The Crime Book

210

walls, there was none anywhere

else. Bridget let an officer into the

cellar where he came across a box

containing two axes, one plastered

with blood and hair, and a recently

broken hatchet-head caked in ash.

Lizzie was questioned by

Deputy Marshal Fleet about her

movements. She said she had

intended to spend the morning

ironing clothes. When her father

had come home tired, she had

taken off his shoes while he napped

on the sofa. She had gone to the

barn for 15–20 minutes to look for

lead to make fishing weights. And

she had not seen Abby leave to

“visit her sick friend”. An officer

inspected the barn to confirm

Lizzie’s alibi. It was humid and

windless that day; given the stifling

heat in the barn, he doubted she

had spent as much time as she had

claimed in there. The absence of

footprints in the heavy dust

supported his theory.

Arrest and acquittal

On 11 August, Lizzie was arrested

for the murder of her parents. Her

alleged motive was that she

suspected her father of writing

her out of his will in favour of her

stepmother. At first, it seemed as if

the case might not go to trial, as at

the inquest, it was reported that

LIZZIE BORDEN

Bridget hears Lizzie

Borden laughing upstairs

as she opens the door

Live-in maid Bridget

opens front door to

Andrew Borden at

approximately 10:30am

Andrew Borden lies

down on the couch in the

living room for a nap.

Lizzie claims she removes

his shoes

Andrew is assaulted with a

hatchet and is struck 10

or 11 times around

the head, causing

fatal injuries

Lizzie Borden raises

the alarm at 11:10am,

when she calls for

the maid, having

found her father dead

Murder 2

She is struck with a

hatchet to the side of

her head by an

unseen assailant

Abby Borden

goes upstairs to clean a

bedroom between 9am and

10:30am

Abby turns and falls

face down on the floor,

causing major contusions

to her face

The killer sits on Abby’s

back and delivers 19

direct hits to the back

of the head

Abby Borden’s body

is found at around

11:30am by live-in

maid Bridget and

neighbour Mrs Churchill

Murder 1

A Venerable Citizen and His

Aged Wife Hacked to Pieces

in Their Home

Fall River Herald

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211

The Bordens’ side door, marked V,

was unhooked from 9:30–10:30am.

Could an outsider have crept in, axed

Abby, hidden for more than 90 minutes,

then emerged to kill Andrew?

a passing peddler had spotted a

woman walking from the yard to

the side door of the house, seeming

to support Lizzie’s alibi. Secondly,

a doctor from Harvard Medical

School attested that the blood and

hair on the axe belonged to a cow.

Suddenly, though, there was a

reversal in Lizzie’s fortunes. A

prison matron claimed to have

overheard her saying “Emma, you

have given me away, haven’t you?”

to her older sister during a visit.

Moreover, Lizzie’s best friend told

the inquest she had seen Lizzie

burning a blue dress in the kitchen

stove days after the slayings. This

was sufficient to bring a murder

charge against her.

Lizzie Borden’s trial began in

1893. On 20 June, after just 90
      minutes’ deliberation, the jury
      returned a verdict of not guilty.
      Lizzie used her inheritance to buy
      a house on the affluent side of Fall
      River. She died there in 1927.
      The Bordens’ unsolved murder
      remains a source of fascination.
      Many theories – some potentially
      possible, most just laughable – have
      been proffered as to who killed
      them, how, and why. Those who
      believe Lizzie was the culprit point

to the evidence raised by

the prosecution: her window of

opportunity, the hot, dusty

barn, at least 30 inconsistent

statements, and the burning of the

blue dress. However, two crucial

pieces of evidence stand out:

Lizzie was the only person to have

stood on the landing while her

stepmother lay dead in the guest

room, a scene that Bridget and

Mrs Churchill had come across

MURDER CASES

immediately after ascending the

stairs. And although Lizzie insisted

she had removed her father’s shoes

as he dozed on the sofa, in the

crime scene photo he is still

wearing them. ■

Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden was a

32-year-old unmarried woman

living with her wealthy but

miserly father and his second

wife, prominent residents of Fall

River. Accounts of her character

range from “kind Sunday School

teacher active in local charities”

to an “ill-tempered kleptomaniac

who decapitated Abby’s cat

because it was annoying her.”

Rumours have surfaced that

Lizzie engaged in incest, whether

consensual or not, with her uncle

John Morse and her father – the

locked door leading from her

bedroom to Andrew’s with a

bureau pushed against it is

viewed as evidence of the latter.

She was certainly a habitual

thief. While he was alive, her

father managed to protect her

from prosecution, but later, she

was accused of shoplifting

a painting. The matter was

settled out of court.

The jury acquitted Lizzie on

the grounds that the evidence

against her was mainly

circumstantial, but most likely

also because the Victorian

mindset could not comprehend

that an upper-class spinster

could commit such a brutal act.

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