The Crime Book

209

See also: O.J. Simpson 246–51 ■ Jack the Ripper 266–73

daughter, Lizzie, arrived, wearing a

blue dress. Abby asked Bridget to

wash the downstairs windows,

then headed upstairs to change the

pillowslips in the guest bedroom.

At 9am, Andrew left to run

some errands; when he returned,

around 10:30, Bridget heard him

struggling to unlock the main door,

and hurried to assist. She saw that

the spring lock had been fastened,

and heard Lizzie laughing upstairs.

Andrew went into the sitting

room, and the maid continued her

work. Lizzie came down the stairs

and spoke to her father. Bridget

overheard her say that Abby,

Lizzie’s stepmother, had received

a note from a sick friend and had

gone to visit her. Bridget moved on

to the dining room to wash the

windows there, and was joined by

Lizzie, who started ironing some

clothes, chatting as she did so.

The nightmare begins

Feeling tired and nauseous, Bridget

told Lizzie she was going to take a

nap, and headed up the back stairs

to her room. Lying on her bed, she

heard the City Hall bell chime 11.

Around 11:10am, Bridget heard

Lizzie call out to her: “Maggie,

come quick! Father’s dead.

Somebody came in and killed him.”

Bridget rushed downstairs to find

Lizzie standing in the rear hallway.

She told her that Andrew’s

murdered body was in the sitting

room and asked her to go find

Dr Seabury Bowen. Unable to locate

him, Bridget soon returned.

In the meantime, the Bordens’

neighbour, Mrs Adelaide Churchill,

had come by to see what all the

fuss was about. She found Lizzie

distraught and tried to comfort her.

Lizzie explained that she had been

in the barn when she had heard a

groan coming from the house. On

entering, she had found her father

dead on the couch. When Mrs

Churchill asked about Abby, Lizzie

told her that she was out visiting a

friend. Shortly after, when Bridget

MURDER CASES

The Borden home at 92 Second

Street in Fall River. Andrew was a

rich man but chose not to live in the

wealthiest part of the city, opting to

live closer to his businesses.

suggested that she should try to

find Abby, Lizzie said she thought

she had heard her return. With Mrs

Churchill in tow, Bridget decided to

check upstairs. As soon as her eyes

were level with the landing, she

saw Abby’s bloodied corpse lying

face down in the guest bedroom.

At 11:45, the first wave of police

officers descended on the house

and began to search it. They noted

no signs of forced entry or burglary.

The front and cellar doors were

locked and, although there was

blood on the victims, ceiling, and ❯❯

I’m going to burn this old

[dress] up, it is covered

with paint.

Lizzie Borden

Defensive wounds

When a victim of violence is

attacked they invariably raise

their hands reflexively to deflect

or protect themselves from the

blows. The resulting injuries to

their appendages are known

as “defensive wounds”. In a

homicide investigation, a rule

of thumb is that an absence of

defensive wounds indicates the

victim was unable to defend

themselves – whether because

they were bound, drugged, or

because they trusted their

attacker and were immediately

incapacitated in a sudden and

unexpected attack. Neither

Andrew nor Abby Borden had

sustained defensive injuries.

In Andrew’s case this was to

be expected, because he was

sleeping when he was attacked.

Abby, however, was cleaning

the guest bedroom, and appears

to have been attacked on the

side of the bed farthest from the

doorway. It seems likely that

either Abby’s assailant sneaked

up on her, or she was killed by

someone she knew, who took

her by surprise and struck her

with the hatchet.

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