Lizzie and Uncle Morse

Uozumi · Post by **Uozumi** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:45 pm

How well did Lizzie and Mr. Morse get along? Do you think using the hatchet was a convenient way to pass the blame on to him? The murders happened during his visit to the Borden's and I read out west, he was a butcher. I have also read that he was friends with Andrew. Do you think Lizzie was okay with this?

Steph F.

bob_m_ryan · Post by **bob_m_ryan** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:31 pm

I can't see any reason Lizzie would have objected to Morse being friendly with Andrew. He was her 'lost' mother's brother. I would think she would have been drawn to him to a certain degree.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:40 pm

I never heard Morse was a butcher in 1892. He was staying with a butcher friend in Dartmouth that summer named Issac Davis. The old man had gone blind and was cared for by his son. Morse was, I believe, a livestock trader and jack of all trades, as were many men of the age- a little farming on the side,- and could turn a hand to many things. When a young man, I daresay he could butcher a hog- a needed skill if you lived on a farm and raised your own food. He might have learned some skills from Issac when he was younger. I think there is something about it in the Rebello book.

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:42 am

I've always gotten the idea that Emma had given Morse sort of a favorite uncle status, while Lizzie seemed indifferent.

John Morse, Inquest, Page 96 (3):
Q. Have you kept up a correspondence with the Bordens?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. During the whole time?
A. That is, with his oldest daughter.
Q. Which one is that?
A. Emma.
Q. Never with any of the rest of them?
A. I used to have a letter occasionally from my brother in law.
Q. From Borden himself?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. How frequent was the correspondence with Miss Emma?
A. Probably once in three or four months.

Nothing is mentioned about corresponding with Lizzie directly. Lizzie certainly seemed to avoid him the day before the murders.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:27 am

Emma was closer to her Uncle than Lizzie was. She and Uncle John
always stayed intouch by writing to each other while Lizzie didn't make any attempt to write him

patsy · Post by **patsy** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:20 pm

In Rebello's book on page 534 it does show John Vinnicum Morse as employed for two years by Charles and Issac Davis as a butcher. Then it shows he was a horse trader later in Hastings, IA.

Not surprised as it appears many men of the day could do many different types of jobs. I'm also not surprised at the hatchet/axe being a handy murder weapon in that time.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:27 am

That was something to find, Patsy! Thanks!
I hadn't noticed that.

Later, when Morse died he left Emma and Lizzie out of his will. Then after some other wrangling among relatives, they were back in again. So their *share,* which the court decided, was offered to them, and Lizzie accepted hers and Emma did not: she turned it down.

snokkums · Post by **snokkums** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:31 am

I thought that Lizzie wasn't to found of Uncle John. Something to do with that he was there to talk to Andrew about changing his will and I thought that Lizzie and Emma were upset with him over that. They felt that he was trying to give their inheirtance away to Abby and her family.
Am I wrong, or have wrong information?