SHE HAD AN AXE TO GRIND
"Andrew Borden is now dead,
Lizzie hit him on the head.
Up in heaven he will sing,
On the gallows she will swing."
That is the lesser known second verse of the famous rhyme "Lizzie Borden took an axe..." that most people know even if they don't fully know Lizzie Borden's story. The murders of Andrew and Abbey Borden, possibly at the hands of Andrew's daughter Lizzie certainly were a subject of fascination in 1892, but Lizzie Borden has become an absolute legend. Her story is intriguing - why would a spoiled daughter of privilege take a hatchet (not an axe) and give her stepmother 17 (not 40), and her father 11 (not 41) whacks? If Lizzie Borden did it at all.
Andrew Borden was Fall River, Massachusetts' foremost property developer. He made his fortune manufacturing caskets (oh the irony - was he buried in a casket his company had made?) He bought commercial properties then developed them into successful businesses. He made a fortune of $300,000. But Andrew was thrifty. He refused to buy a nice, new home with indoor plumbing on the more fashionable side of town. His daughters Emma and Lizzie hoped they could persuade him to change his mind.
Andrew, Emma, and Lizzie suffered the loss of Sarah Morse, Andrew's wife and the girls' mother, in 1863. Sarah implored Emma to take care of Baby Lizzie, who was just 3 when her mother died. Andrew married to Abby Durfee Gray in 1866. Lizzie called her stepmother Mrs Borden. No love was lost between Abby and Lizzie.
Emma and Lizzie were raised in religion. Lizzie, the more socially outward of the two sisters, taught Sunday school, belonged to the WTCU, and other ladies' clubs in Fall Rivers. The sisters never married, remaining at home with Andrew and Abbey. While their lives were not extravagant, Emma and Lizzie had nice clothing and never lacked money. They resented Andrew sharing his money with Abbey's family. The family may not have been a happy one - Lizzie would describe her relationship with Abby as "cordial." Lizzie left home and took refuge in a boarding house for four days after Andrew killed pigeons she tried to tame into pets.
On Thursday, August 4, 1892, Abbey Borden went upstairs to make beds. She never came downstairs again. An assailant struck her 17 times with a hatchet. Andrew left home earlier in the morning. He returned home at 10:30 a.m. Somehow his key didn't work in the front door. He knocked and the family's maid Bridget let him into the house. He went into the parlor and layed on the sofa to take a nap. At some point Lizzie cried out "Come quick! Father's dead! Somebody came in and killed him!" Bridget ran for a doctor that lived in a home adjascent to the backyard. The doctor declared Andrew dead from 11 hatchet blows.
When police arrived, Lizzie behaved in an odd manner and gave contradictory answers when questioned. She claimed Abbey had received a note to visit a sick sick friend, but did not know who delivered the note, nor whom the friend was. No note was ever found. At first no one believed a church going, Temperance favoring spinster could commit such a violent act. But evidence started to add up. A neighbor claimed she saw Lizzie burn a dress soon after Andrew would have been murdered. Lizzie was seen in the barn where a broken hatchet head was found. Lizzie claimed she was making sinkers to go fishing. And as for the dress, she said she had gotten it dirty days before and decided to burn it rather than just get rid of it. Lizzie was arrested and jailed on murder charges.
Her trial began June 5th, 1893. Theories as to why Lizzie murdered her parents were that she was in a fugue state, she wanted revenge for sexual abuse, and Lizzy had been discovered in a lesbian tryst with Bridget. Alternative theories as to who committed the crime were : it was the work of someone who had committed another axe murder in Fall River, Sarah's brother "Uncle Morse", who came to stay the day before the murders killed Andrew over money, or that Lizzie's sister Emma did it (she was staying with friends out of town.) Lizzie was acquitted of the murders.
After the trial Lizzie and Emma received their inheritance and gave Abbey's family a portion. They set about building a new home in the very neighborhood Andrew refused to move to - indoor plumbing included. They named their new home Maplecroft. Lizzie was ostracized from society, especially after a shoplifting charge in 1897. Lizzie and Emma lived together until 1905, when, after an argument, Emma moved out. The sisters died nine days apart in 1927. Lizzie's will left $30,000 to Fall River Animal Rescue, and a $500 trust to maintain her father's grave. Lizzie Borden had no idea her story would become a legendary rhyme, an opera, a ballet, TV shows, and the subject of numerous books. A lonely spinster accused of a heinous crime became one of True Crime's most notorious figures, whether she took an axe or not.
SOURCES :
Lizzie Borden. Wikipedia.
FURTHER MEDIA ~
PODCASTS :
Frey, Holly / Wilson, Tracy V. , hosts. "Lizzie Borden and Her Axe." Stuff You Missed In History Class, iheartradio, 4 October 2010.
Graham, Beckett / Vollenweider, Susan, hosts. "Lizzie Borden." The History Chicks, Episode 79, Wondery, 29 October 2016.
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