Lizzie Borden Society Forum

The August 2007 issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies has been placed ONLINE for subscribers.

This issue is JAM packed with interesting articles---and I really mean jam packed. The new issue runs a whopping 120 pages!

And it includes news, information, and images not published elsewhere on the newly discovered Emma Borden's years at Wheaton Seminary School. Forum member and Borden historian Shelley Dziedzic and I spent two days doing research at Wheaton and found some really wonderful things you won't want to miss.

Plus we have some fabulous pieces on Fall River History by Neilson Caplain, Bill Goncalo, and Michael Brimbau. Other pieces are included by Borden historians and forum members--- Kat Koorey, Harry Widdows, Sherry Chapman, Richard Behrens, Denise Noe, Douglas Walters, and Melissa Allen.

Not a subscriber? It only costs $20 for a year's worth of issues of The Hatchet, and you have access to that entire year's issues no matter when you subscribe during that calendar year. So if you join us today, you can download all previous issues of 2007 immediately. Remember, there is one more issue to go this year!

Sound interesting? You can read more details about the August issue and subscribe at this address:

http://www.hatchetonline.com/HatchetOnline/index.htm

Subscribers, you can download your copy immediately and/or view a slideshow of the magazine at this address:

http://www.hatchetonline.com/HatchetOnline/index.htm

PLEASE NOTE: The print on demand copy of this issue of The Hatchet is delayed due to an upgrade in software. The new creation package that The Hatchett utilizes is untested with LuLu.com, and in order to insure the best product possible, we are conducting extensive proofing and testing of the new print issue before we place it on LuLu for you to purchase. This testing should only take one week or so, and when the new issue is available through LuLu another email will be sent to all subscribers informing you of this and a note posted on this forum and on MondoLizzie.com.

If you have forgotten or misplaced your login info, please email me at [email protected] and I will resend it to you. Also, if you encounter any downloading problems, let me know and I can send you the magazine on disk instead.

And as always, if your web browser does not load the new page, don't forget to hit your browser's refresh button to make it seek out the new uploaded version of the web site.


Happy reading!

Stefani Koorey
Editor and Publisher
The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies

Yowza!! Just downloaded it and obviously haven't had a chance to read it in depth yet but just a quick look through says it's the best Hatchet yet. Chock full of information on Emma at Wheaton (Thanks kfactor, Stefani, Shelley and Len Rebello) never revealed before.

Interlachen! Luther's Corners! Typhoid Mary! And more. A lot more! Oh, yeah....

120 pages!! Wow, a small book which will take some time to savor.

Congratulations Stef, ya done it again!

Another outstanding issue! Well done . . . again. You're spoiling us. : )

I must say it is a gorgeous issue! Perfection!

Thank you to all who contributed to this August issue! Yay!

I have to say the cover of this issue is really stunning. Each one is better than the last. Bravo. I cannot wait to order my hard copy! I'll be very anxious while awaiting it's arrival.

Superb photography and a great cover shot- well worth that extra jaunt in the heat to get! This one is chock full- and a real three-course meal with appetizers, champagne and dessert. As we say in the Navy- Bravo Zulu!

Very illustrious cover Stefani, posh, yet cultured. The sort of artistic cover/image that we have come to expect from the Hatchet.

Of course I will wait for the printed paper copy before reading it. I'm sure that substance will live up to it's outstanding cover. Keep up the good work on a superb publication.........

"Bridget's Kitchen" by Sherry Chapman absolutely cracked me up!!!

Some quick impressions after my first read-through of the August issue.

Melissa Allen's 'August 4, 1932' gave me chills! I absolutely loved it!

And how lucky we are to have intrepid researchers like Stefani and Shelley follow up that wonderful lead from forum member ‘kfactor’ and bring us an on the scene glimpse into Emma's past! Seeing her actual grades? How cool is that?

Kat's description of her visit with Harry to Luther's Four Corners Museum made me feel as though I was right there with them -- how I wish I had been....

Richard Behrens Typhoid Mary article does a great job illuminating a piece of history by showing us the woman behind the name.

Extremely interesting crime stats from Harry. An article to file and keep, for sure -- as is Denise Noe’s comphrehensive search of possible suitors for Miss Lizzie.

Eugene Hosey's review of Belloc-Lowndes' book got me to take it down from my bookshelf in order to look at it from his perspective.

Michael Brimbau, Bill Goncalo and Neilson Caplain give food for thought with their pieces providing a flavor of the time and place where Lizzie lived. All these authors deserve second readings.

As usual -- I looked forward to Doug Walters and the deliciously witty Sherry Chapman -- and as usual, they didn't disappoint.

If I’ve left anyone out I apologize… the magazine is a winner – cover to cover.

Why thank you, Diana. I'm most glad you enjoyed the piece.

Speaking of enjoyment: Sherry, that "Sullivan confessional" was great! (I should know better than to drink coffee when I read things like that.)

Oh...and Harry: What's the "bootleg" margarine thing about anyway? Loved that!

Great jobs as usual, peoplez!

[quote="diana @ Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:10 pm"]Some quick impressions after my first read-through of the August issue.

Melissa Allen's 'August 4, 1932' gave me chills! I absolutely loved it!



Extremely interesting crime stats from Harry. An article to file and keep, for sure -- as is Denise Noe’s comphrehensive search of possible suitors for Miss Lizzie.

(Denise) Thank you so very much! I try to be "comprehensive" in my Whittlings.

I thought the August issue was one of the finest you have ever put out. Lots of new information and interesting photos.

Congratulations on your good work! 115 years after the murders and still so much to learn about this case!!!

I agree Cynthia!
People ask me "is there that much to talk about on the case? 4 Years almost of magazine articles and more to come?" I say "yes and yes!" It's an endless story and all the peripheral history is also exciting!

Just finished reading "Harvesting the Other Crop" in this issue of the Hatchet. What a marvelous look back at an industry which is no longer with us. I remember very well when I was a boy the "ice man" that delivered ice to our house.

It also brought to mind the mention of ice in the Borden case. The ice house on Third Street that was mentioned as a possible source of the noise heard by the Chagnon ladies the night before the tragedy. And then there is Bridget letting in the ice man to deliver his cake of ice on the morning of the crimes.

This issue is so jammed packed with goodies that it will take some time to read it all.

diana @ Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:10 pm wrote:Some quick impressions after my first read-through of the August issue.

Melissa Allen's 'August 4, 1932' gave me chills! I absolutely loved it!

Thank you very much diana, I am thrilled that you liked it! .

I just did a quick look through of The Hatchet online & all I can say is WOW. I can't wait for the print copy. I think this is one top notch publication thank you all so much for your hard work.

I'm slowly making my way thru this humungous issue!

The Emma at Wheaton stuff is great.

I also really enjoyed Richard Behrens's look at Typhoid Mary. I had never heard the history behind her before. Fascinating stuff.

I just got my Lulu copy, but it was the Agnes de Mille issue again! Needless to say, I'm sending it back.

bob, the new issue on LuLu isn't up yet. I was making sure the copy is perfect before I let you spend your money on it. I get my final copies tomorrow, so if the copy looks great, I can post the issue tomorrow on LuLu. Don't send it back! Sell it on ebay or to someone here. I bet you can get a buyer!

Bob, I will buy it from you if you want to sell it.

I was curious if anyone else had a chance to read my piece in this latest issue, and if anyone had any thoughts on it.

Loved it! But I could not help but think the poor woman ruined her groceries...

I sent it back! Back, do you hear? Back whence it came! Back to the future!

Yes Allen: Read your piece for the second time today.

Very convincing. Leaves me wondering how many readers may think it is an actual newspaper interview.

I love your approach.

There is something haunting or eerie about it; or is it about the women telling the tale? Not really sure why I feel that way after reading it. Left me wondering who the woman was and what became of her, or who she thought did the murders. Though, by the description she gives of the handle, or something close to it, sticking out of Bowen's bag, we can, if we like, assume he had something to do with it, which means he or Lizzie did it.......(?)

Oops..............am I giving anything away???

Well done Allen. Nice presentation also. Font and page set-up works real well. Thanks fo the great read.. :smile

Thanks to both michael and Tina-Kate. Your opinions on my piece have been the highlight of my week. Thanks so much for your feedback.

I read it three times and really liked it, Missy! It was a unique view- not fiction, yet had some flexibility.
I can't wait to see it in actual print. Will remark more later after I have it in my hands!

I've got my Hatchet today!
I just re-read your piece, Missy!
I loved it. It has that diary effect- the thing we all want to find out of an attic somewhere.
It's a pretty cool view- using the interested bystander. And the fact there is one revelation, rather than a lot, makes it so much more real. Very true to fact as well.
Good article!

I'm really impressed with the design as well. You must be very proud!

Thanks so much Kat! You have no idea how much that means to me that you enjoyed it. I am very happy that you liked it!

Okay, the de Mille issue just showed up again. Did someone want to buy it from me? Obviously, the Lulu people did not even read my note.

Peeved,
Bob

I will. Just PM your address and the amount to me and I will send it to you.

Better yet, just send me your mailing address and it's YOURS! A gift!

Thank you! That's really sweet!

And I take back what I said about Lulu - they DID send a note, and since they print to order, they couldn't just absorb the item. No prob. I just ordered the new issue.

This is nice!

I gave my Agnes away! Boo Hoo I have to get me another.

Ok, I know I'm a bit behind, I read Melissa Allens piece last night. Wow, that was fantastic. It was very well written, so well that once I started I had to finish it. After I read it I sort of stopped in my tracks because think about it----it could have happened. Just fantasize a little, I mean if Lizzie & Dr. Borden were close friends he wouldn't want anything to happen to her. and of course the rich people always covered for each other. It was just such a total surprise ending for me. I really enjoyed it, Please tell me you are a writer & about to publish a book. Thanks for a really good story!!

OH MY! Thanks so much Nadzieja!! I don't think I can come up with the proper words to describe how much I appreciated your kind words. I have actually been working on a book for awhile now, though it's not a book on the Borden case. It's taking forever for me to write it. This might just give me the motivation I need to sit down and get it done! Again thanks so much. As to the layout of my piece, that was all Stef. She's pretty great.

I'd like to respectfully offer a dissenting opinion. Someone had, a few weeks ago, wondered why we weren't more critical of the pieces in THE HATCHET, and I mentioned that this is still a pretty small circle, and it would be like hectoring a relative!

However, Melissa, the first thought I had when reading the piece is that it needed a great deal of editing to tighten it up, if not another draft or so. There are some tone problems and some things that pulled me out of the story. Did people really say "'old timer's' disease" in those days, so close to "Alzheimer's disease" as to read as a play on words? The disease was discovered in November of 1906, but the phrase was hardly commonly used in 1932 as much as it now.

Also, your narrator noticed, in passing, that protruding handle which appeared to be "recently cleaned." You had otherwise set the scene so well that this somewhat superhuman observation was a bit jarring to me - I just didn't buy it.

If this was supposed to be a rambling diary entry which had magically come to light I would have less to say about the repitition and wordiness, but since this was supposed to have been published in a newspaper, doubtless the editor of said journal would have been at it with a red pencil before running the "story."

Good luck with all your work!

Thanks for the honesty in your opinion also, Bob. I appreciate your candor. I realized that everyone who read it wasn't going to necessarily like it. That is something I expected. While it's really great for me to hear why people did like it, it's also good to know why people didn't like it. Thanks, and I will keep your suggestions in mind.

Let me just say - loved the idea, but was less than thrilled with the execution. You obviously have talent and a lovely imagination.

If it's an editing problem then that is on Stefani and then my shoulders because it goes thru Stefani and then to me and then back to Stefani and back to Missy for approval.
So I guess we let you down, Missy, according to Bob.

I think you and Stef always do a great job, Kat.

I don't think anyone let anyone down. And, I am sure that Missy does not feel that way. The piece was assiduously perused by both the editor and Missy, I'm sure.

What Bob is alluding to is his take on things, the way he digests fiction, or at the very least, this particular narrative.

I read Missy's piece 3 times.

The first time I read it, and came across the term "old timer's" the first thing I thought of was Alzheimer's. I remember thinking that the comparison was to close to be an accident, but that the old lady could have used that expression, "old timer's" ..........who's to say, it's fiction. While someone may illuminate the comparison, others like myself, see nothing wrong with it. Now, if she had said, or used, the actual word "Alzheimer's" I may have found a problem in its use.

As for the "recently cleaned" smooth wooden handle, which the old lady chose to accept as a "harmless physician's instrument" I had a very different exposition than Bob.

My rendering and explanation is a lot more fluid.

I imagine that this old lady had gone over the accounts of that day in her mind countless times, for what may have been many years. Over time she deduced and concluded that the doctor was guilty. Thinking back, as she tells the story, she imagines that the wooden handle must have been the axe, and in doing so, expected to see blood on it. Feeling this way she expressed that the axe handle, or what she thought must be an axe, was made clean.

Thus, she inadvertently or inconsequently came to picture it as the murder weapon. And, though she tries to convey no guilt, she comes across to me as being very biased towards Bowen. The vision she held of a clean axe handle sticking out of Bowen's bag was her way to convince us, or herself, of the doctor's guilt. The truth is not as she claims that, "it would never be my intention to cast any shadow on the good doctor's name." In time she "envisioned" or chose to tell the story that way. (I know he did it....oh look that may be the axe. Where's the blood? He must have cleaned it off. Yes, that is why it looks so clean. etc. etc.)

Fiction, construable...............open to interpretation and palate of the reader.

(I had a friend who hated the 3 stooges. "Com-on-now. If he hit him in the head with that mallet it would kill him, and at the very least, not make a ping noise like an anvil.") He chose to see the stooges one way, I another.

So you see, there is no problem with the editing. These things were noticed and pasted on. It's the license given to writers of fiction. It is our choice to pick out a passage and write a ticket. In fiction we are allowed to drive at 100 mph in reverse, and in many cases take that ticket and rip it up.

A lovely and thoughtful exposition! Bravo!

THANKS BOB..(!)

You see Allen, it matters not whether the masses love, fault, are confused, or delighted, it's all about stimulating the mind. And, your piece has received its share of deliberation and discussion, along with praise and accolades. As Bob has mentioned, talent and imagination shows through your writing.

I am enjoying this issue, page by page. The history of the city is just so fascinating. I do have a question on the article "Photo album of Ames Borden". It said Spencer Bordan, he and his wife Effie Brooks had 4 children. Brooks, Spencer Jr., Alfred and Lenora. Brooks died when he was 15 years old. It says that Spencer Jr. was the only male heir to the Borden name. What happened to Alfred? Even though Lenora might have changed her name when she married, wouldn't she still be considered of the Borden line?

Yes Nadzieja. Spencer's lineage in the Hatchet is just a brief history of just one of the many Borden families of Fall River. I find him one of the most interesting, probably because of his choice to not live on the hill and his close ties to nature.

The Hatchet mentions that Spencer Borden II was the only "male heir" to survive and carry on the Borden name. (Spencer Borden's name and ancestry)

Alfred married Mary Elizabeth Totmill, who is buried at the Borden plot at Oak Grove in Fall River. She died after only 7 years of marriage. She was just 32. It is my belief that she had no children. Though, there is mention of Alfred on her tombstone, he is not buried in Fall River. Shortly after her death, Alfred moved away and remarried. Research discovered that Alfred had 3 daughters. It is believed he had no boys. I spoke to Stefani about this and we concluded that we would research it a little further, just to make sure.

So, Spencer Borden II was the only male heir. He had 3 sons, Spencer III, Ames, and Richard. The first two died well before their time. Richard went on to have his own children, and had a son Spencer Borden IV, who today is a doctor in the Boston area. We did not do further research into Richard's family or whether he had more than one child.

So, there you have it.

I want to thank you so much for such a quick answer and the history lesson. It's funny when I first read it, I thought that it was kind of a "nit picky" question but there was a great answer to it. It makes me wonder if Dr. Spencer Border IV realizes what a history and geneology is behind his name. Thanks again

Usually we think of keeping a family name within the same lineage, straight thru- father to son to grandson etc.
With the "Spencer" Borden name, notice how Richard named his son Spencer Borden IV.
I thought that was pretty interesting that he did that. Technically he is not the IV.