Teapot given to Historical Society offers piece of Lizzie Borden story

Gertrude May Russell (above) received the teapot shown below as a gift from her friend Lizzie Borden.  The rare piece is now on display at the

Above:  Gertrude May Russell and the teapot her grand-daughter donated to the Fall River Historical Society.

From the Fall River Herald News comes this article by Deborah Allard:

“Borden had given ceramic teapot to hired companion about 100 years ago”

 

Herald News Photo | Jack Foley

“This photo courtesy of the Fall River Historical Society shows Lizzie Borden at Maplecroft, her French Street mansion, a few years after she employed Gertrude May Russell as a paid companion to accompany her on travels.”

 

“A cunning little ceramic teapot for one with a cobalt blue design was recently donated to the Fall River Historical Society.The tiny teapot came to curator Michael Martins with a big story.It was given by Lizzie Borden to her hired companion, Gertrude May Russell, as a present about 100 years ago.“It was hand-turned, hand-painted,” Martins said. He opened the lid and revealed a ceramic infuser, still intact. “It’s a sweet little teapot.”Martins said some research is still necessary to determine the teapot’s country of origin. It is completely unmarked. He said his first thought was that it might be from Asia, but he said it has a “decidedly European shape.”The teapot was donated to the society by Russell’s granddaughter, who is a member of the society, lives in Maine and wants to remain anonymous.Martins said the teapot came with a “good paper trail,” unlike some items that can be found online with no documentation.He said such donations are “few and far between.” But the society has recently collected more items than usual because of the contacts made by Martins and assistant curator Dennis Binnette while authoring “Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and her Fall River.”“A great deal more material has come to the surface,” Martins said.Russell, known as “Trudy,” worked for Lizzie Borden from 1911 to 1913, according to Martins and an excerpt in “Parallel Lives” that features Russell.Russell was one of six children and was born in New Bedford. After her father died in 1894, her mother took the children to Boston and ran a boarding house on Beacon Hill.The family moved to Fall River in 1899 — just seven years after Lizzie Borden was tried and later acquitted of killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet in their 92 Second St. home.Russell went to the Lincoln School until 1905. She took a job at Kerr Thread Mills in 1909. Lizzie hired her as a companion in 1911.Russell moved into a third-floor bedroom at Maplecroft, Lizzie’s French Street mansion, in order to perform her duties. She was Lizzie’s traveling companion, and the two went to Boston and Washington and other destinations. They stayed in luxurious hotels, dined in fine restaurants and went to museums and the theater.Martins said it was likely that Lizzie purchased the teapot for Russell on one of these trips.While traveling once, they met a little girl named Virginia, and Lizzie told Russell that she should choose that name when she has a daughter someday.Russell, a young woman, in 1913 acted on impulse and left Lizzie’s employment to have more time for dancing and going out on the weekend.Lizzie was “perturbed” and found it improper that Russell would quit, and not to get married but to take work as a clerk in the R.A. McWhirr’s store downtown.Russell met a young man at one of her weekend dances and married him in 1914. When she had a daughter in 1923, she named the child Virginia.Russell wrote to Lizzie to tell her about her daughter. She received no response.Though there were obviously hurt feelings for both Russell and Lizzie, Russell told her granddaughter that she was a “silly young girl” when she quit her job with Lizzie, a job she said she enjoyed much. She said Lizzie had the “kindest blue eyes” she’d ever seen.“We feel that this piece really belongs here,” Martins said.The little blue and white teapot will be put on display at the Historical Society, 451 Rock St. The Historical Society offers tours, a museum shop and a large display of Borden memorabilia.The society is now open for the season. For hours and more information, visit lizzieborden.org.”

Ariel Castro and Lizzie Borden – Notorious Domiciles and Why People Can’t Stay Away

This NBC News article  on the house of Ariel Castro in Cleveland, Ohio, has five paragraphs on the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum in Fall River, MA.

It’s a long shot, but imagine if some dark-minded entrepreneur managed to acquire the property and turn it into a Bed & Breakfast.  Guests could chose between Attic, Second Floor or Basement accommodations in the “Ariel Castro House of Horrors”.   Canopy beds with chains would be extra.  Souvenier duct tape sold in the Garage Gift Shop.  Too morbid you say?  Think again.

Never underestimate the draw of pop culture “celebrity” when mixed with murder and mayhem.  It can become a stone, cold hit.

Fall River Cemeteries

Lizzie Borden is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, and while it is the most known – and the most beautiful – there are other cemeteries with interesting histories in Fall River.

Here’s info on a wonderful picture book of several Fall River cemeteries. 

Jack Foley – Fall River Herald News

1. Notre Dame Cemetery

   1540 Stafford Rd
   Fall River

   (508) 673-1561

2. 2233 Robeson St Fall River (508) 679-2535

   St Patrick’s Cemetery
3. Amity St Fall River (508) 679-2535

   St Mary’s Cemetery
4. 462 N Main St Fall River (617) 244-6509

   Temple Beth El Cemetery
5. 440 Newhall St Fall River (617) 244-6509

   Agudas Achim Cemetery

   MEANWHILE…..

   The Fall River Historical Society is having a big sale on all their items.  Check it out!

The Kind of Party Lizzie Borden Missed Out on in Her Youth

NOTE:  THIS LETTER WILL APPEAR IN THE FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S BOOK, PARALLEL LIVES):

When Lizzie Borden was in her teens and early 20′s she did attend parties with her contemporaries. She may have attended a party not unlike the one described in the handwritten letter below by Florence Borden, daughter of Spencer Borden. Flushed with the excitement of the evening’s events, the 15 year old Florence wrote “November 30, 1896″ at the top of the letter, but the postmark shows when it was mailed the next day, “December 1, 1895″.

Shortly after acquiring this letter for my collection, I took it with me on my next visit to Fall River and left a photocopy for Fall River Historical Society Curator Michael Martins to help me identify those named within the letter. He wrote a 9-page response and I include the first two pages here to save me time (and space) in providing background and identification particulars of a few mentioned:  (Click on all images for larger view)

Note:  Parker Hooper (born 1877) was the son of  William S. and Isabella Hooper who resided on French Street, three houses east from Lizzie.

Bertha Borden (born 1882) was the 15 year old daughter of Jerome Cook Borden & Emma Borden.  Jerome was Lizzie’s cousin who supported her during her Trial.

Young Florence is clearly thrilled with the costumes and those attending.  Her letter reflects an almost giddiness in her descriptions.  She lived in one of the two grandest homes in Fall River:  Interlachen

……and she spent that night with Marion Osborne at the other grand house:   the Carr-Osborne House

One generation behind Lizzie, these young ladies and gentlemen were the sons and daughters of Fall River’s elite society on “The Hill”.  And while they were only around 8-12 years old when the Borden murder case exploded upon the Fall River scene, they would know of Lizzie all their lives.   (Most would live long enough to have read Edmund Pearson, Edward Radin and even a fellow B.M.C. Durfee High School graduate, Victoria Lincoln.)

It would be less than two years after this party that Lizzie would be trumpeted again on the front pages:   the Tilden-Thurber shoplifting incident.   An oh, how these fine, cultured young people must have gossiped about that at other parties.

Note:  Florence doesn’t tell us if any of the ladies came dressed as Lizzie Borden with a hatchet sewed onto their skirt.  That would have been shockingly inappropriate.  Never would have happened.  But today?  Hell yes.

“Auntie Borden” in Movie “Sleuth”

Lizzie Borden is occasionally mentioned in a film or TV show but seldom is she referred to by the name many of the children of her friends called her long after the infamous trial of 1893.  Those children called her “Auntie Borden”, so we have learned from the magnificient book, Parallel Lives – A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River.  Indeed, only those who have read this book learn of that fact as it was revealed for the very first time when the book was published in November of 2011.  Imagen my complete surprise when I heard it mentioned while watching the 1972 movie “Sleuth”.

“Auntie Borden” in her later years.

About 35 minutes into the film, Lawrence Olivier (as playwrite Andrew Wyke)  is attempting to find a costume for Michael Caine  (Milo Tindle) to pretend to be a burglar in their plot to have Michael Caine’s character steal a cache of jewels.  Olivier steps on a floor button and up pops a female skeleton to which Olivier says:  “Oh, there you are Auntie Borden”.   I cracked up and immediately Googled the playwrite.

Anthony Shaffer  was born just one year before Lizzie Borden died (1926), but it is likely as a young adult he heard of the Borden case and when he came to write Sleuth included the subtle reference to one of America’s most notorious unsolved crimes.    He was fond of true crime as we learn from his tribute web page, and he may have read the books on the case published up until his death.

Anyway, it made my ears perk up to a film I had seen 3 times previous but never caught the reference.  I shall look for it in subsequent “Sleuth” films.  Michael Caine, dear man, and a wonderful actor, enhanced his own career by playing both parts in different screen adaptations of the play “Sleuth”.

And that’s all, Auntie Borden.  

Lizzie Borden’s Favorite Dish: Tripe

It has been written in a number of books that Lizzie Borden’s “favorite” dish was tripe.  Tripe is nothing more than cow stomach.  It has the texture of calimari, i.e. octopus.   If you’ve ever had “menudo”, a Mexican dish very common in the Southwestern part of the United States, you’ve had tripe.

Here are more images of various tripe dishes.

Here is a listing of  vintage tripe recipes over the past 150 years.  I think Lizzie may have liked the broiled tripe, first becoming popular in 1896 or the pepper pot tripe from 1915.  I doubt, however, she dined on it accompanied with a little Chianti.

I always thought an occasional nice, big pot of tripe stew for overnight guests at the Lizzie Borden Bed &  Breakfast Museum would be a delightful surprise.

Emma Borden’s Death & Wake at Riverby

Emma Borden died in the early morning hours 9 days after her sister, Lizzie.  Members of her surrogate family saw to her funeral/burial wishes.  Her wake was held at Henry and Caroline Gardner’s home. Unlike Lizzie, family and friends gathered to pay their respects and the details of how things were handled was published in these papers.  (Click for larger views).

Seated left is Henry Augustus Gardner and his son Orrin to the right.  In the back is Hamilton Gardner (raised by Orrin since he was about 10 years old) and his best friend “Buck”.  These 3 Gardners, and many more, were at her Wake.

Where we read that Emma had made her wishes known to “Mrs. Gardner”, that would be Caroline Cole Mason Gardner who died in 1918, just seven years after celebrating her 50th Wedding Anniversary with Henry, an event which Emma attended.  (Henry would go on to live until 1931).  It was Caroline’s sister, Susan Francis Mason who had married Sarah Morse Borden’s brother, William Bradford Morse (they moved to Minnesota and lived all their lives there).  That marriage began the bloodline connection to Lizzie between the Morses and the Gardners and the Bordens (still with me here?).

In the article below it states Emma’s wishes were to be buried by her father and stepmother.  She is, in fact, buried right along side her sister which can  be seen in the image of the family plot at the end of this post.   It’s somewhat curious that Emma did not specify “beside my mother”.  Emma had been informed of Lizzie’s death by Orrin Gardner but due to her weakened condition did not attend her burial.  Unless the sisters spoke of the exact placements of their own future graves prior to Emma’s 1905 departure from Lizzie, Emma would not know of this layout.   (Note:  Lizzie, in her funeral instructions, requested to be buried at her father’s feet).

In this next article we note that Jerome C. Borden and his family attended the wake.  Jerome, of course, was the son of Cook Borden who was Andrew’s uncle.  Andrew’s father, Abraham, and Cook were brothers.  Jerome, Andrew’s nephew, had several daughters several years younger than the previously departed Lizbeth of Maplecroft.  Two of those daughters were close cousins withGrace Hartley Howe, Jerome’s sister’s daughter and thereby his niece.  (No mention if Grace was present at the wake though I doubt it as her husband,Louis McHenry Howe was absorbed in pursuits to get Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President).  (I wonder if Jerome thought maybe Emma might have left him some money or property since Lizzie left plenty to his niece Grace as shown in her will which had been printed in the papers just that week).   But she didn’t leave anything to Jerome who had been a staunch supporter of Lizzie during the Trial.  She left plenty for the Gardners, though whereas Lizzie left them nothing.

 

The State of New Hampshire’s Record of Death for the year ended December 31, 1927, has a July 1, 1927 entry recording her death on June 10, 1927 and internment on June 13th at Oak Grove Cemetery.  The cause of death is “chronic nephritis” and “duration 2 years”.  Indicated as the cause is “senility” and “unknown duration”.  No mention of any fall.  Note that under “Occupation” is written “Retired”.   Indeed.

George H. Towle was the physician who pronounced her dead and reported the death.

Then in 1992, comes this record of death from the State of Massachussetts showing the causing of death as both Chronic Nephritis and senility with no indication of the duration of either.

Below:  Riverby (pronounced River”bye”) as it looked in the late 1920′s.

Then:                                                                                  Now:

This property was originally in Caroline’s family but she and Henry lived there most of their lives operating it as a successful farm.  It passed on to Orrin then to Hamilton Gardner and was sold and subdivided in the 1950′s.  Few of the extra out-buildings remain.  The current owner of Riverby has partitioned off several rooms, making them into apartments although the neighborhood is not zoned for that.  An artist lives on the first floor, a couple on the second and a musician on the 3rd floor attic rooms.

Lizzie is foot-to-foot with her father; Emma is foot to foot with her mother, Sarah.  Abby is next to Andrew on the outside.  The overall layout has a certain symmetry that seems almost poetic.