There’s No One Like You, Lizzie Borden – and Your House is Still Standing

I was in the process of deleting some old “Lizzie Borden Files” folders on a thumbnail drive to make room for photos of my grandson when I discovered these Animoto videos I had made several years ago.

http://animoto.com/play/BCHckOsCK5kRH7ZDIFAFTQ

http://animoto.com/play/0KUvqV71nYJHhnCwbj1Srg

A Man and His Dog – Which one is “loyal”? From the Lizzie Borden Forum

 

The post here from Ellen Smith (i.e. Angel), in reply to Michael Brimbaugh (mbhenty) is so insightful and very clever.  LOL!

Re: There was in the barn a secret that must be covered

by mbhenty » Mon May 20, 2013 1:25 am

Of course, when I go on a crime spree I don’t use a flashlight. I take my Dog.

Top

 

Re: There was in the barn a secret that must be covered

by Angel » Mon May 20, 2013 10:49 am

WHAT? Should Onslow know that you’re seeing another dog?

 

Angel

 

 

 

 

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.