Lizzie Andrew Borden By Nicole Miller

“Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, gave her father forty-one.”

This bone chilling rhyme isn’t just a jump rope game, but a story of a horrifying tragedy. Lizzie Borden was thirty-two years old when she fatally hacked her father and step-mother in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home with a hatchet. Or did she? There are many theories as to who could have really killed Abby and Andrew Borden. Was the maid upset with them for asking her to wash the windows after having food poisoning the night before; did she snap under pressure? John Morse, brother of Lizzie’s real mother, could have possibly had a hand in it helping Lizzie, all for the money. Maybe it wasn’t any of the accused, but someone completely unmentioned. Let us begin the long journey through the trials of Lizzie Borden.

Lizzie Borden was everything a woman should have been in her time period. She was beautiful in every sense of the word; face, figure, and personality (Brown 54). She had red hair with a temper to match and was shorter with a thicker figure (54). Ms. Borden was also very active in her Central Congregational Church as treasurer and secretary (54).

Lizzie was very unclear, especially during her testimony at the expense of her innocence. Which is odd when trying to fight for your freedom, right? The man questioning Lizzie, Mr. Hosea Knowlton, asks her:

            Q: Where were you when the bell rang?

            A: I think in my room upstairs.

            Q: Then you were upstairs when your father came home?

            A: I don’t know sure, but I think I was.

Q: What were you doing?

A: As I say, I took up these clean clothes, and stopped and basted a little piece of tape on a garment.

Q: Did you come down before your father was let in?

A: I was on the stairs coming down when she let him in.

Q: Then you were upstairs when your father came to the house on his return?

A: I think I was.

Q: How long had you been there?

A: I had only been upstairs just long enough to take the clothes up and baste the little loop on the sleeve. I don’t think I had been up there over five minutes.

Q: Was Maggie (The Maid) still engaged in washing windows when your father got back?

A: I don’t know.

Q: You remember, Miss Borden, I will call your attention to it so as to see if I have any misunderstanding, not for the purpose of confusing you; you remember, that you told me several times that you were down stairs, and not upstairs when your father came home? You have forgotten perhaps? 

A: I don’t know what I have said. I have answered so many questions and I am so confused I don’t know one thing from another. I am telling you just as I nearly know.

Q: Calling to your attention to what you said about that a few minutes ago, and now again to the circumstance you have said you were upstairs when the bell rang, and were on the stairs when Maggie let your father in; which now is your recollection of the true statement, of the matter, that you were downstairs when the bell rang and your father came in?

A: I think I was downstairs in the kitchens.

Q: And then you were not upstairs?

A: I think I was not; because I went up almost immediately, as soon as I went down, and then came down again and stayed down (Brown 341-342).

            As you can see from Lizzies testimony, she could not remember what happened that day and was very uncertain on her answers. While the argument can be made that Mr. Knowleton could have been trying to confuse her, the question still remains as to why she wasn’t able to answer correctly in the first place.  

            People have been researching this case for over one-hundred years and have yet to settle on who really murdered Abby and Andrew Borden. While most will point the finger at Lizzie, there are plenty of theories as to who else could have done it. The theories are:

1.      Bridget Sullivan was angry with the Borden’s for always asking so much of her especially on the day she was sick, so she finally snapped under pressure and murdered them (Lizzie Borden Took an Axe...Or Did She?).

2.      John Morse was waiting to help Lizzie murder her parents for all the money (1).

3.      A mystery man by the name of William Borden, the illegitimate son of Andrew Borden, murdered his own father and step mother (1).

          

  The first conspiracy theory is that Bridget Sullivan, the Borden’s maid, was angry with them for asking so much of her while she was sick. She was eventually found not guilty of the murder of Abby and Andrew Borden. However, it was not taken into account that the only other person who was on the property at the time of the murder, was Bridget Sullivan. (Posts about Bridget Sullivan on 40 Years of Faulty Wiring). Anyone you asked would tell you Bridget and Abby were close. Bridget always claimed that Lizzie and Emma were mean to their step-mother but many others say it was the other way around (Brown 46). It’s probable that Bridget secretly didn’t like Abby at all which is why she became close. 

A few nights earlier, Abby, Andrew, and Bridget were all sick with food poisoning. The night before the murder, Ms. Sullivan was still a little sick but was asked to wash the windows the next morning (Linder). Even though it is said that she was angry with them for asking so much of her while recovering, she did what she was asked. At the time of Abby’s murder, Bridget was outside washing the windows as she was told (1). Although Ms. Sullivan has an alibi for where she was when Mrs. Borden was murdered, she was indeed inside the house at the time of Mr. Borden’s death (1).

As a result, there is little evidence that proves that Bridget Sullivan was the culprit in these murders. She was there at the time of the tragedy but was simply an Irish Immigrant who wanted a nicer life.

          

  The next theory is that John Morse, Lizzie’s uncle Andrew Borden’s brother-in-law to his late wife. Morse only came to visit every so often but stopped visiting for a few months. His visits were increasing leading up to the murder. In his testimony he specifically mentions not seeing Lizzie for quite sometime before the murder (Linder). It is mentioned by both Lizzie and John that they had not been in contact at all through this whole thing (Uncle John Morse). Upon researching, there is very little evidence pointing towards him being the murderer. He seemed very honest and truthful and was actually making deals with Mr. Borden in possibly selling John his farm (1).

           

Lastly, the third conspiracy is about the mystery man they call the wild-eyed man, rarely ever mentioned and never questioned or involved (Brown 88). Some among the police force refused to even acknowledge the existence of these men (88). A woman by the name of Ellen Eagan attempted to come forward about seeing one man in front of the house, but she was turned away quite quickly (88). A man by the name Dr. Benjamin Handy saw the other man (Brown 83). The fact that two accounts were given about two separate men should raise suspicion.

            Dr. Handy described the man as about twenty-four years old, five feet four inches, medium weight, with a dark moustache and a pale face (Brown 84). Ellen couldn’t describe the man she saw so it could potentially be the same man (84). Although Arnold R. Brown, the author of, “Lizzie Borden, The Legend, The Truth, and the Final Chapter,” speculates that these two men could have even met up at the Borden residence (84). 

            Brown also speculates that the man could be the illegitimate son of Andrew Borden by the name of William Borden (Lizzie Borden-Did William Borden Exist). His birth certificate was impounded by the state of Massachusetts because the law doesn’t require illegitimate children’s birth records to be public knowledge (1). William was released from the Taunton Asylum roughly three weeks before the murders happened (2). It’s theorized that William was upset with his father because he put him in the asylum (3). While he was in Taunton he fell in with a gang of criminals who used him to kill several people (4). After he had gained the favor of said gang, he left for Fall River to try and find his father (5). When he was released he started work as a fruit peddler as means to gain enough money to travel to Fall River (6). Having found his father he went to the back barn to get the hatchet that would fatally kill Mr. and Mrs. Borden.

Brown says, “Whether from surprise, from fear of discovery, from triggered insane hatred, or from some combination of all of these, Bill [William] killed Abby.” He then went down stairs and into town to get away but returned a while after to find Andrew. (Brown 320).

“When Bridget went upstairs for her nap, Andrew ordered Lizzie out of the house…while he met with his son. After killing his father, he left by the open cellar door,” writes Arnold R. Brown. Not long after, William was murdered by the gang he left (Lizzie Borden-Did William Borden Exist). It is highly possible that William could’ve been the murderer.

Through further investigation of the theories of Bridget Sullivan out for revenge, John Morse wanting money, and a mystery man, William Borden was the real murderer in the Lizzie Borden case. Because William was an “illegitimate” son and no one knew of him, why would anyone suspect him? He was never caught for any of the murders he committed before and was basically a nobody in the town. Upon holding a poll posing the question of who killed Abby and Andrew Borden, the resounding answer was of course, Lizzie herself.  But perhaps she didn’t give her mother 40 whacks, or her father 41.