The Trial of Lizzie Borden(2)

Persons of Interest


THE BORDEN HOUSEHOLD (ON AUGUST 4, 1892) Abby Durfee Gray Borden, sixty-four-year-old second wife of Andrew Borden Andrew Jackson Borden, sixty-nine-year-old businessman married to Abby; father of Emma and Lizzie Emma Leonora Borden, forty-one-year-old elder daughter of Andrew Borden and first wife, Sarah Lizzie Andrew Borden, thirty-two-year-old younger daughter of Andrew Borden and first wife, Sarah John Vinnicum Morse, sixty-nine-year-old brother-in-law of Andrew Borden, brother of the late Sarah Borden Bridget Sullivan, twenty-six-year-old Irish domestic servant of the Bordens FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND TRADESPEOPLE

Eli Bence, clerk, D. R. Smith’s drugstore Dr. Seabury Bowen, family physician, across-the-street neighbor Phoebe Bowen, wife of Dr. Bowen, across-the-street neighbor Mary Brigham, friend of Lizzie and Emma Borden Rev. Edwin A. Buck, missionary of Central Congregational Church Marienne Chagnon, neighbor, second wife of Dr. Chagnon Marthe Chagnon, neighbor, daughter of Dr. Chagnon Dr. Weneslas Chagnon, neighbor Adelaide Churchill, next-door neighbor of the Bordens Hannah Gifford, dressmaker Jane Gray, stepmother of Abby Borden; mother of Sarah Whitehead John Grouard, painter Dr. Benjamin Handy, physician and owner of holiday cottage at which Lizzie was expected Hiram C. Harrington, brother-in-law of Andrew Borden, married to Andrew’s sister Lurana Charles J. Holmes, Borden family friend and adviser, president of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, and deacon of Central Congregational Church Marianna Holmes, Borden family friend, wife of Charles J. Holmes Elizabeth Johnston, friend of Lizzie, schoolteacher Rev. William Walker Jubb, pastor of the Central Congregational Church Hymon Lubinsky, ice cream peddler Mary Raymond, dressmaker Alice Russell, friend and former neighbor of Emma and Lizzie Charles Sawyer, ornamental painter Augusta Tripp, friend and former schoolmate of Lizzie Borden Sarah Whitehead, half sister of Abby Borden, daughter of Jane Gray FALL RIVER OFFICIALS

Officer George Allen Mayor John Coughlin Captain Dennis Desmond Officer Patrick H. Doherty Lieutenant Francis Edson Assistant Marshal John Fleet Officer Phil Harrington City Marshal Rufus Hilliard Officer Joseph Hyde Officer William Medley Officer Michael Mullaly Matron Hannah Reagan State Detective George Seaver Deputy Sheriff Francis Wixon LAWYERS

Melvin O. Adams, Lizzie Borden’s defense lawyer Andrew J. Jennings, Borden family lawyer Hosea M. Knowlton, district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts William H. Moody, district attorney for Essex County Arthur S. Phillips, associate of Andrew Jennings Albert E. Pillsbury, attorney general of Massachusetts George D. Robinson, former governor of Massachusetts and Lizzie Borden’s defense lawyer JUDGES

Josiah Blaisdell, inquest and preliminary hearing, district court judge Caleb Blodgett, trial judge, superior court Justin Dewey, trial judge, superior court Albert Mason, chief trial judge, superior court MEDICAL EXPERTS

Dr. David Cheever, professor of surgery, Harvard Dr. Albert Dedrick, physician Dr. William Dolan, Bristol County medical examiner Dr. Frank Draper, Suffolk County medical examiner, professor of legal medicine, Harvard Professor Edward Wood, professor of chemistry, Harvard REPORTERS AND COLUMNISTS

Joe Howard, Jr., Boston Globe Elizabeth Jordan, New York World John Manning, Fall River Daily Herald Kate McGuirk, New York Recorder E. H. Porter, Fall River Daily Globe, author of Fall River Tragedy Julian Ralph, New York Sun Amy Robsart, Boston Post Walter P. Stevens, Fall River Daily Evening News Henry Trickey, Boston Globe





Part 1


MURDER





Chapter 1


SOMEBODY WILL DO SOMETHING





View of Fall River block, including D. R. Smith’s drugstore, courtesy of Fall River Historical Society



On the morning of August 3, 1892, Eli Bence was working at D. R. Smith’s drugstore on South Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, when a woman entered the store to ask for ten cents’ worth of prussic acid. Prussic acid is a diluted form of hydrocyanic acid, a quick-acting poison—transparent, colorless, and volatile. As the New Bedford Evening Standard later reported, “If a person wished to kill and avoid detection, and that person were wise, hydrocyanic acid would be the first choice among all deadly drugs.” The woman, however, volunteered that she needed the prussic acid “to put on the edge of a sealskin cape.” Bence refused her request, explaining that prussic acid was sold only on doctor’s orders. Although he recognized her as “Miss Borden,” it was not until another man whispered “This is Andrew J. Borden’s daughter” that he looked at her “more closely” and noticed what he would later term “her peculiar expression around the eyes.” She insisted that she had purchased the poison on prior occasions, but he stood firm. She departed unsatisfied. It was not the end of the story.

Lizzie Andrew Borden, courtesy of Fall River Historical Society



? ? ?

Lizzie Borden lived on Second Street near the bustling commercial center of Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1892, the Borden household at 92 Second Street consisted of Andrew Borden; his second wife, Abby; his grown daughters, Emma and Lizzie; and the family’s domestic servant, Bridget Sullivan. An occasional houseguest, John V. Morse—the brother of Andrew Borden’s first wife—rounded out the ménage. Neither of the Borden daughters, each past thirty, appeared likely to marry. Because their father was a man of consequence, their material comfort seemed assured. Yet it was not a happy home. The Bordens “did not parade their difficulties,” but, as many commented, “things were not as pleasant at the Borden house as they might be.”