Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Hi all. I'm not a regular here but pop in from time to time. I have been researching rum runners in the area during prohibition and found an article regarding Lizzie. I was curious if this article is accurate. It is dated April 19, 1929 and from the New Bedford Times.

"Blood Stained Axe Found In Borden Barn"

It goes on to describe how the axe was found during demolition to the barn. It had hair and blood and was found between the timbers behind a wall. I had always thought that the axe was found much earlier. Was this just a false alarm?

I remember hearing about some sort of hatchet being discovered in the Borden barn during demolition but I don't recall reading anything about blood and hair on it or even seeing a photo of it. Maybe some of the others know more about this. Can your post the article for us to read?

I doubt Lizzie had the time to go out to the barn to hide a bloody hatchet after killing Andrew and get back in time to call Bridget. But Lizzie being in the barn, if she was, raises some thoughts in my head. She may have gone into the barn and/or yard to give the real killer the opportunity to do his "job." I doubt he would have then hid the hatchet in the barn unless it was done without Lizzie's knowledge. He probably would have taken it with him.

-1bigsteve (o:

Hi Nokatay,

Lizzie HAD to have been in the barn for some reason that morning. I'm certain that part of the reason for her "eating pears/looking for sinkers/iron/whatnot" story is to cover herself in case someone had seen her going to or coming from the barn. (The other reason was to distance herself from the house during the time when the crimes were committed.)

I don't recall the details of the axe found during the barn demolition, but I'm sure I could find it in Rebello.

I think there were two axes found. One was on neighbor John Crowe's roof. A boy found it up there, I'm guessing a year or so after the murders. Some say a worker left it up there; some say Lizzie went out in her back yard and threw it up there.

The second one was the one they found during the demolition of the bahn. Neither proved to be "the" axe.

This is from Pearson's "Trial of Lizzie Borden", p86+

"...Two years after the deaths of the Misses Borden an absurd incident again displayed the continued public interest in all that concerned this family. The occupants of the house on Second Street had pulled down the barn in order to erect on its site a small brick building---said to be for the purpose of manufacturing stuffed cotton rabbits for Easter toys. Reporters gathered to watch the demolition, and, by an odd coincidence, they were rewarded by the discovery of what someone, in a misuse of language, called an "ax." In truth, it was a cooper's hammer, with a short, blunt edge, quite unlike the keen, longer blade which had been used in the murders. Five-minutes consultation of the records would have satisfied anybody that this was not the weapon, but the newspaper pother was great enough to cause a long discussion, and finally to have the county incur a bill of several hundred dollars to an analytical chemist for a test for bloodstains."

Kunstler in his book had more or less the same words but added this comment at the end:

"...Even Lizzie, who had little enough to laugh about in her lonely and bitter life, might have smiled at that."

I think so too.

Thanks for the fabulous post, Harry!

It is dated April 19, 1929 and from the New Bedford Times.

All great info no doubt about it. But I got one question Lizzie died in 1927 even if one the axes had been the murder weapon they could not have tried her twice for the same crime after she was acquitted the first time. Now the actual murder weapon ended up some where but where is the last place any one would look for it in the house? Just how extensive was the search the day of the murders?

I came across this site online and made a PDF to post. I'll put it here as the topic is an axe. This just compares a hatchet to a "hand axe."

Doesn't the Historical have the axe head, along with some artifacts?

The Legend 100 Years After the Crime--
A Conference on the Lizzie Borden Case
Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA
Aug. 3-5, 1992
The Hip-Bath Collection, Barbara Ashton, p211

"What Andrew Jennings decided to sequester may turn out to be as important as what he decided to reveal."

This collection was, in part, donated to the FRHS, in 1968, with some items requested returned to the (Waring) family.

Ms. Ashton, author, had a look and made some notes:

"Contents Of Collection

1. Photographs: Yard, hall, entrance hall, north side of house, Second street looking north and south, backyard between house and barn, Mrs. Churchill's front steps. guest chamber, Abby, sitting room, south side of house and south yard, Borden house (enlarged), side views of pool of blood, Mrs. Borden with feet showing, Mrs. Borden's matted switch, Andrew Borden on the horsehair couch, Andrew naked on the floor, skulls--front with hatchet marks, Mrs. Borden with huge hole in side of head, courthouse. (213)

2. Hatchet and Hood: This is the one that fit the wound and was found with a broken handle in the Borden cellar. It was never proved to be the murder weapon...

3. Tags from Trial Exhibits: They read, Stomach of Mrs. Andrew J. Borden; Stomach of Mr. Andrew J. Borden; Dried Blood, Mrs. A.J. Borden.

4. Hair Switch and Bloody Handkerchief: Worn by Mrs. Borden at the time of the murders.

5. Pillow shams and Bedspread: Taken from the bed Mrs. Borden was making when she was murdered.

6. Newspaper Clippings of the Case: In 3 scrapbooks, 2 large, 1 small.

7. Stenographer's Minutes of the Preliminary Trial: Five books: Edward S. Wood, Abram G. Hart, Lizzie A. Borden (sic??) Bridget Sullivan, Dr. Wiiiam A. Dolan. They are the only known copies of these minutes.

8. Blueprints of Floorplans of Borden House: Cellar, first. floor, second. floor.*

9. Boston Globe: Day-to-Day Record.

10. Boston Herald: Account of the trial, brown and brittle.

11. Hair In Envelopes: Snips of hair from Mr. and Mrs. Borden.

12. Red Leather Notebooks: There were two, a thick one and a thin one. The thick one contains newspaper clippings of the case from August 4, 1892, to August 11, 1892. The thin one contains Andrew Jennings handwritten notes gathered on Lizzie's behalf." (213-4) . . .

. . .

For more info, see Privy:

viewtopic.php?t=37

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* On the blueprint of the ground floor, there are the marks made by Alice Russell to show where the stove was, where she stood and where Lizzie pulled the dress material from the pantry. We saw these August, 2007.

In the Quarterly published by the FRHS they mention this floorplan.
See Page 4- Spring, 2002, Vol 14, #1.
http://www.lizzieborden.org/news_archive.asp
Look under download, date 3-27-2003, "Babies."
The article is on Alice Russell, "Lizzie's 'Turncoat Friend.'"