Lizzie Bordon and the Historical Context

On August 4th, 1892, one of the greatest crimes in North American history occurred here on 92nd Street in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts. The murder of Andrew and Abby Bordon would become a national sensation, and word of it would be spread in newspapers around the country. Over 100 years later, no one has ever been convicted of the crime. Many believe it was committed by their spinster daughter, Lizzy. And in the years since the murder, Lizzy has become the object of debate and fascination. Who was Lizzie Bordon? And could she have committed such a crime?

What has made this particular case one of the top unsolved crimes in history? Experts will debate the details and look not only at the case, but of the life and culture of Lizzie Bordon. So, let us look at what may have happened on that August day. That day is fascinating. Uh there was no great heat wave, but inside the house, the temperatures have been running pretty high. And there had been a lot of difficulty within the family. In those days, what has happened in the house rarely went out the front door. But there was a lot of tension. She did not get along with her stepmother very well at all. And she told people this. She told uh her dress maker, uh various friends. The food in the house was rather bothersome. They'd

been eating mutton soup or mutton stew for several days and refrigeration was not very good. They had ice boxes, but they didn't have refrigerators. And I've sometimes jokingly said what drove her to it might just have been the thought of lunch. But uh [clears throat] they uh they ate leftover mutton stew and cookies for breakfast. Lizzy did not join them. Lizzy made a point of not being around Abby as much as she could be. She avoided her. She had the quality, I guess, in Lizz's eyes of the evil stepmother. And they didn't get along that well. Emma was not there. She was visiting friends in Fair Haven. So you got Lizzy alone in the house. You got Abby alone in the house and supposedly

Bridget who was sent out to do the maid's errand of washing the windows. Um so basically you got the whole setup there for Lizzy and Abby being alone in that house that morning. Obviously that's that's what I think points to the fact that you know Lizzy probably was responsible. She was the only one in the house at the time. She conveniently was either alternately outside or in the barn eating pears or doing other things or downstairs ironing. Uh she always seemed to have a readymade excuse for where she was that morning around 9:45 in the morning. Abby was murdered, but Lizzie was in her room. When the murder took place um in the Morris guest room, we can call it that.

Uh she was in her bedroom and she came from her bedroom into the uh the guest room where Abby was. And the pictures we see of Abby, she's lying on the floor next to the bed and the dresser. My thinking and the thinking of a lot of people who really examined this thing closely is that she dove down there trying to get under the bed so she wouldn't be slaughtered. And she was. She was about 5'4 about 200 lb and she couldn't make it under the bed and Lizzie uh basically straddled her and took the hatchet and uh put uh 19 ax blows into her. Uh between 19 and 20 uh one or two might have gone into the same

places. They were all in the back of the head and the back of the neck and that certainly killed her. And there's a lot of blood spilled there. Then Lizzie returned to her bedroom or was at the top of the stairs and was upstairs had not come down. Now remember, she's there during the killing. If she didn't do it, she certainly knew who did and there's little doubt in my mind. Lizzie did have well she had motive and she had access and those are two important factors. Around 12, Bridget the maid lets Andrew win. He had come home early, had gone to the back door of the house and couldn't get in. He had a key, but it was locked from the inside.

This was a day and age when people were a little different, especially this family, and they locked doors inside the house. These people wanted their privacy and they wanted to stay away from each other, too, I think. Anyway, the um Andrew can't get into the back, comes around to the front, puts his key in, and can't get in because it's locked from the inside. Now whether Bridget heard this or what I don't know but Bridget went to let him in had trouble opening the lock and uh made a remark u you know a little out of frustration and noticed that after she made her remark there was somebody giggling

or laughing at the top of the stairs. It was Lizzy. At this point, Abby has been dead for an hour and a half, maybe, and she's lying between the bed and the dresser. Where Lizzie is standing at the top of the stairs, it would have been very easy for her to look into the guest room and see her stepmother's body. Lizzy uh didn't have any blood on her. Andrew comes in and he puts his key on the on the u on the mantle of the fireplace plus this silly old broken lock he found and uh Lizzy came down the stairs. Lizzy is in a an interesting psychological condition. She's on a roll. He was sitting up straight and he looked her straight in the face and the first blow came right down across this eye. And when the first blow struck him, he

was dead. He fell over to his side and you can see nobody rests in that position. His legs were down straight and he was leaning over and she came around the edge and then delivered the what amounted to finally 11 blows to the head. Uh the next 10 weren't really necessary, but they were delivered in a fit of rage and anger. uh used to be referred to in the 19th century as a blood lust. I don't understand how someone could do that to another person, could actually take a hatchet and kill somebody like that. And that's a crime of passion when you're doing that many. That's great hatred. I mean, I could see if

someone was trying to kill me or a child or if I was defending myself, that's different. But to do something like that, that is so amazingly bizarre. I've learned of late that it's the only crime committed by someone with a hatchet or an axe that had an hour and a half in between the two killings that it's such a crime of passion to use that kind of instrument that usually the person who uses it kills everybody they're going to kill all at once. Then of course she calls up to Bridget and Bridget comes down. Then she goes out across the way and uh Churchill next door is standing near by the door and she calls out and says uh do come over. Someone has killed father. Bridget is sent across the street to a doctor's house and the doctor

didn't come over immediately. And then she went to the stable next door and said what had happened and the stable was able to telephone 1892. This interesting the police station And it was the annual it was the day of the annual police picnic. Um, and it wasn't fully staffed, but they got some police officers up there and they managed to uh deputize a big civilian guy and they had him stand by the door and things started happening. They started to investigate. police officers in the house and there's Andrew laid out on the sofa clearly dead. One police officer, I forget his name, I think it was Flynn, said to uh Lizzy, "Where is your mother, Lizzy?"

Decent question. And Lizzie stared at him, said, "She's not my mother. She's my stepmother." Of course, she's upstairs dead. We all know this at this point. that there was an illegitimate son of Andrew Bordon named William Bordon. Uh and there was, you know, this particular person was responsible for the crime. Uh William Bordon was kind of an outcast. You know, the Bordon family didn't want to acknowledge him. Andrew Bordon was obviously ashamed of this illegitimate son. Uh, and so William Border was the one who came in and killed both Andrew and Abby on the morning of August 4th. I guess the theory involved there was that Andrew wanted to be legitimized, wanted to be part of the family and thought that he, you know,

had rights to obviously some of the money and to be considered a Bordon. Uh, he was portrayed as being someone who's a little off-kilter, a little a little bit nuts, a little bit insane. Uh and so the idea that this illegitimate crazed person could have come in on the morning and committed the murders had some credence. Um you know there are many instances throughout the trial transcripts where they claim that there's a mysterious man loitering outside and uh I think that Brown's book kind of tapped into that and said you know what if there was someone there that morning that we don't know about. Um, so again, it's just another theory, but I found William Bordon who died in Taton State Hospital and I got in touch with Brown and uh I

said, "Look, if you want to come up here, I've been in touch with the medical examiner. We can exhume the grave." He wanted to do a DNA. We've got parts of uh Andrew's hair in the historical society. And he had no he didn't want to get involved in that. That would have answered the whole thing. John Vick Moss, he's the brother-in-law of Andrew Bordon. Um, I always thought he was an interesting character and the fact that he showed up and was there on the morning of the murders. Uh, to me that's got to cast a little doubt on him. He was known to be very involved with Andrew in a lot of his business transactions. Um, I don't think it was a coincidence that he was there. I think the fact that he was there uh the night

before the murders and stayed there the night before, it's something you got to really look at. John Vic Moss may very well could have known who was responsible and may have had a part in the murder, but the fact that he was there to me, I think speaks to a suggestion that he was somehow involved. Uh, you know, and the fact that he was very active with Andrew and his business dealings. So, he could have known something in terms of money, you know. Um, you know, I always thought that uh perhaps John Morris might have hired someone to get involved or you can look at it the other way. If you think Lizzie was actually responsible, he could have been there for moral support and probably could have, you know, been there to kind of help her cover her tracks, too. Dica

Morris was very much aware that things were charged. He went out that day to visit his sister uh and to visit a few friends and made a mental note of where he was every second he was outside of the house. And riding back on the trolley, memorized the badge number of the trolley driver. I don't know who's done that lat likely, unless they want to really set up a powerful alibi of where they were. The meantime, Vineka Morris, who has memorized everything that he's done at that point that day, arrives back at the house, goes to the back door, is told by this deputized character uh that there's some been a murder in there. He can't go in and he goes in the backyard and he takes a pear off the pear tree and eats

the pear and walks around the backyard. I don't like anything I'm reading. It's like everybody has their own ideas about who she is and what she did and she's guilty in this theory. The uncle did it. the illegitimate uh son of Andrew Bordon did it. The maid did it. They did it together. And I was like, you know, time out. Well, there's talk that Andrew wasn't necessarily wellliked. He ran some tenement houses and he had some properties and he had tenants. And there are stories circulating that he was a hard task master about rents. And if rents weren't paid, people were evicted no matter what their circumstances. Um, he was a man of business, so he certainly had his enemies. So, it's possible that someone

uh disliked him so intently that they decided to let him have it. Um, who that person might be, I have no idea. After the killings, apparently in local bars and restaurants, uh, it certainly made the news locally. Uh, a lot of the men would say, "Well, Andrew's gone. Good riddance." Uh, he was not a popular guy. He ran his bank in a rather strict and stingy manner. As wealthy as he was, he would go to his farm and bring his own eggs over and sell them. U, he wasn't wellliked at all. He wasn't popular. There are a lot of mischaracterizations that have been propagated through the books about the Bordens. One of them being the most prominent being that her father was the quote wealthiest man in town. Uh that was far from the truth. He was doing quite well for

himself with his own business and later in life he had various holdings and real estate investments. But in the scope of his life, he was far from the great wealth of like the Richard Bordon or the Jefferson Bordon who ran the Fall River line, who had a lot who owned a lot of the textile mills. And Lizzy early in life may have been more accepting of her father's status. The urban legend was that later in life she was disenchanted. you know, he insisted on living in a small house in the middle of town rather than a big mansion on the hill. And part of the uh myth of Lizzie Bordon is that drove her the violence. That her growing resentment and anger against her father for not allowing her

to live a physical life that was as large as her spirit is what people go with, is what some of the books have been propagating. But still, nobody seemed to have a motive to kill him. But if somebody did, they certainly not a motive to kill Abby. Whoever committed those murders, and there's no doubt that the same weapon was used to kill both, had a very strong burning desire to kill both of them. Was of course there was an inquest into the crime. uh an inquest, preliminary inquest really wasn't it wasn't just kind of a formal questioning where they kind of determine whether this is a case that needs to go ahead before trial. Lizzie didn't fare too well

during that initial questioning. Um she claimed to be uh you know very nervous at the time. Um she her answers were very conflicting. Didn't seem to get a lot of facts straight. Um gave uh a lot of conflicting reports about where she was that morning. she either was in the barn or she was ironing or she was downstairs, you know. So, so right away people started to suspect that, you know, she's not telling the whole truth here. Um, she's not being very forthcoming. So, that led to suspicion right away being pointed at Lizzie. Um and then eventually they thought they had enough evidence based on the fact that you know they had no other person responsible that she was there that particular morning uh that she had particular motive and not wanting you know not

liking her stepmother particular. Um so right away that led to her being charged with the crime. Um the trial took place about a year later. Um it was the following June of 1893 and uh it lasted uh about 3 weeks. Uh it took place in the Bedford Spirit Courthouse. Um and it was a very interesting trial because as you probably know that Lizzie had some real high paid lawyers. One was the former governor of the state. Uh Robinson who uh was one of her defending attorneys. Uh and he definitely had some connections, some political connections. Um, and you know, they put together a real good case, even though the prosecutor,

uh, Jose Nolton seemed to have a lot of damning evidence that pointed to Lizzie. I think ultimately came down to the fact that you had a woman being responsible for this particular crime and you had a jury of 12 men, all men, there were no women at the time of this jury. Um, I think it would these 12 men were going to be hardpressed to send the woman to her death because at the time if she was found guilty of this crime, she would have hanged. And they returned the verdict in pretty short order. It was less than half an hour. During Lizz's trial, every day of the trial, Lizzie went into the courtroom on the arm of her minister, Reverend Buck, and people saw this wealthy Puritan woman from Fall River on the arm

of her minister. Of course, she couldn't do a thing like that. But I mean it deals with I think some of the early questions of feminism and uh attitude toward class and a lot of these things. The fact that it happened during the Victorian period and concerned a woman I think is one of the main points that has given the story some longevity. And I say that because the crime was so um atypical of a woman. Uh it was described as a man's crime because it involved physical proximity uh between the murderer and the victim. It involved physical strength uh all things that were considered um not in a woman's character at the time. Women poison people uh because they could

administer the poison and leave the room, you know, and you know, mop their brow from a distance and then the person died. It was not proper considered proper or considered possible for a woman to gear up the amount of rage of strength that it required to commit a crime like this. There were other crimes during the Victorian period that were um looked at in the same way. They were not credible for a woman to have committed them. And I think that is part of the interest in this case is that she was so seriously considered a suspect for a crime that was not considered one that a woman could perform. But it was the first trial to really get massive coverage.

It was the first trial that was the AP used its wire service to tell the story of the trial nationally to all papers that were connected to the AP wire. So this was the first time that the day after something happened at the trial, they had it in the paper in San Francisco and they had it in the paper in Los Angeles and they had it in the paper in Missoula, Montana and they had it in the paper in Orlando, Florida and it was everywhere the next day and it's the first trial of its kind that they did that with. It was an experiment. So everybody in the country who read the story in their local paper was reading the story of the trial on a daily basis. And I think that's how everybody found out about her and I think everybody was interested and everybody wanted to know

how it turned out and everybody had an opinion and so it became a national discussion but a private national discussion in the home and so everybody knew about it and so they passed those stories along. People saved those newspapers. They're for sale. Um and it became a part of the culture that way because of the newspapers. The grand jurors for the said Commonwealth under their oath present that Lizzie Andrew Bordon at Fall River in the county of Bristol on the fourth day of August in the year in and upon one Abbey Dery Bordon and with a certain weapon to a shop cutting instrument did strike, cut, beat and bruise in and upon on the head of the said Abby Dery Bordon, giving to her mortal wounds, of which said mortal wounds, the said

Abby Dury Bordon then and there instantly died. You tell us what kind of relationship you had with your stepmother. Well, I would say that we were on cordial terms with each other. She wasn't as demonstrative as it seems you expect people to be, but none of my family are. We're rather quiet and reserved. My father was, my stepmother was, and certainly Emma and I also are. On October 17th, 2009, an art exhibit in New Bedford, Massachusetts, highlighted over 70 pieces of artwork which related to the story of the Bordon murders. The main focus was, of course, Lizzie Bordon. Lizzie had become the muse of many artists and a pop culture icon with books, plays, movies, toys,

and countless other items depicting her. The items have become part of what is the culture of Lizzie Bordon. The depictions range from a gentile Victorian woman to an evil hatchet murderous. Well, it's interesting because right around the time of my documentary, I kind of sensed a whole change of attitude right around 1992. Prior to 1992, the Lizzy Bing case was you had fans and you had people who were involved in the case and interested in the case. Um, but it was considered pretty much an academic subject. you know, you read the books, you had your theories about it, and you left it at that. Um, the whole entertainment value of the Liborn case hadn't really come

into play yet. I think 1992 did a lot to kind of open that up. Bristol Community College held uh a centennial conference here uh in the city, which kind of helped, you know, make people realize, you know, there are people from all over the world who are interested in this case. And people did actually come from all over the world here to sell, you know, I don't want to say celebrate, but to kind of get together and discuss the case. You know, people who had a similar interest in the case got together for the first time and were able to first of all visit the sites and visit, you know, the house where it took place. And I've noticed in subsequent years since that uh centennial conference in '92, people are a lot more uh a lot more forgiving about

the case and they tend to be a little more acceptable of it. Um you know in subsequent years we've had you know countless documentaries. There's a whole folk art, Lizzy Bordon folk art world out there where people do handmade art or handmade dolls, um, handmade anything. Uh, paintings of Fall River that include the house, that kind of thing. There's the Lizzie Bordon bobblehead, which is actually an amazing thing. Um, if you don't have one, you should have one. It's really quite well done. Um, there's Lizzie Bordon uh gifts like poetry. Lizzy Bordon poetry boxes and t-shirts and uh the Lizzie Bordon I don't know just anything you can think of. They make it into something pot holders. Lizzy Bordon polders and

and clothing for your dog. Well, there's been an opera. In fact, I gave a lecture once and I said it's been I said aside from sculpture, I said I don't know of any art form that it hasn't appeared in. And a friend of mine sent me a clip from some horror movie of some horrible high school. Uh, and it was called Lizzie Bordon High School and had a statue of Lizzy outside with a hatch. You know, I'm surprised when people don't know about her. I'm always like, "What do you mean? You've never heard of where do you live? Where have you been under a rock?" And there's this sort of let's pretend it's a Lizzie Bordon connected item and try to sell it for a million bucks kind of people. One that was hilarious was a ceramic clock that they claimed

was on the mantle the day of the murders and still had the blood stains on it. And they must have posted on eBay about 15 photographs of various blood stains including some stick around the back that somebody had written this was the mantle on this was the clock on the mantle at the Lizzie Bordon house on August 4th, 1892. And they were trying to pawn it off as blood stains from Andrew and of course it wasn't. um photographs that people try to sell that's obviously not Lizzie Bordon um and still make it into the marketplace and people assume that it is because they want saw it on eBay. So there's that kind of thing looking at the pop culture figure that is Lizzie Bordon. uh there's a major disconnect uh between the person

and u the oddly maniacal uh woman that you see portrayed in pop culture. Looking back at um Lizzie Bordon, uh she was a virtually unknown woman. So she was a clean slate and anything could be projected onto that clean slate as far as creating a persona that would be the quote unquote Lizzie Bordon. Urban legends and characterizations about Lizzy that come out of artistic imagination. So you have novels that have come out and films that have been made that took wild speculation and those characterizations would actually propagate forward as the way we see Lizzie Bordon. So we have from the Elizabeth Montgomery movie we have I have people saying to me all the time, didn't she commit those murders in the nude? You know, but that

was something that was made up for the movie. It was pure speculation. So over the years we've had uh all this media using her as a character and it's kind of crystallized this Lizzie Bordon character and it's emphasized the macarb aspect of her and we're like no other Should be easy for us to be lovers. Maybe I'm slipping. It's me you are ripping into Oh that Lizy how I want to amaze her. Let's get busy. your hatchet on my razor. You could come to my chapel for an evening stroke with me. You could share a snapp.

I'll give you 40 kisses. 41 smacks. So delicious for you. The thing that intrigued me about the Bordon case first of all I think was the period because I have a great resonance for the Victorian era especially the 1890s that's what caught my attention and then seeing Elizabeth Montgomery's portrayal of how a Victorian lady of good breeding and good family uh Sunday school u teacher churchgoing lady could possibly fit the mold of a hatchet murderous and that was the second hook. I think perhaps today um if they had the same sort of crime

but in 2010 it wouldn't have grabbed my attention as much as in that particular era. I found myself when I was writing this play, masterpiece theater was my best friend. I could not get enough of it. I was, you know, recording it, taping it, watching it. I was fascinated by it and that time period. And now when I watch something on TV and they'll go, "Oh, like this was 1901." I go, "Oh, I know exactly where we are." You know, or this happened in whatever 1860, I go, "Oh, I know." Like in my mind, it gives me something to ground to. And it and I found that I love that whole Victorian thing. Oh, I think the era has a lot to do with the lure of Lizzie Bordon in this case. It's the old um gaslight

and fog and Jack the Ripper and handsome cabs and the clatter of horse hooves on the cobbles. When we think of mystery and unsolved crimes, you think of the Victorian period. And it's just an extra added attraction, I think, to the Bordon case that you have this wonderful romantic setting to place it in. I would say that definitely the Victorian um umbrella uh is a very large part for some people uh as a part of the lore, a part of the appeal to the story. Um, and I can say that uh unqualifiably because of the number of people that get here dressed in Victorian clothing um on a hot day in the middle of summer. You know, they are that interested in it and absorbed by uh the Victorian period that they will dawn

the clothes and uh and go out there when everyone else is looking to cool off and they're dressed as warm as can be in their Victorian period clothing. It wasn't so much the prospect of owning Lizzie Bordon's house. It was the uh interest for me was how many chances in your life come along to own and preserve a piece of history. So, it was an opportunity, a very rare opportunity, and uh one I chose to grab on hold to, and I'm very glad I did. It's it's been an it's been a wonderful roller coaster ride. The house was built in 1845.

It was built by Southern Miller who built quite a few of the houses in the area at the time. Prominent builder Andrew Bordon bought the house in 1872 and converted it to a single family and he moved here with his second wife Abby and Lizzie and Emma. Uh Lizzie was 11 when she moved into this house. when the house was set up and that's my entire goal, as was the former owner. When you walk into the house, we want you to walk back into the 1800s. And that's definitely one advantage we do have. If you go to London today and take the Jack the Ripper tour, a lot of the buildings are no longer there. But when you come to the Lizzy House, you're walking into a crime scene that doesn't look like it's changed.

and that is a draw for a lot of people um especially people who have studied the case from many angles the crime scene's almost intact and I think that's definitely one of the advantages we do have I have had guests from all walks of life and they are drawn here for many different reasons uh all over America Hawaii Alaska and as far away as uh Australia and Germany. We get people from everywhere. I've met people from Australia. I've met people from China. I've met people from, you know, Switzerland. Um, and everybody's got a little bit of a different reason for coming. A lot of people come for the ghosts. They're

like, "Where are the ghosts? What's the ghost?" But I've also found that a lot of people come to hear about strictly the historical aspects of the case or strictly the legal aspects of the case. There are a lot of different reasons people come. We had one gentleman that I heard about, I wasn't here when this happened, who had no idea what he was coming into. He just was looking for a B&B and he saw the ad in the phone book and was like, "Okay, that's great. I'm going to stay there." and he had no idea where he was coming and he was I guess a little put off by the whole thing when he got here and he was like I'm just going upstairs to my room.

Didn't want the tour. Didn't want to do any of it. So, you know, get all kinds sir. Yes. I haven't met Yes. I'm uh John Vinick Morris. I'm Lizz's uncle. Oh, my name is Dr. William Dolan. Hello, Dr. medical examiner for the third district court of Bristol County. Yes. And this is Officer Medley from the Fall River Officer Department. Good day. This is uh Sir, have you've been informed there's been a very been a murder here? I was just told by Bridget that something had happened to Mr. Bordon.

Yes. My preliminary examination, I noticed that Mr. Bordon suffered possibly nine 10 wounds to the left side of 10 wounds. Lizzie uh bought Mapleroft uh which she named Mapleroft. She didn't get well along too well with the neighbors. I mean, she was a stigma. I mean, she really was. I mean, anybody walking down the street in Fall River between 1900 and uh 1928, but it felt a little funny around her.

There's a uh wonderful story by a woman who wrote uh Lizzie Bordon by Daylight, a private disgrace, Victoria Lincoln. And Victoria Lincoln lived uh two houses up from Lizzy on French Street. And as a little girl, all the kids would run through Lizz's yard singing that little diddy. It was one of the rights of passage. You had to do that when you were growing up. And uh Victoria Lincoln, a very proper Victorian family, said to her mother one day, "Mother, mother, how come we never have Miss Bordon over? We have the other neighbors over." And Victoria Lincoln's mother didn't know quite what to say and paused for a moment and then said, "Oh, Victoria, dear, she wasn't very nice to her parents."

The house that she moved to, though, it's been described as a mansion. Trust me, it's no mansion. It is a larger house for sure. Um, it's a nicer house than the one she lived in. It has sort of a flowy kind of curvy sort of feminine feel to it, I think, but it's certainly not a mansion. So, she didn't she went to the very edge of the hill. She didn't go into the Highlands where the mansion set lived. So, she didn't quite make it that far. We pulled up in front of Mapleroft and I'm like, "This is the house." So, I get out and I start to like go to the backyard. Jack's like, "Uh, Jill, you can't do that." you know, breaking trespassing. I was like, "Oh, right." So, I got into Mapleroft with Jack and

then, you know, he even let us come back later and we actually filmed some scenes there. And um they've been very kind to us. And but when I went in there, I was like, I got Lizzy. I could feel like the house is solid and it's like a fortress almost how she was protected there. And then the porch, she could feed her birds and her squirrels. The society itself has the largest collection in the world of primary source material on Lizzie Bordon and uh the trial and her life and it's the main place to go uh when looking for information. I would say that the key point uh when the society beca began to collect on a large scale um things having to do with Lizzie Bordon and the Bordon trial uh would have been in the

1960s. Uh that's when you saw the most significant collection to date come in and that was the hip bath collection. Uh Andrew Jennings who had been one of her defense attorneys had preserved a lot of material from the trial including transcripts of testimony. um exhibits, trial exhibits, uh artifacts that were brought into the courtroom. It made it was the cornerstone uh for the collection here at the historical society. And I would think that was the first time that you really saw something significant uh as a body of work of u materials uh come into the museum. And from that point on, it was um uh sometimes smaller scale contributions and larger scale contributions. And there's still material out there. We're still getting

uh things contributed that have to do with Lizzie Warden and the trial. I would think that the artifact that most people uh inquire about um come to see study for the longest period of time would be that handleless hatchet. uh even knowing that it was likely not the weapon that was used to commit either crime or it was considered as possibly the weapon, but was disproven by the doctors that did forensics as um likely not involved in the crime because the animal hair was still on it when it was found. Uh, it was the right size, it was the right shape, but it was not, as far as they could tell, in any way connected to either one of the murders uh or to Lizzy because there was no evidence that physically connected her to

either one of the crimes. The bedspread now uh that was on the bed in the room where Mrs. Bordon was killed has become a prime candidate for interested visitors to the museum because we have just revamped the Bordon exhibit and pulled out a lot of things that were trial exhibits and were physical evidence in the courtroom uh to be seen. This is the bedspread that was brought into the courtroom as physical evidence at the board and trial. It uh is on a bed actually at the um Fall River Historical Society. It's the new exhibit that we've opened called Bordabilia and it's actually on a bed for the first time it has been since August of 1892.

Um the blood stains are minimal. If you look at where they occur, few spots right here, of course, if you look at the crime scene photograph, Mrs. Bordon was actually standing right about here. Uh it appears when she was first attacked. So, it makes sense that the first spatters of blood would be right here at the foot of the bed. Uh, she then fell and her head would have been somewhere around here on the floor according to photographs, which would also account for the few pin spots right here of blood. Uh, doctors that did the forensics said that it was

likely that one of the first strikes uh killed both Mr. and Mrs. Bordon. So, in Mrs. Bordon's case that explained that there was no trajectory of blood. Uh that it was basically just a spattering from the impact of the blows which would have explained these few pin spots up here as well as these right down here. Uh the hairpiece was Mrs. Bordon's. It was found by the police uh roughly in this spot on the bed. Uh it was likely knocked off her head during the first attack. It was strictly bobby pinned on. Uh so it would have likely been knocked off as I said right here and found later by the police. The uh the book that we're currently working on here at the

historical society I say we uh Michael Martins who's the curator and myself um it's called parallel lives a social history of Lizzie A. Bordon and her fall river. And the idea behind the book uh was to provide an environment in which the reader could learn more about Lizzie by learning about Fall River. So it's not only a social history of the city, but it's it's somewhat of a biography of Lizzy rather than a book about the murders. We deal with them because they were a part of her life, but they are a minor part of the story on a whole. And It was hoped that we would present her in a manner that she could be understood.

Um, mainly because what we found lacking in the books that had been written prior to this was that she's always a one-dimensional character. You have no depth of a person there. You have no depth of life. Uh she's a virtual unknown uh who's accused of a murder who gets uh thrown into the newspapers for a year and then people don't forget that story but they don't know anything else about her. Uh so we got uh some detective work going and decided to try to form Fall River and find out as much as we could about Lizzie Bordon especially between the years that she was on trial and her death. And uh we sort of hit a gold mine uh mind. We were very fortunate in that many people saw what we were doing and when approached were willing to come forward and share what

they knew or what their ancestors had told them um about the character that was the Lizzie Bordon that they knew. Um, and it's very interesting that we've come up with an entirely different person, something that no one's really going to expect. Um, and I think that the dimension there is going to expand people's perception of her being suspect and exactly what happened. this sort of a conventional view of Lizzie Bordon that a lot of fiction writers and filmmakers and documentary filmmakers take. They of course they focus more on the crime. And as I was looking at some of the pictures of her, the photographs and portraits she had taken as a teenager, there was there's one where she's she looks very cheery, very bright, very

intelligent. And I kind of took the uh the feeling that was coming from that photograph and the character started emerging. I wanted to do a very different Lizzie Bordon. I wanted to do one who was very um she's young, she's optimistic, she's full of energy, she's very bright, and she's kind of in love with life. And this is radically different from the Lizzie Bordon that we usually think of. Now, it may turn out that the historical Lizzie Bordon in 1875 who was going to high school may have had some of those traits. Uh there's a book coming out from the historical society called Parallel Lives, which explores that period of her life. And we're going to find out within a few months like just how much of that was

really in her. But in my book, I wanted to do that radically different take on Lizzie. The book Lizzie Bordon Girl Detective that I wrote is consists of a sh series of short stories that uh take place in the 1870s around the time where Lizzie has just left high school and it's a time of great optimism for her. Her father is doing very well with his business. She's um now an independent woman still living at home but young enough to have optimism about her future and she has an obsession with her own intelligence. So she uh fancies herself a consulting detective which back in 1875 was a relatively new concept and she um goes out there promoting herself as such building a relationship with the Fall River police. She takes on many of

the more unreputable characters in Fall River society, including uh corrupted textile tycoons, fake spiritualists, and the Sporting Boys, who are a class of young males who really come from wealthy families and or Nwells and just hang around causing trouble and modeling themselves after street gangs, even though they're not quite of that of that uh social element and these are the characters that she takes on within the story. Uh she's sort of a um making up the profession as she goes along and there's there's plenty of literary illusions to Victorian literature, Victorian Sherlock Holmes stories. Uh, I think it's a lot of fun and I think it's uh of interest to people who are uh want to learn about

Lizzie Bordon, which is odd to say because the central concept is so unhistorical. However, it's against a tapestry of a very real historical fall river. What I find uh interesting about my book is that I it doesn't deal with the crime. It has a very rich characterization of a fictional Lizzy without having to go near the crime. because she was an anonymous person. She wasn't anybody. Her family wasn't anybody. They were on the poorer side of the Bordon timeline, the Bordon, the Bordon family tree. Um that they weren't subject to discussion, gossip, or newspaper stories. So, we don't know very much about her. So, all we have are uh legal

documents. And then of course there may be gossip that people talk about in later books, but that's just gossip. So what we know about Lizzy was we presume she went to school. We presume she didn't graduate high school because there isn't any graduation record of her. Um but and her church work which is registered her work with the flu fruit and flower uh committee and the local hospital and the Sunday school work that she did. But we know very little about her before and we know very little of her after. She belonged to a generation of women that didn't marry. I do believe that because she was such a private person. I don't think she chose to share her life with anyone and have that opportunity for something to

be released or talked about. She didn't like to be talked about. Why they never married? Well, after the trial, Emma was in her 40s. Lizzie was in her 30s. They didn't have much social access really given their confined lifestyle. Also, Lizz's sexuality may have not been uh may not have favored men. I think she was a normal person. I think she had a normal life. I don't think she was atypical at all. I think she was a person who just lived her life and did what she wanted to do and lived according to society's norms and played the game

and did what she was supposed to do. And later in life, the oddest thing to me was that she stayed in Fall River. And there's something amazing about that, something sort of bold and aggressive about that. um to stay in the town that you were accused of doing this horrible thing and walk the streets and ride in your car and be seen and be remembered and be reminded and sort of na you know a little bit of that. Uh Lizzie ended up with the lifestyle to which she wanted to be accustomed. She always felt this is one of the underlying sources of anger that Andrew was pretty well off. He had a few hundred,000 which by today's standards be a few million. Uh they didn't

live in the highlands. They didn't live up on the Highland A. They didn't live at the top of the hill. Paul Rivers divided beautifully along class lines. The lower classes at the bottom. The higher up the hill, the higher you are socially. And uh Lizzie resented that. Emma not so much. Emma was I think simpler than Lizzy, but Lizzie really did resent that. And uh she finally did move up there. She moved up to French Street. I felt um I felt a great deal of loss from her, you know, because when you know I mean she lost her mother when she was two and a half then she both her parents then Emma leaves. Emma was always her surrogate mother and then Nance

O'Neal leaves. I felt so much and how she was shunned by Fall River, a lot of people in Fall River and the world. I felt a great deal of loss which I connected with her. But then I also connected with the fact what I felt was is that the way she dealt with that because I read this in different books that she had a great sense of humor and she would make fun of things about the murder or this or that and the other. She just put it out there instead of cowering. So there's something admirable about that. She didn't go and hide. She lived her life and she was acquitted. So she was allowed to. So she did what she was allowed to do and then never ever spoke about it. That's amazing. When I was researching for the book and

studying the case, I was intrigued by the fact that there was a very real person behind all of this and there was a lot that we just didn't know. and that she um she herself said is quoted as having said that she's just they say I don't have any feelings. I'm you know they don't see me when I'm alone which was a very moving comment because it suggested and this is assuming that she was innocent. It suggested her as a very tragic figure. The only close relationship Lizzie ever had with another person aside from Emma when they were younger uh was with Nancy O'Neal, the uh the actress. And she was a patron of Nancy O'Neal. Uh she went to NY's plays. Nancy stayed at her house entertained.

Um after they had been together, I think seven years at Mapleroft, Emma just left and they never spoke to each other again. You know, they died within a few days of each other. They never spoke to each other again. The sale of the building was handled through agents and something must have gone on in that house that shocked Emma or drove Emma away. We don't know what it was. We really don't. Initially, it started that she was kind of an object of fascination for kids. And I think that's coming around again, too. I think in present day it's still kind of stunning, you know, the violence of this particular

crime that a woman in particular would take ax and bashing, you know, her mother and father's head. So, I think uh yeah, rebellious kids kind of tap into that, you know, the whole violent crime, the nature of the crime. Um, you know, we had a heavy metal band called Lizzie Bordon who kind of capitalized on that. So, you know, I'm sure just the name itself, I mean, when you say Lizzie Bordon, you know, right away you think of this crazed woman with a hatchet, you know, insane woman attacking our mother and father. Well, Lizzie Bordon has become real AR Americana. She's almost like a uh Paul Bunan, Johnny Apples Seed. The myth has grown. Her story now is so widespread and to a young audience that just eat this up. What young kid at one

time or another hasn't said, I could just kill my parents and maybe this gal did and it's intriguing. I've read blogs by other people who talk about Lizzie Bordon and they talk about her that way. I'm in a Lizzie Bordon mood today, they would say. And I and I would read further into the blog and it was this big conflict this girl had with her mother and how she fantasized about chopping her up into little pieces. And it was nice that she was able to blog about it because now she's not going to do it. So if only Lizzie had a blog and if only Lizzie had an outlet, perhaps she wouldn't have acted so savagely. If she acted so savagely, we must give her that credit.

She was acquitted, you know. So, and I think she's making a comeback. I like the other night we're watching Jeopardy and one of the answers to one of the questions was Lizzie Bourne and I was like, "Ah, there she is." It's like I come upon her in different, you know, or I turn on the TV or the History Channel and it's Lizzie Bordon, blah. And I'm like, "Oh, she's she's coming back. She's making a comeback." So, she's coming back into the ether. She's coming back into the vocabulary. There are more and more people interested in it. It's a niche that seems to be growing. Um, she's a fascinating individual and she's got a great name. So, who was Lizzie Bordon? Daughter, killer, misunderstood woman or legend?

What was it about her and her story that has endured over a hundred years and what will continue to make her a compelling character in history? Many have tried to understand her and many more will also attempt. The truth is the real Lizzie Bordon is only a shadow, a figure which is unclear. And in that shadow, people will see the personality they choose to give her. And in that shadow, she will live forever. Tell you what my theory is. My theory is this. John Morris shows up 8:00 p.m. the night before in nothing but his underwear. Bringing in a train of horses into Fair Haven to sell him. The man has no pants on. No toothbrush, no

nothing. He says he's going to stay the night. His brother-in-law Andrew lets him in, feeds him mutton. John Morris was the first one awake in the house the next morning, even before Bridget. I think he let someone in. They hid in the upstairs closet near his room. When Abby walked by, she got it. went downstairs and took care of Andrew on the couch and then snuck out the house. Did Lizzie have something to do with it? Possibly. She could have known about it and been purposely in the barn watching out the window to seen make sure he was gone before coming back out. But I say the biggest question mark is John Morris. to show up unannounced with no

pants on at 8:00 PM and to have such an alibi even to lean against the barn and eat three pairs before going back into the house that fateful afternoon as a crowd of 2,000 stood outside the house. Yet never question why there was a crowd of 3,000 people in the yard. Yeah, he eats three pears.