Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Anyone from New Bedford or familiar with areas surrounding? Have you ever heard of this?

"New Bedford Refinement"

"Members of the Lizzie Borden Club, of New Bedford, entertained members of the Emma Borden Club, of Brockton, at the Germania House, evening of the 6th, where a clam boil was enjoyed and afterwards music both vocal and instumental. During the evening a fancy hatchet was presented to the Brockton club.- [Mercury.

Fall River Weekly News, 12 July 1893, p. 3.

--Do you know about or can you find the "Germania House" and might there be some info on these clubs and their roster in New Bedford? Or Brockton?
Do you suppose these members were men?

Kat @ Sat Nov 25, 2006 4:12 am wrote:Anyone from New Bedford or familiar with areas surrounding? Have you ever heard of this?

"New Bedford Refinement"

"Members of the Lizzie Borden Club, of New Bedford, entertained members of the Emma Borden Club, of Brockton, at the Germania House, evening of the 6th, where a clam boil was enjoyed and afterwards music both vocal and instumental. During the evening a fancy hatchet was presented to the Brockton club.- [Mercury.

Fall River Weekly News, 12 July 1893, p. 3.

--Do you know about or can you find the "Germania House" and might there be some info on these clubs and their roster in New Bedford? Or Brockton?
Do you suppose these members were men?

To my mind, this does sound like a hoax.

Kat, I found a little item on the Germania House at this site. No photo of the house though.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/nebe/clr.pdf

This from page 91:



Drat! Another parking lot. The site itself has a lot on early New Bedford history, especially the whaling industry.

Makes you wonder why Lizzie was popular in New Bedford. There is that 1999 New Bedford real estate transaction that mentions "land now or formerly of Lizzie A. Borden." I don't think we were ever able to determine whether this was "our" Lizzie or not.

Was that actually printed in that edition of that paper, Kat? It does sound strange that clubs would be formed that close to the trial. You would think people in that day and age would have put as much distance between the murder trial and themselves as possible.

I wonder what they ment by "Fancy" hatchet?

-1bigsteve (o:

So that's a 163 page download, Har?
Where did you find that? Thanks!

If the building's gone now, maybe it's in someone's memory?

Yes bigsteve, it looks to be from the New Bedford Mercury and reprinted in the Fall River paper on the 12th of July 1893.
Maybe there was a club in New Bedford because of the trial there? I hadn't thought about the trial causing this kind of later interest and activity in New Bedford! If beer was served, this might be a men's club-( and no, not a hoax).