May 23, 2025 • 38 mins
History's Greatest Crimes 🏛️🔪
The Chilling Case of Lizzie Borden: Victim or Villain?
Episode Description:
Welcome to History's Greatest Crimes with your hosts, Michael and Alana, professional historians! 👋
The episode delves into the infamous case of the Borden murders, which took place in Fall River, Massachusetts, during the Gilded Age. On a sweltering August morning in 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were brutally murdered, with their daughter Lizzie emerging as the prime suspect. This case, steeped in legend and immortalized by a haunting children's rhyme, raises profound questions about societal norms, family dynamics, and the nature of justice. We will examine the intricate backdrop of the era, characterized by stark social inequalities and rigid gender roles, which contributed to the tensions within the Borden household. Through our exploration, we seek to unravel whether Lizzie Borden was indeed the cold-blooded killer or merely a victim ensnared by her circumstances.
Listen now to uncover the truth! 🎧💡
Hosts: Michael and Alana are professional historians with a passion for bringing the most captivating and often overlooked criminal events of the past to light. ✨
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Takeaways:
- The Borden case exemplifies the complexities of societal structures during the Gilded Age, particularly in Fall River, Massachusetts, where wealth and poverty coexisted in stark contrast.
- Lizzie Borden's trial revealed the deep-seated gender biases of the time, as the jury's perception of femininity influenced their verdict amidst the lack of concrete evidence.
- The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden were marked by extreme brutality, yet the investigation faced severe shortcomings that clouded the case's resolution.
- Despite being acquitted, Lizzie Borden's reputation suffered irreparably, illustrating the enduring impact of public opinion in the wake of sensationalized criminal cases.
- The societal tensions within the Borden household, exacerbated by financial disputes and complex familial relationships, contributed significantly to the tragic events of August 1892.
- Lizzie Borden's life following her acquittal reflects the profound isolation that can result from societal condemnation, as she sought solace in companionship and charitable pursuits.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:23):
Welcome back to History'sGreatest Crimes, where we dissect
the most interesting and attimes, most baffling crimes of the
past.
I'm Michael.
And I'm Alaina.
Today we're stepping into thestifling heat and rigid social structures
of America's Gilded Age toconfront a crime that became an instant
and enduring legend.
It's a case immortalized in achilling children's rhyme known across
(01:46):
the nation, though famously inaccurate.
Lizzie Borden took an ax andgave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she haddone, she gave her father 41.
The reality, Michael, was lessrhythmic, but no less horrifying.
Abby Borden, Lizzie'sstepmother, was struck 18 or 19 times
(02:06):
with a hatchet, not an axe.
Her father, Andrew, 10 or 11 times.
But the core facts remain stark.
On a sweltering August morningin 1892, in the seemingly respectable
town of Fall River,Massachusetts, two people were brutally
murdered in their own home.
And the prime suspect, thename forever linked to this gruesome
(02:27):
act, was Andrew Borden'syounger daughter, Lizzie, a 32 year
old unmarried woman active inher church from one of the town's
most prominent, albeitpeculiar families.
The case became a nationalsensation, a courtroom drama played
out against the backdrop oflate 19th century America, an era
of dramatic industrial growth,stark social divisions, and deeply
(02:51):
ingrained Victorian valuesabout class and, crucially, about
women.
Join us as we unpack theBorden murders.
We'll examine the crimeitself, the investigation, the trial
that captivated the nation anda long shadow that it has cast ever
since.
But more than that, we'llexplore the world that produced this
tragedy.
The Gilded Age, the specificpressures of Fall river society,
(03:13):
and the complex familydynamics simmering within the Borden
household.
Was Lizzie Borden a coldblooded killer or a victim of her
time?
(03:42):
Michael to really grasp theBorden case, we need to understand
the specific time and place.
Late 19th century America, theperiod Mark Twain famously dubbed
the Gilded Age, was an era ofexplosive transformation, particularly
in the Northeast after theCivil War.
The victorious north had avigorous industrial economy due to
(04:03):
wartime spending.
Investors and bankers began tobuild railroads all over the Northeast
and the west, and immigrantsstreamed in from Europe that provided
cheap labor.
This rapid industrializationcreated immense wealth for a few,
but also led to stark socialinequalities, harsh working conditions,
low pay, and a lack ofworkplace safety.
(04:26):
Fall River, Massachusetts, wasa perfect microcosm of this Gilded
Age dynamism and tension.
Located on the border betweenRhode island and Massachusetts, the
town of Fall river had becomethe Leading textile manufacturing
center in the United states.
By the 1870s, the town had theadvantage of being able to import
bales of cotton and coal tofuel steam engines in Fall River's
(04:48):
deep harbor, making Fall riverthe city of choice for a series of
cotton mill magnets.
In short time, the town earnedthe nickname the spindle city, and
its cotton cloth productionrivaled even the powerful Manchester,
England.
This industrial boom created asharply stratified society.
You had the mill owners andfinanciers, often descendants of
(05:10):
old Yankee families, living ingrand mansions on the hill, as they
called it, the affluent partof town.
And then you had the vastworkforce that thousands of immigrants
pouring in from Ireland,French Canada, Portugal, seeking
grueling work in the mills.
In the years 1871 and 1872alone, Fall river became home to
(05:31):
15 new corporations, 22 newmills, along with the expansion of
many of the standing mills,and the city's population jumped
20,000 in just those two years.
As people moved into the arealooking for work.
These workers, many of theimmigrants, often lived in crowded
company owned tenements.
Over the years, about 12,000tenement buildings, known as triple
(05:54):
deckers, were built in thetown and the areas surrounding the
factories.
Most of them were derided aspoor quality buildings, shoddily
constructed with flammable framing.
In 1911, a report by theMassachusetts state housing committee
decried the triple deckers as,quote, flimsy fire traps and a menace
to human life.
(06:16):
So Fall river was a towndefined by its wealth, its industry,
and the inherent frictionbetween the established elite and
the newly arrived working class.
And into this Fall riversociety stepped Andrew Jackson Borden.
He's fascinating because heembodied some of the contradictions
of the age.
Born in 1822 to a fishpeddler, he was a self made man.
(06:39):
He started with little andbuilt a considerable fortune through
sheer hard work and shrewdbusiness dealings.
Furniture, undertakingsupplies, property development, banking.
By 1892, he was president of abank director of mills worth perhaps
$300,000, nearly $10 millionequivalent today.
But crucially, Andrew Bordenwas famously, almost pathologically,
(07:03):
frugal and cheap.
Despite his wealth, the familylived at 92nd 2nd Street.
It was a two story house witha third floor attic, built in the
Greek Revival style almost 50years before.
Originally, it was twoapartments, one on each floor, meant
for lower class families.
But Andrew Borden remodeled itto become one home for him and his
(07:25):
family.
But despite the effort toremodel, Andrew still refused to
install the newesttechnologies like indoor plumbing
and electricity.
He Instead put a two stallprivy in the basement and a chamber
pot under every bed.
The Borden house was a far cryfrom the miserable triple deckers
down the road.
But quite frankly, AndrewBorden could easily have afforded
(07:47):
more and lived in a betterlocation, like on the hill where
the other elite families lived.
But Mr.
Borden appears to have simplybought the house because of its proximity
to his business on Main Street.
Quite simply, Andrew Bordenwas known around town as dour and
tight fisted, a man whoboasted he never borrowed a penny.
(08:08):
This wasn't just personal eccentricity.
It had real consequences.
His daughters, Emma andLizzie, were denied the social standing
and comforts that their peersfrom wealthy families enjoyed.
They lived with the knowledgeof their father's wealth, but without
its visible benefits, creatinga pressure cooker of resentment within
the home that likely went fardeeper than simple, greedy.
(08:30):
Andrew Borden's first wife,Sarah, died in 1863, leaving him
with two daughters, Emma, theelder, born in 1851, and Lizzie,
born in 1862.
Years after their mother Sarahdied, Andrew remarried in 1865.
His second wife was AbbyDurfee Gray.
She was 37, unmarried, aquote, old maid in the parlance of
(08:53):
the time.
And perhaps Andrew saw hermore as a practical necessity, a
housekeeper and stepmother,than a romantic partner.
Abby reportedly craved socialrespectability, but came from a less
prominent background and seemsto have been viewed somewhat dismissively.
The relationship between Abbyand her stepdaughters, particularly
Lizzie, was notoriously cold.
(09:15):
Lizzie made a point of nevercalling Abby mother, referring to
her as only Mrs.
Borden.
A dressmaker later recalled atime when she accidentally referred
to Abby as Lizzie's mother.
Lizzie apparently snarled,quote, don't call her that to me.
She is a mean thing and wehate her, end quote.
Both Emma and Lizziereportedly believed Abby had only
(09:36):
married their father for hismoney and security.
Financial matters were aconstant source of friction.
In 1887, Andrew transferred arental property to Abby's half sister,
which deeply angered thedaughters, who felt that their own
inheritance was being dismantled.
While Andrew tried to placatethem by giving them another property.
The resentment only festeredand the household.
(09:58):
Itself reflected this division.
Doors between family members,sections of the house were often
kept locked.
Apparently, Lizzie Borden hada bit of a stealing problem, which
was both a trend for theVictorian age as well as a possible
reflection of the tensionwithin Lizzie's home.
According to the records, in1891, a year before the murders,
(10:19):
Mrs.
Borden reported some missinghorse car tickets.
When persons were found usingthe tickets in Question.
They explained that, quote,lizzie Borden gave the tickets to
them, end quote.
That sort of action doessuggest a personal conflict.
But what's really curious isthat of a few years later, after
the murders, after LizzieBorden already had possession of
(10:39):
her late father's inheritance,she was charged with stealing two
porcelain pictures from adepartment store in Providence, Rhode
Island.
Some historians have pointedout that in the second part of the
19th century, Western societywas undergoing tremendous leaps,
not just in technology, butalso science, including medicine
and psychology.
This was around the same timethat Sigmund Freud was developing
(11:01):
psychoanalysis and identifyingmental stages and disorders like
the Oedipus complex.
People were beginning tounderstand that a person's subconscious
was much more complex and muchmore troubled than previously thought.
And it's within this contextthat doctors began reporting a spike
among middle and upper classwomen of the disorder that was now
named kleptomania.
(11:23):
These women appeared not to betempted by the items that they stole,
but by the action of takingthem in the first place.
Dr.
Wilhelm Steckel, apsychoanalyst like Freud, suggested
that the thefts wereexpressions of disturbed states that
arose from frustrated sexual desires.
Newspapers also covered therising cases of kleptomania vividly.
(11:46):
In 1884, a Washington Starnewspaper article quoted a department
store clerk who stated, quote, lifters.
Yes, there are lots of them.
Kleptomania, they call it,where fashionable women are caught
with bolts of ice,handkerchiefs, collars and the like
smuggled under their wraps.
End quote.
So was Lizzie Borden anunfulfilled woman looking for some
(12:06):
thrills by stealing?
Or.
Or was she acting out inresponse to family conflict and dysfunction?
If you ask me, I think it'sprobably both.
Lizzie, by 1892, was 32 yearsold and unmarried.
In Victorian society, thismade her a spinster, a woman potentially
seen as unfulfilled and dependent.
Why she remained single is unclear.
(12:27):
Perhaps her father'scontrolling nature scared off suitors,
or maybe his miserlinesslimited her social opportunities.
Despite these constraints,Lizzie maintained a public image
of propriety.
She was active in the CentralCongregational Church, taught Sunday
school, and belonged to groupslike the Women's Christian Temperance
Union.
(12:48):
She presented a respectableface to Fall river society.
Yet beneath this surface,there were hints of trouble.
So you have this respectable,churchgoing woman living in a house
dominated by a frugal,unpopular father and a disliked stepmother,
simmering with financialresentments and unspoken conflicts,
(13:08):
all within the rigid socialhierarchy of industrial Fall River.
It's a potent mix fordangerous times.
(13:32):
The summer of 1892 wasoppressively hot in Fall river, and
the heat seemed to mirror therising tensions inside 92 Second
street in the days immediatelypreceding the murders, a disturbing
series of events occurred.
First, there was a sudden,violent illness.
On Tuesday, August 2, bothAndrew and Abby suffered severe bouts
(13:54):
of vomiting throughout the night.
Abby was so alarmed, she wentacross the street to see the family
physician, Dr.
Seabury Bowen.
Confiding her fear that theyhad been.
Poisoned, Dr.
Bowen dismissed her fears,attributing the sickness to food
poisoning from mutton or fishleft unrefrigerated in the heat wave.
But the fear of poisoningclearly lingered.
(14:15):
Lizzie later claimed she feltnauseous the next day, and the maid,
Maggie Sullivan, was also ill,vomiting in the yard on the morning
of the murders.
Then, on Wednesday, August3rd, the day after Abby voiced her
poisoning fears, Lizzieallegedly walked into Eli Bentz's
drugstore and attempted to buyprussic acid, a deadly poison.
(14:37):
She claimed she needed it toclean a sealskin cape.
Benz refused to sell it to herwithout a prescription.
Lizzie would later deny thatthis incident ever occurred.
But as we'll see, Benz'stestimony later became crucial for
the prosecution, suggesting premeditation.
Also on Wednesday, anunexpected visitor arrived.
(14:57):
John Morse, the brother ofAndrew's deceased first wife, Sarah,
and Lizzie's maternal uncle.
He stayed overnight.
Lizzie later testified sheoverheard a heated argument between
Morse and her father, possiblyabout some sort of business.
Morse's presence added anotherlayer of unexplained tension just
hours before the murders.
And that same Wednesdayevening, Lizzie paid a visit to her
(15:20):
friend Alice Russell.
According to Russell's latertestimony, Lizzie seemed agitated,
speaking ominously aboutfeeling unsafe, mentioning fears
of poisoning and seeingstrangers lurking around the property.
She reportedly said, quote,I'm afraid sometimes that somebody
will do something, end quote.
Was this genuine fear, perhapsstemming from the recent illness?
(15:44):
Or, as the prosecution wouldlater suggest, was Lizzie deliberately
planting the idea of anoutside threat, preparing a future
alibi?
Well, we can't know for sure,but the timing is undeniably chilling.
Add to this the family's habitof locking internal doors, possibly
stemming from the earliertheft by Lizzie herself.
(16:05):
And then there was also theincident during which Andrew killed
Lizzie's pigeons in the barn.
Pigeon keeping was a popularhobby in the 19th century.
During the inquest for thecrime, Lizzie Borden was questioned
regarding any killing of ananimal that may have taken place
at the property.
Lizzie replied that her fatherhad, quote, killed some pigeons in
(16:25):
the barn last May or June, end quote.
Some popular films have playedup that aspect to suggest that the
pigeons were Lizzie's belovedpets that her father spitefully killed.
But in reality, it seems morelikely that the birds were being
kept for meat and Lizziedidn't appear upset by the event
at all.
So it's possible that thatparticular event isn't actually evidence
(16:45):
of anything.
But it's also another possiblereason for Lizzie to resent her fault.
Father.
Looking back, the atmospherein the days leading up to August
4th feel thick with foreboding.
Absolutely, Elena.
And on Thursday, August 4th,the day began early for the Borden.
Maggie Sullivan, the maid, gotup around 6:15am Andrew, Abby and
(17:06):
their guest John Morse atebreakfast around 7.
They ate mutton stew, Johnnycakes, coffee, bananas, cookies.
But Lizzy apparently didn'tjoin them.
John Morse left the BordenHouse around 8:45am to visit relatives.
Planning to return for lunch,Andrew Borden then went out for his
morning business downtownaround 9am Lizzie came downstairs
(17:27):
from her bedroom around 9am,had coffee and noted that she wasn't
feeling well.
Around the same time Abby toldMaggie to wash the outside windows.
Abby herself went upstairssaying she needed to make the bed
in the guest room.
And that's the last timeMaggie saw Abby Borden alive.
The window washing is key.
While Maggie was outside,occupied with this task for over
(17:50):
an hour, Abby Borden wasmurdered upstairs in the guest room.
The time was estimated between9:30 and 10:45am she was struck from
behind repeatedly with ahatchet, 18 or 19 blows to the back
of her head.
Her body was found face downbetween the bed and a bureau.
By all accounts the brutalitywas extreme.
(18:11):
Around 10:45, Andrew Bordenreturned home earlier than expected.
Maggie had to unlock thetriple locked front door for him
and as she did, she heard anoise upstairs and she later described
it as sounding like a stifledlaugh which she assumed belonged
to Lizzie.
Inside, Lizzie told her fatherthat Abby had received a note summoning
(18:32):
her to visit a sick friend andhad gone out.
This note was never found andno messenger was ever identified.
The statement was critical.
It explained Abby's absence toAndrew and delayed the discovery
of her body.
Andrew seemed to accept it andwent into the sitting room and lay
down on the sofa, apparentlyfor a nap.
Around 11am Maggie, feelingunwell from the heat and her earlier
(18:55):
sickness, went up to her roomin the third floor attic to rest.
Shortly after 11am WhileMaggie was in her attic room, Andrew
Borden was attacked as herested on the sofa.
He received 10 or 11 savageblows to the head and face with a
hatchet Rendering him unrecognizable.
Like Abby's murder, There wereno signs of a struggle.
(19:17):
Minutes later, around 11.10am,Lizzie called up the backstairs.
Maggie come down.
And when Maggie came down,Lizzie met her saying, father's dead.
Somebody came in and killed him.
End quote.
Lizzie told Maggie not to gointo the sitting room, but to run
and get Dr.
Bowen, the family physicianwho lived across the road.
(19:37):
And others began.
Other neighbors began toarrive quickly.
Someone else called the policefrom a call box a couple of blocks
away.
One neighbor, Mrs.
Adelaide Churchill, askedLizzie where Mrs.
Borden was.
Lizzie then repeated her storyabout the note, adding uncertainty,
I don't know.
It was Mrs.
Churchill and Maggie who wouldthen go upstairs and discover Abby's
(20:00):
dead body.
When Dr.
Bowen arrived and examined thebodies, Andrew Borden's body was
still warm, the blood fresh.
Abby's body was cold, theblood congealed.
This confirmed that Abby waskilled significantly earlier, likely
60 to 90 minutes before Andrew.
That time gap is one of themost perplexing elements of this
(20:20):
crime.
It suggests the killerremained in the house undetected
between the two murders,waiting for Andrew.
That implies incredible nerveand argues against a spontaneous
rage filled outburst.
Given the locked doors and theknown occupants, an outside intruder
seems almost impossible.
The killer was almostcertainly already inside.
(21:00):
The scene at 92 Second streetquickly descended into chaos.
Neighbors, doctors, police, reporters.
The house was overrun by people.
And right from the start, thepolice investigation was highly criticized.
The crime scene wasn't securedproperly, raising concerns about
contamination.
That's right, Michael.
Among other issues, bothLizzie Borden and Maggie the maid
(21:21):
were allowed to stay in thehouse during the investigation.
When Uncle John Morse arrivedback home, he was also allowed to
view the bodies.
Lizzie's sister Emma alsoreturned home later in the day.
And as members of the familyarrived, police questioned them and
Lizzie inside the house, apractice very different from today's
standards.
And when a police officerfirst arrived on the scene, he actually
(21:43):
left a painter who would beworking nearby to guard the door
while the police officer wentto get backup.
And the actual search of theBorden residence was delayed and
went on over several days.
This seemed due to a deferenceto the Borden's social standing,
but it left plenty of time tohide and or destroy evidence.
Initially fueled by Lizzie'sown comments about her father having
(22:06):
enemies, police exploredtheories of an outside attacker.
Perhaps a disgruntled laborerAndrew had argued with, or someone
seeking revenge for hisbusiness dealings.
But inevitably, the focus narrowed.
Emma Borden was confirmed toBe miles away in Fairhaven, John
Morris had a solid alibiacross town, that left Lizzie Borden
(22:27):
and Maggie Sullivan as theonly known people in the house.
During the critical time frames.
Lizzie's demeanor struck manyas oddly calm, almost detached.
Her accounts of her movementsthat morning were vague and shifted
under questioning.
Her alibi for the time of herfather's murder, that she was in
the Barn loft for 15 to 20minutes looking for fishing sinkers
(22:48):
for a trip that she hadn'teven prepared for.
That seemed highly improbable.
Investigators noted theundisturbed dust in the loft and
the intense heat, making aprolonged search unlikely.
Maggie Sullivan's storyremained consistent throughout.
Outside washing windows duringAbby's murder, resting upstairs during
Andrews.
While some later speculatedabout her potential involvement,
(23:11):
police actually neverseriously considered her as a suspect.
The search for the murderweapon turned up several axes and
hatchets in the cellar.
The most suspicious was ahatchet head with a broken handle.
The handle appeared newlybroken off and had been discarded
in some way, possibly due tothe fact that bloodstains on wood
(23:32):
can be impossible to remove.
Furthermore, the head of thehatchet seemed unusually clean, possibly
washed, and the blade of thatparticular hatchet was covered with
ash, while other hatchets inthe same spot were covered with dust.
It's possible that oncecleaned, the killer dipped the blade
in ash to simulate disuse,similar to the others.
(23:53):
Tests by Harvard professorEdward Wood were inconclusive.
The hatchet was consistentwith the wounds, but no definitive
blood traces were found.
This handleless hatchet becamekey prosecution evidence, but it
remained circumstantial at best.
The lack of significant bloodon Lizzie or her clothes and given
the horrific close contactnature of the attacks was also a
(24:15):
major puzzle.
Furthermore, that same Harvardprofessor tested the stomach contents
of Abby and Andrew Borden andfound no evidence of poisoning.
Similarly, he tested the milkdelivered to the Borden home on the
day of the killings and theprevious day.
And he also found no poison ineither specimen.
There just wasn't a lot of evidence.
But then something happenedthat made Lizzie look incredibly
(24:38):
guilty.
Lizzie's friend Alice Russelltold the authorities that three days
after the murders, on Sunday,August 7, she saw Lizzie burning
a blue dress in the kitchen stove.
Lizzie claimed it was stainedwith old paint, plausible as painting
had occurred.
But Maggie Sullivan hadtestified Lizzie wore that very dress
on the morning of the murders.
(25:00):
Burning it looked likedestroying evidence and heavily influenced
the decision to indict her.
The closed door inquest heldfrom August 9th to the 11th sealed
Lizzie's fate Her testimonywas contradictory and evasive, lacking
the expected grief or emotion.
However, we should note thatthe neighbor, Dr.
Bowen, later testified that hefound Lizzie Borden upset enough
(25:23):
in the hours and daysfollowing the murders to give her
a mild sedative, which mayhave affected her behavior.
Regardless, immediatelyfollowing the inquest, on August
11, Lizzie Borden was arrestedand charged with the murders of her
father and stepmother.
She was taken to Taunton Jail.
In the prison records, LizzieBorden is described as 5ft 4 inches
(25:44):
of light complexion with lighthair and gray eyes.
Interestingly, the samerecords, someone wrote, quote, probably
guilty.
But despite the clearsuspicion, Lizzie Borden was treated
quite pleasantly as a prisonerover the next year while she waited
for her trial.
Soon after she was imprisoned,the records reveal that Lizzie was
diagnosed with bronchitis.
(26:06):
As a result, the countysheriff and his wife allowed Lizzie
to stay in their home whileshe recuperated.
Apparently, Lizzie had beenfriends with their daughter when
they were children.
When Lizzie returned to herjail cell, she was allowed to use
china dishes brought to her byher sister Emma.
She grew strawberry plants onher windowsill.
And she was apparently quitefond of the prison cat, Daisy, a
(26:28):
yellow and white male cat.
Finally, In June of 1893,Lizzie Borden's trial took place
in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
And coverage of the trialwasn't just local.
It became a national obsession.
Newspapers across the countryprovided sensational daily coverage,
and crowds thronged the courthouse.
The prosecution, led byDistrict Attorney Jose Knowlton and
(26:51):
William Moody, faced a huge challenge.
Proving guilt with purelycircumstantial evidence.
They built their case onLizzie's alleged motive, including
hatred for stepmother Abby andand her desire for inheritance.
They talked about hersuspicious actions, including the
alleged earlier poisoningattempt, Lizzie's, of course, shifting
alibis and her burning of the dress.
(27:14):
They also pointed out Lizzie'sexclusive opportunity to carry out
the crime at the time of theday and the ambiguous physical evidence,
like the handleless hatchet.
A truly shocking moment camewhen the prosecution actually presented
the skulls of Andrew and AbbyBorden to the jury, demonstrating
the horrific nature of the wounds.
(27:35):
Lizzie fainted upon seeingthem, a reaction interpreted as everything
from guilt to genuine shock toa calculator performance.
Lizzie had a formidabledefense team, her family lawyer,
Andrew Jennings, and,significantly, George D.
Robinson.
Robinson was a lawyer whobecame a popular governor of Massachusetts
(27:55):
before returning back to theprivate practice of law, where he
was much in demand.
Lizzie Borden apparently paidRobinson $25,000 for his services,
an extraordinarily large feefor an attorney in that era.
But Apparently, Robinson wasworth every penny.
Together with the familylawyer, Andrew Jennings, George Robinson
(28:17):
first hammered away at thecircumstantial nature of the prosecution's
case.
And Jennings famously declaredin his closing quote, there is not
one particle of directevidence against Lizzie Andrew Borden.
There's not a spot of blood.
There's not a weapon they haveconnected with her.
End quote.
Second, they argued thetimeline was impossible.
(28:38):
Could a woman alone commit twosuch brutal murders, clean herself
completely, dispose of theweapon and appear calm, all within
the narrow window that theprosecution suggested?
Robinson ridiculed the ideashe might have done it naked to avoid
blood stains.
Third, they presentedwitnesses suggesting suspicious strangers
(28:59):
near the house, bolstering theintruder theory.
And fourth, perhaps mostpowerfully, they appealed directly
to the jury's Victorian sensibilities.
They portrayed Lizzie as theepitome of respectable womanhood.
She was pious, charitable,active in the church.
Emma testified to Lizzie'saffection for their father.
Could this woman, a so calledProtestant nun, as one supporter
(29:21):
called her, commit such savageacts of brutality?
It was a question designed toresonate deeply with an all male
jury in 1893.
Similarly, Lizzie's lawyerplayed the gender card and cleverly
manipulated the juror'sexpectations about the proper role
and behavior of women,especially upper class ladies.
At one point, her lawyer,George Robinson, cautioned jurors
(29:44):
about concluding that Lizziecommitted the murders since she was
present on the property.
He noted the fact ofopportunity should not be held against
Lizzie since she was rightwhere they all believed a woman should
be.
He stated, I don't know whereI would want my daughter to be than
to say that she was at homeattending to the ordinary vocations
of life.
I also find Robinson's closingarguments about Lizzie Borden interesting.
(30:08):
He said, to find her guilty,you must believe she is a fiend.
Does she look it as she satthere with these long weary days
and moving in and out before you?
Have you seen anything thatshows the lack of human feeling and
womanly bearing?
End quote.
Such an argument can certainlybe criticized as illogical, but legally
beside the point and sexist.
(30:30):
But there is no question thatit was effective.
The defense also scored twomassive procedural victories.
The judges ruled Lizzie'scontradictory inquest testimony inadmissible
because she hadn't beenproperly warned against self incrimination.
This kept her damaginginconsistencies from the jury.
And crucially, the testimonyabout the alleged attempt to buy
(30:54):
prussic acid was alsoexcluded, gutting the prosecution's
argument for premeditation.
After two weeks, the case wentto jury.
On June 20, 1893, afterdeliberating for only about 90 minutes,
they returned their verdict.
Not guilty.
Lizzie Borden wept withrelief, given the lack of direct
(31:15):
evidence and the successfuldefense strategy playing on societal
norms.
And the acquittal, whileperhaps surprising today, seemed
almost preordained to many ofthe observers at the time.
(31:45):
So Lizzie Borden was found notguilty for murdering her father and
stepmother in June of 1893.
But acquittal in court did nottranslate to acceptance.
In Fall River, Massachusetts.
Lizzie Borden, though legallyinnocent, remained a pariah in the
eyes of many.
She and her sister Emma, nowwealthy heiresses after inheriting
their father's considerablefortune, quickly left the house on
(32:07):
Second Street.
In September 1893, just monthsafter the trial, the the sisters
bought a grand Victorianmansion in the fashionable Hill district,
the part of town Andrew hadalways refused to live in.
Lizzie named it Maplecroft,engraving the name on the steps a
clear statement of the statusshe had finally achieved.
But Maplecroft becamesomething of a lonely fortress.
(32:30):
Lizzie, who started going byLisbeth Borden, found herself largely
ostracized by the very societyshe aspired to join.
The notoriety of the trial was inescapable.
While Emma lived quietly,Lizzie sought companionship elsewhere,
developing a love for thetheater and traveling often.
Around 1904, she struck up aclose and perhaps scandalous friendship
(32:53):
with Nance o' Neill, anAmerican actress who was described
as beautiful and statuesque.
Standing almost six feet tall,Lizzie hosted lavish parties for
o' Neill and her theatricaltroupe at Maplecroft.
The exact nature of the LizzieNance relationship is unknown, but
it caused whispers andspeculations, possibly hinting at
(33:14):
a romantic connection whichwould have been deeply taboo at that
time.
This association with themorally questionable world of acting,
combined with the late nightparties, proved too much for the
conventional sister Emma.
In 1905, Emma abruptly movedout of Maplecroft.
The sisters, once unitedagainst the world, became estranged,
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and reportedly, they neverspoke again.
However, even in an interviewyears later, Emma expressed her perpetual
belief that Lizzie did notcommit the murders.
Lizzie lived out her remainingyears as Maplecroft, largely isolated
but involved with animalwelfare charities.
She died there on June 1,1927, at age 66.
(33:57):
Emma actually died just ninedays later in New Hampshire.
Lizzie left substantial sumsto charity, but nothing to Emma,
stating her sister had enough.
Both are buried in the familyplot in Fall River's Oak Grove Cemetery.
So, Elena, why are we stilltalking about Lizzie Borden over
130 years later?
Why does this case continue to fascinate.
(34:19):
I think the primary reason isthat it remains officially unsolved.
Lizzie was acquitted, but noone else was ever charged.
That vacuum invites endless speculation.
Did Lizzie do it?
Was Emma involved?
What about Maggie the maid?
Uncle John Morse?
A mysterious outsider?
The lack of definitive answerskeeps this mystery alive.
(34:40):
Absolutely.
And then there's the sheerbrutality of the crime juxtaposed
with the setting and theaccused, a respectable Victorian
woman, a churchgoer accused ofhacking her family to death with
a hatchet.
It shattered 19th centuryassumptions about gender, class and
the sanctity of the home.
It tapped into deep seatedsocial anxieties and the morbid curiosity
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that hasn't faded all these years.
The case almost immediatelyleapt from news headlines into American
folklore.
That infamous rhyme,inaccurate as it is, cemented her
name in public memory.
And since then, the story hasbeen endlessly retold and reinterpreted
in books, plays, an opera, aballet, TV movies and films exploring
(35:27):
feminist or queer angles.
And each generation seems toproject its own concerns onto Lizzie,
seeing her as a victim ofpatriarchy, a proto feminist rebel,
a psychologically damagedindividual, or simply a brutal monster.
This constant culturalrecycling keeps the legend potent.
And unlike many historicalcrimes, this one has tangible anchors.
(35:50):
The Borden house on Secondstreet still stands, now a museum,
and B and B, a site of dark tourism.
Maplecroft, her later home,also draws attention.
And crucially, the Fall RiverHistorical Society holds the world's
largest collection of Borden artifacts.
Trial exhibits like thehatchet head, crime scene photos,
personal letters grounding themyth and verifiable history.
(36:13):
It's this combination, then,the unsolved mystery, the shocking
violence, the cultural mythmaking, and the physical remnants
that ensures that LizzieBorden remains a figure of enduring
fascination 130 years later.
Borden and the crime she mayor may not have committed represent
a historical Rorschach test,reflecting our ongoing questions
(36:36):
about family, gender, violenceand the very nature of truth, injustice.
So Lizzie Borden, acquitted bya jury of her peers, but convicted
in the court of public opinion.
For over a century, she livedout her life in Fall river, the town
that defined her, yetostracized her.
But did she do it?
(36:56):
The circumstantial evidencepresented by the prosecution was
strong.
She had motive, opportunity,and those suspicious actions like
burning the dress.
But the defense effectivelyhighlighted the lack of direct proof
and skillfully played on thejury's assumptions about Victorian
womanhood.
The exclusion of key evidenceundoubtedly played.
A role, and the investigationitself was far from perfect, even
(37:19):
by 1892 standards.
Would modern forensics havefound the answers hidden in the blood
spatter or on the handleless hatchet.
We'll never know.
What we're left with is achilling snapshot of the Gilded Age.
Its social pressures, itshidden tensions, its rigid societal
codes.
A story of horrific violenceerupting within a supposedly respectable
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home.
Was Lizzie Borden a victim ofcircumstance, trapped by her time
and her family?
Or was she a cunning killerwho manipulated societal expectations
to escape justice?
The riddle remains unsolved.
Lizzie Borden took an axe.
Or did she?
The question echoes downthrough history unanswered.
(38:01):
Securing her place as one ofhistory's greatest crimes.
Until next time.
I'm Michael.
I'm Elena.
Stay curious.
Welcome back to History'sGreatest Crimes, where we dissect
the most interesting and attimes, most baffling crimes of the
past.
I'm Michael.
And I'm Alaina.
Today we're stepping into thestifling heat and rigid social structures
of America's Gilded Age toconfront a crime that became an instant
and enduring legend.
It's a case immortalized in achilling children's rhyme known across
(01:46):
the nation, though famously inaccurate.
Lizzie Borden took an ax andgave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she haddone, she gave her father 41.
The reality, Michael, was lessrhythmic, but no less horrifying.
Abby Borden, Lizzie'sstepmother, was struck 18 or 19 times
(02:06):
with a hatchet, not an axe.
Her father, Andrew, 10 or 11 times.
But the core facts remain stark.
On a sweltering August morningin 1892, in the seemingly respectable
town of Fall River,Massachusetts, two people were brutally
murdered in their own home.
And the prime suspect, thename forever linked to this gruesome
(02:27):
act, was Andrew Borden'syounger daughter, Lizzie, a 32 year
old unmarried woman active inher church from one of the town's
most prominent, albeitpeculiar families.
The case became a nationalsensation, a courtroom drama played
out against the backdrop oflate 19th century America, an era
of dramatic industrial growth,stark social divisions, and deeply
(02:51):
ingrained Victorian valuesabout class and, crucially, about
women.
Join us as we unpack theBorden murders.
We'll examine the crimeitself, the investigation, the trial
that captivated the nation anda long shadow that it has cast ever
since.
But more than that, we'llexplore the world that produced this
tragedy.
The Gilded Age, the specificpressures of Fall river society,
(03:13):
and the complex familydynamics simmering within the Borden
household.
Was Lizzie Borden a coldblooded killer or a victim of her
time?
(03:42):
Michael to really grasp theBorden case, we need to understand
the specific time and place.
Late 19th century America, theperiod Mark Twain famously dubbed
the Gilded Age, was an era ofexplosive transformation, particularly
in the Northeast after theCivil War.
The victorious north had avigorous industrial economy due to
(04:03):
wartime spending.
Investors and bankers began tobuild railroads all over the Northeast
and the west, and immigrantsstreamed in from Europe that provided
cheap labor.
This rapid industrializationcreated immense wealth for a few,
but also led to stark socialinequalities, harsh working conditions,
low pay, and a lack ofworkplace safety.
(04:26):
Fall River, Massachusetts, wasa perfect microcosm of this Gilded
Age dynamism and tension.
Located on the border betweenRhode island and Massachusetts, the
town of Fall river had becomethe Leading textile manufacturing
center in the United states.
By the 1870s, the town had theadvantage of being able to import
bales of cotton and coal tofuel steam engines in Fall River's
(04:48):
deep harbor, making Fall riverthe city of choice for a series of
cotton mill magnets.
In short time, the town earnedthe nickname the spindle city, and
its cotton cloth productionrivaled even the powerful Manchester,
England.
This industrial boom created asharply stratified society.
You had the mill owners andfinanciers, often descendants of
(05:10):
old Yankee families, living ingrand mansions on the hill, as they
called it, the affluent partof town.
And then you had the vastworkforce that thousands of immigrants
pouring in from Ireland,French Canada, Portugal, seeking
grueling work in the mills.
In the years 1871 and 1872alone, Fall river became home to
(05:31):
15 new corporations, 22 newmills, along with the expansion of
many of the standing mills,and the city's population jumped
20,000 in just those two years.
As people moved into the arealooking for work.
These workers, many of theimmigrants, often lived in crowded
company owned tenements.
Over the years, about 12,000tenement buildings, known as triple
(05:54):
deckers, were built in thetown and the areas surrounding the
factories.
Most of them were derided aspoor quality buildings, shoddily
constructed with flammable framing.
In 1911, a report by theMassachusetts state housing committee
decried the triple deckers as,quote, flimsy fire traps and a menace
to human life.
(06:16):
So Fall river was a towndefined by its wealth, its industry,
and the inherent frictionbetween the established elite and
the newly arrived working class.
And into this Fall riversociety stepped Andrew Jackson Borden.
He's fascinating because heembodied some of the contradictions
of the age.
Born in 1822 to a fishpeddler, he was a self made man.
(06:39):
He started with little andbuilt a considerable fortune through
sheer hard work and shrewdbusiness dealings.
Furniture, undertakingsupplies, property development, banking.
By 1892, he was president of abank director of mills worth perhaps
$300,000, nearly $10 millionequivalent today.
But crucially, Andrew Bordenwas famously, almost pathologically,
(07:03):
frugal and cheap.
Despite his wealth, the familylived at 92nd 2nd Street.
It was a two story house witha third floor attic, built in the
Greek Revival style almost 50years before.
Originally, it was twoapartments, one on each floor, meant
for lower class families.
But Andrew Borden remodeled itto become one home for him and his
(07:25):
family.
But despite the effort toremodel, Andrew still refused to
install the newesttechnologies like indoor plumbing
and electricity.
He Instead put a two stallprivy in the basement and a chamber
pot under every bed.
The Borden house was a far cryfrom the miserable triple deckers
down the road.
But quite frankly, AndrewBorden could easily have afforded
(07:47):
more and lived in a betterlocation, like on the hill where
the other elite families lived.
But Mr.
Borden appears to have simplybought the house because of its proximity
to his business on Main Street.
Quite simply, Andrew Bordenwas known around town as dour and
tight fisted, a man whoboasted he never borrowed a penny.
(08:08):
This wasn't just personal eccentricity.
It had real consequences.
His daughters, Emma andLizzie, were denied the social standing
and comforts that their peersfrom wealthy families enjoyed.
They lived with the knowledgeof their father's wealth, but without
its visible benefits, creatinga pressure cooker of resentment within
the home that likely went fardeeper than simple, greedy.
(08:30):
Andrew Borden's first wife,Sarah, died in 1863, leaving him
with two daughters, Emma, theelder, born in 1851, and Lizzie,
born in 1862.
Years after their mother Sarahdied, Andrew remarried in 1865.
His second wife was AbbyDurfee Gray.
She was 37, unmarried, aquote, old maid in the parlance of
(08:53):
the time.
And perhaps Andrew saw hermore as a practical necessity, a
housekeeper and stepmother,than a romantic partner.
Abby reportedly craved socialrespectability, but came from a less
prominent background and seemsto have been viewed somewhat dismissively.
The relationship between Abbyand her stepdaughters, particularly
Lizzie, was notoriously cold.
(09:15):
Lizzie made a point of nevercalling Abby mother, referring to
her as only Mrs.
Borden.
A dressmaker later recalled atime when she accidentally referred
to Abby as Lizzie's mother.
Lizzie apparently snarled,quote, don't call her that to me.
She is a mean thing and wehate her, end quote.
Both Emma and Lizziereportedly believed Abby had only
(09:36):
married their father for hismoney and security.
Financial matters were aconstant source of friction.
In 1887, Andrew transferred arental property to Abby's half sister,
which deeply angered thedaughters, who felt that their own
inheritance was being dismantled.
While Andrew tried to placatethem by giving them another property.
The resentment only festeredand the household.
(09:58):
Itself reflected this division.
Doors between family members,sections of the house were often
kept locked.
Apparently, Lizzie Borden hada bit of a stealing problem, which
was both a trend for theVictorian age as well as a possible
reflection of the tensionwithin Lizzie's home.
According to the records, in1891, a year before the murders,
(10:19):
Mrs.
Borden reported some missinghorse car tickets.
When persons were found usingthe tickets in Question.
They explained that, quote,lizzie Borden gave the tickets to
them, end quote.
That sort of action doessuggest a personal conflict.
But what's really curious isthat of a few years later, after
the murders, after LizzieBorden already had possession of
(10:39):
her late father's inheritance,she was charged with stealing two
porcelain pictures from adepartment store in Providence, Rhode
Island.
Some historians have pointedout that in the second part of the
19th century, Western societywas undergoing tremendous leaps,
not just in technology, butalso science, including medicine
and psychology.
This was around the same timethat Sigmund Freud was developing
(11:01):
psychoanalysis and identifyingmental stages and disorders like
the Oedipus complex.
People were beginning tounderstand that a person's subconscious
was much more complex and muchmore troubled than previously thought.
And it's within this contextthat doctors began reporting a spike
among middle and upper classwomen of the disorder that was now
named kleptomania.
(11:23):
These women appeared not to betempted by the items that they stole,
but by the action of takingthem in the first place.
Dr.
Wilhelm Steckel, apsychoanalyst like Freud, suggested
that the thefts wereexpressions of disturbed states that
arose from frustrated sexual desires.
Newspapers also covered therising cases of kleptomania vividly.
(11:46):
In 1884, a Washington Starnewspaper article quoted a department
store clerk who stated, quote, lifters.
Yes, there are lots of them.
Kleptomania, they call it,where fashionable women are caught
with bolts of ice,handkerchiefs, collars and the like
smuggled under their wraps.
End quote.
So was Lizzie Borden anunfulfilled woman looking for some
(12:06):
thrills by stealing?
Or.
Or was she acting out inresponse to family conflict and dysfunction?
If you ask me, I think it'sprobably both.
Lizzie, by 1892, was 32 yearsold and unmarried.
In Victorian society, thismade her a spinster, a woman potentially
seen as unfulfilled and dependent.
Why she remained single is unclear.
(12:27):
Perhaps her father'scontrolling nature scared off suitors,
or maybe his miserlinesslimited her social opportunities.
Despite these constraints,Lizzie maintained a public image
of propriety.
She was active in the CentralCongregational Church, taught Sunday
school, and belonged to groupslike the Women's Christian Temperance
Union.
(12:48):
She presented a respectableface to Fall river society.
Yet beneath this surface,there were hints of trouble.
So you have this respectable,churchgoing woman living in a house
dominated by a frugal,unpopular father and a disliked stepmother,
simmering with financialresentments and unspoken conflicts,
(13:08):
all within the rigid socialhierarchy of industrial Fall River.
It's a potent mix fordangerous times.
(13:32):
The summer of 1892 wasoppressively hot in Fall river, and
the heat seemed to mirror therising tensions inside 92 Second
street in the days immediatelypreceding the murders, a disturbing
series of events occurred.
First, there was a sudden,violent illness.
On Tuesday, August 2, bothAndrew and Abby suffered severe bouts
(13:54):
of vomiting throughout the night.
Abby was so alarmed, she wentacross the street to see the family
physician, Dr.
Seabury Bowen.
Confiding her fear that theyhad been.
Poisoned, Dr.
Bowen dismissed her fears,attributing the sickness to food
poisoning from mutton or fishleft unrefrigerated in the heat wave.
But the fear of poisoningclearly lingered.
(14:15):
Lizzie later claimed she feltnauseous the next day, and the maid,
Maggie Sullivan, was also ill,vomiting in the yard on the morning
of the murders.
Then, on Wednesday, August3rd, the day after Abby voiced her
poisoning fears, Lizzieallegedly walked into Eli Bentz's
drugstore and attempted to buyprussic acid, a deadly poison.
(14:37):
She claimed she needed it toclean a sealskin cape.
Benz refused to sell it to herwithout a prescription.
Lizzie would later deny thatthis incident ever occurred.
But as we'll see, Benz'stestimony later became crucial for
the prosecution, suggesting premeditation.
Also on Wednesday, anunexpected visitor arrived.
(14:57):
John Morse, the brother ofAndrew's deceased first wife, Sarah,
and Lizzie's maternal uncle.
He stayed overnight.
Lizzie later testified sheoverheard a heated argument between
Morse and her father, possiblyabout some sort of business.
Morse's presence added anotherlayer of unexplained tension just
hours before the murders.
And that same Wednesdayevening, Lizzie paid a visit to her
(15:20):
friend Alice Russell.
According to Russell's latertestimony, Lizzie seemed agitated,
speaking ominously aboutfeeling unsafe, mentioning fears
of poisoning and seeingstrangers lurking around the property.
She reportedly said, quote,I'm afraid sometimes that somebody
will do something, end quote.
Was this genuine fear, perhapsstemming from the recent illness?
(15:44):
Or, as the prosecution wouldlater suggest, was Lizzie deliberately
planting the idea of anoutside threat, preparing a future
alibi?
Well, we can't know for sure,but the timing is undeniably chilling.
Add to this the family's habitof locking internal doors, possibly
stemming from the earliertheft by Lizzie herself.
(16:05):
And then there was also theincident during which Andrew killed
Lizzie's pigeons in the barn.
Pigeon keeping was a popularhobby in the 19th century.
During the inquest for thecrime, Lizzie Borden was questioned
regarding any killing of ananimal that may have taken place
at the property.
Lizzie replied that her fatherhad, quote, killed some pigeons in
(16:25):
the barn last May or June, end quote.
Some popular films have playedup that aspect to suggest that the
pigeons were Lizzie's belovedpets that her father spitefully killed.
But in reality, it seems morelikely that the birds were being
kept for meat and Lizziedidn't appear upset by the event
at all.
So it's possible that thatparticular event isn't actually evidence
(16:45):
of anything.
But it's also another possiblereason for Lizzie to resent her fault.
Father.
Looking back, the atmospherein the days leading up to August
4th feel thick with foreboding.
Absolutely, Elena.
And on Thursday, August 4th,the day began early for the Borden.
Maggie Sullivan, the maid, gotup around 6:15am Andrew, Abby and
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their guest John Morse atebreakfast around 7.
They ate mutton stew, Johnnycakes, coffee, bananas, cookies.
But Lizzy apparently didn'tjoin them.
John Morse left the BordenHouse around 8:45am to visit relatives.
Planning to return for lunch,Andrew Borden then went out for his
morning business downtownaround 9am Lizzie came downstairs
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from her bedroom around 9am,had coffee and noted that she wasn't
feeling well.
Around the same time Abby toldMaggie to wash the outside windows.
Abby herself went upstairssaying she needed to make the bed
in the guest room.
And that's the last timeMaggie saw Abby Borden alive.
The window washing is key.
While Maggie was outside,occupied with this task for over
(17:50):
an hour, Abby Borden wasmurdered upstairs in the guest room.
The time was estimated between9:30 and 10:45am she was struck from
behind repeatedly with ahatchet, 18 or 19 blows to the back
of her head.
Her body was found face downbetween the bed and a bureau.
By all accounts the brutalitywas extreme.
(18:11):
Around 10:45, Andrew Bordenreturned home earlier than expected.
Maggie had to unlock thetriple locked front door for him
and as she did, she heard anoise upstairs and she later described
it as sounding like a stifledlaugh which she assumed belonged
to Lizzie.
Inside, Lizzie told her fatherthat Abby had received a note summoning
(18:32):
her to visit a sick friend andhad gone out.
This note was never found andno messenger was ever identified.
The statement was critical.
It explained Abby's absence toAndrew and delayed the discovery
of her body.
Andrew seemed to accept it andwent into the sitting room and lay
down on the sofa, apparentlyfor a nap.
Around 11am Maggie, feelingunwell from the heat and her earlier
(18:55):
sickness, went up to her roomin the third floor attic to rest.
Shortly after 11am WhileMaggie was in her attic room, Andrew
Borden was attacked as herested on the sofa.
He received 10 or 11 savageblows to the head and face with a
hatchet Rendering him unrecognizable.
Like Abby's murder, There wereno signs of a struggle.
(19:17):
Minutes later, around 11.10am,Lizzie called up the backstairs.
Maggie come down.
And when Maggie came down,Lizzie met her saying, father's dead.
Somebody came in and killed him.
End quote.
Lizzie told Maggie not to gointo the sitting room, but to run
and get Dr.
Bowen, the family physicianwho lived across the road.
(19:37):
And others began.
Other neighbors began toarrive quickly.
Someone else called the policefrom a call box a couple of blocks
away.
One neighbor, Mrs.
Adelaide Churchill, askedLizzie where Mrs.
Borden was.
Lizzie then repeated her storyabout the note, adding uncertainty,
I don't know.
It was Mrs.
Churchill and Maggie who wouldthen go upstairs and discover Abby's
(20:00):
dead body.
When Dr.
Bowen arrived and examined thebodies, Andrew Borden's body was
still warm, the blood fresh.
Abby's body was cold, theblood congealed.
This confirmed that Abby waskilled significantly earlier, likely
60 to 90 minutes before Andrew.
That time gap is one of themost perplexing elements of this
(20:20):
crime.
It suggests the killerremained in the house undetected
between the two murders,waiting for Andrew.
That implies incredible nerveand argues against a spontaneous
rage filled outburst.
Given the locked doors and theknown occupants, an outside intruder
seems almost impossible.
The killer was almostcertainly already inside.
(21:00):
The scene at 92 Second streetquickly descended into chaos.
Neighbors, doctors, police, reporters.
The house was overrun by people.
And right from the start, thepolice investigation was highly criticized.
The crime scene wasn't securedproperly, raising concerns about
contamination.
That's right, Michael.
Among other issues, bothLizzie Borden and Maggie the maid
(21:21):
were allowed to stay in thehouse during the investigation.
When Uncle John Morse arrivedback home, he was also allowed to
view the bodies.
Lizzie's sister Emma alsoreturned home later in the day.
And as members of the familyarrived, police questioned them and
Lizzie inside the house, apractice very different from today's
standards.
And when a police officerfirst arrived on the scene, he actually
(21:43):
left a painter who would beworking nearby to guard the door
while the police officer wentto get backup.
And the actual search of theBorden residence was delayed and
went on over several days.
This seemed due to a deferenceto the Borden's social standing,
but it left plenty of time tohide and or destroy evidence.
Initially fueled by Lizzie'sown comments about her father having
(22:06):
enemies, police exploredtheories of an outside attacker.
Perhaps a disgruntled laborerAndrew had argued with, or someone
seeking revenge for hisbusiness dealings.
But inevitably, the focus narrowed.
Emma Borden was confirmed toBe miles away in Fairhaven, John
Morris had a solid alibiacross town, that left Lizzie Borden
(22:27):
and Maggie Sullivan as theonly known people in the house.
During the critical time frames.
Lizzie's demeanor struck manyas oddly calm, almost detached.
Her accounts of her movementsthat morning were vague and shifted
under questioning.
Her alibi for the time of herfather's murder, that she was in
the Barn loft for 15 to 20minutes looking for fishing sinkers
(22:48):
for a trip that she hadn'teven prepared for.
That seemed highly improbable.
Investigators noted theundisturbed dust in the loft and
the intense heat, making aprolonged search unlikely.
Maggie Sullivan's storyremained consistent throughout.
Outside washing windows duringAbby's murder, resting upstairs during
Andrews.
While some later speculatedabout her potential involvement,
(23:11):
police actually neverseriously considered her as a suspect.
The search for the murderweapon turned up several axes and
hatchets in the cellar.
The most suspicious was ahatchet head with a broken handle.
The handle appeared newlybroken off and had been discarded
in some way, possibly due tothe fact that bloodstains on wood
(23:32):
can be impossible to remove.
Furthermore, the head of thehatchet seemed unusually clean, possibly
washed, and the blade of thatparticular hatchet was covered with
ash, while other hatchets inthe same spot were covered with dust.
It's possible that oncecleaned, the killer dipped the blade
in ash to simulate disuse,similar to the others.
(23:53):
Tests by Harvard professorEdward Wood were inconclusive.
The hatchet was consistentwith the wounds, but no definitive
blood traces were found.
This handleless hatchet becamekey prosecution evidence, but it
remained circumstantial at best.
The lack of significant bloodon Lizzie or her clothes and given
the horrific close contactnature of the attacks was also a
(24:15):
major puzzle.
Furthermore, that same Harvardprofessor tested the stomach contents
of Abby and Andrew Borden andfound no evidence of poisoning.
Similarly, he tested the milkdelivered to the Borden home on the
day of the killings and theprevious day.
And he also found no poison ineither specimen.
There just wasn't a lot of evidence.
But then something happenedthat made Lizzie look incredibly
(24:38):
guilty.
Lizzie's friend Alice Russelltold the authorities that three days
after the murders, on Sunday,August 7, she saw Lizzie burning
a blue dress in the kitchen stove.
Lizzie claimed it was stainedwith old paint, plausible as painting
had occurred.
But Maggie Sullivan hadtestified Lizzie wore that very dress
on the morning of the murders.
(25:00):
Burning it looked likedestroying evidence and heavily influenced
the decision to indict her.
The closed door inquest heldfrom August 9th to the 11th sealed
Lizzie's fate Her testimonywas contradictory and evasive, lacking
the expected grief or emotion.
However, we should note thatthe neighbor, Dr.
Bowen, later testified that hefound Lizzie Borden upset enough
(25:23):
in the hours and daysfollowing the murders to give her
a mild sedative, which mayhave affected her behavior.
Regardless, immediatelyfollowing the inquest, on August
11, Lizzie Borden was arrestedand charged with the murders of her
father and stepmother.
She was taken to Taunton Jail.
In the prison records, LizzieBorden is described as 5ft 4 inches
(25:44):
of light complexion with lighthair and gray eyes.
Interestingly, the samerecords, someone wrote, quote, probably
guilty.
But despite the clearsuspicion, Lizzie Borden was treated
quite pleasantly as a prisonerover the next year while she waited
for her trial.
Soon after she was imprisoned,the records reveal that Lizzie was
diagnosed with bronchitis.
(26:06):
As a result, the countysheriff and his wife allowed Lizzie
to stay in their home whileshe recuperated.
Apparently, Lizzie had beenfriends with their daughter when
they were children.
When Lizzie returned to herjail cell, she was allowed to use
china dishes brought to her byher sister Emma.
She grew strawberry plants onher windowsill.
And she was apparently quitefond of the prison cat, Daisy, a
(26:28):
yellow and white male cat.
Finally, In June of 1893,Lizzie Borden's trial took place
in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
And coverage of the trialwasn't just local.
It became a national obsession.
Newspapers across the countryprovided sensational daily coverage,
and crowds thronged the courthouse.
The prosecution, led byDistrict Attorney Jose Knowlton and
(26:51):
William Moody, faced a huge challenge.
Proving guilt with purelycircumstantial evidence.
They built their case onLizzie's alleged motive, including
hatred for stepmother Abby andand her desire for inheritance.
They talked about hersuspicious actions, including the
alleged earlier poisoningattempt, Lizzie's, of course, shifting
alibis and her burning of the dress.
(27:14):
They also pointed out Lizzie'sexclusive opportunity to carry out
the crime at the time of theday and the ambiguous physical evidence,
like the handleless hatchet.
A truly shocking moment camewhen the prosecution actually presented
the skulls of Andrew and AbbyBorden to the jury, demonstrating
the horrific nature of the wounds.
(27:35):
Lizzie fainted upon seeingthem, a reaction interpreted as everything
from guilt to genuine shock toa calculator performance.
Lizzie had a formidabledefense team, her family lawyer,
Andrew Jennings, and,significantly, George D.
Robinson.
Robinson was a lawyer whobecame a popular governor of Massachusetts
(27:55):
before returning back to theprivate practice of law, where he
was much in demand.
Lizzie Borden apparently paidRobinson $25,000 for his services,
an extraordinarily large feefor an attorney in that era.
But Apparently, Robinson wasworth every penny.
Together with the familylawyer, Andrew Jennings, George Robinson
(28:17):
first hammered away at thecircumstantial nature of the prosecution's
case.
And Jennings famously declaredin his closing quote, there is not
one particle of directevidence against Lizzie Andrew Borden.
There's not a spot of blood.
There's not a weapon they haveconnected with her.
End quote.
Second, they argued thetimeline was impossible.
(28:38):
Could a woman alone commit twosuch brutal murders, clean herself
completely, dispose of theweapon and appear calm, all within
the narrow window that theprosecution suggested?
Robinson ridiculed the ideashe might have done it naked to avoid
blood stains.
Third, they presentedwitnesses suggesting suspicious strangers
(28:59):
near the house, bolstering theintruder theory.
And fourth, perhaps mostpowerfully, they appealed directly
to the jury's Victorian sensibilities.
They portrayed Lizzie as theepitome of respectable womanhood.
She was pious, charitable,active in the church.
Emma testified to Lizzie'saffection for their father.
Could this woman, a so calledProtestant nun, as one supporter
(29:21):
called her, commit such savageacts of brutality?
It was a question designed toresonate deeply with an all male
jury in 1893.
Similarly, Lizzie's lawyerplayed the gender card and cleverly
manipulated the juror'sexpectations about the proper role
and behavior of women,especially upper class ladies.
At one point, her lawyer,George Robinson, cautioned jurors
(29:44):
about concluding that Lizziecommitted the murders since she was
present on the property.
He noted the fact ofopportunity should not be held against
Lizzie since she was rightwhere they all believed a woman should
be.
He stated, I don't know whereI would want my daughter to be than
to say that she was at homeattending to the ordinary vocations
of life.
I also find Robinson's closingarguments about Lizzie Borden interesting.
(30:08):
He said, to find her guilty,you must believe she is a fiend.
Does she look it as she satthere with these long weary days
and moving in and out before you?
Have you seen anything thatshows the lack of human feeling and
womanly bearing?
End quote.
Such an argument can certainlybe criticized as illogical, but legally
beside the point and sexist.
(30:30):
But there is no question thatit was effective.
The defense also scored twomassive procedural victories.
The judges ruled Lizzie'scontradictory inquest testimony inadmissible
because she hadn't beenproperly warned against self incrimination.
This kept her damaginginconsistencies from the jury.
And crucially, the testimonyabout the alleged attempt to buy
(30:54):
prussic acid was alsoexcluded, gutting the prosecution's
argument for premeditation.
After two weeks, the case wentto jury.
On June 20, 1893, afterdeliberating for only about 90 minutes,
they returned their verdict.
Not guilty.
Lizzie Borden wept withrelief, given the lack of direct
(31:15):
evidence and the successfuldefense strategy playing on societal
norms.
And the acquittal, whileperhaps surprising today, seemed
almost preordained to many ofthe observers at the time.
(31:45):
So Lizzie Borden was found notguilty for murdering her father and
stepmother in June of 1893.
But acquittal in court did nottranslate to acceptance.
In Fall River, Massachusetts.
Lizzie Borden, though legallyinnocent, remained a pariah in the
eyes of many.
She and her sister Emma, nowwealthy heiresses after inheriting
their father's considerablefortune, quickly left the house on
(32:07):
Second Street.
In September 1893, just monthsafter the trial, the the sisters
bought a grand Victorianmansion in the fashionable Hill district,
the part of town Andrew hadalways refused to live in.
Lizzie named it Maplecroft,engraving the name on the steps a
clear statement of the statusshe had finally achieved.
But Maplecroft becamesomething of a lonely fortress.
(32:30):
Lizzie, who started going byLisbeth Borden, found herself largely
ostracized by the very societyshe aspired to join.
The notoriety of the trial was inescapable.
While Emma lived quietly,Lizzie sought companionship elsewhere,
developing a love for thetheater and traveling often.
Around 1904, she struck up aclose and perhaps scandalous friendship
(32:53):
with Nance o' Neill, anAmerican actress who was described
as beautiful and statuesque.
Standing almost six feet tall,Lizzie hosted lavish parties for
o' Neill and her theatricaltroupe at Maplecroft.
The exact nature of the LizzieNance relationship is unknown, but
it caused whispers andspeculations, possibly hinting at
(33:14):
a romantic connection whichwould have been deeply taboo at that
time.
This association with themorally questionable world of acting,
combined with the late nightparties, proved too much for the
conventional sister Emma.
In 1905, Emma abruptly movedout of Maplecroft.
The sisters, once unitedagainst the world, became estranged,
(33:36):
and reportedly, they neverspoke again.
However, even in an interviewyears later, Emma expressed her perpetual
belief that Lizzie did notcommit the murders.
Lizzie lived out her remainingyears as Maplecroft, largely isolated
but involved with animalwelfare charities.
She died there on June 1,1927, at age 66.
(33:57):
Emma actually died just ninedays later in New Hampshire.
Lizzie left substantial sumsto charity, but nothing to Emma,
stating her sister had enough.
Both are buried in the familyplot in Fall River's Oak Grove Cemetery.
So, Elena, why are we stilltalking about Lizzie Borden over
130 years later?
Why does this case continue to fascinate.
(34:19):
I think the primary reason isthat it remains officially unsolved.
Lizzie was acquitted, but noone else was ever charged.
That vacuum invites endless speculation.
Did Lizzie do it?
Was Emma involved?
What about Maggie the maid?
Uncle John Morse?
A mysterious outsider?
The lack of definitive answerskeeps this mystery alive.
(34:40):
Absolutely.
And then there's the sheerbrutality of the crime juxtaposed
with the setting and theaccused, a respectable Victorian
woman, a churchgoer accused ofhacking her family to death with
a hatchet.
It shattered 19th centuryassumptions about gender, class and
the sanctity of the home.
It tapped into deep seatedsocial anxieties and the morbid curiosity
(35:04):
that hasn't faded all these years.
The case almost immediatelyleapt from news headlines into American
folklore.
That infamous rhyme,inaccurate as it is, cemented her
name in public memory.
And since then, the story hasbeen endlessly retold and reinterpreted
in books, plays, an opera, aballet, TV movies and films exploring
(35:27):
feminist or queer angles.
And each generation seems toproject its own concerns onto Lizzie,
seeing her as a victim ofpatriarchy, a proto feminist rebel,
a psychologically damagedindividual, or simply a brutal monster.
This constant culturalrecycling keeps the legend potent.
And unlike many historicalcrimes, this one has tangible anchors.
(35:50):
The Borden house on Secondstreet still stands, now a museum,
and B and B, a site of dark tourism.
Maplecroft, her later home,also draws attention.
And crucially, the Fall RiverHistorical Society holds the world's
largest collection of Borden artifacts.
Trial exhibits like thehatchet head, crime scene photos,
personal letters grounding themyth and verifiable history.
(36:13):
It's this combination, then,the unsolved mystery, the shocking
violence, the cultural mythmaking, and the physical remnants
that ensures that LizzieBorden remains a figure of enduring
fascination 130 years later.
Borden and the crime she mayor may not have committed represent
a historical Rorschach test,reflecting our ongoing questions
(36:36):
about family, gender, violenceand the very nature of truth, injustice.
So Lizzie Borden, acquitted bya jury of her peers, but convicted
in the court of public opinion.
For over a century, she livedout her life in Fall river, the town
that defined her, yetostracized her.
But did she do it?
(36:56):
The circumstantial evidencepresented by the prosecution was
strong.
She had motive, opportunity,and those suspicious actions like
burning the dress.
But the defense effectivelyhighlighted the lack of direct proof
and skillfully played on thejury's assumptions about Victorian
womanhood.
The exclusion of key evidenceundoubtedly played.
A role, and the investigationitself was far from perfect, even
(37:19):
by 1892 standards.
Would modern forensics havefound the answers hidden in the blood
spatter or on the handleless hatchet.
We'll never know.
What we're left with is achilling snapshot of the Gilded Age.
Its social pressures, itshidden tensions, its rigid societal
codes.
A story of horrific violenceerupting within a supposedly respectable
(37:41):
home.
Was Lizzie Borden a victim ofcircumstance, trapped by her time
and her family?
Or was she a cunning killerwho manipulated societal expectations
to escape justice?
The riddle remains unsolved.
Lizzie Borden took an axe.
Or did she?
The question echoes downthrough history unanswered.
(38:01):
Securing her place as one ofhistory's greatest crimes.
Until next time.
I'm Michael.
I'm Elena.
Stay curious.
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