Lizzie/Lizbeth/Lisbeth

[Kat]

“She came up (to Boston) frequently to attend the theatre and I often went with her. Her enjoyment of the theatre was one of the few pleasures which life afforded her. How she loved to see a good play!”

“Miss Borden was bitterly unhappy. Tragedy and sorrow ever overshadowed her. Only on rare occasions did she lay aside the sorrows. These happy and gay moments seem to have come when she was away from Fall River. When with her in Boston or Washington, there were occasions when Miss Borden seemed really carefree. But these moments of happiness were fleeting. Much of the time she was desperately unhappy and she had days of most terrible depression. I know that in later years she questioned the wisdom of having remained in Fall River. She established her home here on the advice of friends, who told her it would appear as if she were running away if she went elsewhere to live. This seemed wise to her at first, but in after years she wondered if it would have not been better had she settled in another place. She felt that every time she stirred from her house that she was a marked woman and it cut her to the heart to be shunned by people.”
--Excerpt[s] from an interview granted to the Fall River Herald by Miss Helen Leighton in 1927. Miss Leighton was a sincere friend of Miss Lizzie’s and believed in her innocence.
From the FRHS calendar of 1993.

Was Lizzie habitually a depressed person? Was she inordinately paranoid even as a younger woman? Did this *Interview* actually take place?

[kssunflower]

Didn't Helen inherit some of Lizzie's estate when she passed? I believe she did reside in Boston at some point. Thanks, Kat, for that interesting article.

[Yooper]

I really don't think that Lizzie was without options. She chose to remain in Fall River, perhaps in spite of being happier elsewhere. She was free to move away at any time if Fall River made her unhappy. Emma moved away when she became dissatisfied.

If the Fall River Herald published the interview while Helen Leighton was alive and used her name, it is probably legitimate.

[Kat]

This is an *Interview* that I now find in The Sourcebook. It is unattributed to any paper or date, page 340.
Miss Leighton was a later friend of Lizzie- after the trial. Rather a *new* friend, and yes, a major individual legatee in her will.

I'm wondering if the Lizzie who people believed committed the crime, was a depressed paranoid. And susceptible to suggestion- as this explanation about her friends telling her to stay, rather than her own decision to stay, makes her sound like she could be led.
And you're right- Emma did leave, but somehow Lizzie couldn't? Emma could have been an example to her, but was not. Maybe they fought over that, the 2 sisters in 1905? (The influence Lizzie's friends had over her, rather than her own willfullness.)

[Yooper]

I keep coming back to the point where Lizzie's first thought, when confronted by Alice Russell about the dress burning was, in part, "How could you let me do it?" It sounds like Lizzie was not responsible for Lizzie's actions. Maybe she was used to others doing her thinking for her, or maybe she was just used to making others feel responsible for her actions. It's difficult to arrive at anything concrete using snippets of information. Maybe she hesitated at leaving her friends and that was why she remained in Fall River. If they remained supportive through the trial and afterward, they were certainly loyal. She had to tolerate being ostracized by others to enjoy the support of her friends, but maybe she thought it was a good trade-off. If she remained in Fall River to avoid the appearance of running away, it may imply that there was something to prove, something to have to make up for. Maybe she was just a prisoner of her own needs.

[Yooper]

One thing seems apparent, Lizzie's happiness and perhaps part of her freedom were subordinate to what others thought of her if she remained in Fall River to prove she had nothing to run away from. It would have made her perhaps inordinately dependent upon acceptance by others if she worried that much about what they thought of her. I don't know enough about clinical psychology to correlate that behavior with depression or paranoia, perhaps someone else can shed some light here. It does seem consistent with notions of status and social position.

[augusta]

I am surprised to read that Lizzie's friends advised her to stay in
Fall River and she took their advice. It goes against how many perceive Lizzie's personality.

She admittedly was "nervous", when you read the note she wrote her neighbor about the bird. There is a symptom of anxiety of being suggestable.

I think of Lizzie having dreamed for so many years of living on 'The Hill' that when she was finally able to, this was the only place she could consider "home".

[Kat]

Yes we see a few descriptions in Rebello of Lizzie being *nervous.*

As for her friends staying around her, she pretty much lost her friends. Her cousin Howe and Miss Leighton were newer intimates- even Mrs. Brigham left her, and seemed to show support for Emma. We also have the theatre people as new friends of Lizzie.

Most instances of friendships seem to be with her staff- but she had a clause that they had to work for her a certain number of years in order to be considered as a possible legatee.

Yes, Lizzie as *suggestable* rather than cunning and headstrong is an interesting view. I wonder who might have led her into killing, if this is so- and if she did...

For *nervous* Lizzie, please see Rebello, page 320, as reported above (ie: "desperately unhappy" "days of most terrible depression"). Also see page 298, the *nervous* comment in the 'little bird' note to Brayton. Also page 293, "Miss Lizzie Borden is a physical wreck and is morbidly sensitive" & "Miss Lizzie is a nervous wreck and will probably never recover."

[Yooper]

I wonder if her friends deserted her before or after advising her to remain in Fall River. If before, then Lizzie was not there out of loyalty or friendship. If after, then she ultimately did not remain as a result of the advice of "friends". It seems odd that people who thought enough of her to want her to remain nearby would flat out desert her. Something must have caused them to change their minds.

Still, something kept her there, in spite of losing her friends, and in spite of her dread of leaving the house. Why would anyone remain anywhere under those conditions? How could being anywhere else be any worse? At that point, why remain in Fall River? Did she have both oars in the water?

[mbhenty]

As always I try to study the other side of the coin. Once I find nothing new my attempt will be to slit the coin on it's edge and discover what's inside. Study must be thorough and exhaustive. Only then will I subscribe to an idea or belief.

Maybe Lizzie's friends did not abandon her.........perhaps She abandoned them. Yes, I am sure that tensions were taken to their peak by the end of the trial. When in hot water only true friends stand by you. Perhaps once she discovered that she abandoned those who did not show loyalty.

AGAIN, YOU MUST WEIGH OUT EVERYTHING YOU READ AND TAKE IT WITH A SPOON OF SALT. EVEN THEN, A SPOON MAY NOT BE BIG ENOUGH AND THE TRUTH MAY NOT BE THERE.

If one goes to Lizzie's will he or she will discover that Lizzie did indeed have close friends.

[Yooper]

I guess it ultimately makes no difference who was responsible for a split between Lizzie and her friends, if indeed there was one. The inconsistency is in Helen Leighton's statement ascribing Lizzie's continued presence in Fall River to the advice of friends, and then describing how miserable she was by remaining there. She tries to portray Lizzie as the victim of something, when in reality, Lizzie had choices. If what Helen Leighton said was true, then Lizzie had the habit of making others responsible for her actions, which is supported by her reaction to Alice Russell telling Hanscomb about the dress burning. This may address the original question of Lizzie's mental stability.

We might also wonder if Lizzie showed any schizoid traits, I can understand if being constantly pulled between Emma and Abby while she was growing up might lead to that in the right person. Maybe she needed two identities to survive the contest for her loyalty, who knows? Maybe Lizzie killed Abby while Lizbeth addressed newspaper wrappers? Maybe Lizzie killed Andrew while Lizbeth went to the barn?

[Kat]

It's smart to go to Lizzie's will for her friends.
Do we know how long each of these people (her legatees) were in her life?

She notes Whipp and Macomber as old school friends- anyone else?

Not being from Fall River, I can only guess at what the friends and neighbors thought of Lizzie after her acquitttal, but It's been my understanding she may have been supported thru the trial in a sort of solidarity, but afterwards a person's reputation could be smudged by still being friendly with her, and so she was dropped. Maybe this is unique to Fall River? Maybe it is like a small town atmosphere? I don't know to compare.

Yes the Leighton *Interview* might seem inconsistent.
We never know for sure if this took place- but it very well might have, it's been referred to often enough.

I agree that it seems peculiar that Lizzie *blame* Alice for not telling her not to burn the clothing. And Emma took up for Lizzie as well- saying she told Lizzie to get rid of it. Maybe Lizzie was never held accountable for her actions? That would fit with her not seeming to stick with her hospital and church work after her trial. (But some sources claim she did, only quietly on the side- like rich folks do...)


I should transcribe the rest of the *Interview* from The Sourcebook.

[Yooper]

I expect it might have been downright awkward being around Lizzie after the trial. I'm sure there were those who continued to believe in her innocence, but maybe others changed their perspective. The case would always be shrouded in uncertainty. We're certainly proof of that, why else are we on this website? How comfortable would any of us be in discussing the weather with Lizzie, if we could? Would our minds wander just a bit? I doubt that many people could relax enough around Lizzie to carry on a meaningful friendship.

[Kat]

I also would like input on where we see Lizzie named as Lisbeth and Lizbeth. There are differing sources for each of these names- can we collect them? I'm still not sure which she preferred, especially if her middle name was misspelled as "Andrews" on the big monument...

[kssunflower]

Wasn't there a painting Lizzie had at Maplecroft that was given as payment to a handyman that had a handwritten note on the back referring to her as Lisbeth?

[Yooper]

I imagine whichever name Lizzie specified for use on her gravestone would be the one she preferred. Wasn't there a document written by Lizzie as to her final wishes for her funeral and burial?

[Kat]

Yes Harry has that. Maybe he will repost it.
But her name was misspelled we believe, already with that middle name "Andrews" and as I recall the burial instructions are not clear enough on paper where her middle name is, as to whether there is an "s" after "Andrew"?
~ ~ ~ ~
--What is this about a painting at Maplecroft and "Lisbeth" on the back- please tell?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I see her name on her will is "Lizbeth."

The City of Fall River "Record of Death" says "Lisbeth."

The newspaper headline, from The Fall River Globe*, upon her death, says "Lisbeth Borden Dies After Short Illness, Age 68," June 2, 1927.

*[They probably got the spelling from the Record of Death. And that probably comes from her doctor or her business manager or a close relation. Those are not always correct- like when Lizzie gave Abbie's age wrongly on her Record.]

[Kat]

"Miss Helen Leighton Feels Faith In Her Interest in Work Prompted Bequests"

"Head Says Unhappy Benefactor Not As Friendless as Sometimes Pictured"
--Fall River Herald, June 12, 1927--as "Author's Note" on page 340, Sourcebook.

Lizzie Borden was one of the first to contribute to the league's work and she was delighted by the splendid progress made by the organization. She personally inspected the new headquarters soon after they were opened and expressed great satisfaction that such comfortable shelter had been provided for friendless animals.

Miss Borden was most sensitive to pain. She could not bear to see suffering. It distressed her most terribly to see a person or the humblest of animals in pain. It seemed a strange irony of fate that such a tender-hearted, kindly woman as Miss Borden should have been linked in the public mind with such an atrocious crime.

Miss Borden was bitterly unhappy. Tragedy and sorrow ever overshadowed her. Only on rare occasions did she lay aside the sorrows. These happy and gay moments seem to have come when she was away from Fall River. When with her in Boston or Washington, there were occasions when Miss Borden seemed really carefree.

But these moments of happiness were fleeting. Much of the time she was desperately unhappy and she had days of most terrible depression. I know that in later years she questioned the wisdom of having remained in Fall River. She established her home here on the advice of friends, who told her it would appear as if she were running away if she went elsewhere to live. This seemed wise to her at first, but in after years she wondered if it would have not been better had she settled in another place. She felt that every time she stirred from her house that she was a marked woman and it cut her to the heart to be shunned by people.

She never went into a store in Fall River; the bank was one of the few places she went and she avoided appearing in public. I understand that during her earlier years she used to go to Boston and stay at the Bellevue but during recent years she was more in the habit of making day trips to Boston. She came up frequently to attend the theatre and I often went with her. Her enjoyment of the theatre was one of the greatest pleasures which life afforded her. How she loved to see a good play!

While Miss Borden led a most unhappy life, she did not lack for a number of warm, staunch friends. She was not as friendless as she has been described. She had at least a dozen devoted friends who did all they could to cheer and brighten her life. Miss Borden was most appreciative of the solicitude shown her and bestowed many, many kindnesses upon her friends. She disliked to accepted gifts but could never do enough for her friends.

Miss Borden had a number of callers and she occasionally entertained at dinner or luncheon. She rarely had house guests.

She went to church but once after her acquittal, the Congregational church in which she had been an active worker for years. Women drew their skirts about them and turned away from her and men whom she had known for years passed her without a word of greeting. She never set foot in the church again and would not contribute to its support. It was an Episcopalian clergyman who pronounced the last words over her body as it was lowered into the grave at Oak Grove cemetery.

Many people seemed unwilling to accept the verdict in the case. I often called to their attention that 12 men absolutely unbiased with all the evidence before them, found Miss Borden not guilty and it seemed to me that this decision should have been generallty accepted.

She gave away thousands of dollars to aid needy cases which came to her attention. She also brought cheer to scores by sending them little luxuries their slender purses could not afford. She helped several young people to obtain a college education. Fond of good reading herself, she saw to it that many persons who enjoyed good books but could not afford them, were well supplied with reading matter. Very few people knew of the extent of her charities.

--Well- I finally read this article in The Sourcebook and have transcribed it here. With paper name & date, notice, supplied by Kent! Included is the oriiginal excerpt I posted earlier.

Please keep in mind that Miss Leighton, according to Rebello, did not come to Fall River until 1892 (page 330), from Maine.

[Yooper]

As far as Lizzie's name is concerned, even Lizzie was misspelling "Lizzie" when she signed her name either as "Lizbeth" or "Lisbeth".

It seems, so far, that any time her name appears as "Lisbeth", it is being written by someone else.

My best guess is that if her will, written by her, is signed "Lizbeth", then that was the spelling she preferred. If someone misspelled "Andrew" as "Andrews", then it is a separate consideration.

[Yooper]

Just another thought, I wonder what the legal ramifications are for Lizzie representing herself as "Lizbeth" on legal documents? Did she have a birth certificate? What name were her bank accounts listed under? There really was no Lizbeth or Lisbeth Borden living at Maplecroft any more than there was an Obergruppenfuhrer Shickelgruber Borden living there. Was her will legal?

[Kat]

Do you have the download copy of her will and probate record? It's at the website.

Yes in fact the "Lizbeth" on the outside page of the copy we have here seems to have been written by (probably) Charles Cook, on his "Schedule" that lists her assests, not on the outside of the will.
(There are 2 pages of will, but stapled together there are 13 pages total that include the Probate schedules and Executor's Account.)

Inside it first notes "1. Lizzie A. Borden, otherwise known as Lizbeth A. Borden, of Fall River..."

Also, I notice on other interior pages (which were once outside pages- ie: seperate documents-Executor Accounts) it says "Lizzie A. Borden alias."

[Kat]

On another page of the 1993 FRHS calendar there is this written:

"Florence Cook Brigham's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Cook, lived only a few houses away from 'Maplecroft.' It was in this house that Florence Cook, the future Mrs. Richard C. Brigham, was born on December 31, 1899.

Mrs. Brigham's mother-in-law, Mrs. George S. Brigham, testified at the trial on Lizzie's behalf. Now Curator Emeritus at the Fall River Historical Society, Florence C. Brigham remembers Lizzie Borden in her later years:
We were always at Grandmother's at 257 French Street on Sunday afternoons. I had no idea who Lizzie Borden was when I was 11 years old, but I remember being told to look out the window because LIzzie Borden was going out for a ride. I remember seeing a beautiful carriage with beautiful horses and a lady with her coachman driving by.

Before I married into the Brigham family they lived at 213 Belmont Street, right around the corner from Lizzie and Emma at 'Maplecroft.' Richard (my husband) was often taken by his mother to visit Lizzie and Emma Borden and remembered them as nice old ladies who gave him cookies and a subscription to the magazine 'Dumb Animals.'

I did not know until after I was married in 1922 that my mother-in-law had been a character witness at the trial. All she said was that Lizzie had always behaved herself since she had seen her growing up at Central Church. The only time I heard my mother-in-law say anything about the case was when our son, Richard Jr., asked,'Do you think Lizzie Borden was guilty or do you think she wasn't?' The answer was 'Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted. You know perfectly well that we do not talk about that anymore.'

[Kat]

Then there is this snippet from the 1993 FRHS Calendar:

The whole town is aghast, Lizzie Borden attended church today. I don't know, but if she did do it isn't church the best place for her.
"Excerpt from a letter sent by Mrs. William C. Davol, Jr. to her daughter, Miss Martha G. Davol, in the Fall of 1893. The Davol family attended the Central Church in Fall River."

[Yooper]

It appears that Lizzie signed her will both as Lizzie A. Borden and as Lizbeth A. Borden, so Lizbeth was indeed her preferred alias, rather than Lisbeth.

"The whole town is aghast"? Wasn't there cheering when "not guilty" was found by the jury? Well, so much for the real value of public opinion! I like the bit about "Lizzie Borden was tried and acquitted. You know perfectly well that we do not talk about that anymore." If she was correctly tried and correctly acquitted, why not talk about it? I guess embarrassing conclusions were to be avoided.

[Yooper]

I've seen much the same mentality when we have a public official who has done enough to become unpopular. No one admits to having voted for the person! He got elected somehow, someone must have voted for him, and not likely just a few! The folks who are embarrassed by their vote are usually the only ones who feel the need to say "I sure didn't vote for him".

[diana]

I also would like input on where we see Lizzie named as Lisbeth and Lizbeth. There are differing sources for each of these names- can we collect them? I'm still not sure which she preferred, especially if her middle name was misspelled as "Andrews" on the big monument...

That would be interesting. Here's a couple of places...

A list of John Morse's legatees, followed by the Residuary Account from his will and both have the 'Lisbeth' spelling.
(Rebello p.73+)

However Lizzie and Emma's first names do not appear in the body of Morse's will, so whoever drew up the list of legatees and the residuary account information may just have guessed at the spelling.

Also, at least two newspapers, The Fall River Globe and the Herald News used the 'Lisbeth' spelling when announcing her death in June, 1927. (Sources: Kent,217 and sailsinc.org)

[kssunflower]

What is this about a painting at Maplecroft and "Lisbeth" on the back- please tell?

Kat, I deleted link. Will never repost it - sorry.

[DJ]

I know (!!!) I've read where Lizzie had some personalized sationery with "Lizbeth"-- is there a photo of an extant letter anywhere? Or, perhaps, a calling card?

[stuartwsa]

I believe that the FRHS used one of Lizzie's calling cards in their calendar back in '92 or '93. The spelling there was most definitely "Lizbeth."

[Harry]

Yes Harry has that. Maybe he will repost it.
But her name was misspelled we believe, already with that middle name "Andrews" and as I recall the burial instructions are not clear enough on paper where her middle name is, as to whether there is an "s" after "Andrew"?

Pearson, in the opening lines of his chapter on the Borden case in "Five Murders" (1928) writes this:

"A woman who died last June, in Fall River, Massachusetts, might have been described, even by those who distrust superlatives, as the strangest and most enigmatic person in America. Miss Lizzie Borden (who for thirty years, and for obvious reasons, had preferred to call herself "Lisbeth") possessed on the day of her death only one near relative - her sister, Miss Emma. ..."

I don't know of any record of Lizzie using "Lisbeth" herself.

Here's Lizzie's handwritten burial instructions dated March 1919. She specifically states she wants "Lizbeth" on her stone, even underlines it twice. We have gone back and forth on whether its reads "Andrew" or Andrews" in the upper right hand part of the instructions.

[Kat]

Good point, Stuart!
DJ that would be a later-than-1905 letterhead, right?
Kssunflower, I don't go there please see your PM.
Harry that is so cool thanks!

Diana, thank you for the tip on Morses's legatee list. I 've dug out a copy of a copy (thanks to our Joe) and see the attorney for "Estate of John V. Morse" is something like "Genung & Genung." Maybe it is his handwriting error. The Typed list is spelled "Lizbeth," but the handwritten one says "Lisbeth." But the handwriting where the "s" is is encompassed by the Bold "E" of Emma's name beneath. I think the typed list came later, because it includes all the dates of the Probate records and is spelled correctly, and final date looks like 1934.

[Harry]

Pearson, in the opening lines of his chapter on the Borden case in "Five Murders" (1928) writes this:

"A woman who died last June, in Fall River, Massachusetts, might have been described, even by those who distrust superlatives, as the strangest and most enigmatic person in America. Miss Lizzie Borden (who for thirty years, and for obvious reasons, had preferred to call herself "Lisbeth") possessed on the day of her death only one near relative - her sister, Miss Emma. ..."

Correcting my own post. It was not Pearson but the magazine "Forum" that reprinted his article from Five Murders that incorrectly uses "Lisbeth". Kat tells me that the book itself uses "Lizbeth".

[Kat]

Thanks Har! That's after you asked me to look it up, since I have the book. It's uncanny how you knew to ask me to double-check!
But very satisfying to get it right, I must agree. Even if it causes more mystery and questions! (That's the best part!)

[diana]

Here's another Lisbeth reference. It's in an article by Deborah Allard in the Herald Post about Stefani and Len's discovery of the picture of Lizzie as a young girl in an album at the Luther Museum:

"The inside cover of the Borden album is marked “August 23, 1945.” In handwriting, it also says, “Probably belonged to Emma and Lisbeth Borden. Their property came into possession of Orrin A. Gardner.”

Source: http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x1971618769

[Kat]

Sharp eyes, Diana! And good find! Thanks!
I wonder what it means?

[diana]

I wonder, too.

At first I tended to think it was someone in the Gardner family who wrote the name as 'Lisbeth', simply because I thought it unlikely a museum would identify something by writing on the object itself. But, in her article in The Hatchet, Stefani notes that, along with handwriting, the inside cover was stamped and dated by the Swansea Historical Society Inc.

So now I'm leaning towards thinking that whoever received the item for the museum was responsible for the spelling.

It's interesting that, although the handwritten notes in the album suggest it may have belonged to Emma and Lizzie because "some of their property came into possession of Orrin A. Gardner", the album is identified as part of Orrin's father's estate.

[Kat]

Well, if it was Henry Gardner's he could have gotten it from his wife Caroline. Then Orrin could get it from Henry. Or Orrin could get it from the estate of Lizbeth, from her will, and whomever wrote that could be slightly mistaken.

I don't know when Caroline died.
Nor do I know when Henry died. But in his pictures he looks about 75. I had calculated him to be alive still between 1905 (at the earliest) and 1915, according to his portrait. I don't think it's impossible he lived to be 80, in 1915.

Orrin died in 1944. I only know his mother Caroline was not alive in 1927 when Emma died. She was born in 1839.

Now I am sort of wondering why the (almost) interchangeability of these 2 names: Lisbeth and Lizbeth.
Maybe Lizzie used both?

[Yooper]

I think that unless we can find an instance where Lizzie signed her name as "Lisbeth", her unique preference was "Lizbeth". If the only instances of the spelling "Lisbeth" were from people other than Lizzie, then it was a misspelling on their part. Practically everyone knew her as "Lizzie" and in referring to her by either spelling of "Lizbeth", they were either deferring to her wishes with an unintentional misspelling, or were showing contempt for her name alteration with an intentional misspelling.

[Kat]

I wonder how each name sounds with a Fall River accent? Maybe it was heard incorrectly as well, like the names in the trial transcribed by a court stenographer (where we get Winwood from Winward, for example)?

[Yooper]

My guess is that unless we lispeth, Lizbeth and Lisbeth both are pronounced with a "z" sound rather than an "s".

[DJ]

Maybe, when the B'way musical version of Lizzie's life makes it to the boards, it'll be called "Lizbeth with a Z." Whoever plays LAB can have a big solo:

It's Lizbeth with a "Z,"
And "Andrew" with no "S."
I've been a work-in-progress
Since I burned that dadgum dress.

************************************************************
Kat, as an Anglophile, I'm sure you know that The Queen's "familiar name" is Lillibet. Sounds like a garble Margaret Rose used in childhood.
Guess it's better than Yo Madge.

[Kat]

New Bedford Evening Standard, June 2, 1927, pg. 2
“Lizzie Borden is Dead of Heart Disease”
(sub-headliner)
Her Later Years
Though Miss Borden’s home never became any center of social life and though her life seemed lonely and devoid of satisfaction, it was not without its interests. She had a couple of women servants, a man of all work, and a chauffeur when the carriage had been given up for a motor car. And these were not without their loyalties in her behalf. When the coachman or the chauffeur had been allowed to go, because he was distasteful to the elder Miss Borden, he came back again when his absence was found not to smooth out the tangles, and Miss Lizzie asked him to.

She also had generous opportunities for travel and out-of-town living experiences, she traveled abroad and she was fond of reading and is said to have enjoyed expressing herself on paper though to what end has not been made apparent.

Besides these, she had a keen interest in drama and the stage. While her sister, a quiet woman of gentle refinements, was still living with her, she is said to have met at a summer resort Nance O’Neil, the actress, and to have developed a great attachment for her. When she played in Fall River Lizzie Borden entertained her and her company at dinner in the home. At another time when Nance O’Neil was ill from overwork, she came to the Borden home to recuperate. All this was done very quietly, it was said.

Miss Borden did not attend herself the theater in Fall River, but had seen the actress play in Boston or New York. It was soon after the O’Neil visit that Miss Emma Borden withdrew from partnership in the home. The association with the actress was not lasting and apparently ceased to exist entirely.

When Lizzie Borden began to go about in travels, she took the name of Lizbeth. She was so entered in the Fall River telephone directory- Lizbeth A. Borden- she bore as middle name the first name of her father Andrew. . .was a respected name in the Borden family in various branches, appearing nine times as first names of men- in seven cases without middle letter- in seventh, eighth, and ninth generations. Andrew J., Fall River, was the eighth generation, though his life was practically contemporary with the seventh generation Andrew. He gave the name to his daughter, and her name, Lizzie A., had been bestowed upon a child born to the New Jersey branch of the family five years before the famous murder in the family brought the name before the nation.

Lost to Present Day

Time more than any other factor hid the woman from public interest or attention. A generation has gone by since the murder trial, and the youth of Fall River have never known her as a personality. Hearsay is forgot, if it travels to one’s ears. Old Fall River knows that Lizzie Borden went on living in the good frame house on the upper stretch of French street; that she enlarged the original grounds by the purchase of a strip of land of the Swift estate next door; that a tall fence soon after blocked in the new grounds, suggesting that some difference had arisen between 3izzie Borden and the estate formerly possessing them. Old Fall River has known it as a spite fence, but how ___ the name was the public never knew. Obviously, however, Lizzie Borden had none of that inherent antipathy to fences that characterizes Robert Frost’s New England poem. “Some thing there __ that does not like a wall” and its unfriendly boundary line against one’s neighbors. Her property is well fenced in, suggesting a dislike of prying eyes from neighbor’s back steps, relating to house maids and grocery team drivers.

So far as the public goes in general, Lizzie Borden had been out of the community long before death removed her literally.

An Interesting Subject

In the earlier years after the murder trial, newspaper writers found her an interesting subject of study. When 20 years had gone by, a writer held her up to the light and said, in 1913, “She is today just what she was described as being when when she faced trial for her life 20 years ago- a stolid, immobile, unemotional appearing woman- her large, strong features expressing the same determination that characterized her when she faced her accusers. If this woman has ever had an emotion, it can honestly be said that she has invariably succeeded in concealing it from any other human eye. She goes about today just as she went her way, firm mouthed, direct-eyed, and baffling of understanding, during the days following the discovery of the bodies and the succeeding months. She has maintained the silence of the Sphinx, she never asked for mercy, never pleaded to be understood, never by any word or sign expressed indignation at the treatment afforded her by the people of Fall River – meaning in leaving her alone.” [possibly quote ends here]

Thought Her “Genteel”

A juror in the trial, recalling it a quarter of a century afterwards, and never having seen Lizzie Borden in all that time, said that his expression at the time of the trial was of Miss Borden as “very genteel.” He remembered that there was nothing hard about her face, and she seemed quite the sort of person anyone would like to know. He remembered how she had looked imperturbably on the hatchets which were brought into court as possibly accessories to the crime.

But perhaps those who have recalled her as absolutely unfeeling forgot how she once covered her face with her fan to shut out an unsavory sight, and that once she fainted, though, it is true the heat was intolerable.

That Lizzie Borden grew fat, took on the look of a good-liver, and never lost her aspect of independence, proved either that she adjusted herself to conditions, or else that they did not impress themselves upon her consciousness. A guilty conscience is a fearsome thing for a timorous person and can hardly be hid.

Lizzie Borden did not wear her heart upon her sleeve. Her life’s emotions, if there were such, were kept well below the surface. Perhaps conscience has ceased to exist by the time a deep-laid scheme of villainy has come to pass; and also perhaps it is true that life’s right standards can not be used in measuring the functioning of the consciousness. Innocence under wrong borne without bitterness breeds a compensating serenity. Indifference, perhaps, serves the same end for the hardened heart, in outward appearance, However the case may have been with Lizzie Borden, no one ever accused her of playing a part, of pretending for given ends, of masquerading, or of shamming. There has never been any “front” of artifice. All through she had been just Lizzie Borden made that way, and with no explanations to give or apologies to offer.

Just what Lizzie Borden was, only the opening of the doomsday book apparently will tell.

--Part 6 of 6 parts. The first 2 parts are the title pages, the 3rd is the photo of the jury, the next 2 carry the major volume of text, which is rather wrong in places, and deals with the crime, mostly, and the final page I have transcribed here.

[Kat]

Fall River Herald News, August 4, 1991

"Everyone questions everything, including things that shouldn't be", by Florence Brigham

Why do people from all over the world come to the Fall River Historical Society to talk about Lizzie Borden? Why has this murder surpassed all others in poularity? I have been wondering that for years.

I think that little ditty "Lizzie Borden took an ax" is a catchy little piece that children through the years have sung when jumping rope. I wish I could find out who started that. Victoria Lincoln tells about singing it outside Lizzie's house on French Street in the early 1900s, but I have been told a play in New York said it before that.

When I was growing up we saw Lizzie Borden and paid absolutely no attention to her. The jury had said "Not Guilty." To us that meant she was innocent. Today, everyone questions everything. Until 1902 people in Fall River, out of respect for the Borden name, were going to forget it all. The Borden Family, distant cousins of Lizzie, had started the mills, the Fall River Line of Steamers, the railroad. They had supported all the churches in Fall River, had built many of them. No one wanted to connect a murder with them.

My mother-in-law often took my husband, in 1902, to visit Lizzie and Emma, when they were neighbors on French and Belmont streets. When I married into their family in 1922 we never went, never talked about them, never mentioned the case. The reason she gave up, I am sure, is because Lizzie opened her home to the theater playing at our Academy Theater. Nice girls did not do that. Theater people were supposed to be "fast," smoked cigarettes and "drank," it was said. That is when Lizzie Borden lost her reputation with my mother-in-law. She continued to write to Emma in New Hampshire. Is this why others in Fall River started to ignore her? I think so.

Today, everyone likes a mystery and the case has never been satisfactorily solved. Writers are blaming everyone from Dr. Bowen to Cousin John Morse. Guests at the Historical Society often say "I hope it is never solved; then all the fun would be gone."--Brigham is curator emeritus of the Fall River Historical Society.

[Kat]

It may seem a bit simplistic as an analysis, but it sounds like Lizzie's "reputation" survived the wait in jail, the murder trial, the rumors of a wedding that did not come to fruition, the charge of shoplifting at Tilden-Thurber, only to be *ruined* by hosting some showfolks at her home on French Street.

I bet the neighbors were peering out their curtains at the fancy cars and actresses!

[Yooper]

Once again, the logic escapes me. We can overlook murder, but we simply will not tolerate association with theater people? Maybe we can overlook nearly anything so as to avoid soiling the Borden name, but THEATER PEOPLE? What was the name of the newspaper which published an annual reminder of the murders? I don't think it was completely forgotten, and not everyone thought Lizzie was innocent.

[doug65oh]

I agree, Yooper. It's rather an odd thing, to say the least. But then again it seems that the theatre generally speaking didn't have a particularly good repute, and hadn't in certain circles for many years. I recall reading a time or two that Abraham Lincoln's love of the theatre was a favorite topic among back alley tongue-waggers during the war. Perception would be the key I think, as it so often is to most things.

[DJ]

Last night, caught a fascinating interview with a noted Lincoln historian, held in the Lincoln Bedroom, where his Cabinet used to gather.
Someone else can supply said historian's name-- he's written 20 books and was of slight frame with a balding pate and otherwise gray hair, a goatee, and glasses.
He related the anecdote of how entranced Lincoln (and Mary Todd) were with P.T. Barnum's star "Tom Thumb" and his bride (don't recall their real names).
They were received joyfully at the White House. However, Lincoln's oldest son, visiting from college or off somewhere, refused to acknowledge Tom Thumb and his wife because he considered such an act "undignified."
Mary Todd reprimanded this son: "Anyone whom your father considers to be dignified is dignified."
Just a glimpse into prevailing attitudes of the time toward showfolk.
Wonder what Young Mr. Lincoln would have thought of R.R. and Nancy!!!
*************************************************************
Thanks for the transcriptions, Kat.

[doug65oh]

Missed the interview you mention DJ, but the feller does sound familiar based on your physical description. I'd forgotten about the White House reception until you mentioned it. If you take a look at http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/ins ... ubjectID=3
and http://brightbytes.com/collection/tomthumb.html there are some details about it and also some photographs of Mr. & Mrs. C.S. Stratton. There's an interesting poignancy to some of the descriptions and comments I thought.

Robert Todd Lincoln's reaction doesn't surprise me at all. I suspect he'd have reacted no better to any film stars.

[kssunflower]

Just a glimpse into prevailing attitudes of the time toward showfolk.

Attitudes no doubt reinforced by the events of April 14, 1865.

[doug65oh]

Well, that of course undoubtedly figured into it. But at least where young Robert Lincoln is concerned - I don't recall a single contemporary source that characterized that particular father-son relationship as an easy one.

Probably the best person to address the peaks and valleys in the popularity of the theatre over the last several hundred years though would be Stefani.