The Trial of Lizzie Borden, page 31
WS:
Witness Statements, August 4–October 6, 1892. Collection of Fall River Historical Society.
Newspapers
Boston Globe:
Boston Daily Globe
FRDG:
Fall River Daily Globe
FRDH:
Fall River Daily Herald
FREN:
Fall River Daily Evening News
NBDM:
New Bedford Mercury
NBEJ:
New Bedford Evening Journal
NBES:
New Bedford Evening Standard
NY Sun:
[New York] Sun
NYT:
New York Times
NY World:
[New York] World
Providence Journal:
Providence Daily Journal
Part 1
MURDER
Chapter 1: Somebody Will Do Something
If a person wished to kill and avoid detection . . . hydrocyanic acid would be the first choice among all deadly drugs: “Fall River’s Tragedy,” NBES, August 5, 1893, 2.
to put on the edge of a sealskin cape: Testimony of Eli Bence, Inquest, in Knowlton Papers, 160; Interview with Eli Bence, Officers Doherty and Harrington, WS, 8.
Miss Borden: Testimony of Eli Bence, Inquest, 160.
This is Andrew J. Borden’s daughter: Testimony of Eli Bence, Inquest, 160.
more closely: Testimony of Eli Bence, Inquest, 160.
her peculiar expression around the eyes: Testimony of Eli Bence, Inquest, 162.
did not parade their difficulties: Trial Transcript, in Knowlton Papers, 1774.
things were not as pleasant at the Borden house as they might be: Jane Gray, Interview with Harrington, August 17, 1892, WS, 17.
He was a plain-living man with rigid ideas, and very set: Testimony of Alice Russell, Inquest, 151.
He was too hard for me: “No Clearer,” FRDH, August 6, 1892, 4.
He was what is called close-fisted, but square and just in his dealings: “Mr. Borden’s Life,” Boston Daily Advertiser, August 4, 1892, in Kent, 5.
Keep constantly on hand, Burial Cases and Coffins, Ready-made of all kinds now in use in this section of the country: Advertisement, FREN, May 5, 1859, FRHS.
he never made a purchase of land for which he was not ready to pay cash down: “Reminiscences of the late Andrew J. Borden,” FRDG, August 19, 1892, 7.
one of the finest business blocks in the city located at the corner of South Main and Anawan streets: E. H. Porter, The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders (Fall River, MA: Geo. Buffington, 1893), 22.
was his or her own chambermaid: “Lizzie Borden at the Bar,” NY Sun, June 5, 1893, 2.
uterine congestion: Death Record #706, March 26, 1893, Fall River Vital Statistics, Office of the City Clerk, Government Center, Fall River, MA. Andrew married Abby D. Gray on June 6, 1865. Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1841–1910. (From original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online datatbase: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004.)
had never ceased to regard Abby D. Borden . . . with jealous regard the sweet memories of a sanctified mother: “Mrs. Livermore Talks,” NBDM, June 19, 1893, 1.
When my darling mother was on her deathbed . . . watch over “Baby Lizzie”: “Guilty?—No! No!”, Boston Sunday Herald, April 13, 1913, 25.
always went to Emma: Lizzie Borden’s Inquest Testimony, NBES, August 12, 1893.
a monument of straightforwardness: “Firm in Faith,” FRDG, August 15, 1892, 8. (“I never shall believe, even if she were convicted of the deed, that she committed it unless she were to confess to it herself, and then the marvel would be greater to me that she had concealed her act than that she did it.”)
close in money matters . . . had to ask two or three times: “Lizzie Borden,” Boston Post, May 18, 1893, 2; “A Talk with Lizzie Borden,” Woman’s Journal, May 27, 1893, 163.
Mrs. Borden did not control the house; the whole summing up of it, was that: Testimony of Alice Russell, Inquest, 151.
was to select the color, and . . . not go on with it until the color was determined: Trial Transcript, 1349.
dark drab: Trial Transcript, 1349.
closed-mouth woman . . . bear a great deal and say nothing: Jane Gray, Interview with Harrington, August 17, 1892, in WS, 17.
We always spoke: Testimony of Emma Borden, Inquest, 113.
Don’t say that to me, for she is a mean good-for-nothing thing: Testimony of Hannah Gifford, Inquest, 158.
Lizzie told me she thought her stepmother . . . and another to her back: Testimony of Augusta Tripp, Inquest, 144.
I told Mrs. Borden I would not change places with her for all her money: Jane Gray, Interview with Harrington, August 17, 1892, WS, 17.
He was a very plain living man . . . why they should care for anything different: Testimony of Alice Russell, Inquest, 151–52.
They had quite refined ideas, and they would like to have been cultured girls: Testimony of Alice Russell, Inquest, 151–52.
She thought she should entertain . . . lavishly angered her: “No Clearer,” FRDH, August 6, 1892, 4.
6 or 8 penny nail: Report of Capt. Desmond, June 24, 1891, in Knowlton Papers, 74–75.
Someone might have come in that way: Report of Capt. Desmond, June 24, 1891, in Knowlton Papers, 75.
I am afraid the police will not be able to find the real thief: Report of Capt. Desmond, June 24, 1891, in Knowlton Papers, 75.
was an illness suggestive . . . deaths of one or other of those people: Trial Transcript, 1246.
I feel as if something . . . no matter where I am: Trial Transcript, 375.
I don’t know but somebody will do something: Trial Transcript, 379.
Chapter 2: An Incredible Crime
What is the matter?: Testimony of Adelaide Churchill, Inquest, 128.
Oh, Mrs. Churchill, do come over. Someone has killed father: Testimony of Adelaide Churchill, Inquest, 128.
hacked to pieces: “Shocking!” FRDG, August 4, 1892, 1.
Where were you?: Interview with Adelaide Churchill, August 8, 1892, WS, 11.
to clear [her] eyes above the second floor: Interview with Adelaide Churchill, August 8, 1892, WS, 11.
Is there another?: Interview with Adelaide Churchill, August 8, 1892, WS, 11.
O, I shall have to go to the cemetery myself: Interview with Adelaide Churchill, August 8, 1892, WS, 11.
Physician that I am and accustomed to all sorts of horrible sights, it sickened me: E. H. Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 18.
the cry of murder swept through the city of Fall River like a typhoon: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 13.
a dyed-in-the-wool policeman: “Dark for Lizzie Borden,” NY Sun, June 9, 1893, 2.
Did He Have a Presentiment?: “No Arrest Yet,” FRDH, August 11, 1892, 4.
must have jarred the house: “Done with Theories,” NBES, August 9, 1892, 2.
much too dressy for Fall River: Michael Martins and Dennis A. Binette, Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River (Fall River: Fall River Historical Society, 2011), 355.
No true Borden has ever placed a stumbling block: “Lizzie Borden’s Arrest,” NBES, August 12, 1892, 6.
the Golden Horseshoe: Martins and Binette, Parallel Lives, 159. M. C. D. Borden shared Box 8 with Cornelius Bliss, William Harkness, and John Clafin. Mrs. William B. Astor Jr. was their neighbor in Box 7. Among Borden’s possessions was a 251-foot yacht and a formidable art collection, including Rembrandt’s Lucretia Stabbing Herself. Martins and Binette, Parallel Lives, 163.
piling up dollars: “Lizzie Borden at the Bar,” NY Sun, June 5, 1893, 2.
a peculiar phase of life in New England—a wretched phase: “Lizzie Borden at the Bar,” NY Sun, June 5, 1893, 2.
the daughters of a class of well-to-do New England men . . . born to these fortunes: “Lizzie Borden at the Bar,” NY Sun, June 5, 1893, 2.
Crime . . . seems to attend that phase: “Lizzie Borden at the Bar,” NY Sun, June 5, 1893, 2.
The true criminal has something . . . who has remained animalized: Arthur MacDonald, “Criminological,” American Journal of Psychology 3 (January 1890): 114. MacDonald reviewed European criminology, including works by Lombroso and French socialist and criminologist Gabriel Tarde.
Juke: Lawrence Friedman, Crime and Punishment in American History (New York: Basic Books, 1993), 141. “Juke” was a pseudonym coined by Richard Dugdale.
The Dangerous Classes: Charles Loring Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York and Twenty Years’ Work Among Them, Third Ed. (New York: Wynkoop and Hallenbeck, 1880), 42–43.
An invasion of migrating peoples, outnumbering the Goths and Vandals: Mary A. Livermore, “The Boy of Today,” in The Story of My Life: The Sunshine and Shadow of Seventy Years (Hartford, CT: A. D. Worthington and Company, 1897), 634.
a Swede or a Portuguese: “Police Baffled,” NBES, August 5, 1892, 8.
dirty dresses on, which were caked with blood: Notes of Officer Harrington, August 9, 1892, WS, 13.
very subject to the nose bleed: Notes of Officer Harrington, August 9, 1892, WS, 13.
old, dull, and . . . worn: Notes of Officer Harrington, August 9, 1892, WS, 13.
a Portuguese . . . a satisfactory account of himself: Notes of Officer Harrington, August 4, 1892, WS, 6.
effeminate . . . Chinaman: Anonymous Letter, September 1, 1892, in Knowlton Papers, 59.
What must have been the person . . . he must have been a maniac: “Minister Jubb,” FRDH, August 8, 1892, 4.
a mass of raw meat: Diary of Charles Henry Wells, August 4, 1892. Collection of FRHS.
Look for the maniac: “Legal Aspects,” FRDH, August 17, 1892, 4.
We who have had some experience with criminals . . . dogged brutality of the insane: “Legal Aspects,” FRDH, August 17, 1892, 4.
Dr. Handy’s wild-eyed man: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 50.
Mike the Soldier: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 60–61.
readily pronounced him not the man . . . his face was very much shaded: Notes of Officer Doherty, August 10, 1892, WS, 13.
multitude of crank communications: Letter from Albert Pillsbury to Hosea Knowlton, May 27, 1893, in Knowlton Papers, 203.
Dark mysteries have been brought to light in this manner by means of photography: Hilliard Papers 32, FRHS.
I have devoted attention to many stories that were foolish: “A Motive for the Murders,” NBES, August 18, 1892, 2.
come at once . . . arrest Morse, Lizzie and the man at West Port: Letter from J. Burns Strand, August 10, 1892, in Knowlton Papers, 8.
there was a diversity of opinion in the spirit world: “More from the Spirits,” FRDH, August 17, 1892, 4.
Spirits don’t know everything . . . they couldn’t be expected to know about it: “More from the Spirits,” FRDH, August 14, 1892, 129.
The Suspected Man: “The Suspected Man,” NBES, August 5, 1892, 4. For another discussion of Morse’s alibi, see “Fall River’s Tragedy,” NBES, August 6, 1892, 2.
long, lanky, hard-featured fellow, who dressed like a scarecrow and ate like a cormorant: “The Fall River Murders,” NBES, August 19, 1892, 1.
regarded by his neighbors as a very eccentric and peculiar man: “The Fall River Murders,” NBES, August 19, 1892, 1. He was considered suspicious because of his reported connection to a group of itinerant horse traders camped in the nearby town of Westport. “To the Grave,” FRDG, August 6, 1892, 7.
close, almost to the point of penuriousness: “The Fall River Murders,” NBES, August 19, 1892, 1.
regarded Mr. Morse with more tenderness than most nieces feel for their uncles: “A Strange Story,” FRDH, August 19, 1892, 4. This rumor sounds very different to modern ears. For a discussion of incest in this period based on the records of Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, see Linda Gordon, Heroes of Their Own Lives: The Politics and History of Family Violence, Boston 1880–1960 (New York: Viking Press, 1988), 204–249.
he was constantly on the alert to see the breath of scandal did not reach his home: “A Strange Story,” FRDH, August 19, 1892, 4.
Some remarked how courageous . . . perhaps she has acceptable company: Jane Gray, Interview by Harrington and Doherty, September 25, 1892, WS, 21.
covered with blood: Notes of Officer Medley, August 4, 1892, WS, 28.
it had been explained to him, and was alright: Notes of Officer Medley, August 4, 1892, WS, 28.
she had not noticed the pail . . . and put the contents in the wash: Notes of Officer Medley, August 4, 1892, WS, 28.
It does not amount to anything: Notes of Officer Harrington, August 4, 1892, WS, 6.
carried out the orders of her priest . . . true Americans will learn in time never to imploy [sic] a catholic: Anonymous Letter, Hilliard Papers 004, FRHS.
a sly and lying class: Anonymous Letter, August 18, 1892, Hilliard Papers 82, FRHS.
In the natural course of things who would be the party to be suspected?: Preliminary Hearing, 508.
Lizzie stood by the foot of the bed . . . she knew more than she wished to tell: Officer Harrington, August 4, 1892, WS, 5–6.
I don’t like that girl: Officer Harrington, August 4, 1892, WS, 6.
If any girl can show you or me . . . I would like to have her do it: Officer Harrington, August 4, 1892, WS, 6.
strange . . . that the boy who delivered the note has not made himself known: “Done with Theories,” NBES, August 9, 1892, 2.
When the perpetrator of this foul deed is found, it will be one of the household: Hiram Harrington, Interviewed by Doherty and Harrington, August 6, 1892, WS, 11.
I had a long talk with Lizzie yesterday, Thursday, the day of the murder, and I am not at all satisfied with [her] . . . demeanor: Hiram Harrington, Interviewed by Doherty and Harrington, August 6, 1892, WS, 11.
She is very strong-willed, and will fight for what she considers her rights: Hiram Harrington, Interviewed by Doherty and Harrington, August 6, 1892, WS, 11. Harrington gave variations of this description to assorted reporters. In an interview with Porter, he characterized Lizzie as “haughty and domineering with the stubborn will of her father and bound to contest for her right.” Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 26.
simply to get them out of the way: “A Hired Assassin,” NBES, August 9, 1892, 8.
to any one who may secure the arrest . . . the death of Andrew J. Borden and his wife: “$5000 Reward,” NBES, August 5, 1892, 1.
disappeared as mysteriously as he came: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 41. Hanscom’s given name was either Orrinton or Orrington.
it must clear up the mystery or go insane: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 53.
Chapter 3: Done with Theories
There was no singing and no remarks: “The Murder Mystery,” NBES, August 6, 1892, 6.
leaning on the undertaker’s arm: “The Murder Mystery,” NBES, August 6, 1892, 6.
As the procession wended its way along North Main Street . . . to raise their hats: “The Murder Mystery,” NBES, August 6, 1892, 6.
their first chance to work undisturbed by the presence of the Borden girls . . . They ransacked the house from attic to cellar: “No Motive Yet Found for the Borden Murder,” New York Herald, August 6, 1892, in Kent, 17.
an elderly lady in plain dress: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 33.
employed long ago by the Bordens: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 33.
discreet pause of perhaps five minutes: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 32.
the intense excitement in Fall River . . . fever heat: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 52.
remarkable vitality: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 81.
a hack, containing Marshal Hilliard . . . to convey Miss Lizzie and a friend: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 52.
business was partially suspended . . . the tragedy was first made known: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 52.
a lovely woman: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 54.
deep distress: Porter, The Fall River Tragedy, 54.
a head as hard as iron . . . and he snorts like a war horse: “Emma Borden Testifies,” NY Sun, June 17, 1893, 1.
no trace of anything artificial, either in his manner, his language, or his nature: Attorney General Parker’s Address, Tribute of the Bristol County Bar to the Memory of the late Hon. Hosea Morrill Knowlton, Taunton, April 21, 1903 (New Bedford: E. Anthony and Sons), 29.
mostly sentimental: Hosea Knowlton, Annual Report of the Attorney General for the Year Ending January 17, 1900 (Boston, 1900), xv.
The punishment of murder by death . . . the whipping post, and the stake: Hosea Knowlton, Annual Report of the Attorney General for the Year Ending January 16, 1901 (Boston, 1901), xviii–xix.
a hard fighter: “Her Father’s Murder Charged Against Her,” NY Herald, August 13, 1892, in Kent, 109.
a splendid dancer: Martins and Binette, Parallel Lives, 957. For Jennings’s leadership of the Brown Varsity Nine, see “Prisoner’s Counsel,” NBES, August 27, 1892, 2.
His eyes . . . fairly snap when he is in motion: “The Borden Jury Chosen,” NY Sun, June 6, 1893, 1.
ability to be everywhere and see everything at once: “The Borden Jury Chosen,” NY Sun, June 6, 1893, 1.
admirable voice, which he use[d] to great effect: “One Side,” Boston Globe, June 16, 1893, 1.
Do you know of anybody that your father was on bad terms with?: Lizzie Borden’s Inquest Testimony, NBES, June 12, 1893. The rest of the colloquy is from the same source.
very sharp hatchet: Officer Harrington drew Knowlton’s attention to the newspaper stories about Lizzie’s letter. Letter from Phil Harrington to Hosea Knowlton, September 8, 1892, in Knowlton Papers, 73.
If this is so, it means insanity: Letter from Hosea Knowlton to Albert Pillsbury, September 12, 1892, in Knowlton Papers, 76.
I have said all I think I should about that letter: Elizabeth M. Johnston, Interview with Doherty and Harrington, September 25, 1892, WS, 20.
