Twice now I have made edits to the Wikipedia listing to Lizzie Borden, and twice someone has come in and changed what was written to add their more dramatic, and misleading, take on the case. Since anyone can update this entry, you must be wary of anything Wikipedia has to offer. I don’t allow my students to use this source in research papers. I like the idea of Wikipedia, but my gosh, the horrors of letting just anybody edit history!
1. Why have Dr. Bowen in quotes? Is that not his real name? Or is the writer questioning his medical license?
2. “A turning point in the trial was the dramatic unveiling of the victims’ rotting skull”? Oh my, I must have missed that fact in my 25 years of stuying this case.
3. “The anonymous rhyme was made up by a writer as an alluring little tune to sell newspapers even though in reality her stepmother suffered 18 blows, her father 10.” Uh, how about 19 and 10?
4. “She called to the family’s maid Bridget Sullivan (who had been resting in her third floor room) to ‘come downstairs…father is dead…somebody got in and murdered him.'” Pshaw! According to Bridget’s Preliminary Hearing testimony, she said, “I asked her what was the matter. She said “come down quickâ€, that her father was dead.” And at the Trial, Bridget said this: “Miss Lizzie hollered, ‘Maggie, come down!’ I said, ‘What is the matter?’ She says, ‘Come down quick; father’s dead, somebody come in and killed him.'”
Makes you wonder what else is wrong on that site, doesn’t it?
