Louis McHenry Howe – Devotion vs Love

A study of the personal correspondence between Louis McHenry Howe and Grace Hartley Howe (second cousin to Lizzie Borden) cannot help but make one wonder if this man misplaced his unwavering devotion to President Franklin Roosevelt over the love for his own wife and family.  The letters reveal a man conflicted but unwilling to remove himself from the virtual shadow of  FDR where he relished being so close and so influential to the power on the throne.

Photo by Corbis

Julie M.  Fenster’s excellent book, FDR’s Shadow, is the first to reveal these letters stored at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York.  I went there to read them myself and came away with a few differing insights from Julie’s, but my mission was focused more on those letters between Louis and his wife than those between Louis and Franklin.

In the letters, time and again Louis professed his love for Grace and his daughter Mary, and son Hartley, above and beyond anything else.

But very early on in the marriage there were problems -within its first year in fact.  Grace and her mother may have been shocked by the sudden  flat-lining of Louis’ financial promise from when he and Grace were first secretly married.

November 9, 1898

Grace Hartley & Louis Howe are secretly married by JOP; Grace returns to Boston same night & Louis to Saratoga.     (Rollins p75)

May 6, 1899

Grace Hartley marries Louis McHenry Howe in a formal ceremony at the Church of Ascension in Fall River.

Evidence of Louis’ doubt of Grace’s love and problems in the marriage are revealed in this letter dated 1900:   (Click on images for larger view)

Over a period of 20 years, Louis would occasionally bring up the names of “Ted” and “Willie” whom he suspected his wife involved with.  (And let me say right now that from reading all these letters the thought entered my mind if Hartley was, indeed, Louis’ biological son – more on that in another post). “Ted” was apparently a wealthy Fall River person whom Louis stated would have given Grace the kind of life she wanted.  Here he again mentions “Willie”:

Grace’s letters were far different from Louis.  They were not filled with terms of endearment or expressions of love.  As Julie stated in her book, they were written more like a sister to a brother.  But they do reveal a woman very much interested in local Fall River as well as national politics.  Grace wrote often of her civic and social service involvements and activities and of her family members, cousins Bessy and Bertha who visited often.

The letters between Grace and her mother (Mary J. Borden Hartley) reveal much about how Grace was raised, transparent of being a “Borden”.  Prior to her marriage, Grace lived her young life much the way Lizzie would have wanted for herself.   Grace’s passions extended to the love of animals, antiques and helping the poor – the same as those of  Lizzie.

In reading those letters over and over (the library allows you to take digital pictures of the letters and I captured them all) I was struck by another common bond between Grace and Lizzie:  Louis made the decision to live most of their married life with the Roosevelts rather than with his own family.  Could it be that Grace and Lizzie shared feelings of abandonment – Grace by her husband,  Lizzie by her sister?   Animals, anitiques, abandonment and concern for the poor – threads that bind.

An excellent biography on FDR which includes the importance of Louis to FDR’s political rise is FDR:  An American Experience Part 1 (1994) available thru Netflix.   Or, you can view it online at this link.

This documentary also has some terrific footage of LMcH, some where he actually looks handsome.

The more I read about Louis the more I myself am conflicted about his sincerity with regards to his profestations of love in those letters to Grace.  When you love someone you want to be with them – share your lives together.  Louis chose to live with Franklin and Eleanor.  Louis was totally devoted to FDR.  Did that devotion supercede his love for Grace?  Was he truly a man conflicted?  Was it a deeply torturing guilt that guided his hand to paper and write with false conviction?

I have found it written by Hartley Howe that he never felt close to his father, that he never felt he really knew him.

Preliminary Hearing FREE + Rebello & Knowlton Papers!!

UPDATE:

CONGRATULATIONS TO LINDA ROSE OF BUENA PARK, CA. WHO PURCHASED BOTH BOOKS FOR A TOTAL OF $500 – AT $250 EACH SHE GOT A BARGAIN!

STAY TUNED – MORE COMING!

Have you been looking for a free copy of the Preliminary Hearing in the Lizzie Borden case?  Have you been wanting affordable copies of Len Rebello’s Lizzie Borden Past & Present? And have you been on the hunt for the Fall River Historical Society’s The Knowlton Papers? Well, you’ve landed in the right place.

Central Police Station, where the Preliminary Hearing was held.

First, here’s another free and easy access to reading the entire transcript of the Preliminary Hearing.  Just click:

PRELIMINARY HEARING

EMAIL ME FOR PASSWORD.

I also have it as a separate page on this blog as you can see at the top of this page, but here you don’t have to do a cut and paste into WORD for printing.  You can print directly from this Writeboard format.  You can also export it to your hard drive!  How cool is that?!

It is, after all, the Season of Giving.

I’ll be giving lots more real soon as I’m about to trim down more of my Lizzie Collectibles at bargain basement prices.

Are you looking for these?

Well, I’ve got several of each and the prices will be the best you can get.    I’ll be posting more info about them along with lots of other collectibles soon, but if you can’t wait and want to be assured you get one (or both), email me at phaye@npgcable.com and make an offer.  (Some of the Rebello’s are autographed by the author and come with mylar covers.  All have the dust jackets.)

Christmas With the Bordens – Part I

The season of Christmas is upon us and warrants a peek at how Lizzie Borden’s family celebrated.

And what is Christmas without a showing of that famous “It’s a Wonderful Life” film?  This version has Deadwood’s Al Swearingen, Marshal Hilliard, and Little Lee-ann Wilber along with Andrew, Emma, and of course, our dear Lizzie.

Just click on the titles to get started.  And be sure to have your sound on!

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE WITH THE BORDENS!

Those lovable Bordens – when they were young -  have a happy time decorating their Christmas tree!

LIGHTING THE CHRISTMAS TREE!

And here take notice of how those Bordens stick together.

SNOW FIGHT! CO-STARRING INSPECTOR FLEET

Lizzie Borden Videos…..

Image by Danny Evans

….seem to be everywhere. And they are mostly copied from one place to another, i.e., YouTube to MySpace to Hulu to Blog posts, and on and on.  Video Regurgitation.  Some are really bad and some are quite entertaining.  But consider all the cell phones with video capability out there.  And those B&B tourists who have them and do a minute video and call it their Lizzie Borden movie.  Here are some samplings.  (Just click on them).

Salem Exhibit “MySpace” Video

Excellent bio with the lovely Helen Pierce, courtesy of Hulu.

“Emma Bordon the Axe Killer’

The next one is a “legitimate” from the old t.v. series and taken from Lillian De La Torre’s play.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Older Sister

The following is my own personal favorite of the short, original creations:

They all have one thing in common:  The continual perpetuation of Lizzie Borden as a one-dimensional, axe-wielding persona encapsulated in an inaccurate quatrain solidifying her as a demented psychopath.   She was not.  She was a woman of taste and deportment.  She was a woman with a strong sense of her Borden roots, a strong belief in God and the hereafter, exquisite taste and a quick, intelligent mind.  She valued those friendships that demonstrated their loyalty and, likewise, unforgiving to those who had, or whom she perceived to have demonstrated betrayals.  There’s something to be said about that when it comes to her love of animals.

Lizzie Borden was not a psychopath.  But she’s endured as a pop culture icon with a false image so embedded in the minds and imaginations of those who study not closely – albeit widely – on the internet.  The content of almost all of the videos  proves the point.  It seems hardly a week goes by without someone, somewhere on the internet making reference to Lizzie Borden but most always in the context of that one dimensional persona.  “I’m gonna go Lizzie Borden”, “The committee will do a Lizzie Borden on the proposed budget”, yadda, yadda, yadda.

What is particularly sad is when the Fall River Historical Society finally publishes it’s book,  Parallel Lives, (at a retail price of nearly $50 and a limited market for heavy reading on the Borden case) it will have limited sales (we’re not talking the new Harry Potter book here) and will fail to alter her pop culture image amongst the masses.  Anyone who thinks differently can’t see the forest for the trees.  Nonetheless, this book promises to be of the same quality as the FRHS’s first book, The Knowlton Papers.  Further, its new findings and photos will ensure its worthiness as a “must have” acquisition by Bordenia collectors and scholars.

As an example of the general disregard by the masses to the facts of the case, it was pretty much proven BACK IN 1893 that the murder weapon was a hatchet, not an AXE, for one thing, and anybody who’s read even one book on the case would know that.  But it doesn’t matter, as 90% of the time she is identified with the axe, not a hatchet.  The masses like their psychopathic, pop culture icons the way they are.  That’s why they don’t bother with research by digging into available facts in books, forums, or subscribe to periodicals.

Education.  Ain’t it a bitch?

Thanksgiving 1891 – What Lizzie Borden is Thankful For

Lizzie has sat down and made out a list for what she is thankful for on Thanksgiving, 1891:

I’m thankful for all the things I get to do at Central Congregational Church.  (They like me!  They really, really like me!)

I’m thankful I got accepted as Secretary to the Women’s Board of the Fall River Hospital.  (They all like my penmanship).

I’m thankful Emma knows how to keep her mouth shut.

I’m thankful I’m a Borden.

I’m thankful I have so many books.

I’m thankful father pays my bills at McWhirrs, Gifford’s and other places for things I “got”.

I’m thankful I don’t have bright red hair.

I’m thankful Dr. Bowen lives nearby.  (He is so handsome!)

I’m thankful I don’t have to do any housework, except the care of my room – which Emma does mostly anyway.

I’m thankful Abby has no shoes with good tread when she clumsily wobbles up and down the stairs.

I’m thankful Aunt Lurana’s neuralgia is not getting worse.

I’m thankful father called off the investigation of “that robbery” this year.

I’m thankful nobody used those horse-car tickets.

I’m thankful Mrs. Holmes and Anna Borden invite me to their homes so I can use a real bathroom.

I’m thankful father didn’t cut back my $4.00 a week allowance when I implored him to give me more – that miserly, degenerate b…..d.  (Oh, but I dare not put my true thoughts down on paper).

I’m thankful Emma finally gave me the bigger room.

I’m thankful I got to go on the Grand Tour last year, and oh, how I pray to return.

I’m thankful I have an aversion to pigeon pie.

I’m thankful Uncle Morse won’t be here for dinner, that smelly, secretive old coot.

I’m thankful my new gloves match my new hat.

I’m thankful I have a knack for decorating.

 

I’m thankful for my loyal friends – few as they are.

I’m thankful Central is so close now that Father sold our horse.

I’m thankful Father keeps accumulating more property.

I wonder what I’ll be thankful for this time next year?

Lizzie Borden B&B/Museum Gift Shop

The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast/Museum Gift Shop is a splendid choice for selecting a Christmas gift for your friends who share your interest in Lizzie Borden.

(Click on images for larger views)

Susan Hauck, who gives tours and works in the Gift Shop was Curator for the outstanding GalleryX Exhibit of “Lizzie Borden – A Tale of Two Cities” held in New Bedford.

On my recent visit to Fall River, I took Bob Dube, owner of Maplecroft to the B&B and to chat with Susan whom he had thrilled (along with Gift Shop Manager, Dee Moniz) with a complete tour of his home.  Bob said to me:  “This stuff is really good!”

The Gift Shop offers up so much more than what is illustrated at their website as can be seen in these images.   There are skateboards, buttons, magnets, jewelry, postcards, memory booklet by Ed Thibault, CD’s by yours truly, glassware, hats, T-Shirts, golf shirts, cups, mugs, buttons, etc.

Viewed here are some of “diggings” discovered when the old Leary Press was demolished.  Lee-ann Wilber, B&B/Museum Manager, was able to salvage these finds and are on display for all to see.

So if you can’t get to Fall River, you can contact the Gift Shop by calling 508-675-3333, place your order, and they will ship promptly.  So why not get that unique Lizzie gift for your special friends.  You won’t find this stuff at Walmart. 

Vandals Add to Decay & Damage of Abby Grille

The once beautiful Gothic Glamor Girl of Fall River, the Central Congregational Church on Rock Street, suffered her last years as the Abby Grille.   As seen by clicking these images,  you get an “up close and personal” view of the progressive decay and neglect to her exterior.

Around the 10th of this month, vandals broke in through a basement door and did extensive damage to the interior of Abby Grille.  This structure was the former Central Congregational Church – Lizzie Borden’s church – and was recently auctioned off and remains held by Millenium Bank.

I happened to be driving by at night and noticed a big blue dumpster parked inside the gate.  I went in and asked what had happened.  Seems the vandals took all 19 fire extinquishers off their mounts and sprayed everywhere.  They broke out glass from interior doors, damaged some of the beautiful stained glass, took doors off hinges, scratched and chipped the beautiful woodwork, etc.  They left skid marks believed to be from skateboards.

“Gabe” overseeing the cleanup, provided me information on what had happened and allowed me to take pictures.  Much was being hauled away in the dumpster.

Up until this sad event, the interior was still basically intact, but now her wounds have scars and injuries that most likely will never be completely healed.

I have to wonder what putz was or is in charge of this property at Millenium Bank.  Is it some $60,000 a year “Assistant Vice President of Property Disposition” who hadn’t the foresight to adequately seal and secure the buildings?  Did this person not think of sealing all windows, particularly the stained glass?  Or did this putz merely say to an administrative aide to buy some new locks for the doors and the gate?

Last summer when they auctioned off the kitchen equipment it pretty much took care of anyone acquiring it for a restaurant because that acquisition and installation expense would be added to the hefty needed repairs cost.

If the Bank had any smarts they would gut the entire building before letting the inevitable wrecking ball knock her down.  The woodwork throughout, the organ (estimated value at $65,000), the doors, chandeliers, cabinetry, original hardware, etc. etc.  could be auctioned off piecemeal.  This would allow the bank to recoup some money back.

Meanwhile this iconic Gothic architecture structure continues in its state of terminal cancer.    Abandoned, stripped, raped and spit upon.  No one cares enough to save her.  Not even the so-called “Preservationists”, as ineffective as their history proves out.

By contrast, in all the years I’ve been going to Fall River (since 1977), I have never even seen grafitti or any type of vandalism to the below murals so familiar to those passing enroute to 92 Second Street.

There are many tangible and intangible assets in Fall River.  One of those tangible assets can be found inside the closed and “locked” Kuss Middle School.

This structure houses those fabulous murals painted by John Mann around 1936 as a WPA project.  They depict Fall River’s history from the Indian era to the era of the cotton mill.  You can read about them HERE. This property is already looking beaten up.  Practically screams out:  “Invade me!  Tear me up inside!  Bring your spray cans!”    So here’s my own shout- out to Meg Mayo-Brown, Superintendent of Fall River Schools who has direct responsibility for school property:

WHAT ARE YOU AND THE FALL RIVER SCHOOL COMMITTEE DOING TO SAFEGUARD THOSE MURALS?  WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THEIR FUTURE DISPOSITION?

Inquiries have been made thru proper channels.   Let’s hope a lesson is learned here.

Fall River Visit Snippets

Lucy S. Macomber headstone at Oak Grove Cemetery.  She was a school chum of Lizzie’s (the class ahead of her) and listed as the 17th bequest in Lizzie’s will, receiving $1,000.

Fall River Locust Street residence of Grace Hartley Howe and Louis McHenry Howe.  He wrote her many letters to this address while he resided with Franklin and Eleanor in New York.

Grace’s Fall River cottage home on Martha Street with lovely view of the Taunton River.  She lived here during her years as Postmistress of Fall River and until her death in 1955.

Grace’s uncle, Jerome C. Borden had several daughters.  Cousin Bessy was a favorite and Grace’s mother wrote her daughter frequently about Bessy, Bertha and Fanny.

During the 1880’s & 1890’s it was fashionable to have yourself photographed in front of your home or business by a traveling postcard photographer.  The below image shows 3 ladies in front of this home only one door down from Central Congregational Church.

This is a similar view of that area today where both houses still stand.

The one nearest the now defunct Abby Grille, as shown below, has had some recent modifications.

It is now the “Old Firehouse Smoke Shop”

Time – Ain’t it a Bitch?

So do you have too much time on your hands but still can’t get done what needs to get done?  Feel like you are pressured for producing?  Feel like you are falling back on deadline promises?

Have you been unemployed for a long while and feel like there’s not enough time to make up for what you’ve lost?  Are you stressed that you are at the half century mark of your life and know that the  second half provides you less time than the first?

Is Time  slipping away or stretched out before you?  Do you yearn for “down time” or “me time” or are you already wallowing in it wishing you had more structured and lucrative activities to fill your Time?

Are you stuck at home most of the Time without discretionary funds for travel, eating out, donating to charities, I-phone upgrades, or gifts for friends?

Ever wonder what happens in the world “all the time”?

Well, click on this world clock.

Now, next time you put off getting that pedicure, meeting Mr. “Could be” Wonderful,  or publishing a long delayed magazine already paid for by customers, or just anything else, consider what has occurred in the world by that passage of Time.

Sometimes when we fail to meet deadlines, it’s not about Time at all.  It’s about money.  So much Time and so little money.   And when the clock keeps clicking and the money doesn’t come in….we move backwards.  We move further away from our goals, our youth,  and our Center of Contentedness.

New Book: FDR’s Shadow-Louis Howe the Force that Shaped Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

I’ll be doing a review shortly on Julie’s new book that came out last month:  FDR’s Shadow the Force that Shaped Franklin & Eleanor Rooswevelt . I wanted to wait until I got a chance to review those letters – and more – at the FDR Library which I did just recently.

Julie M. Fenster’s, award winning author and historian,  new book

Julie has reciprocated in helping me with my own research at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY.   We now have much to discuss of our own insights from that very private and revealing correspondence.

Julie was, of course, focused on the Holy Triangle of Louis, Franklin and Eleanor – the Grace Hartley Howe connection a stunning by-product towards understanding the “inner man” of Louis.  I, of course, was interested in the Grace-Louis correspondence specific to the Lizzie connection.  Why, after all, was Grace a major legatee?  I got my answers.

When Grace died her daughter Mary and son Hartley inherited her personal papers, which included the letters written to her from Louis and these were subsequently donated to the FDR Library to be deposited with Louis’ other papers.

Side note:  Mary Howe Baker sat with Eleanor Roosevelt and other notables in this TIME Mag article May 20, 1933.   Grace was in Fall River at the time.

Point Reflections

A print of this collage, which I created back in 1999, still hangs on the refrigerator at the Lizzie Borden B&B.

(click on image for larger view)

Back from visit Northeast with scads of voice mail, emails and snail mail to catch up on. Some pointed reflections that I may elaborate on later:

1. Twisted Restaurant in Hyde Park.

2. Two FR senior guys at Rosario’s – turns out one has a home at Rim Country Club Estates here in Payson.

3. Letters from Mary Hartley to Grace Hartley at Vassar in 1897…re “cousin in the news again”.

4. Letters from Mary Hartley to Grace Hartley Howe full of gossip about the “Rock Street people”.

5. Victoria’s Secret girls at the Lizzie Borden B&B.

6. Long chat with Michael Martins and Dennis Binette re Lizzie, their book, etc. (photos selected, galleys done, index done; awaiting blueline, altho new stuff still coming in).

7. Scallops and Lobster at the Liberal Club with Manny A. and his wife.

8. GalleryX Exhibit piece “Two Sides to Every Story”….couldn’t find artists contact info or I would have purchased it right then and there.

9. Interior of Abby Grille (Central Congregational Church) since the recent vandalism. Sickening. I’ll post pictures later.

10. “Blood Relations” in New Bedford Saturday night, then our mad dash back to the Eagle. What a ride!

11. FDR’s house, Vanderbilt Mansion, Val-Kil – thank you Margaret, D.A.R. member, and resident of Hyde Park.

12. Max the cat in window of the “bahn” late at night; red glow background (from Exit sign), foggy. Stunning effect.

13. Blueboy in parlor – couldn’t stop laughing.

14. Ken Champlin telephone calls.

15. Fall River Library – new piece by Macomber donated in memory of Jerome C. Borden – my personal fav.

16. Visit to FRPD and chat with Asst Chief Moniz.

17. Nice visit and Chinese lunch with Bob Dube. (Wonderful new look to the parlor).

18. Mayor’s office re disposition of WPA artist project of murals at Kuss Middle School.

19.  Viewing the grounds at Vassar in Poughkeepsie where Grace and Mary Howe attended.  (Grace lived in an apt there while Louis lived with the Roosevelts a their huge house).

Lots to do, little time. More later.

November Northeast Trip

Arrived Boston yesterday afternoon.  Friends Tom and Rita picked me up at Logan and we went directly to Chinatown for dim sum before heading to their lovely home  outside of Boston.

I brought Tom and Rita a copy of Rebello’s Lizzie Borden – Past & Present which they did not have.

Today we did the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which I hadn’t been to in about 5 years; walked around the Harvard campus, then had an early and GREAT seafood dinner at Ye Old Oyster House, sitting in the JFK booth.

Tomorrow morning we  fly into Albany, get a rental and drive over to Hyde Park.  Tom has made reservations for lunch at Escofier at the Culinary Institute of America.  I understand it’s a huge campus with several restaurants in the main “Hall”.  Their other son lives just outside Hyde Park so they’ll get to visit him before going back to Boston Monday morning.  I plan to stay and do some research at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library for a couple days digging into some letters between Grace Hartley Howe and Louis McHenry Howe.  (Thank you Julie for the box numbers!) Then, I’ll drive east to Newport and Fall River.

So far it’s been exhausting and I’m just getting started with 12 more days to go.  I’m still on Central Arizona time because I haven’t caught up on my sleep.

Hosea Knowlton at Tufts College

Recycled post.

From my Lizzie Borden collection is this Tuft’s College graduating yearbook photograph of Hosea Morrill Knowlton, also showing his signature. Knowlton of course, was the District Attorney who prosecuted Lizzie Borden in her famous 1893 Trial in New Bedford, MA.

From time to time I’ll be posting “little known tidbits” about the people, places and things that factor in the Lizzie Borden case, so I’m creating this new category. I’ve not been able to find this photograph on the internet so perhaps its shown here for the first time.

Knowlton graduated from Tuft’s College in 1867. After he died of a stroke (December 18, 1902), Charles E. Fay, a Tuft’s College graduate of 1868, wrote a 6-page tribute to Hosea in the January, 1903 issue of The Tuftonian, the college newsletter. It is here that we get an insight into Hosea’s younger days and find that he was not without experience in college pranks. (By the way, it wasn’t until July 15, 1892, the Tufts Board of Trustees voted “that the College be opened to women in the undergraduate departments on the same terms and conditions as men.”)

(Right click to view larger type)

Hosea Knowlton had three sons and they all attended Tuft’s College.

Though it is often stated that Knowlton graduated from Harvard Law School, he did not. He attended there for a year but did not graduate. I was able to verify this last summer when I went on a business conference to Raytheon in Andover and spent all my spare time doing research on Knowlton at the Boston Public Library and State House.

When Frank Warren Knowlton, Jr. donated his grandfather’s papers on the Borden case to the Fall River Historical Society, he described his grandfather as “too brash, too cocky. He had a way of standing with his hands on his hips and maybe the jury thought that he was talking down at them.” Source: -Fall River Herald News, Sept. 1, 1989. (Note: It was Frank’s father, Frank Warren Knowlton (Tufts College 1899-1902), who engaged in an 8-year correspondence with noted author Edmund Pearson who resurrected interest in the case with his long essay in Studies in Murder.)

Hosea’s grandson donated The Knowlton Papers in August (see the Fall River Herald News article of Sept 1, 1989 below).

Pictured above: The often seen image of Hosea Knowlton as he appeared in 1893. Taken from the video Hash & Rehash, is this TV screen image of his grandson, Frank Knowlton, Jr. who donated “the Knowlton Papers” to the Fall River Society.

I had the pleasure of meeting Frank, Jr. at the 1992 Centennial Conference on Lizzie Borden at the Speakers Reception and again when both he and Andrew Jennings Waring (grandson of Lizzie’s defense attorney) joined me on a tour of Maplecroft. It was very interesting, though not surprising, that one stoutly believed in her guilt while the other stoutly believed in her innocence. I’ll never forget the dialog between the two out on the sidewalk after the tour of Lizzie’s house on French Street. Both are now deceased and the few letters I have from them are read now with a special melancholy and fond rememberence.

“Gasp, gasp – I’m dying….”

Below are posting stats of probably the best chat forum on the subject of the Lizzie Borden case.

Like the Grasberg mine in West Papua, Indonesia, it’s Archives are the repository of its own gold and copper riches. 

Yes, I’m talking about Stefani Koorey’s forum – the same forum for which she has blocked me from joining and inevitably removes my party mask of contrived digital personas when I have been discovered after slipping in under the radar.

Now look at these stats:

Number of new posts by month
Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2003	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2004	0	0	0	432	1138	832	595	710	676	611	1145	1280
2005	1110	1148	1615	1978	1457	1769	1228	1051	1328	1145	1059	1019
2006	1144	1223	1172	1402	1561	1831	1350	1961	1688	1549	1512	1595
2007	1707	1328	1264	1397	908	915	1038	1430	908	1079	1171	1052
2008	1494	1157	978	715	733	1059	829	934	643	786	430	680
2009	473	540	603	577	377	482	606	960	504	370	38	0

The steady decline of posts began in April of 2007 when the 4 digit count was less than the same month of the prior year.  And since April of 2008, all but one month has been in 3 digits.   And we just had a wallapaloosa of a Lizzie Borden month this past October and yet only 370 posts.  Wassup?

I attribute the recent reductions due to the lack of postings from sister Kat Koorey who, when not asking to “cite your source” was meticulous in assuring accurate information on the multitude of threads.  Kat deserves credit as being the chief contributor (and top poster) to the quality of information.  Now that she’s MIA, the post count and quality has subsided.

Another contributing factor to the steady decline, IMHO, is attributable to the more recent absence of Shelley Dziedzic who also was a great contributor to the Forum’s content.  Her bright and breezy posts, not to mention the glorious photos, was a delight to all.  I’m sure she is missed by the 15 or so hard core regulars.  Shelley was the #2 top poster.

The point is, no matter what lack of, er, ah, cordiality exists between Stef and me, the Lizzie Borden forum is a terrific source of Bordenia, provided you have the determined patience of a Grasberg miner.

I would encourage all eager to learn more – novice or scholar – to check out those threads and archives.  You don’t have to join unless you want to actually post, but you certainly can take advantage of the riches of that mine without joining. The rewards are plentiful and the journey exciting.

Down in Front!

Inside the Fall River theater – a movie based on historical fact is showing.   Suddenly, a man stands up and blocks the view:

“Hey, Mister!  Down in front! We’re tryna watch a movie here.”

“Thanks, Mister.”

Genesis of the “Emma Did It” Theory

Those who choose to believe Lizzie Borden was innocent cite the various theories to be found in dozens of books on the case. From the villainous “Intruder” to the illegitimate son, Billy Borden, there is none more preposterous than the “Emma did it” theory.

That Lizzie’s older sister, visiting in Fairhaven – a good 15 miles distant in horse and carriage days – committed the dastardly deed was never considered in the slightest by the Fall River police or District Attorney Hosea Knowlton. It was only many decades after the crimes and Lizzie’s acquittal that this theory took hold.  But how did it come about?  How did it start?  Was it Alfred Hitchcock’s teleplay, “The Older Sister“? Just when and from whom did this theory first appear in print or any other media?

I made a delightful discovery a couple years ago from my expanded readings of the Lizzie Borden-Franklin Roosevelt connection.  That connection has always intrigued me because had Lizzie lived six more years she might had taken tea with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, an invitation arranged by her cousin, Grace.  Imagine that.  Lizzie Borden in the White House.

I think it’s time to reveal the genesis of the “Emma did it” theory.  The source is none other than Lizzie’s own cousin’s husband, Chief political strategist and advisor, personal secretary to President Franklin D. Roosevelt – Louis McHenry Howe.

Louis McHenry Howe and President Franklin Roosevelt

Louis was, of course, married to Grace Hartley Howe. Grace was born November 9, 1874 in Fall River making her 14 years younger than Lizzie. Grace’s maternal grandfather, Cook Borden, and Lizzie’s paternal grandfather, Abraham Borden, were brothers. Grace married Louis on May 6, 1899 at age 24. Louis had been a newspaper man and he surely had read about the murders, the legal proceedings and Lizzie’s ultimate acquittal.  After his marriage to Grace, there must have been discussions with his wife about her notorious relative.

On December 11, 1931, writer Fulton Oursler went to meet Franklin Roosevelt, then Governor of New York,  at his home at 49 East 56th Street.  The meeting was a result of Oursler’s writing two recent articles for the influential Liberty Magazine, (of which he was about to become editor) one of which was entitled “Another Roosevelt in the White House?” It was a time when Governor Roosevelt was about to engage in the year long campaign for the presidency under the tireless guidance of his closest friend and chief political strategist, Louis Howe.

Upon Oursler’s  arrival he was greeted by Louis who was living in the Roosevelt home while his wife lived in Fall River.  The two men waited for FDR’s return from the dentist.  The conversation that took place – remarkable in and of itself -  can be read in the book shown below – an autobiography competed by his son, Fulton Oursler, Jr. :

Behold This Dreamer! Fulton Oursler, Little, Brown & Company, 1964, 1st Ed.

Click on images for larger view.

Now, to any serious reader of the life of Louis Howe, one would know how he often played gags on people, toying with their head so to speak.  I can imagine Louis saying all this with a straight face but with an undetected twinkle in his eye that the very straight-laced and conservative Oursler would not recognize.

Here was a man (Louis) whose wife was named as a primary legatee in Lizzie’s Will just 4 years previous (but due to the six years of probating had not yet received her cash windfall).  Perhaps Louis had Lizzie on his mind because of the fact the first Probate accounting had just been held less than two months previous on October 31, 1931 in a Fall River court.   Or perhaps he was just full of glee knowing his man, Governor Roosevelt, was on the threshold of becoming “President Roosevelt”  in a year’s time, mainly due to his own efforts.

Whatever his reasons for saying what he said, Louis was a man who surely knew at least the basic facts of the case.   But he told this story and it stuck.  Not only did he tell it to Oursler but he repeated it to that prolific writer and librarian, Edmund Pearson at a subsequent luncheon arranged by Oursler.   Now Pearson, being an expert on the case, didn’t believe a word of it.  How he must have cringed over that bit about Emma being crazy and suffered from epileptic fits, and had been out of town in “Marion” but snuck back.  Either Louis had scant knowledge of the particulars or Oursler got that wrong, but oh, how Louis much have enjoyed that luncheon!  And Louis most certainly knew beforehand that Pearson had written that long essay on the Borden case in Studies in Murder, published in 1924.   Oh yeah, Louis knew what he was doing, all right.  I would love to have been at that luncheon – invisible and silent but taking in every word of the Messrs. Oursler, Pearson and Howe.

There’s a lot more misinformation in those quoted remarks of Louis attributed by Fulton Oursler – almost comical in its ridiculous assertions – as any scholar of the case will readily recognize. Could Louis, always the visionary and strategist,  have deliberately wanted to eradicate any thought that the cousin of the wife of the chief advisor to the future President of the United States was a murderer, and by so doing,  misdirect guilt to the sister?

Oh, Louis, you dishevled, asthmatic, chain-smoking, strategizing scamp, you.  Look what you’ve done.  Your contrived tale told nearly 80 years ago continues to surface and provide an outlandish alternative theory.

So there you have it, the source and genesis of the “Emma did it” theory first appearing in print.

Lizzie Borden Live! – Halloween Night in Fall River

LIZZIE BORDEN

LIVE !!!

…Think you know her?…Think again…

“Sweet, innocent, witty and savagely murderous”

THE LEGEND COMES TO

LIFE

Written & Performed by: Jill Dalton

Directed by: Jack McCullough Music by: Larry Hochman

Lighting Design by: John P. Boomer

HALLOWEEN

NIGHT

ALL HALLOWS’

EVE

CELEBRATION

Saturday, October 31, 2009

8:00 pm

Doors open @ 7:00 pm

$ CASH BAR $

PRIZES & SURPRIZES

The Eagle Performing Arts Center

35 North Main Street, 2nd flr

Fall River, MA 02720

 

Advance Tickets ~ $25.00

Click on “SCHEDULE “

or purchase at the door

or call the Eagle @ 508-989-9207

 

Costume Contest &

Halloween Costume Parade

after the show

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosella Howe

Note:   It was Rosella and Hartley Howe who inherited most of Lizzie’s furniture, books, etc. that Grace Hartley Howe had inherited from Lizzie’s Will. When Hartley died and Rosella went to a nursing home, her son Edward H. Howe, was given many of those items.

She was the wife of Hartley Howe, son of Louis McHenry Howe and Grace Hartley Howe.  Grace was second cousin to Lizzie Borden. Rosella R. (Senders) Howe

September 10, 2009

WESTPORT, MASS. — Rosella Senders Howe, poet, feminist, political adviser, and Lewis Carroll scholar, died at home on Thursday, September 10, after a long illness. She was 97.

Mrs. Howe was born March 28, 1912, in Exeter, N.H., and grew up in Cambridge, Mass., where she graduated from Cambridge Latin School and attended Radcliffe College for two years, majoring in psychology. In her first job after college, she put her new-found knowledge of the human psyche and her excellent command of the English language to immediate use, responding to irate letters for Macy’s complaint department.

She went on to study dance in New York’s Greenwich Village with Charles Weidman, a pioneer of modern dance, but said she gave it up after a tour stop in Providence when she found herself sharing a dressing room with a circus elephant. Despite this traumatic encounter with a pachyderm, she remained in excellent physical condition for the rest of her life.

Before World War II, she worked for the American Red Cross in Boston. During this time, she met Hartley Howe, a newspaperman who was the son of Louis McHenry Howe, President Franklin Roosevelt’s best friend and political advisor. They were married in 1941 and moved to Washington D.C. , where she worked for the Office of Indian Affairs and then for Sidney Hillman, head of the labor division of the War Production Board, writing speeches and news releases.

After their first son was born and Mr. Howe returned from the war 10 months later, the Howes moved to Queens, New York. Here Mrs. Howe concentrated on their growing family of three boys and a girl while she and Mr. Howe were active in the Democratic Party, the Americans for Democratic Action, and the American Civil Liberties Union. She later taught English as a Second Language at Queens College and befriended many of her foreign students, who adored her.

Once their children were grown, the Howes moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where Mr. Howe was a journalism professor and Mrs. Howe finished up her degree in linguistics and studied Japanese. She became active in the Wisconsin Humanities Council, where she taught poetry and writing to adult students. She was a prolific poet herself, excelling in clever puns, visual metaphors, and acid social criticism.

She was known to drive a thousand miles to sample the country’s best oysters, played a wicked game of tennis, and provided strategic advice to the campaigns of politicians such as (Congressman) Barney Frank and (former Fall River mayor) Ed Lambert, among others. With a fascination for language and a vibrant imagination, she was drawn to the works of Lewis Carroll and traveled to many meetings of the Lewis Carroll Society. Over the years, she also mentored many young adults, especially women, always urging them to follow their career dreams.

Mrs. Howe is survived by three sons, David S. Howe, of New York City, Edward H. Howe of Jamaica Plain, Mass., and Henry S. Howe of Gallup, N.M.; one daughter, Rosemary Howe Camozzi of Florence, Ore.; by two sisters, Virginia Browne of Wayland, Mass., and Henrietta Jacobsen of Austin, Texas, and a brother, John Senders of Toronto, Canada; and by 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Her husband Hartley died in 1996.

A memorial celebration for friends and family will be held October 24, at 3 p.m., at the Westport Friends Meeting, 930 Main Road, Westport, Mass.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mrs. Howe’s honor may be made to Emily’s List, 1120 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036.

Is the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Haunted?

The explosion of interest in the paranormal in today’s society has resulted in several “ghost hunting” investigative t.v. shows, cottage industry “entertainment mediums” who proliferate the ‘net with their blogs and websites, bona fide mediums and psychics whose best-sellers help launch their own talk shows, increase manufacture and sales of evp recording devices, increase demand for Ghost Hunter University applicants, and hundreds of bookings at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. Why is this? Why now at this time, post 9-11 in this new millenium? What is it in our culture, our society, that draws people from all professions, and all religious and educational backgrounds? I don’t know, but I do know that it’s a phenomena which continues to grow as well as those who would capitalize from it. It’s the American way.

The Lizzie Borden house from the north looking south from the space the Churchill house used to occupy. The “side door” is on the lower left.

People like to visit and occupy the same space in a different time where notable historical or notorious solved or unsolved crimes took place. Thus, the Borden house is a magnet to those seeking that experience. They come in droves for the day time tours to hear the tale and see the spots and take pictures and relish in the “I was there” experience.

Lizzie Borden, as I’ve often said, is a one dimensional persona, encapsulated in a inaccurate quatrain forever doomed to be perpetually marketed as wielding a bloody axe upon the noggins of her stepmother and father one sticky-sweaty day in early August 1892. But she is so much more than that and the story of Lizzie Andrew Borden and Fall River are so much more than that. 92 Second Street draws scholars to the case – flocking as if to Mecca to soak up the richness of the environment, impervious to the tales of the premises being haunted. They register disdain about ghostly apparitions and things that go bump in the night. “Bah! Humbug!” they say and they say it with every confidence that they shall enjoy another quiet, undisturbed slumber through the night. And they do. Repeatedly. Every visit. No paranormal activity whatsoever. For years.

So then, if we look for it will it be there? Or is it there to be felt, seen and heard by some but not by others? Well, I can tell you my experiences as one who was first inside 92 Second Street in 1977 and spoke with then owner, John McGinn, nothing was said about any paranormal activity. And I’ve stayed overnight at the B&B since 1998, often having the entire house all to myself – no one – no one but me inside. In all those years, in all those stays, I’ve only had 3 experiences, and one doesn’t really count. I’ll tell you briefly about them:

#1. November 3, 1999 – Martha McGinn gave me a key to come and go as I was the only guest and would be the only one inside the house that night. I went down to the cellar with a few clothes to wash and suddenly I saw it! Holy Pshaw!! ANDREW BORDEN LAID OUT IN HIS COFFIN AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS!!! My heart leaped. For a nano second. It was only Martha’s prop from her Halloween party a few nights previous. But damn, did that look real.

#2. August 4, 2006. The B&B was filled with paranormal investigators, psychics, mediums, ghost-writing authors, etc., all talking about this new entity in the house. I listened with the ear and mind of a skeptic. “If you want it, it will come.” Exhausted from the day and night’s activities, I went to lay on a cot down in the cellar, away from it all. Everyone was upstairs. I was alone. I lay on my side and in a few moments felt 3 fingers slide down my back. Distinctively 3 fingers. Medium Liz Nowicki – Boston Herald photo

Not a spider, not cobwebs, but fingers. I leaped up and yelled: “Who’s there?”. For the first time EVER, I was scared and I bolted upstairs and outside to smoke a cigarette with a shaking hand. Relating what I had just experienced, I was told that it was a new, hostile entity that came thru a portal from all the seances conducted in the house. Oh fine, thought I….after all these years now I gotta think twice about this house being active. Me. Senior Skeptic #1. (For more about this experience click this link to the podcast.  It was like I was paranormically divirginized. I could never view or feel the same about 92 Second Street again. I was deflowered. And I didn’t like  it.

#3. September 29, 2007. Ghost Hunter’s University booked the whole house. In addition, a number of psychics and mediums were in attendance. Donald Woods and I sat in on a seance conducted by local medium “Liz”. Liz is a very sweet and attractive lady who can “read” people and sense “things”. She regularly conducts seances for guests who want them at the B&B. Never having sat in on any seance and quite frankly believed them to be faked, I thought I would check this out.  Read about her HERE.

About 16-20 people in the room – 6 seated at a round table. Liz’s back was to the sealed up fireplace. My back was towards the parlor door. I had a clear unobstructed view of all at the table. Without detailing all the questions asked by Liz and the other guests, I’ll just state what happened. The table moved. The table not only moved, it lifted from the carpet, it turned several times 360 degrees, it tilted about 80 degrees, it rocked and rolled. Trickery? Knee-cap momentum? Finger grips? Wires? Well, I’ll tell you this. I bent down several times and looked underneath the table. I walked right up *to* the table and crouched down and observed everyone’s legs, feet, knees, arms and hands. I did this several times. I moved in closer and eye-balled all hands and fingers watching for pressure, grips, slides, whatever. That table moved even when everybody’s hands were completely off the table and their feet were flat on the floor and no body parts came in contact with the table! Conclusion: THE LIZZIE BORDEN HOUSE IS ACTIVE. Does that mean it’s haunted? Well, for some, things do go Boo! and Bump in the night, but no one’s ever been hurt or morphed into some axe-wielding creature creating bloody bedlam.

Lee-ann Wilber, co-owner, swears there are children in the Knowlton Room on the third floor. She kindly leaves them toys in the trunk. But I highly doubt they are the legendary drowned children of Andrew’s uncle, Ladowick Borden and his deranged wife because those kids were one and two years old and would not have the dexterity to play with the marbles so often heard. But there’s something. There’s definitely something. And prior to two months ago I would have still been saying “Bah! Humbug!”

So as we approach another Halloween – an almost sacred night for those entrenched in the occult, and for those psychics, mediums, and ghost-chasers whose antennae are at peak performance every October 31st, let all who read here that I, Faye Musselman, being of sound and skeptic mind, do hereby testify that 92 Second Street is “active” with unknown spirits and paranormal activity.

But is it haunted per se? That doorway to my mind is yet to be opened.

Lizzie Borden: A Tale of Two Cities

Gallery X in New Bedford, MA is currently showing a wide range of art focused on Lizzie Borden.  The August 4, 1892 Fall River crimes were tried in New Bedford’s Superior Court in 1893 – thus, the  “..Tale of Two Cities.”

Judging from this YouTube entry by Ric Rebello, the art is spectacular.  If you live in the area, go see it!

Visit their website.

Congratulations to Susan Hauck, curator of the event.  Fantastic job, Susan!!