“We Love You, Lizzie – Oh, Yes We Do!”

(Think “We Love You, Conrad” from the movie Bye Bye Birdie.)

There was a great deal of sympathy and support for Lizzie Borden from the time of the murders to the time of her Trial – particularly during the time she was incarcerated at the ivy-covered Taunton Jail until June 3, 1893, when she was transfered to the New Bedford Jail.

While at the Taunton Jail, she gained sympathy from the “sob sister” style reporting of her jailhouse interview with Mrs. McGuire which appeared in print on September 20, 1892. In that interview Lizzie tells her of the flood of letters she has received from kind supporters. (Where ARE they? And who has any she may have written back to?)

Then on October 10th, the “Trickey-McHenry” journalistic fiasco by the Boston Globe so promptly retracted with apologies to Lizzie (and John Morse) garnered her more of the “that poor girl” image.

The papers reported the Government had a weak case but the critical revelation of the dress burning incident told by Alice Russell when the Grand Jury reconvened on December 1, 1893, was not published.

By April 1st, 1893, Lizzie was already a popular icon regardless of one’s belief in her guilt or innocence. Her popularity was evidenced by her name receiving the most write-ins for the below contest. The contest was for 5 tickets to the Chicago World’s Fair in 5 specific categories: (1) School Teacher, (2) Policeman, Letter Carrier or Fireman, (3) Mechanic or Gentleman Clerk, (4) Mill Hand, and (5) Lady Clerk – all to be residents of New Bedford. One simply had to cut out the coupon and write the name of the person they felt the most popular and designate which occupation.

Lizzie, a Fall River resident, won hands down for most popular “School Teacher”. Lizzie courteously rejected hers suggesting it be given to another, as it was. (It is believed, however, Lizzie subsequently attended the Columbian Exhibition towards its end run after her acquittal.)

How Lizzie must have relished in the glow of all this popularity. She had never been popular in school and so much wanted to be accepted among her peers. She played her “awful confinement” to the hilt.

Then, exactly one month later, on May 1st, 1893, there was the trumpeting of an “outraged” Mary Livermore at the police for their abuse and sheer adacity to even suspect this virginal Sunday school teacher who was the younger daughter of her long deceased friend, Sarah Morse Borden. And in this same article (below) we learn that even Emma received many letters of sympathy and support.

Lizzie’s Trial would begin on June 5th. She was still perceived as a victim. Her Inquest Testimony was disallowed. Her attempt to buy prussic acid was disallowed. She was acquitted. She was loved. “We love you, Lizzie Borden.”

Well, maybe not so much later.

By the way, just WHERE ARE all those letters Emma and Lizzie received, let alone those constituting their responses if they did correspond back? Emma, I would think, would have disposed of them. They certainly haven’t surfaced in the personal possessions she left Orrin Gardner. Lizzie, on the other hand, may have kept hers. If she did keep them, I have an idea where they might be. She was odd like that. For example, she had no fondness for Abby but she held on to that silver cup Abby gave her all her life.

I think Lizzie would have held on to the mementos that validated her popularity or when she felt loved.

So….

altogether now: “We Love You, Lizzie – Oh, Yes We Do!”

FIVE RIDDLES

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FIVE RIDDLES I HAVE SEEN…THE ANSWERS ARE AT THE BOTTOM….RIDDLE #5 IS AMAZING….ENJOY…THIS SHARPENS THOSE GENES IN YOUR BRAIN AND STALLS ALZHEIMERS FOR YEARS….

1 A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven’t eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3 What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, a nd gray when you throw it away ?

4. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

5 This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

THE ANSWERS TO ALL FIVE THE RIDDLES ARE BELOW:

Answers:

1. The third room. Lions that haven’t eaten in three years are dead. That one was easy, right?

2. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry (shot; held under water; and hung).

3. Charcoal, as it is used in barbecuing.

4. Sure you can name three consecutive days, yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

5. The letter e, which is the most common letter used in the English language, does not appear even once in the

Remnants of a Railroad Station

Lizzie Borden traveled by train from Fall River on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to Taunton, MA where she awaited her court appearances in the Taunton Jail. The Station was less than two miles from her home at 92 Second Street.

The article below tells of her departing Second Street, arrival at the train station amidst the reporters, her journey to Taunton and describes her cell and subsequent visits from her attorney Andrew Jennings, her sister, Emma, and her cleric, the Reverend Buck.

(Use your “magnifying glass” feature to view article in larger type)

“From 1844 to 1967, the New Haven RR (officially, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad” was a force in New England. At various points in time, the New Haven Railroad owned trolley companies, truck companies, bus companies, and steamship companies and once tried to start an airline. The New Haven was one of the few railroads in America to operate steam, diesel, and electric locomotives at the same time.”

“For more than one hundred years the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad was the primary means of passenger and freight transportation in Southern New England. Chartered in 1872, the merger between the New York New Haven and Hartford-New Haven Railroads resulted in the long desired rail link between Boston and New York. Approximately one hundred small independent railroads were built in southern New England between 1850 and 1860. By 1911 the majority were absorbed into the vast New Haven system. At its peak in 1929, the New Haven Railroad owned and operated 2,131 miles of track throughout New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.”

But here is all that’s left of that once bustling Station at the foot of Baylie, one block west of North Main.

Sources:

NHRR website

Brief history

My Dad’s 90th Birthday

For those family members who couldn’t make it. Over 200 people helped celebrate. My son, Josh, gave a tribute speech. Dad’s been retired from the LBPD for 30 years now – as many as his years of service. He’s outlived every Chief he’s worked for and most of the Command staff that reported to him. My best years working at the LBPD were when he was there – although he was Watch III Chief and I was working days in Vice/Narcotics and then for the Deputy Chief of Police. What a time that was.

We love you, Dad!

Victoria Lincoln Lowe

The one book on Lizzie Borden that most everyone interested in the case has read is Victoria Lincoln’s A Private Disgrace, Lizzie Borden by Daylight, published in 1967. No other book to date captures the feel and texture of that time in Fall River’s “highly stratified society” as well as in this book. Victoria had her thumb on the pulse of that society and, as proved out by her diaries and journals, a keen insight into the underbelly of what made Fall River’s Lizzie Borden.

On my recent visit to Fall River I met up with Victoria’s second daughter, Louise Lowe Kittredge for a pre-arranged luncheon at Chow Chow City restaurant (where you can get Dim-Sum at 3:00 in the morning!) in Boston’s Chinatown. Afterwards, we went to her home in Newton, MA to look through her mother’s written remembrances that had not been donated with her massive papers to the Eisenhower Library at John Hopkins University.

At the China Gate in Boston’s Chinatown with Louise Lowe Kittredge

Fantastic little bakery in Chinatown

They also had wonderful dim sum to-go!

Part of the journals, diaries and photographs Louise brought out for me to look at and read.

Victoria Endicott Lincoln Watts Lowe, known as Victoria Lincoln Lowe has been somewhat maligned by what I refer to as “Google researchers” because some content in her book is based on best guesses from her own experience and not documented fact. Other assertions, such as the petite mal epilepsy theory, i.e., that Lizzie committed her stepmother’s murder during a “brownout”, and the second to prevent her father from finding her out have also been criticized. But such conjectures and theorizing are no less apparent in many other books with hooks on this case. A Private Disgrace, however, was the work of a woman who did old fashioned research without the advent of the internet. She went to libraries, took notes, interviewed people, and acquired copies of first generation source documents. Plus she was only a generation behind Lizzie, knew her and had relations who knew her and wrote of her.

After reviewing Victoria Lincoln’s diaries and the journals of her grandfather, Leontine Lincoln, I understand her better and have acquired a much deeper meaning and insight into much of what she wrote. More importantly, I learned new information that supported what she wrote, which will be saved for my own book. Leontine Lincoln’s 1909 journal was of particular interest.

With Louise showing me what her mother wrote about Fall River society when she was a young girl during Lizzie’s time.

The following slide show includes photographs of Victoria as she grew up near “Maplecroft” on French Street where Lizzie lived. Her beloved Grandfather, Leontine, is also shown. Also included a rare photograph of Louise with Isaac Watkins, her first husband. I thank Louise Kittredge for giving me these photographs and allowing me their use.

A NARROW NITCH: WHAT DRAWS US TO LIZZIE BORDEN? WHY DO WE CARE?

Update: Even recent discoveries of new photos of Lizzie Borden, her father and her mother have not injected an increase in interest into this case. In fact, the number of posts on the best chat forum have consistently decreased for the past 13 months. Yet, she continues to “play” in schools, libraries, community and legit theaters, as well as frequent mentions in the countless blogs. The nitch remains narrow.

Original post follows:

Well, first off we have to define “We” because on one end of the spectrum “We” are the hard core scholars, a relatively tiny group grounded at the epicenter of “all things Lizzie”. At the other end is a moderate percentage of the public who have some degree of awareness of a certain poem and a bloody hatchet, but rarely an interest to pursue it further and a total lack of understanding as to why anyone else in their right mind would want to.

In between are the minions of people who who love a good, classic unsolved crime; people who grew up in Fall River or environs; people who would like or think they can solve the crime; people who are attracted to the dark side of the bloody and bizarre; people who see Lizzie as a victim; people who dabble in or chase mysteries and the occult; people who saw the Elizabeth Montgomery movie and scratch an itching curiosity; people who study the case solely for its historical and societal implications; and people who are drawn to any story, film, book, reality t.v. show, or real life disaster that injects a jolt of excitement into their own otherwise mundane and uneventful life.

Now, think of ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD – literate people with computers or access to computers – with an interest in Lizzie Borden – that can easily find forums on which to chat and exhange information. Even the best forum, running for over 4 years, has only 30-35 regulars who log on in any 24 hour period. And of those 30-35, only 10 or 12 who actually post regularly.

The 1992 Lizzie Borden Centennial held at Bristol Community College in Fall River, drew only 400 people. Not even a third as many as the 1992 Assassination Symposium on President John F. Kennedy held the same year in Dallas, Texas, which I also attended.

Free, public lectures on Lizzie Borden in Fall River, draws only around 40 people. And this IN Fall River, the city where the murders happened 115 years ago. I’m told the quality, content and delivery of these lectures are excellent, yet attendance is a barometer to the local interest. Usually most of the attendees are friends of the speaker, staff from the B&B and a few local forum members. Attendance by Fall Riverites interested in Lizzie has been sadly lacking. In fact, my intrepid reporter tells me the lecture held on August 15, 2007 at 6:30 pm drew 52 people – and this with print media advertising!

Ground Zero, or “Mecca” is at 92 Second Street, Fall River, MA. (phone 508-675-7333). Bookings do not fall in the 90-100% capacity except in the first week of August and a few other dates throughout the year. The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast offers the best “bang for the buck” of any B&B anywhere. It’s uniqueness is unparelelled anywhere in the country not only because of the complete freedom it gives its guests to roam and explore, but the hospitality is absolutely exceptional for B&B’s.

Now do you get what a narrow, narrow market of interest there is for Lizzie Borden IN ALL THE WORLD? More people would buy a good book with a clever twist on the Lizzie Borden case than log on to a forum touting the same subject. Tens of thousands more would watch a Lizzie documentary on TV than log on to a forum….but hardly any of those people would have an interest enough to buy a slick and well edited magazine publication be it $20, $10, or even $2.00. Of those 30-35 hard core members of the forum I mentioned (the administrator is the editor of the magazine) – a recent poll showed only 15 members even subscribe! If those who find themselves seductively stuck in a daily ritual of Bordenia online exchange don’t even subscribe, certainly that middle group of minions aren’t buying it either. In short, nobody’s reading it. That’s unfortunate. Sherlock, something is amiss.

Another example of the narrow nitch is eBay. ALL THE WORLD barters on eBay. Do a word search on “Lizzie Borden”. (Heck, if you’re reading this you probably already have!). Scan the number of bidders per listings – bidders from ALL THE WORLD. Not much. Certainly not nearly as much as anything on Lindsay Lohan (Insert audible “arrrgghhh”), or (name-your-team) sport tickets. Because “WE” are at the epicenter, some of “US” see all things Lizzie larger than it really is.

Now, you may ask yourself, why is this such a narrow nitch? I’ll tell why I think it is: Because Lizzie has most always been presented as a one dimensional persona based on an inaccurate quatrain. She’s rarely presented in the context of a richly textured and layered backdrop that is the history of Fall River and the Bordens themelves. Tis a pity, it tis.

I hope to give some illustrations of just how and why this case is so richly textured in upcoming entries. Stay tuned.