000 covered by about 1,000,000 in insurance."

January 29, 1934 - The huge Merchants Mill on Fourteenth Street, extending from Pleasant to Bedford Streets was wiped out by fire that necessitated calling for help from other cities.Seven other buildings were seriously menaced"

February 6, 1940 - " Fire destroyed the old Weetamoe Mill owned by the city. The loss was estimated at $450,000, included W.P. A tools and supplies, and forty tons of federal surplus foods stored in the building."

January 23, 1939 - " an extensive fire destroyed several at South Main and Columbia Streets and for a time a repetition of the conflagrations of 1916 and 1928 was feared.The loss was $300,000"

Add to these the fires mentioned by Harry and FairhavenGuy for which I did not find any reference.



The Great Fire of 1843
http://www.sailsinc.org/durfee/fowler5.pdf

[FairhavenGuy]

And there was a pretty big mill fire in the 1980s, if I recall correctly. I was either working in the north end of Fall River or in Somerset at the time.

On the way home from work I drove by the Notre Dame Church fire in Fall River during that same general time period.

[nbcatlover]

Click on link for Jack Iddon's photo of the 1988 Kerr Mill fire in Fall River.

http://www.jack-iddon.com/pages_pj/ban_mfir.htm

When these old mills burn, there is no stopping them--they are infernos.

[Kat]

"Fire of February 15-16 1916 "

This 1916 fire affected Borden property or came near to. This is the recent fire Harry found, to which I referred.

Thanks for the list, Missy!

[Kat]

Just found another fire in an Emma/Lizzie Borden property.
July 5th, 1893. Lizzie was out of jail, inheriting 1/2 Andrew's estate- and it sounds like the night after July 4th!

[lydiapinkham]

Yeah, Kat, remember the thread we had going aeons ago about killers' penchants for pyromania? At the time, we had no suspicious fires. . .
Just the same, though, I would think Lizzie would have been keeping her nose clean after all she'd been through. --Of course, there was the Tilden-Thurber affair. They call them klepto and pyro mania because they are powerful compulsions. Interesting question. . .

--Lyddie