Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I am reading the inquest of Lizzie. On page (12) she was asked "Did you have a night key?" Her reply " Yes sir". My question is---What is a night key? I've never heard this expression. He asks her "How did you know it was right to lock the front door?" Her reply "that was always my business" My question--Was it custom one person had the responsiblity to make sure doors were locked before going to bed?

Well it's possible she meant it was always her business to lock the door, as it was always kept locked anyway. I think it was everyone's business to keep the door locked, in my opinion. I'm not sure what was meant by the key being called a night key. That's an interesting phrase.

I guess the night key went to the lock that was fastened at night. Perhaps that was Lizzie's responsibility to see to that lock at night and she kept the key.

In our home, it's my husband's job to lock up at night. He's a nightowl and I like to be in bed by 10:30 pm, so he makes sure the house is secured before he comes to bed.

Perhaps Lizzie was the most likely person to use the front door at night. I haven't seen much about door use habits among the Bordens. Bridget used the side door, and it seems like Andrew preferred it.

The term "night key" might mean several things depending on the lock arrangement on the door. I expect it was for a specific lock used at night as SallyG suggested.

i understood it to mean that she had a key to let herself in at night if she'd been out and the house was locked up for the night (ie the rest of the household had retired for the evening). i also think it may have been lizzie's custom to use the front door because it would lead directly upstairs to her room, thus she could avoid andrew and abby completely. (perhaps that's also why andrew would purposefully use the side door, since he could go upstairs to the bedroom without having to pass through the house?)

i get the sense that by summer 1892, relations in the borden household had reached such an uncomfortable impass, such a unpleasant and tense state, that both camps - andrew and abby, and emma and lizzie - probably avoided each other as much as possible; from eating their meals separately, to coming and going as they pleased - living separate lives as much as possible. in a way, i think of emma and lizzie's living situation there as more akin to borders than family.

We know that there were 3 locks. 2 required a key and the other was a bolt.

Could this be the meaning? The two locks that required a key were both locked at night. Only one of them during the day was locked. The night key would be used to lock the second lock at night.

I have always understood it to mean a key to let herself in at night without having to disturb or bother anyone else in the household. I never took it to have more of a meaning then just that.

Thank you all so much for your help. Everything you've said makes sense. Well of course (hopefully I don't drive you all crazy like a 2 year old who keeps saying why? ) I have another question and if I don't post it as soon as I read it I'll just let it go. In her inquest on P24 she was being questioned about her whereabouts. The question she was asked: After your father went out, you remained there either in the kitchen or dining room all the time? Answer: I went in the sitting room long enough to direct some paper wrappers. I have no idea what that means. I just feel it is important to understand these daily tasks that no one probably does anymore because it makes the picture of everything going on much clearer. At least for myself.

I had assumed that "direct paper wrappers" meant "address envelopes". There is a thread here somewhere containing posts suggesting a better explanation. It may have meant pre-addressing a newspaper mailing sleeve or wrapper.

Yooper @ Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:24 am wrote: It may have meant pre-addressing a newspaper mailing sleeve or wrapper.

This is the explanation also provided by Lincoln in her book. According to her it was supposed to save the customer a little money to address their own newspaper wrappers to be used for delivery.

A Private Disgrace by Victoria Lincoln, page 126:

I have actually seen it suggested, however, that Andrew rushed to the post office, where unaccountably unrecognized by so many who knew him on sight, he cast his thrift to the winds and bought a single unaddressed mailing wrapper so that he might take the lock from his pocket and carry it the couple of blocks home in style!

We do know why there were mailing wrappers in his house.The family subscribed to the Providence Journal, a solid, conservative, well-written sheet, to which my own family subscribed. To insure it's proper delivery, it came in a wrapper bearing the subscriber's address. This wrapping, if done by the dealer, cost extra. The thrifty method was to supply the newsdealer with wrappers that one had preaddressed.

I have never heard of that before. Around here many years ago we had a "paper boy" that actually just had a certain route & brought your paper. You paid him at the end of the week. There was no name on it. Now people still have a certain "route" but it's delivered usually by a person driving a car. They send you a bill & you pay it plus any tip for the carrier. Thanks for the answers.

Harry @ Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:23 am wrote:We know that there were 3 locks. 2 required a key and the other was a bolt.

Could this be the meaning? The two locks that required a key were both locked at night. Only one of them during the day was locked. The night key would be used to lock the second lock at night.

That would mean that it would take the "night key" to lock the door after she came in at night.
A night key would be the second key- so it locks from the inside at night.
That makes sense to me.

Yes, that makes sense. A keyed lock without key access from the outside, unlike the door lock with key access from either side. The testimony was with respect to locking the door at night rather than unlocking it to enter.

Yooper @ Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:39 am wrote:Yes, that makes sense. A keyed lock without key access from the outside, unlike the door lock with key access from either side. The testimony was with respect to locking the door at night rather than unlocking it to enter.

A keyed lock without key access from the outside. I have never heard of that before but it does make sense. Once everyone was home, to lock that one lock to make everything secure. Is this something that was a common practice back then? Maybe still is? just never heard of it before.

I don't know how common it was, but three locks on one door might be a bit over the top! A heavy sliding bolt would accomplish the same thing.

Yooper @ Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:20 pm wrote:I don't know how common it was, but three locks on one door might be a bit over the top! A heavy sliding bolt would accomplish the same thing.

Always made me a little curious about why there were so many locks on the doors. What exactly was it they guarding against?

I never looked at it quite that way before but thats an interesting take on all the locks. Andrew always locked his bedroom and Lizzie usualy locked hers and the door between the 2 was locked. The side door had 2 locks on it and the front door had 3. That house was locked up tighter then a prison. Could it be that the Borden's had a fear of someone that goes far beyond just a burglary into Mrs. Borden's room and the barn? Just seems unreasonably security conscious for the times to be always behind so many locks from the outside world.

Not only from the outside world but from each other also. I wonder if it had always been that way, locks on the bedroom doors , or if that was more recent? I wonder if it carried over to Maplecroft, the locks on the bedroom doors, or did it end when they moved ? How many locks did the doors have to the outside at Maplecroft?

I have to agree I find it quite unusual that all these rooms had locks. Did they dislike & not trust each other so much that was the only solution? Not only locks but Lizzie had blocked a door with a piece of funiture between the guest room & her room. Am I wrong or was only the bedroom door that didn't have a lock was between Emma & Lizzie room.