Lizzie Borden Society Forum

First, let’s assume Lizzie murdered her father & stepmother. Lizzie was born on July 19th, which would have preceded the day of the murders by only 3 weeks. I've been wondering how (if) Andrew & Abby celebrated Lizzie’s birthday with her. Concerning Abby, was she cordial toward Lizzie on her b-day? Did the family go out to a fancy dinner - despite Andrew's alleged frugality? What gifts did they give her? Had Lizzie been contemplating murder as early as July 19th? Did she have any second thoughts about killing them, especially if they were nice to her on her birthday or was she already dead set on having the plan run its course?

Two weeks and two days, actually.

An interesting time-line leading up to Aug 4th:

April 1892- Hannah Gifford states that Lizzie told her that Abbie was a "horrid old thing"

April- barn broken into

May10- house painted

May/June Andrew kills pigeons

End of June- Morse visits

July 10- Morse visits

July 15- Andrew buys back the Ferry street house- each daughter gets $2,500

July 19- Lizzie's birthday

July 21st- Emma and Lizzie leave to go away to visit friends

July 26th- Lizzie returns

Remember that summer there were Morse relatives there from Minn. making visits around the area: at Swansea and Weybosset St. and Providence
$2,500 was a very hefty birthday present! x20 = $50,000 in "our" money

The domino effect ? The last straw. "That takes the cake." These come to mind. Like a pressure cooker.

I found a horoscope for Lizzie, but it's kind of technical, and wordy. However, if you have the patience to wade through, there are many paragraphs that basically describe her very well. They mention that Emma had written that she was born just before 10 AM on a sunny day. I had never heard that before. Now I feel like checking out the whole gang. Talk me out of it. I do get obsessed !

http://www.astrotheme.com/portraits/3n245weh2UjP.htm

There is no known official time of birth for Lizzie.
Stefani used to throw charts but gave up on trying to find the time of her birth. It is not recorded.

There have been various methods employed over time to either average the time- or use a different approach, such as place/location astrology. Barbara Watters has a very interesting chart published on Lizzie: The Astrologer Looks at Murder.

Glad I'm a skeptic. (All us Virgos are.)

Lizzie had just turned 32 and it was probably safe to assume she would remain single and have to support herself. Andrew had just bought the Ferry St. property back from Lizzie and Emma. It was obvious the sisters did not have the business capabilities necessary to manage an income property to support themselves. Andrew wasn't getting any younger and it was very clear that the sisters needed to inherit at least their "fair share" of his estate in order to live and not worry about their future. Uncle John had come for a visit that summer and hadn't been home in many years. He had some discussions with Andrew about his will. Lizzie returned home from vacation because of obligations at church that someone else could have taken care of. There are a few "stressers" surrounding Lizzie's 32nd birthday and I think her passing the age of 30 and the prospect of life without some certainty about her income was consuming her with fear. Women could not just go out and have a career and rent (or buy) a place to live like we do today. I think her birthday along with the other things going on around her started to cause the desperation that led to desperate measures.