25/08/2025
Lizzie Borden
19th July 1860
Fall River, Massachusetts.
To parents Andrew Jackson Borden and Sarah Anthony Borden.
She had 2 sisters - Emma (1st March 1851 - June 1927)
Alice (3rd May 1856 - 1858) sadly Alice died when she was only a year old.
Lizzies mother, Sarah, also died when lizzie wes young in 1863. Sarah passed at 39 of uterine congestion and spinal disease.
Lizzie was only 3 years old.
In 1865, her father, Andrew remarried a woman called Abby Durfee Gray.
1872, Andrew, Abby, Emma and Lizzie moved to a modest home in Fall river.
Despite Andrew being a successful business man, primarily in the furniture and funeral business, he was a frugal (cheap) man. He refused to pay for running water, gas or indoor plumbing.
A huge topic of contention between Andrew and his 2 daughters.
In 1889 Andrew did, however, pay for a live in maid. An Irish immigrant called Bridget Sullivan.
The Borden house was a tense one over the following years.
Lizzie felt that her father was “wasting his money” by spoiling his new wife Abby. Money she felt was hers. He would buy Abby lavish gifts, even giving a house to Abby’s sister when they were struggling.
Both Lizzie and Emma felt they deserved a nice house and both became jealous of Abby, Lizzie stopped calling her mother.
July 1892, another argument broke out in the family home. Resulting in both Lizzie and Emma leaving. They both went to New Bradford on vacation.
About a week later Lizzie returned, but stayed in a local boarding house rather than returning home. Emma stayed away for another week.
2nd August 1892, both Andrew and Abby became violently sick. Stomach cramps and vomiting. Abby went to see her doctor who later thought she may have been poisoned but couldn’t prove it.
On the 3rd August 1892, Andrew’s ex brother in law (Sarah’s brother) John, came to the house to visit and talk business with him.
John had plans to stay for the weekend in the home. He arrived in the evening and retired to the spare room after supper.
Nothing was unusual.
Thursday 4th August 1892
7am - Abby, Andrew and John have breakfast together in the dining room.
Andrew and John then retired to the living room to continue their talk from the previous evening.
Abby started doing some housework along with Bridget (the family maid).
8.48am - John left the house, went into town to conduct some meetings then went onto other family members houses to visit.
9am - Andrew also leave the house. He also heads into town to check on his businesses. He left with letters that needed to be posted that were given to him by Lizzie.
9.30am - Abby goes upstairs to clean.
Bridget begins cleaning windows outside the home.
Sometime in the next hour (the exact time is unknown) someone confronted Abby in the spare room.
She was hit over the head with a hatchett, which split her ear. She fell to the floor banging her nose and forehead.
She was then hit by the hatchett another 18 times over her head.
10.45am - Andrew returns home.
His key didn’t appear to work in the door so was forced to knock.
Bridget heard the knocking and attempted to open the door but it was jammed. This resulted in her using a swear word, which made Lizzie laugh.
Bridget hadn’t seen Lizzie until this moment, when she claims Lizzie at the top of the stairs.
Andrew entered the home, then asked Lizzie where Abby was.
Lizzie told him that Abby had received an urgent message that a friend was sick so she had left to see them.
11am - Unbothered, Andrew decided to take a nap. He laid on the living room sofa and drifted off.
Bridget heads up to the 3rd floor to clean windows.
11.10am - Bridget claims she hears Lizzie shouting up to her that someone had killed her father.
Andrew was laying on the sofa with 11 deep blows to his head. One blow had severed his eye in half.
11.15am - police were called and descended on the home very quickly.
They found Andrew in the sofa and started investigation immediately.
Bridget and Lizzie go outside where they meet their neighbour, Adelaide, who asks what had happened. Lizzie tells her that her father has been killed.
By noon, Lizzie, Bridget and Adelaide are back in the house. They are sitting around the kitchen table when Lizzie, very non chalant, says she thought she heard Abby came home and go upstairs but didn’t want to look. So Adelaide and Bridget went up to find Abby, who they discovered on thr floor of the spare room.
Shockingly, the post mortems for Abby and Andrew were done on the dining room table of the Borden house.
Based on the fact that there were no witnesses to confirm a stranger had come in the house the police quickly focused on the only people in the house. Lizzie and Bridget.
After interviewing both women they concluded Lizzie was the main suspect.
Why?
1. Her stories continued to change.
One moment she was telling them she was in the shed looking for irons to fish with when she heard groaning from inside. Then discovered her father when she went to investigate.
The next she told police she didn’t hear anything and only found her father when she naturally went inside after being in the shed.
2. Her hatred for her stepmother and father. It came to light that Lizzie had been going round town telling everyone how mean Abby was to her and how he father was being used for his money.
3. Money. Lizzie fully believed was entitled to a better and more luxury life. Did she kill her father to get his money, and kill Abby to eliminate the possibility of her step mother getting the money.
But things are quite as solid as police thought.
During her trial that began on the 5th June 1893 her defence team brought forward compelling arguments to dispute the prosecution case.
1. No blood on anything in the house other than around the victims.
Lizzies clothing, body and other parts of the house where you would expect blood of the victims, there wasn’t any.
The only blood found was on rags found in the kitchen. But that was explained away by Lizzie coming on her period, she said she was soaking the rags for that purpose.
2. The hatchett. Police did find a Hatchett in the basement of the home. It was just the head and small section of the handle.
It was sent for testing but other than some rusting on the head no blood, hair or tissue was found.
3. Lizzies stories. Despite her changing account of that morning. She did settle in being in the shed at the time.
Witnesses did actually come forward to say they saw Lizzie leave the shed just after 11, like she told police.
20th June 1893 -
The jury, of 10 men, were sent out to deliberate.
They were out 1.5 hours before returning.
Where they found Lizzie Borden “not guilty” of the savage murders of her father and stepmother.
But was she guilty?
What do you think?
