Happy Halloween Readers,
I put out a poll on both Twitter and Instagram asking if
you guys would be interested in a true-crime week for Halloween you guys said
yes so here, we are. This week I will be looking at Peter Sutcliffe, Ted Bundy,
Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, John Wayne Gacy and Lizzie
Borden.
Our final serial killer is Lizzie Borden, tell me
honestly do you think she did it?
As with the other serial killers I have mentioned this
week, I am still missing out the details if you really need to know you can do
your own research. No copyright infringement is intended the photo is used for
educational purposes.
You must have heard the rhyme?
Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.
The popularity of
the poem is a testament to the public's fascination with the 1893 murder trial
of Lizzie Borden. Lizzie was an American woman suspected of murdering her
stepmother and father in 1892; her trial became a national sensation in the
United States. The source of that fascination might be brutal nature of the
crime given that Lizzie was female and young and also the fact the jury's
acquitted Lizzie despite the evidence that most historians find compelling.
Let us rewind a little. Before their murders, Andrew and
Abby had been living in the humble, Greek-Revival house on Second Street with
Andrew’s grown daughters Emma and Lizzie as well as their maid, Bridget
Sullivan. Lizzie was popular and engaged in charitable work. Her father, by
contrast, was supposedly stubborn and ungenerous as well as exceptionally
wealthy and apparently, Lizzie and her elder sister Emma were at odds with him
and their stepmother, often over financial matters.
On a Thursday morning, August 4, 1892, Mr Borden left
home to conduct his business, leaving in the house, Emma was out of town,
staying with friends, on that fateful day, leaving only Lizzie and the maid at
home when the murders were committed.
On his return, Mr Borden settled on a couch for a nap.
About 11:15 AM, Lizzie discovered her father dead and upstairs his wife’s body
was found. Two key facts seemed to rule out a stranger if I’m honest. Firstly,
the front door and basement door was locked and secondly, even if the killer
had found a way inside, the hour and a half interval between the murders seems
odd.
Police found a hatchet in the basement though free of
blood was missing most of its handle. Lizzie was arrested on August 11th a
grand jury began hearing evidence on November 7th and indicted her on December 2nd.
It was found that
Lizzie had tried to purchase a poison on August 3rd, and a few days later she was
alleged to have burned a dress in a stove. Bridget, who had also been suspected
was reportedly seen leaving the house carrying an unexamined parcel the same
night.
Lizzie was arrested and tried for both murders in June
1893 but was acquitted, given the evidence. She was nonetheless ostracized
thereafter
People refused to sit near her at church. And children,
probably daring each other to tempt the murderess, would ring her doorbell in
the middle of the night and pelt her house with gravel and eggs.
Good on Lizzie though despite all this she stayed in Fall
River, Massachusetts, until her death in 1927.
Lx
Sources
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/lizzie-bordens-irish-maid-witnessed-murders
http://mentalfloss.com/article/81765/how-lizzie-borden-spent-her-life-after-being-acquitted
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/79596-was-lizzie-borden-guilty.html
https://newengland.com/today/travel/massachusetts/lizzie-borden-house/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lizzie-Borden-American-murder-suspect
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-19th-century-axe-murderer-lizzie-borden-was-found-not-guilty-180972707/
https://famous-trials.com/lizzieborden
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