Lizzie Borden
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Lizzie Borden
On a hot morning on August 4, 1892, Mr. Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby Borden, were brutally murdered. A daughter of the victims, Lizzie Borden was arrested, tried and acquitted of the crime. “She was a woman of spotless character and reputation, and more than that she was educated, refined and prominently connected with the work of the Christian church in the Fall River”(Gates 2). The town and the country were divided in their opinions of who could commit such horrifying murders. Many theories have been made to explain that day; the finger has been pointed in every direction- even to a Chinese Sunday school student of Lizzies. To this day people are unsure as to whether or not Lizzie brutally murdered her parents.
The day started off with the usual routine. Mr. And Mrs. Borden made their way downstairs to eat breakfast a little after seven. The next to wake up was Lizzies uncle, who had shown up unannounced and without luggage the evening before so he could visit a friend in the area the next day. The day of the murder he left the house at nine thirty. Prior to that time Lizzie woke up, waited for her parents to finish eating and went downstairs herself to eat breakfast. (It had become a custom for her and her sister to avoid eating meals with their father and stepmother.) Not long after this Mrs. Borden asked the maid to wash the windows. She did as she was told and spent the rest of the day going throughout the house. Mr. Borden went out to run some errands then he came home, lay down on the couch and proceeded to take a nap. This was the last time that he was seen alive (Martins, Michael, and Binette 72.) After breakfast, Lizzie
went outside to the barn to find some metal of some sort so that she could use it on her planned fishing trip that day. In the twenty minutes she spent in the barn her parents were murdered (Martins, Michael, and Binette 78). An autopsy was done on the dinning room table later that day which determined that Mr. Borden was sleeping when he died. The cause of death was “ten blows to the head with an axe” (Porter 8). Meanwhile upstairs while making the bed, Mrs. Borden was murdered with “a total of 18 gaping wounds, more than one of which went through the skull” (Flenn 2). Lizzie was the first to discover her fathers body. The maid, who was resting in her room in the attic, was called downstairs at 11:10 (Martins, Michael, and Binette 91). Before the maid was able to see Mr. Bordens mutilated body, Lizzie sent her across the street to the familys doctor. Finding that he wasnt home, she and the doctors wife returned to the Borden home. Meanwhile, Mrs. Churchill, the closest neighbor to the Bordens, discovered Lizzie on the back porch in great distress. She walked over to the house to console her after hearing that Mr. Borden had been murdered. She volunteered to send her handyman to find a doctor, and to help. The police station, about 400 yards away, received the message at 11:15. By 11:45 the police and Dr. Bowen were on the scene (Sullivan 16). During all the confusion, while the handyman went for help, Mrs. Borden was completely forgotten. She had left the house earlier to visit a sick friend. After Dr. Bowen asked about her Lizzie recalled hearing her return and asked the maid to go upstairs to look for her. The maid refused fearing what she might find. So with the company of Mrs. Churchill the maid agreed to scale the steps finding Mrs. Borden murdered in the guestroom (Spiering 16). Mrs. Borden was found with her head crushed in. There was a hole about 1.5 x 5.5 inches along with a scalp wound where the flesh was cut off but not separated from the head. The wound was 2 inches long by 1.5 inches wide. On the left side
there were four wounds. Three of them went into the skull, one taking a piece right out of the skull. Many of the wounds crushed through to the brain. Altogether she received 18 blows to the head (Porter 19). Mr. Bordens wound count was just less than that of his wife; he only had ten. From Ð inch in front of his ear to Ð inch behind it his skull was crushed in (Martins, Michael, and Binette 106). One wound started at his left nasal bone and extended down through the nose, the upper and lower lip, and through the chin cutting into the bone (Porter 23). Another started just above the eye severing it completely in half and cutting the cheekbone (Porter 24). According to Mr. Harrington, a police officer questioned in court, when Mr. Bordens body was examined “blood was still seeping from his wounds, and his body was warm.” However, Mrs. Bordens body was cold and stiff. “No blood was flowing, and it was dark and congealed” (Engstrom 54). Judging form this and the stage of digestion in the stomachs of the two bodies, Mrs. Borden died first (Flenn 5). This account of the murder day is entirely factual. The only things that can be argued are the alibis. Abby, her sister, the maid, and her uncle couldnt prove their exact whereabouts at the approximate time of the murders. Not only is this account entirely fact, it is most of the facts. “No blood stained clothes, fingerprints, or murder weapon [were] ever found” (Porter 1). This is one strong reason why Abby was acquitted. However, there are other interesting facts that took place before, the day of, and after the murders. Lizzie and her sister Emma didnt usually attend meals with their father and stepmother. This habit was created when their father, a self made man who was relatively tight with his money, bought half of his sister-in-laws house. He did this as a favor so she didnt have to sell it. He then allowed her to live in the other half. Lizzie and Emma took great offense to this and have been quoted as saying, “we thought what he did to her people (their step-mothers family) he ought to do for his own”(Sullivan 217). Mr. Borden tried to make up for it by buying them their own house as well, but the damage was already done. From that point on they ate alone and addressed Abby, their mother since the age of 2, as Mrs. Borden (Lincoln 41). Another interesting event that occurred in the Borden household was the disappearance of Abbys cat. Robert Sullivan, in his research of the case, interviewed Lizzies niece: “Lizzie Borden had company and my aunt had a tabby cat and the cat was trained so that it would touch the latch — you know, it was [sic] latches in those days — shed touch the latch and the door would open. So the cat went in where Lizzie was entertaining and she took it out and shut the door again, and came back so this is what she told Aunt Abby and Abby told my mother; Lizzie Borden finally excused herself and went downstairs — took the cat downstairs — and put the carcass on the chopping