Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I've been wondering for a while if maybe Dr. Bowen was basically tricked into being an accessory to the crime and I thought I'd post it here in case anyone has any thoughts or opinions on it.

Okay so say that Lizzie was the killer, that she did in fact poison Andrew and Abby 2 days before, and she really was refused at 2 different pharmacies for trying to buy prussic acid without a prescription. Dr. Bowen was the family's doctor and neighbor. Accounts conflict about how close they were but Lizzie and Bowen were at least close enough for them to go to her church together once while the rest of the Borden's were away.

So if we can consider them to be friends, I don't find it implausible to think that she might have gone to him with the same excuse she told the pharmacists and either ask him to write a prescription for prussic acid or to use his doctor connections to get it for her himself.

It's hard to explain exactly why but to me he comes off as someone who is kinda weak-willed, or easily pushed around. It took me a while to realize his age was only 52/53 because for some reason I just assumed he was in his 80s. I think to me it seemed like everyone was talking to him like he was super fragile or something.

So, I could see the possibility of Lizzie successfully convincing him to do her "this one favor" so that she can "clean her sealskin".

Then a day or two later Abby Borden shows up at Dr. Bowen's door terrified that the family was poisoned. Right off the bat he's insistent that it's just summer sickness, maybe that was from denial and fear. He makes sure to go to the Borden's house later to check on them and upon his arrival he sees Lizzie immediately dash upstairs. Maybe she was avoiding him in case he was connecting the dots?

Then when the Bordens are killed a day later he's afraid of being implicated and getting arrested or losing his practice so he helps cover it up.

It could explain Dr. Bowen's inconsistent testimonies as well as his bizarre behavior on the day of the murders, like how he acted nervous, and was up talking to Lizzie privately in her room and told the police the pail of bloody cloth was already explained to him. Then according to Harrington Dr. Bowen claimed that Knowlton said they found "two agents of death" and he demanded to know whether or not it was true.

What also strikes me as odd is that Bowen was the one to call the coroner for the bodies and he told them to come at 3pm, which was 3-4 hours from the time of the call. Is there a reason for that?

He also barely observed or interacted with the bodies. Especially Abby's. As the first doctor on the scene you'd think he'd have paid more attention.

Though I did let out a laugh when I read for the first time about Dr. Bowen saying that Abby Borden must have fainted, only to realize minutes later she was dead and without even bothering to examine the body he declared that she must have been so frightened by the sight of her dead husband that she ran all the way up to the guest bedroom and just dropped dead.

Like good lord, this poor woman was literally murdered in the most brutal way yet this man just would not rest until he downplayed her health problems one last time.

Anyway, sorry if this has all been theorized/speculated on before, and sorry if I got any facts wrong! This also turned out a lot longer than I intended. Apparently Bowen bothers me more than I thought.

Though I will say I really don't think he was capable of being the mastermind. His elevator didn't seem to go all the way to the top floor of his building if you know what I mean.

Jess -- really enjoyed your post. Plausible, logical thinking. Bowen does seem to be a bit of an 'air head'. I too think of him as being older than he really was.

One of my pet foundational beliefs on this case is that during that week everything Lizzie did had a specific intent....nothing was random or accidental. So post murder, Lizzie asking for Bowen 1st and Alice 2nd means more than she just thought of medical attention first and a friend second. I believe Alice was 2nd so she could be on hand to validate Lizzie's safety concerns (mentioned the evening before). I don't have a clear opinion yet on why Bowen was #1 on the wish list. Maybe your theory comes into play.

However, regarding the theory of whether Lizzie may have asked Bowen for a prescription or the prussic itself, I presume he told her no since she tried to purchase Aug 3rd? If he told her 'no', what would make him worry about being implicated?

Oh that's right! For some reason I forgot Lizzie was alleged to have gone to the pharmacy on the 3rd, after they were already sick.

Hmm so maybe she got something else from him under false pretenses? Something else he could have gotten in trouble for. Then it failed to kill them so maybe that's why she then attempted to get the prussic acid?

Also something else, which might not mean anything but is still super bizarre, is how Mrs. Churchill said that Dr. Bowen came in after seeing Andrew's body for the first time and told her to go look at him. She refused, but that's so weird. What is this guy on?

And I agree completely about Lizzie's actions being very deliberate. Asking for a doctor, when she knew her father was already dead, but no mention of police is so strange.

Another thing that drives me crazy is that Lizzie told Bridget to go get Miss Russell because she didn't want to be alone in the house. But at that point they were just waiting for Dr. Bowen. There was no mention of asking Bridget to get the police or anyone else after Bridget came back from Dr. Bowen's. And by time Bridget got back with Miss Russell, Lizzie had called over Mrs. Churchill and Dr. Bowen had arrived.

So . . . Lizzie was literally only alone in the house again because she sent Bridget to go get Miss Russell because she didn't want to be alone.

Am I missing something? If not, how did THAT hold up in court?

Interesting....I tend to believe that Lizzie did try to poison the family with something besides prussic acid on Tuesday of murder week. I believe she tried to purchase prussic acid couple weeks before in New Bedford and had no luck. So plan B was something more readily available. I've struggled to come up with realistic ideas of what and where she might have gotten Plan B. Maybe it was the family doc.

If that was the case, I wonder if he ever put 2 and 2 together?

Side question....why oh why didn't Lizzie check to see if her Dad was alive or dead. If not when she initially found him, at least during the times that Bridget was scurrying all over the neighborhood. I don't care how gross it was, it was her dad and often we hear how much "she loved him". She apparently wasn't worried about an axe-murderer lurking in some dark corner.

If that was what happened then I would think he would have at least had suspicions, especially after she became a suspect. But he seemed like an odd duck so it's hard to say. That goes for basically all of his strange behavior.

Same with Lizzie. I also don't understand why Lizzie wouldn't have checked if he was alive or why she would have wasted time calling for Bridget to go get the doctor. I think most people, after ensuring Bridget's safety, would run and not stop until they found a doctor, any doctor, who could come immediately, as well as make sure the police are alerted. Rather than just wait around for Dr. Bowen at the crime scene.

I'm not 100% positive but I thought that Mrs. Bowen didn't really give any indication of how long it might be before Dr. Bowen returned home either.

Jess - at least as far as the PH went, you are correct, Ms. Bowen was not specific how long until Dr Bowen would be returning home.
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Phebe Bowen testimony Prelim Hearing Pg 478
Q. Now the day of the murder, was it you Bridget first spoke to about something being wrong over
there?
A. She came to my house soon after eleven o'clock, for the Doctor.
Q. Can you give me any idea what time it was?
A. I had occasion to look at the clock five minutes to eleven; it was soon after that, she came to the
house and inquired for Dr. Bowen.
Q. And he was out?
A. Yes Sir. I told her I wound send him as soon as he came in.
Q. Did you go over then?
Page 479
A. I did not.
Q. Did you go over before the Doctor came home?
A. I did not. The Doctor went over to the house, and came in and told me Mr. Borden was dead. Soon
after that, Bridget came back.