Lizzie's Jail letters #4

[MysteryReader]

page 487 and apparently her last letter. I have gone back to pick up where I left off and haven't read ahead.

My dear Annie,

I thank you for your nice long letter and wish I could answer it as it deserves but I am far from well and much I would like to do has to be left undone. B the way I have not trouble in reading your writing.

My spirits are at ebb tide. I see no ray of light amid the gloom. I try to fill up the waiting time as well as I can, but every day is longer and longer.

I began to think the tangled threads will never be smoothed out. My friend- do not make any plans for me at Christmas. I do not expect to be free-and if I am, I could not join in any merry making. I don't know that I ever could again, certainly not at present. You know my life can never be the same again if I ever come home.

Forgive me for this sober letter, but my heart is heavy and the burden laid upon me seems greater than I can bear.

Sincerely yours,
L.A.B.

*About the time, Lizzie became sick and the Sheriff's wife took her into their home so she could recover.

[Curryong]

That was very nice of her. It's clear, I think, that Lizzie as 'a lady' was treated more gently than most of the women who were prisoners and on remand at Taunton. They would be mostly prostitutes I suppose, interspaced with some women who stole or shoplifted. There might be the occasional one who had committed infanticide or injured someone.

In many ways Lizzie was a high profile prisoner. While they couldn't be seen to be given her extremely preferential treatment, the prison authorities would have had to make sure that she wasn't being mistreated either.

[MysteryReader]

True. It was mentioned that it was too loud/noisy while she was sick (I'm guessing being sick makes one sensitive to noise) so she went home with the Sheriff's wife. I think she had bronchitis.

[Curryong]

Who, I'm sure, looked after her wonderfully.

Well, Mystery, THE book I've been waiting for arrived yesterday, priority mail. Thank you, FRHS!
You weren't joking when you said it was encyclopaedia-size. However, I'm getting stuck into reading it.

[MysteryReader]

Yay!!!! I'm so glad you've gotten it! It's a great read for what was happening before Lizzie was born and while she was growing up. Please post anything you find great!

[SteveS.]

If I am not mistaken, the sheriff's house was attached right to the jail in Taunton. So it wouldn't be like they brought her home as a "house guest". So while it might be considered preferential treatment by some, it could also be compared to today's standard of being placed in a prison medical ward to recover from a serious illness. I worked in the old Ash St. Jail in New Bedford where Lizzie was kept during the actual trial in June, and believe me, they are not the cleanest or healthiest places to be in.

[Curryong]

No, I can well imagine not, Steve. The health of the 'residents' wasn't really high up on many penologists' lists. Still, it must have been heaven compared to the conditions of prisons in earlier centuries.

Bridget's stay with the Hunts at New Bedford jail gave her the heeby-jeebies and she wasn't even in custody!

[twinsrwe]

Welcome back Steve!!! You have been missed.

I didn't realize that you had worked at the old Ash St. Jail in New Bedford where Lizzie was kept during the actual trial in June! What were your duties? How long did you work there? Any interesting stories about Lizzie?

[Curryong]

A new avatar, twins! And of the lady herself! Excellent!

[twinsrwe]

Thank you!

[Curryong]

Incidentally, Parallel Lives notes that while Lizzie was in Taunton Jail her old friend Elizabeth Johnston visited her faithfully every Saturday. (she was the friend Lizzie had written to at Marion about the sharp axe and other matters.) Miss Johnston was lodging at the time with the Wells family, fellow parishioners in the Congregationalist Church.

Elizabeth took photos, magazines and books to the jail, to occupy Lizzie's mind during the long hours when there were no visitors. Because Miss Johnston knew the sheriff (Wright) and his wife she was often permitted to spend the day in Lizzie's cell. Throughout this time Elizabeth Johnston was 'firmly convinced of Lizzie's innocence.'

Then came Alice Russell's troubled conscience about the burning of the paint-smeared dress, and her subsequent recalled appearance before the Grand Jury in November 1892. Alice's feelings underwent a sudden change as simultaneously did Elizabeth's.

Parallel Lives states (page 482) 'Where both had proclaimed their belief in her innocence and had been intimate with her, now they ceased to declare their faith in her and ceased all intercourse with her.' The intercourse was 'never resumed. Neither would talk but it appeared as though, no longer convinced of her innocence, they regarded her as possibly, if not probably, guilty.'

From this point on the devoted visits of the Misses Johnston and Russell ceased, as did their kind efforts to occupy Lizzie's mind from one Saturday to another. Lizzie was, as can be imagined, very hurt by this development.

[MysteryReader]

Curry,

I remember reading this but I don't remember- does it say why they changed their minds? Something had to have happen to change their firm believe in her innocence.

[Curryong]

Alice came into the kitchen at the Borden home and saw Lizzie about to burn the paint-stained dress which she tore into pieces on the day after she had been warned by the mayor that she was 'a person of interest' to the police.

I think Lizzie's demeanour and actions as she tore it up, with her back to her, seeming to block Alice's view of what she was doing, shocked Alice, probably as much as the actual burning. Afterwards Alice told her that it was a stupid thing to do and Lizzie said to Emma "Why did you let me do it?" Emma gave testimony at the trial that she herself had suggested the burning.

Alice told Hanscom, the detective hired by the Borden sisters, what Lizzie had done but Hanscom didn't tell the police, which Alice probably hoped he would. Emma and Lizzie knew Alice was going to tell Hanscom, as she said so at the time.

Alice thought about it a lot, consulted a lawyer about it (while Lizzie was in Taunton jail) and finally decided to tell what she knew. She gave testimony at the Grand Jury hearing on it, being recalled after she decided to do it. Elizabeth probably asked her (although we don't know) why she was giving extra testimony and Alice told her. Whether Elizabeth heard it direct from Alice's lips or from someone else, that was the end of the friendship between Lizzie and those two women, who had known her for years.

[Curryong]

The dress burning incident, by the way, is what finally convinced me that Emma knew that her sister had killed their parents. I don't believe that Emma suggested it. I think Lizzie told her the dress had to go and Emma agreed.

[twinsrwe]

I agree, Curry. Emma had to have put two and two together at some point, didn't she? I'm sure she stuck to her 'my sister is innocent' story, because she gained just as much as Lizzie did from the murders of her father and step-mother.

[debbiediablo]

These kinds of crimes get very complicated. Sometimes we hear about a child killing a sibling and the mother protects the murderer even in the face of insurmountable evidence. If Emma had no foreknowledge of the crime, then siding against Lizzie could've been very difficult even if she were appalled by what happened. Emma had already lost her mother to natural death, her father and step-mother to gruesome murder...Lizzie was all she had left to lose.

[Curryong]

I really think that Emma probably had one horrible moment of comprehension, perhaps very soon after the murders. She then pushed that thought to the back of her mind, determined that it would never see the light of day again. For the rest of her life Emma never admitted, to herself or anyone else, that Lizzie could have done such a terrible thing.

Throughout the trial she was determined that Lizzie would be found not guilty. If that meant perjuring herself in the matter of the burned dress then that was what had to be done.

[irina]

In the paragraph cited above it sounds like Elizabeth Johnson and Alice ceased to be Lizzie's friends about November 1892, the time of the grand jury. Alice knew about the burned dress in August.

What I'm getting at is why it is noted Alice & Elizabeth seemed to drop Lizzie at the same time. Was Alice visiting Lizzie in jail, ever? I could see Alice testimony influencing Elizabeth. The way it is written it sounds like both women were affected at the same time by something. Or is it possible that Lizzie was angry with Alice for testifying and Elizabeth took Alice' side?

I have read of this incident before and had the idea that Lizzie terminated the friendships, or that Emma might have been involved also.

I still don't think Lizzie was dumb enough or desperate enough to burn a blood stained dress in a time and place when someone (Alice) could walk right in. I don't know why she burned that dress but if it was bloodstained I think she would have/could have taken better precautions against getting caught.

[Curryong]

Yes, Alice did know about the burned dress in August but didn't decide that she should testify until November after she had consulted a lawyer herself and felt she had to speak out. By that time the Grand Jury was sitting. She gave evidence on December 1st to the Grand Jury.

Emma's explanation that it was she who had suggested the dress burning was not accepted by Alice. As I posted earlier, it may well have been Lizzie's demeanour in blocking her view of what she was doing to the dress that sewed the seeds of doubt in Alice's mind, as much as the actual burning.

We don't know who imparted what to whom really, as both Alice and Elizabeth were silent on the subject. I certainly don't think the Borden sisters were happy with Alice testifying.

It was an incredibly stupid thing for Lizzie to do to burn that dress on that particular day, whatever her motivation.

Parallel Lives (page 482) just says what I posted earlier, that 'From this point on the devoted visits of Misses Johnston and Russell ceased....' so it appears Alice did visit her at Taunton and this ceased (naturally) when she testified as to what she'd seen.

You could understand the break in friendship there but why would Lizzie decide to cease being friends with Elizabeth? It was Elizabeth who had refused to show the police the axe letter, Elizabeth who'd been bringing books and other gifts. I can't see the connection being broken on Lizzie's side.

[irina]

We have so little information on what happened. I always assumed there was a serious disagreement between the sisters and Elizabeth and Alice, that the latter were friends and that they supported each other. However that assumption doesn't really fill out the possible story. I have an idea something bigger happened, that we don't know about. Did Lizzie SAY something incriminating for example? Did Emma say something nasty to Alice so that Alice influenced Elizabeth? It was such an abandonment of support and friendship that I always suspected something more than Alice' knowledge. Perhaps it was over Alice actually testifying. Perhaps they thought Alice wouldn't testify, then she did. But considering that, Emma had instructed Alice at the first, to talk to Hanscom. I can see that Emma might have thought she could "control the narrative" as they say today, but she also apparently didn't try to make excuses, suggest Alice keep quiet, tell Alice she hadn't seen what she thought she saw, etc. It is all very strange.

[Curryong]

I do think the break was over Alice testifying, testimony damaging to Lizzie and showing her in a bad light. If Lizzie had said anything incriminating then Alice would have included that, surely? I think that Alice, considering the friendship of years, was anguished and in two minds for months but finally decided to testify to the Grand Jury. She certainly had a conversation with the sisters over 'the falsehood' she had told Hanscom over the number of dresses, but we weren't there so we can't say in what tone of voice it was conducted. (I don't mean a quarrel, just a coldness, a snappiness, perhaps.) Alice left 92 shortly afterwards, I think.

Elizabeth Johnston was a friend of Lizzie's from childhood. (A schoolteacher, she was later a school principal.) Her family lived near to the Bordens' Ferry St home and Elizabeth went to school with Lizzie. She was a member of the Central Congregation Church and the Christian Endeavor Society with Lizzie. Alice was also a member of that Society and the three women walked to the meetings together. Therefore, when Emma stated at the trial that Alice was uninvolved in Lizzie's Church activities she either misremembered or lied.

I wouldn't think that Alice and Elizabeth had a stronger friendship than that between Lizzie and Elizabeth. Alice was much older than both the others (born in 1852) and her friendship with the Borden 'girls' had come about as a result of the widowed Mrs Russell and Alice moving next door to No 92 in 1878. She and Emma were more or less the same age.

No-one knows what changed Elizabeth's mind. PL speculates that Lizzie may have confided fears of poison, of harm to the family to Elizabeth in the 'axe letter', but whatever was in it Jennings advised Elizabeth not to show it to the police. This is pure speculation on my part but I wonder whether the letter contained any fears of property transferral by Lizzie or maybe a bitter remark about Abby?

It wouldn't have come as a shock to a woman who had known Lizzie for over twenty years that she didn't like her stepmother. Nevertheless, I do think that Alice discussed what she had said to the Grand Jury with Elizabeth and maybe what Lizzie had said on that Wednesday evening had come out in private discussions too. Elizabeth had then decided that it was more likely than not that Lizzie must have killed her parents. She wasn't a police officer and I wouldn't put it any more firmly than that. Therefore she decided she just couldn't support Lizzie any more. This again is pure speculation on my part.

The only hint we have about any of this is the interview Alice gave in her old age in which she pretty casually says (paraphrasing here) Yes, Lizzie did it but, considering Andrew was a narrow minded nasty old coot and his daughters deserved better, she understood why it happened!