Ok, this is a very far-fetched theory, but it popped in my mind & I decided to give it a go (if by chance, it’s been discussed before, I apologize). What if Abby wasn’t killed by the hatchet blows? What if the hatchet blows were a cover up to what really killed her? Poisoning!
Let’s say Lizzie was the culprit & she was able to obtain a poison after all. What if Abby was in the guest room doing her chores & she finally succumbed to the poison & dropped dead right there on the floor? Lizzie, fearing she could be marked as the poisoner (the pharmacist as a witness to her buying the poison), decided to make Abby’s death look more sinister? Thus, the hatchet blows followed to make it look like a gruesome axe murder. Obviously, the first witnesses who saw Abby’s body would assume her chopped up head was what killed her.
Then Lizzie killed her father with a hatchet to prevent his suspicion of her & to ensure both murders looked as if they were inflicted with a hatchet.
Again, I know this is far-fetched, but I thought it was worth a shot. Wouldn’t that be something that after all these years of folklore saying Abby was killed with 19 hatchet blows when in fact it was really poison?
Personally, I still believe Abby was hacked to death – but it was a fun alternate theory to explore.
Last edited by dalcanton on Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Interesting, dalcanton. And we have an excellent witness to the fact that Abby might have indeed been poisoned...Abby herself.
This was a frugal, no-nonsense woman. I have always thought it as VERY telling that she took it upon herself to go directly to Dr. Bowen's and tell him she was afraid she was being poisoned. He laughed at her, which infuriates me. To this day, doctor's dismiss women as being hysterical, or imagining things that aren't there. The good doctor told her it was only summer complaint (aka food poisoning, from improperly refrigerated leftovers.) But I maintain that Abby Borden would have known the difference. Abby's own intuition told her this was not from bad food; this was something more sinister.
I believe in women's intuition, and I think it's quite possible Abby WAS poisoned by something that the medical school that examined her stomach and its contents could not detect.
My daughter, in the past few months, has been very ill. Similar symptoms to what Abby was suffering...nausea, vomiting, etc. She went to her primary care physician, a new partner of MY doctor. He told her it was all in her head, and gave her a lecture on the perils of stress. Offered to put her on Prozac...when she told me I was very upset..my daughter is a very smart girl, (a medical student) and she just KNEW something was wrong. I dragged her to my own doctor, who did tests, obtained cultures, and discovered she had C-Dff. Clostridium Difficile is an antibiotic resistant stomach bug; hard to treat, and fatal in some folks (usually infants, and the very old.) She was given Vancomycin (considered a "last resort" antibiotic) got better, relapsed 2 weeks later, then another course of Vanc, now we're keeping out fingers crossed we wont' relapse again.
When we got the results, I was so angry that I called the doctor who had dismissed her complaints and told him I just what I thought of his medical skills...AND that he needed to start LISTENING to the women who came to him, because females aren't all a bunch of whining hypochondriacs. His reaction? He sent a registered letter to my daughter, firing her as his patient, (citing that her personality was "difficult"...what an ass.)
Dr. Bowen was said to be very nervous after the autopsies of the Bordens. I think it crossed his mind more than once that Abby might have been telling the truth; that she WAS being slowly poisoned....
And of course, I have a question: Abby and Andrew were definitely sick 2 nights before the murders...and of course we all know Bridgette was vomiting in the back yard. Lizzie told Alice Russell that she too, was sick, but do we any proof of this? Lizzie wasn't eating a whole lot; something she herself volunteered during the inquest.
If Lizzie did poison the three of them (Andrew, Abby, the maid) now did she do it? What did she use? How did she avoid getting sick herself?
If Abby were dead BEFORE she received the 18 blows to the head, would the blood spatter at the scene have looked differently? Would LIzzie have known this? Dead people have no blood pressure; hence, wound don't spurt or spray...
I'm very interested to see what others think of dalcanton's idea...
I've often wondered about the accuracy of the testing. And many of the points Nancydrew made are points that I have raised myself in discussion on the forum. Abby would have known the difference between what they termed "summer complaint" and something more serious. This was a pretty common illness back then. But Abby was frightened this time when she became ill. Something frightened her and convinced her she was being poisoned. The only other person who was talking about poison was Lizzie. I think she put the idea in Abby's head to frighten her, maybe to taunt her a little. I believe she was talking about all these enemies her father had who might be poisoning the milk to throw suspicion off of herself. Because Lizzie was possibly poisoning Andrew and Abby. Andrew was clearly opposed to Abby seeing the doctor but she defied his wishes and went anyway. I think that's telling also.
I also had another theory that I proposed some time ago on the forum. There was a statement made by a pharmacist who said that Lizzie had been a frequent customer in his store a few years before the murders. That was until an incident where she purchased chloroform and the pharmacist questioned her reason for the purchase. She replied that it was to kill a cat. He said she replied in a very hauty manner and never returned to his store. I find this credible. The man places Lizzie in his store a few years before the murders, not at a more recent time, and claimed she was a regular customer so he would know her. It wasn't the first time she'd been in there. Now why if she bought this poison would she need it? My theory was that she could have used chloroform during the murders. It can leave tell tale marks on the face if the skin comes into contact for too long. But that's not always the case every time it is used. If she could have knocked them out first it would explain a lot. I also thought the idea was far fetched because I had no proof other than the apparent lack of a struggle, and that there was a statement Lizzie had bought chloroform. But it's an interesting theory.
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Even in 2013 they wouldn't necessarily detect every type of poison used.
Lizzie was a Kleptomaniac, shoplifted many things over the years, why not pilfer some poison when the pharmacist was otherwise occupied?
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." Christopher Hitchens
It's possible. But she would have to go behind the counter to get the prescription medicines. Then she would have to know where they were kept and what she was looking for to do it in a hurry. It would be easier to buy rat poison or other products that already contained the poisons needed. Evidently chloroform did not require any form of prescription. Many common household products of the time contained deadly poisons and drugs we would consider narcotics today. I suspect Lizzie tried to use one of these easily obtainable poisons at first and it didn't work out the way she intended. It's my belief this is what caused the family to become ill. Another point that makes me think something was somehow slipped into the meals of the household members is that John Morse ate the same left over mutton that the family did. He did not get sick. Lizzie didn't eat any of the meals that we can conclusively see. She didn't sit down for any of the meals with the family.
It's true that even today there are poisons that cannot be detected or are very difficult to detect. Some of them pass out of the blood stream very quickly. Others are hard to detect because nobody is looking for them to test. They are unlikely forms of murder. Such as Succinylcholine. This is one of the drugs used during lethal injections and during surgery. It relaxes the muscles in the body to the point that one cannot even breathe on their own. But the patient is also still wide awake. It works immediately, and the body begins to break it down almost immediately also. Which makes it difficult to detect. The rudimentary testing methods of the time make me wonder how accurately they could test for even the known poisons. Even today poisoning deaths with known poisons like arsenic are sometimes not discovered until the body has been exhumed and tested for traces of poison. Because if there is no suspicion of poison being used nobody tests for it. There is no catch all tests for poison. If you're not testing for it, you won't find it.
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Allen wrote:It's possible. But she would have to go behind the counter to get the prescription medicines. Then she would have to know where they were kept and what she was looking for to do it in a hurry. It would be easier to buy rat poison or other products that already contained the poisons needed. Evidently chloroform did not require any form of prescription. Many common household products of the time contained deadly poisons and drugs we would consider narcotics today. I suspect Lizzie tried to use one of these easily obtainable poisons at first and it didn't work out the way she intended. It's my belief this is what caused the family to become ill. Another point that makes me think something was somehow slipped into the meals of the household members is that John Morse ate the same left over mutton that the family did. He did not get sick. Lizzie didn't eat any of the meals that we can conclusively see. She didn't sit down for any of the meals with the family.
It's true that even today there are poisons that cannot be detected or are very difficult to detect. Some of them pass out of the blood stream very quickly. Others are hard to detect because nobody is looking for them to test. They are unlikely forms of murder. Such as Succinylcholine. This is one of the drugs used during lethal injections and during surgery. It relaxes the muscles in the body to the point that one cannot even breathe on their own. But the patient is also still wide awake. It works immediately, and the body begins to break it down almost immediately also. Which makes it difficult to detect. The rudimentary testing methods of the time make me wonder how accurately they could test for even the known poisons. Even today poisoning deaths with known poisons like arsenic are sometimes not discovered until the body has been exhumed and tested for traces of poison. Because if there is no suspicion of poison being used nobody tests for it. There is no catch all tests for poison. If you're not testing for it, you won't find it.
True...I've watched succinylcholine given many times during Electro-convulsive Therapy (ECT) It's given IV and stops all skeletal muscle activity including the diaphragm and inter-rcostal muscles used for breathing. The person must be artificially respirated while getting the "Sux" It's half life is very very short, and the person spontaneously breathes on their own again within a few minutes. Not appropriate for home poisoning, but other products are also poison. Rat/mouse poison would be inappropriate also b/c it is "Warfarin" or Coumadin. Blood thinners used in people after surgery, but in high doses, poison. It kills by causing massive internal bleeding (of the rat or the person) therefore immediately detectable upon autopsy. Curiously, nicotine from tobacco will kill if taken orally. The amount of nicotine in ONE pack of cigarettes, if soaked in water and ingested, is lethal.
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." Christopher Hitchens
Succinylcholine has been used in a few actual murder cases. This is why I brought it up. In one such case it was not detected in the blood stream of the victim. Rather the chain of evidence for murder was built around the fact that the man had purchased the drug to use in the murder of his wife, without any reason for needing it he was not a doctor or anyone else who would need to use such a drug, and the injection site was found on the body. Another case was a case where the husband and wife were both doctors. The wife died of what was initially ruled a heart attack. Afterwards, when suspicion of foul play arose, the coroner was able to isolate some of the metabolites of the succinylcholine and found large quantities of it in the brain tissue of the victim. The woman had died due to asphyxiation because of the drug. Rat poisons back then mainly consisted of arsenic. There are even recorded cases today where a patient was misdiagnosed as dying of natural causes, or some mysterious illness, only to be exhumed later and large quantities of arsenic found in the body. Succinylcholine has been touted by some in the media as the perfect murder weapon. But that is the media spin on it. The media spins whatever sells. It has however been used as a weapon for murder.
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
I read many people say that when she was attacked, Abby was in the guest room doing her chores. This idea always troubles me. It is generally thought that Abby was killed about 9:30, but the home chores had been done. I always believe that it was not accidental that Abby was killed in the guest room and more precisely in that location. No matter who was the killer, Lizzie or an intruder, Abby, in my opinion, was deceived to go to that place (certanly, the false motive could concern somehow with the home chores), and even at the last second - or almost - before the murder she didn't realise she was at the point of being attacked.
That theory that Abby wanted to escape under the bed doesn't convince me at all.
"Mr. Morse, when you were told for the THIRD time that Abby and Andrew had been killed, why did you pronounce a "WHAT" to Mrs. Churchill? Why?"
Franz wrote:I read many people say that when she was attacked, Abby was in the guest room doing her chores. This idea always troubles me. It is generally thought that Abby was killed about 9:30, but the home chores had been done. I always believe that it was not accidental that Abby was killed in the guest room and more precisely in that location. No matter who was the killer, Lizzie or an intruder, Abby, in my opinion, was deceived to go to that place (certanly, the false motive could concern somehow with the home chores), and even at the last second - or almost - before the murder she didn't realise she was at the point of being attacked.
That theory that Abby wanted to escape under the bed doesn't convince me at all.
Why couldn't Abby be in the room putting pillow cases on pillows? 9:30am isn't too late to put a pillow case on...
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." Christopher Hitchens
Franz wrote:I read many people say that when she was attacked, Abby was in the guest room doing her chores. This idea always troubles me. It is generally thought that Abby was killed about 9:30, but the home chores had been done. I always believe that it was not accidental that Abby was killed in the guest room and more precisely in that location. No matter who was the killer, Lizzie or an intruder, Abby, in my opinion, was deceived to go to that place (certanly, the false motive could concern somehow with the home chores), and even at the last second - or almost - before the murder she didn't realise she was at the point of being attacked.
That theory that Abby wanted to escape under the bed doesn't convince me at all.
I believe Abby went willingly to the bedroom to do some tidying up or some similar chore. Morse was rumored to wear the same clothing for extended periods of time. Perhaps he didn't bathe or shampoo his hair frequently, and it was warm. Perhaps he sweated on the pillow cases or they were otherwise soiled.
Any decent housewife I know would change a guest's bed if they aren't staying another night. Also, housework is done at all times. Remember the saying "a woman's work is never done"? Even with all the modern things we have nowadays, its still true.
A blood covered silk handkerchief was found near the body that it was said she might have been wearing over her hair as she was dusting, or using to dust. Bridget stated that Abby used old handkerchiefs as dust rags.
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
PossumPie wrote:There is testimony that Mrs. Bordon was expecting a guest Monday. She would have to clean the room and change the bed to prepare for that guest.
That's a good question. Was Lizzie the only one to offer that Abby had guests coming Monday? Surely if this were true, Mrs. Borden would have told their maid, no?
Silk? To dust with? Hmm. That doesn't seem like a good choice. Maybe it was covering her hair? Do you know how large it was?
Here is A Practical Treatise on Poisons: Their Symptoms, Antidotes and Mode of Treatment, published 1848, that can be downloaded as a free PDF from the U.S. National Library of Medicine – Digital Collection at
I find it difficult to wrap my brain around the logic of trying to hide a suspicious death with a far more obvious bludgeoning, especially without an alibi. Lizzie wanted to poison them; that's what the prussic acid was about. But given the proximity of the pears on the ground with the night soil makes me suspect a strain of E.coli as to the source of everyone's illness. Not all strains of E.coli are fatal, and the symptoms would be different than food poisoning.
DebbieDiablo
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(¸.·´ (¸.·'* Even Paranoids Have Enemies
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."
Ah, Debbiediablo, you've also got the delightful matter of Bridget's vomit next day. What their back yard must have smelled like in the summer was probably indescribable. I doubt whether there would be too many tea parties on the lawn!
I think the mutton possibly on the turn and some bad fish perhaps had something to do with the household sickness too. When you think of the days before proper refrigeration in homes and shops and the way fishmongers and butchers used to display their wares, it's no wonder 'summer sickness' was just regarded as an everyday hazard. There are Victorian photos of butchers shops next to the dusty road in bush towns in Australia that would have turned me vegetarian!
Going back to poison of the usual kind, I wonder whether Lizzie ever thought of the obvious. Arsenic ! So many uses in the home, rat poison, fly-papers etc. it's a wonder it didn't cross her mind. The poison of choice, too, for so many murderesses in the 19th century. A little dish of fly-papers in water, oozing out poison liquid and Lizzie could always say she used it as a cosmetic. The disadvantage was, I suppose, that arsenic would be the first thing investigators would look for in the analysis of the victims' stomachs and gut.
This thread is approaching one of my primary questions: why is Lizzie attempting to buy prussic acid the day before the murders and then 1) she 'snaps' and bludgeons them to death the next day or 2) she executes two well-planned murders the next day or 3) she 'snaps' and kills Abby after which she has no choice but to kill Andrew when he arrives home. She prophesies doom to Miss Russell, but was she thinking about the following day or further into the future? What moves her from a disguised death by poison to overt act(s). Were the menstrual rags real, and did she have uncontrollable PMDD? Did she overhear something in the conversation between Abby, Andrew and John? Did she give up on poisoning because her first effort (the one that was presently making everyone ill or not) failed or because she realized that prussic acid would never be available to her? Had it simply been a summer that was too damned long and too hot?
DebbieDiablo
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(¸.·´ (¸.·'* Even Paranoids Have Enemies
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."
Gosh debbiediablo, if we all knew the answers to the questions you've posed there'd be no need for this forum! For myself, my quick answer would be, it would depend if something precipitated the murders like overhearing some sort of conversation between Andrew and Uncle John about property, or a will, say, making her feel that she and Emma were not going to get something that was 'rightfully their's'.
She may have been spooked by her failure to obtain poison, (if it really was her in Whitney's shop, witness identification can be so iffy) and decided to use the hatchet she probably bought or shoplifted while in New Bedford on an earlier visit. I do believe her loathing of Abby had reached such a state that she felt she had to go and had long planned to murder her. Therefore there is talk beforehand about poisoned milk, 'father's enemies' etc, setting the scene as it were.
As I think Lizzie's main motivation was gain, then Abby had to die first, then Andrew, in order for the sisters to inherit the lot.
I think it was an opportunistic murder of Abby, everyone out for a couple of hours, Bridget occupied in doing the windows. I don't know whether their was an argument between Abby and Lizzie that set Lizzie off and made her 'snap'.
Probably not, as she needed an unsuspecting Abby in order to get near and attack. She may have hidden the hatchet in a pile of clean linen laid out in the dining room in order to do this.
i tend to think she did attempt to buy the prussic acid. the main reasons are all of the talk by abby and lizzie about poison, and lizzie's denying she knew of the existence of a drug store TWO blocks away from a house she'd lived in for 20 odd years. in a day when people walked their neighborhoods a lot more than we do now. i can't, don't believe that.
but if she did, how (and when) did she intend to use it? if she knew abby had to die first in order for she and emma to inherit (or did she know that? or at that point?), she'd have had to poison abby first, then andrew.
could be she was casting about sort of wildly at that point, and once the kibosh was put on the prussic acid, she had to look elsewhere for the answer.
but if she did shoplift the hatchet during her new bedford trip, which is my current pet theory, why bother with the prussic acid? unless she blanched at the idea of hacking them to bits after purchasing the hatchet, and then looked for a less grotesque solution in the poison. i believe the opportunism played into it happening that specific day.
i believe it was bridget who testified that lizzie had her period earlier in the week, monday?
I totally agree re: the prussic acid. She knew the shop was there, and unless the pharmacist was a nutcase he knew her well enough to identify her. But we don't know that Lizzie planned to murder Abby first in order to inherit. This is assuming the motive was financial (not saying it wasn't) and that she understood the rules of inheritance (not saying she didn't). Hindsight is always 20/20...maybe she just got lucky in the order of things (not saying she did). Looking back it's easier to find meaning in everything that happened than it is to determine what was planned and what happened to unfold that worked out to her benefit.
DebbieDiablo
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(¸.·´ (¸.·'* Even Paranoids Have Enemies
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."
yes, that's the thing. did she plan to kill abby first, or, was it only that she had the opportunity to kill her first? i'm satisfied that her motive was financial. well mostly. wanting to be free of abby, her father holding the reins, that house, all of it, and to live the kind of life she thought she should.
but i don't know if she would have been aware that abby had to die first in order for the two of them to inherit, or it it was dumb luck.
the pharmacist sounded reasonable enough in his testimony. stands to reason he'd have recalled it so well, because no one ever came in to ask for ten cent's worth of prussic acid claiming they needed it to treat a seal cape! right, he'd have seen her around, so could identify her.
Of course, if we accept that Lizzie grabbed the opportunity that presented itself that morning to get rid of her hated stepmother, then the other theory often presented is that, just as Andrew knew that Lizzie was probably involved in the prior daylight robbery, then he would know, or soon come to suspect, Lizzie was his wife's murderess.
I don't know that suspecting your daughter is both light fingered and malicious is the equivalent of believing her capable of butchering another person with a hatchet. Nevertheless, Lizzie herself may have believed this, and feared that she would be incarcerated in a mental institution or prison, abandoned by her father. So, he had to die.
i think it was both. she knew she had to kill them both because andrew would know lizzie killed abby. if not immediately, soon. and also the opportunity to kill abby came before the one to kill andrew.
Do you think that Abby's panicking on the Wednesday about the baker's bread, milk etc being 'poisoned' didn't actually mean poisoning in the classic sense but it being adulterated, as we know many eatables in the 19th century were.
Lizzie, with her own plans in mind, observes Abby rushing across to Dr Borden with talk of poison that Wednesday morning and an idea is planted in her mind. She decides she can use this to her advantage. It's all the better as it's provable, with Dr Bowen is a witness to Abby's panic. Therefore Lizzie decides that evening to pay a visit to Alice Russell and ups the ante by talk of poison, enemies, being burned in their beds etc.
1. Morse brought the poison for Lizzie? He then has time to create his beautiful alibi.
2. Lizzie uses the hatchet in the hopes it will cover up poisoning and suggest and intruder. If Abby and Andrew had been drugged, perhaps that would have affected the blood flow?
The poison wouldn't have to be poison--it could be laudanum or other morphine-based drug...
it's nice to see a couple of long-time forum members posting again :)
curryong, you mean abby may have thought the bread or milk was accidentally poisoned, by no one in particular, just in the manufacturing process? it's possible. abby doesn't seem like the panicking type, and she had to have known andrew well enough to know he might object to what he might think of as a frivolous call to the doctor. so she'd have to have thought something was truly wrong to say and do that, not just a matter of 'summer sickness.'
morse's extremely detailed alibi has always seemed odd. if he were involved in the murders somehow, that would explain it. but what would be his motive? he was friendly with both abby and andrew, especially andrew. reasonably friendly with emma, but from what we can tell, not especially so with lizzie.
the contents of the borden's stomaches were examined, so i'd think if they were poisoned, it would have been discovered.
The thing about Morse remembering his alibi: people who are fuzzy where they've been are suspect; people who clearly recall details about everywhere they've been are suspect. I think Morse's alibi has more to do with the differences in whether people live in the moment and truly pay attention to what they're doing versus they walk through life with their mind elsewhere. This isn't just about Morse remembering everything; the people he remembered would be interviewed to see if they remembered him. Two of kids have a friend, Nikki, who seems to have an almost photographic memory – not for schoolwork or what's told to her – just for what she sees. Nikki spent a lot of time at our house in high school. If I were looking for something, I'd call Nikki and almost always she could describe exactly where it was!
DebbieDiablo
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"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."
the main thing about morse's alibi is his recalling the number of the streetcar he took on his journey back to the borden's. who knows, maybe he had an extraordinary nikki-like memory, maybe something happened that called his attention to it and that's why he remembered. but we don't have access to that information, if it was true, so to me it stands out as being strange.
Some people do have those precise sort of memories, though, Catbooks. Wish I did! There was a famous domestic murder in England called the Wallace case in the early 1930's, and the chief suspect (the husband) drew attention to himself, and the suspicion of the police, simply because he was able to recall the minutiae of his journey on the night of the murder in precise detail!
Yes it is lovely to see some 'old posters' back on the forum.
With an earlier post, Catbooks, I just meant to say that when Abby rushed over to Dr Bowen's that Wednesday morning and mentioned 'poison' he took it to mean, I think, adulterated flour (in the manufacturing process) as he reassured her that others in the town would have been ill if that had been the case. I think she meant it in that way too. (Same with the household milk.)
My main idea was that Lizzie, if she planned the murder of both parents, might have taken the occurrence of them both being ill and Abby complaining of 'poison' to twist it another way in her conversation that night with Alice Russell. This time the conversation is of 'enemies' and poison in the sense of someone wishing the family harm.
Well it wouldn't be so far-fetched. All of the pictures I've seen of Abby is lacking some serious blood. There isn't any spatter on the wall, floor, bed, or chest of drawers. My minor was crime scene investigation and I find it fascinating, sorry. As for the contents of the stomachs- I read that Andrew had been vomiting (which would empty out his stomach) but what if Abby hadn't been vomiting yet? Hers was said to have food in it. *Sorry, don't mean to be gross.
Take a look at the thread 'All about Abby' as it discusses the blood spatter in detail. Same with the thread 'All about Andrew' (early on in the thread as threads sometimes get hijacked here and we go onto entirely different subjects!)
Thank you! I didn't see those 2 threads. I'm still trying to work my way through them. I was going on the pictures I saw. Will go look at them next :-)
I wonder if Abby could have been knocked out with some sort of drug? Could chloroform be attainable? Or maybe knocked out in the literal sense, because she had the bruise and/or contusion to her face (can't remember exactly at the moment without looking at the testimony).
"Don't panic." - Douglas Adams 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
One of the members in this discussion related a story about Lizzie trying to buy chloroform from a druggist who questioned her motive for buying it. Chloroform was available to purchase but it seems the request might raise a few eyebrows. I read that story a few years back. Many things were available at the local pharmacy then that you would never dream of seeing now. Chloroform would explain the lack of any witnesses seeing or hearing anything. I have wondered what would have happened if the killer had not been able to keep Abby contained in the guest room. If she fled past the killer and tried to make it down the stairs. Yelling at the top of her lungs as she ran. The fact that she didn't implies to me it was a sudden attack by someone who could get close without raising any suspicions. Then came a blitz attack that left her dazed (perhaps smashed in the face first) or she was knocked out. The fact she was attacked upstairs also implies to me it was someone who knew the house, and the family. Why wasn't she attacked downstairs? Because the windows were open and the maid was in and out. Why sneak through the house and risk being seen, past a bunch of locked doors that turned the place into a maze, to get upstairs to kill poor Abby? She had no enemies. The killer could not have intended to wait around to kill Andrew first. Andrew had no reason to ever go to that part of the house. He was not at home during the morning because of business he took care of each day. Hiding in the guest room to kill him makes no sense. Because they would need to wait for a few hours while Andrew was out, and once Andrew was home sneak back downstairs past Abby, past Lizzie, past Bridget who was now inside to get to Andrew. And his only option would be to kill him downstairs because his bedroom was kept locked. Abby was the first target. The only way to get Abby alone was upstairs in a room she would be tidying because they just had a guest spend the night. Andrew was doing business. John was visiting. And Bridget was outside. Someone who saw an opportunity and took it for whatever reason. Lizzie. Then all she had to do was wait for Bridget to go upstais to kill Andrew.
Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell. - Arthur Conan Doyle
KGDevil, I agree, I too think that it was a surprise attack from someone that she knew.
Obviously, if I am putting on pillow slips and turn around and see a stranger standing there (wielding or not wielding a hatchet), I'm going to scream until my lungs give out. Yet, no one heard a peep from Abby. How could she not have noticed someone come into the room, even if they were quietly walking in. It wasn't a particularly large room. In my opinion, it had to be someone that she was familiar enough with to let her guard down.
I don't believe that she was dead prior to the hatchet blows, but I think that she was either unconscious or very dazed due to either being hit in the face or some sort of drug either akin to or chloroform. The testimony revealed that she had a large pool of clotted blood under her head, and that blood was over the front of her breast and on her back. I believe that she most likely died after the first hatchet blow.
"Don't panic." - Douglas Adams 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Most everything I've read gives the impression that Abby was attacked and fell forward between the bed and the dresser, but I wonder if it were possible if she were dazed or unconscious to have dragged her over between the two so that her body would be more hidden than if she were standing at the foot of the bed or near the wall opposite the headboard of the bed...
She was approximately my height, but I've read that she weighed quite a bit. So (I may be crazy) but I was relating this theory to my husband, and he said okay let's try it. He laid down on the carpet, and I was able to drag him across it. By the way, I'm 5'4" and weigh 112 lbs and he is 5'10 and 190lbs. (Also Lizzie was about the same height as me)
"Don't panic." - Douglas Adams 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
I think that Abby was indeed scared. She may have seen the book Lizzie left open, the binding broken to the page on Prussic Acid aka CYANIDE...very deadly. Was Lizzie trying to intimidate and scare here or was she planning on using that stuff?? I BELIEVE Lizzie did try to purchase it from Bence's store. 3 witnesses. no doubt. there are other poisens too......the bag of tobacco found in Mr Bordens pocket..he was a NON USER. was it Lizzie's, did she crumble it up and put it into their mutton broth?....then stuff it into his pocket after she carved him up with a meat cleaver?? nicotine poisoning....
nicotine poisoning.
Symptoms may include:
nausea
vomiting
increased blood pressure
abnormal heart rate (arrhythmia)
dehydration
loss of appetite
extreme fatigue
dizziness
headache
gas
anxiety
hearing and vision changes
have a friend, Nikki, who seems to have an almost photographic memory – not for schoolwork or what's told to her – just for what she sees. Nikki spent a lot of time at our house in high school. If I were looking for something, I'd call Nikki and almost always she could describe exactly where it was!
