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.)

LIZZIE’S ARREST RECORD BOOK

Fall River Police Chief John M. Souza

On the wall of the Administrative offices at the Fall River Police Department are these photographs of the past City Marshal’s and Police Chiefs.

• Rufus B Hillard – City Marshal – 1886-1909 (top left)
  

• John Fleet – City Marshal – 1909-1915 (bottom left)
  

• (Change from City Marshal to Chief of Police)

• William Medley – Chief of Police – 1915-1917 (center)
  

• Martin Feeney – Chief of Police – 1917-1931 (top right)
  

• Abel Violette – Chief of Police – 1931-1946 (bottom right)
  source: http://www.frpd.org/history.htm

Four of the five were involved in the Lizzie Borden case and had been in her house. Lizzie damn near outlived them all.

On November 14, 2000, through the courtesy of then Lt. Charles Cullen of the Fall River Police Department, I was allowed access to the police records books of the mid 1880’s through the early 1900’s. They were under the control and possession of Administration Lt. (now Deputy Chief) Cathleen Moniz.

When I arrived she had them laid out on her desk along with “all the remaining documents we have on the Lizzie Borden case”, which was miniscule at best. She was kind enough to let me handle, research and photograph these important ledger books. Lt. Cullen had also arranged for me a tour of the new police facilities (completed in March of 1997) which included their huge evidence room. High on a shelf was the camera long thought to have been “the” camera which photographer James Walsh took of Andrew and Abby – the crime scene photos – both just prior to and after the initial autopsies done at 92 Second Street around 4:00 pm, August 4, 1892. As has been learned, while the camera in possession of the FRPD is indeed a police photographer’s camera very similar to that one used on August 4th, it is not the camera, but one donated by a family member of a deceased police photographer.

In March of 2007, I contacted Deputy Chief Moniz once again and asked if she could arrange for the Arrest Record Book be brought out again so as to show to my friend, Shelley Dziedzic. Again, Deputy Chief Moniz had them laid out and allowed us to take pictures. She even gratiously took a photo of Shelley and me with the book.

Unexpectedly, having heard of our visit and plans to do a Lizzie Borden Conference, Police Chief John M. Souza, Fall River Police Chief since 2000, came into the room and spent an hour discussing the Borden case with us as well as other high profile murder cases. We delighted in his conversation regarding police forensic investigations as contrasted in the Borden case of 1892, to modern police forensic techniques used today. He instructed Deputy Chief Moniz to take us down to the “vault” where “historical” police records are stored. (For security reasons, I’ll refrain from describing the room or it’s safeguards.) While there it was interesting to learn that most all of the historic police files were lost in flood damage and, where the Borden case is concerned, also due to pilferage decades ago. Now the Department has rigid policies and procedures to protect and preserve case documents.

Lizzie’s arrest entry

Subsequent to the Preliminary Hearing of probable guilt, the entry of “Prob.” was handwritten over the standard “Guilty” column.

Jose Corriero murdered Bertha Manchester in Fall River with an axe on May 30, 1893. The papers reported this other hatchet murder the following day prior to the Borden Trial jury being sequestered. On June 3rd, 19 year old Jose was arrested and booked. (Note different spellings of his name. I took note of the fact he was born on January 8th, same as me.) The year of his birth is recorded as 1874, which would make him 19 on June 3, 1893, but the ledger shows age 18.

That a suspect was in custody was not known to the jury as they had been sequestered by the time it was reported in the papers, which they were not allowed to read. Thus, in the minds of these mostly farmer jurors, a hatchet yielding maniac was still on the loose and could have been – by golly – the same one that murdered old Andrew and Abby.

Tags: chief john souza, fall river police department

Lizzie Borden Preliminary Hearing – FREE

UPDATE (August 4, 2009)

“Stop and go no further!” cried the spinster.

“But I am for Truth, Justice & the American way!” bellowed the blogger. (LMAO)

**************************

By clicking the “Preliminary Hearing” page above, you can read the entire transcript of this proceeding in the Lizzie Borden case, absolutely FREE. You can also cut and paste the entire text into Word and save it to your hard drive for later printing if you wish.

The Preliminary Hearing in the Lizzie Borden case was held August 25, 1892 through September 1, 1892.  It was near enough to the murders that memories were sharper than when shared by the same witnesses at the Trial ten months later.

(Click on all images for larger view)

The first hard copy availability of this primary source document was made over 15 years ago through the Fall River Historical Society.  They received Defense Attorney Andrew Jenning’s copy, with his handwritten notes, and sold copies through their gift shop

At the time of the Hearing, newspapers reported on the daily testimony but it was the New Bedford Evening Standard that printed all of the Preliminary Hearing after the Trial -  including Lizzie’s Inquest testimony – which had been read into the record.

The book above contains the full transcript and although it is in very small print, it has wonderful illustrations.

I made copies of the original source document from the FRHS and bound them as shown in the first image above and sold them on eBay over a decade ago.  In 2000, I began transcribing the document in Word format and put them on CD’s as a Research and Reference source into this case.

The above image gives a description of the content of those CD’s, inclusive of my own transcription of the Preliminary Hearing.

I sold the CD’s for many years in different formats beginning in 2001.

Often times I sold the CD with other Lizzie collectibles.

The CD, with my own Word transcription has been copyrighted for years.

I also made a hard copy of my transcribed document from 2001 as seen above and this, as well as the CD’s have been sold or given away for years, including sold at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, MA.

Harry Widdows, Stefani Koorey and Kat Koorey edited their own version of a transcribed Preliminary Hearing and sell it through LuLu Press and the FRHS for around $40!

Now you can read this most interesting document absolutely FREE, cut and paste the text into MS Word and have it on your hard drive.  You can even do word searches.

Again, just click on the “Preliminary Hearing” page to this blog at the top and Enjoy!

William H. Moody

The prosecution team in the matter of the Commonwealth vs. Lizzie Andrew Borden included the formidable William Henry Moody, whose stellar career surpassed all others associated with the case.  An extraordinarily handsome man, in my opinion, he remained a life-long bachelor.

If Lizzie continued her reading of Harper’s Weekly, she may have seen the December 29, 1906 issue below and its cartoon cover story on one of the men who played a part in a “most interesting occasion.”  Most all of the text which follows comes from that article.

William Henry Moody was born on December 23, 1853, in Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of farmers. He graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1872 and Harvard in 1876, leaving Harvard Law School after four months to read law under Richard Henry Dana. After admission to the state bar in 1878, Moody practiced law in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he was elected city solicitor (1888-1889). In 1890, he was named the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Massachusetts.

In 1895, he was elected as a Republican to fill a vacant seat in Congress, and subsequently elected three more times. He impressed his congressional colleagues with his command of legislative details and debating skills, and served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Theodore Roosevelt first met Moody in 1895 and quickly came to admire a man with a similar physical build, athletic interests, and a progressive Republican perspective. In 1902, Roosevelt appointed Moody as secretary of the navy.

Moody served in that capacity for two years, working to expand and improve the U.S. naval fleet, and reform the navy’s organization.

In June 1904, the president named him as the U.S. Attorney General. In his new position, Moody became a key advisor to the president and played a leading role in the prosecution of the administration’s antitrust lawsuits, successfully arguing Swift and Company v. United States (1905) before the U.S. Supreme Court. He agreed with Roosevelt’s distinction between “good” and “bad” trusts.

The Justice Department under Moody negotiated agreements with large business corporations that it deemed were working in the public interest, such as International Harvester and U.S. Steel, but prosecuted Standard Oil because its economic power and business activities were considered contrary to the public interest. As attorney general, Moody took a case concerning peonage of blacks to the Supreme Court, and ordered contempt proceedings against a sheriff who allowed a black rape suspect to be lynched.

Harper’s Weekly was concerned about the centralization of governmental power during the administration of Republican Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), and in December 1906 criticized an address in which Secretary of State Elihu Root called for federal intervention in situations where the states failed to act. Root’s speech, which the newspaper assumed was actually written by President Roosevelt, is excerpted in the caption of the featured cartoon. The cartoon warns that William Moody, whom the president had recently named to the U.S. Supreme Court, will be a judicial tool by which Roosevelt can expand federal powers at the expense of state control through new “constructions of the Constitution.” On the right, Secretary of War William Howard Taft sits studying the “Simplified Constitution” while waiting his turn for the next appointment to the Supreme Court.

When Justice Henry Brown resigned from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1906, President Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to convince Taft to take the position and then considered appointing a Southern Democrat. Finally, on December 12, 1906, the president announced the selection of Moody, emphasizing the attorney general’s nationalist philosophy by describing him as a follower of Alexander Hamilton and John Marshall, not states’ rights advocates Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun. The Senate approved the nomination on December 17.

During Moody’s brief tenure on the Supreme Court, he wrote 67 opinions, including 5 dissents. His most famous dissent came in the Employers’ Liability Cases (1908) in which his minority opinion upheld the constitutionality of a congressional statute protecting employees involved in interstate commerce. The constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce, he argued, included the authority to legislate labor-management relations. Despite his general support of enhanced federal powers, Moody’s most important majority opinion (later overturned) ruled that the federal constitutional provision in the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination did not apply in state courts (Twining v. State of New Jersey, 1908). Moody’s judicial career was cut short when he developed debilitating rheumatism in early 1909 and was increasingly forced to neglect his judicial responsibilities. In 1910, Congress passed legislation that permitted Moody to qualify for federal retirement benefits, and he retired from the Supreme Court.

A saddened President Roosevelt remarked, “there is not a public servant, at this particular time, that the public could so ill afford to lose.” Eventually incapable of moving his arms and legs, Moody lived seven more years with the painful disease, cared for by his sister until his death on July 2, 1917.

Lizzie Borden and the Month of June

Partial extracts from my historic timeline for the month of June follows.    It helps one gain a perspective on what influenced Lizzie Borden and the world she lived in.   Well, sort of.  One can also watch old films like Pollyanna to get a peek into the mores, customs, societal hierachy of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Speaking of Pollyanna, I watched it the other day and was particularly struck by its accurate depiction of the power the founding families had within their communities, including the Church.  Just as Polly Harrington (Jane Wyman)  dictated what her church minister (Karl Malden) would trumpet from the pulpit, made me wonder if the Bordens and Durfees influenced what their ministers would speak on for the Sunday sermons at the Central Congregational Church.

June 20, 1635	John Borden, wife, and two children set sail for America.
June 9, 1772	First naval battle of the Revolutionary War, British customs schooner Gaspee is burned off Rhode Island.

June 17, 1775

Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston.

June 18, 1804	Name of “Fallriver” changed to “Troy”
June 2, 1832	Caleb Blodgett (later Judge at Borden Trial) is born in Dorchester, New Hampshire.
June 12, 1836	Justin Dewey, later Judge at Borden Trial, is born.
June 26, 1838	Mary Augusta Demarest is born in NYC; later writes “My Ain Countrie”.
June 9, 1861	John W. Coughlin born; later three-term Mayor of Fall River.
June 19, 1863	Earl P. Charlton born in Chester, Conn.  (Later becomes richest man in Fall River).
June 9, 1863	Ricca Allen is born in Canada, later friend of Nance O’Neil and Lizzie Borden.
June 6, 1865	Andrew Borden, 43, marries Abby Durfee Gray, 37, (43 days before Lizzie’s 5th birthday).  Emma is 16.
June 16, 1867	Helen Leighton born in Millbridge, Maine.
June 28, 1870	Jerome C. Borden marries Emma Tetlow. (Did 10 yr old Lizzie go to wedding?)
June 19, 1874	Andrew has running water installed in the Second Street house with service from city.
June 25, 1876	General Custer and entire regiment killed at “Battle of the Little Big Horn.”
June 29, 1876	Mill #2 of the American Linen Company, foot of Ferry St., suffered fire damage in the two upper stories.
June, 1879	Spinner’s strike, major summer long strike of mill workers.
June 11, 1885	William Almy dies in Fall River.
June 17, 1885	The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, arrives in the U.S.
June 2, 1886	President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in Blue Room of the White House.
June 15, 1887	Dedication of BMC Durfee High School.  William Lambert is first principal.
June 4, 1890	Lizzie signs her passport application for Grand Tour to Europe.
June 16, 1890	The first Madison Square Garden, designed by McKim, Mead & White, opens in New York City.
June 21, 1890	Lizzie sails on S.S. Scythia from Boston to Liverpool, England, embarking on 19 week long “Grand Tour”.
June 24, 1891	Daylight “robbery” at the Bordens.      (KP74)
May/June 1892	Andrew kills pigeons roosting in the barn.  Morse visits end of June.
June 30, 1892	Morse spends one day at Bordens; takes Butcher Davis’ daughter & Emma for a ride.            (CI 96)
June 1, 1893	Grace Hartley graduates from Fall River High School.      (FRHN 3/21/2004)
June 3, 1893	Jose Correiro arrested in Manchester case. (Jury is sequestered and does not learn of this arrest.)
June 3, 1893	Lizzie transfers to New Bedford Jail on Ash Street.
June 5-20, 1893	THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN
June 1893	Grace Hartley graduates from Fall River High School.      (FRHN 3/21/2004)
June 5, 1893Monday	Court convened at 11:28 am.  111 questioned before the 12 jurymen are were selected.  Charles I. Richards chosen as jury Foreman.
June 6, 1893 Tuesday	Indictment is read; William Moody opens for the Prosecution.  Lizzie faints and is revived.
June 6, 1893 Tuesday	Civil Engr. Thomas Kieran called, gives measurements, testifies a man could have hid in front entry closet.

June 6, 1893 Tuesday	Jurors travel to Fall River; visit Kelly’s house, Wade’s store, Crowe’s stone yard, Chagnon’s house, Kirby’s yard, Alice Russell’s house, Gorman’s store, Clegg’s store and banks.  Tour finished at 4:00 pm.
June 6, 1893Tuesday	Jurors taken to Mellen House, Franklin & North Main Street where they spend the night.
June 7, 1893 Wednesday	James A. Walsh, photographer testifies as to the accuracy of the pictures he had made of the victims and the house on the day of the killing.
June 7, 1893 Wednesday	John Vinnicum Morse examination conducted by Moody, not different from that as in the Preliminary Hearing.  Lizzie smiled as her uncle tried to calculate her age and shook her head vigorously when he stated she was “33.”   (She was only 6 weeks shy of 33),
June 7, 1893 Wednesday	Abraham G. Hart, Treasurer of Union Savings Bank, testifies as to Borden’s movements on morning of the 8/4.
June 7, 1893	Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, dies.  Had home in Middletown, RI.
June 9,  893Friday	John Minnehan, patrolman assigned to follow John Morse on August 5, 1892, dies at age 48 in Fall River.
June 12, 1893 Monday	Lizzie’s Inquest Testimony ruled inadmissible.
June 13, 1893 Tuesday	AG Pillsbury arrives by train from Boston, consults with Knowlton & Moody & returns same evening.
June 14, 1893 Wednesday	John T. Burrill, Cashier of  Union National Bank, Everett M. Cook, Cashier of the First National Bank, Jonathan Clegg, a hat dealer, Joseph Shortsleeves, a carpenter, and John Maher, a carpenter give testimony as to Andrew’s movements August 4th.
June 14, 1893	Judges ruling excludes Eli Bence’s prussic acid testimony .
June 14, 1893	At Knowlton’s request during Dr. Draper’s testimony, Dr. Dolan brings in the skulls of Andrew & Abby. Lizzie is allowed to retire from the courtroom.                                (TT1046)
June 14, 1893 Wednesday	9th Day: C. C. Potter’s son (Freddy) finds hatchet w/gilt on roof of Crowe’s barn.  Carpenter Carl McDonnel claims it is his hatchet; prussic acid testimony (Eli Bence) ruled inadmissible.
June 15, 1893	FR Evening News reports hatchet found on roof of John Crowe’s barn.                           ( FREN18)
June 15, 1893 Wednesday	Opening statements by Defense are given by Andrew Jennings.
June 16, 1893 Wednesday	Emma Borden testifies.
June 16, 1893	Governor Robinson reads from Bridget’s Inquest Testimony (a missing document)                (TT)
June 17, 1893	Carpenter McDonald claims Crowe’s roof hatchet is his.   (FRHN)
June 18, 1893	Carrie Poole, Lizzie’s friend residing 20 Madison Street, New Bedford, dies.
June 19, 1893 Wednesday	Governor Robinson gives closing arguments; Knowlton begins his closing.
June 20, 1893 3:24 pm	13th Day: The Jury retires to deliberate.
4:32 pm	Lizzie Borden pronounced “Not Guilty” at 4:35 pm.                                         (TT1928)
8:15 pm	Lizzie & Emma arrive by coach w/Mrs. Holmes at 67 Pine St. in FR; small reception follows.  Lizzie spends night there.  Large crowd gathered at 92 Second St.                             (CaseBook228)
June 22, 1893	Reupholstered sofa is delivered back to the house on Second Street.                                                                         (LR1111-112)
June 23, 1893	Lizzie visits the Wm. Covel’s in Newport, RI, has classic picture of her “standing behind the chair” taken.
June 23, 1893	Morse attempts to get mileage reimbursement from Iowa to New Bedford from Co. Treasurer.                                                (FRHN)
June 27, 1893	Lizzie & Emma go to Taunton to visit Sheriff Wright’s wife.
June 4, 1900	Mary Howe (Baker) is born, daughter of Grace and Louis Howe.
June 5, 1905	Newspaper article states Lizzie writing play for Nance O’Neil.                      (Spiering p208)
June 5, 1905	Boston Globe reports Emma moving out of “Maplecroft”.
June 21, 1905	Bridget Sullivan marries John M. Sullivan in Anaconda, MT.
June 2, 1906	Emma Borden departs on White Star liner RMS Cymric, departing from Boston for Queenstown & Liverpool, enroute to Scotland.
June 30, 1908	Lizzie writes to Asst. Supt R. I. Hospital re her maid Hannah B. Nelson.                                             (Gateway Mag. Summer 1997)
June 15, 1909	Marshal Hilliard retires.
June 19, 1911	Opening Day of Fall River’s Cotton Centennial
June 23, 1911	President Howard Taft arrives in Fall River for Cotton Centennial celebration.
June 10, 1912	Grisly axe murders of 2 adults and 6 children, all while they sleep, in Villisca, Iowa.
June 25, 1914	Animal Rescue League of Fall River established as a corporation (Later becomes Faxon Animal Rescue League).
June 29, 1914	Austrian Prince, Archduke Ferdinand shot by Serbian assassin, in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, leading to World War I.
June 28, 1915	Patrick Doherty (Captain, FRPD) dies in Fall River, Mass.
June 15, 1918	Lizzie and Emma sell 230 Second St. (changed from #92)  to John W. Dunn.              (LR557)
June 19, 1919	Naval Fighting Ship commissioned “Moody” launched. William H. Moody’s sister, Mary E. Moody, sponsored the ship.
June 22, 1922	Emma Borden signs the Codicil to her Will.
June 1, 1923	Leontine Lincoln dies. (Grandfather of Victoria Lincoln and a founder of Fall River Historical Society).
June 1, 1927	Lizzie Andrew Borden dies of heart failure at 8:30 pm at her home “Maplecroft” in (59 days short of her 67th birthday).
June 4, 1927	Nance O’Neil’s interview about Lizzie appears in New Bedford Standard.
June 7, 1927	Lizzie’s Will is filed in Taunton Probate Court.
June 10, 1927	Emma Borden dies in Newmarket, New Hampshire at age 76.
June 12, 1927	Helen Leighton interview saying Lizzie was bitterly unhappy, suffered from depression.                                                  ( FRHN)
June 13, 1927	Emma Borden is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery.
June 30, 1927	Emma’s Will is filed in Taunton Probate Court.
June 3, 1939	Arthur Sherman Phillips writes to son of Defense Attorney Robinson asking to be forwarded Lizzie’s answers to the questions he posed her back in 1892.
June 23-27, 1936	Grace Hartley Howe attends Democratic Nat’l Convention in Philadelphia as a Delegate At-large.
June 14, 1955	Grace Hartley Howe, Lizzie’s cousin and legatee, dies at the age of 80 in Fall River.         (FRHN)
June 1, 1961	Adelaide Churchill home destroyed by fire.              (LR44)
June 13, 1981	Author Victoria Lincoln Lowe dies at age 76.  Her body given to Science at John Hopkins University.
June 22, 1994	Josephine Vohnoutka McGinn (wife of John) dies in Fall River.
June 1, 2001	Jules Ryckebusch retires from Bristol Community College and names Gabriela Schalow Adler Publisher of The Lizzie Borden Quarterly.
June 2, 2004	Robert Dube files for variance to convert garage to single family residence on Maplecroft property.
June 7, 2004	FR Herald News reports 92 Second Street purchased by Donald Woods of Portsmouth, RI.; says he will tear down “Leary Press”, increase parking & rebuild the barn.
June, 2008	Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, or Did She? – A Rhetorical Inquiry by Annette Holba is published.
June, 2008	Leonard Pickel announces he will open a Lizzie Borden Gift Shop & “Museum” in Salem, MA.

The Fall River Tragedy – Rare Book FREE Online

The first book to be published on the Lizzie Borden case was right after her Trial in 1893 by Edwin Porter, a reporter for the Fall River Globe and a chum of some of the police officers who provided some inside information.

The first edition, the original, is not easily found and when it does appear, such as on eBay, usually sells for $300 or more.  Some antique book dealers list it as high as $2,000.  The book itself is really not all that rare.  I addressed this issue in detail in a previous blog which can be found by clicking HERE.

Lizzie’s lawyer, Andrew Jennings, on behalf of the Borden sisters and John Morse,  threatened Porter and the publisher with legal action if any pictures of “the family” appeared.  Well, pictures of the “dead family” appeared and no suit followed.

When the book was first published, it was sold on subscription, and one of the “Lizzie Legends” is that Lizzie bought out the printer and had the copies burned.  Not true.  A goodly number were purchased – and to some Fall River notables at that. The one found AT THIS SITE was owned by Charlotte Brayton and she donated it to the Harvard Library.   The Braytons were one of the prominent founding families of Fall River.

By clicking to advance the pages , you will immediately see the handwritten inscription on the inside cover:  “Israel Brayton”.  This particular Israel Brayton* was born in 1874 and died in 1961.  He married Ethel Moison Chace (1880-1960), and they had three children, including Charlotte Brayton (1913 to 1994).  Charlotte never married.  For whatever reasons, Charlotte preferred to donate her father’s copy of The Fall River Tragedy to Harvard rather than the Fall River Historical Society.  Lucky thing for us she did.

The book is rich in photos of key players not found in other books and includes the old “Ferry Street” homestead, the house Andrew deeded to the girls over the Whitehead fiasco.  Well, that house was practically a prototype of the home he purchased in 1872 at 92 Second Street.  Greek revival, two-family home.  Andrew was worth a small fortune by 1872 but he didn’t exactly move “up”.   Anyway, here’s a picture of both houses:

Virtually, the same house.  Two stories and an attic built for 2 families with identical floor plans on the first and second floors.   Lizzie was 12 when they moved and she could not have been too impressed.  The only difference was after a short while they had “the whole house”.  So that was different.

Thanks to the Harvard Library, and thanks to Charlotte Brayton, you can now READ, AND PRINT OUT THE ENTIRE BOOK FOR FREE – AND AS IT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED.   NO WORD DOCUMENT HERE.  HERE YOU CAN ENJOY IT JUST AS IT WAS LAID OUT – NOT RETYPED IN WORD FORMAT AND UPLOADED TO A FORUM SITE WITHOUT ANY IMAGES.  HERE YOU GET THE REAL DEAL.   ENJOY!  IT’S FREE!

CLICK HERE —>  FALL RIVER TRAGEDY

*Source: The Braytons of Somerset and Fall River by Roswell Brayton, page 34. (Note: Charlotte is pictured with several generations of Braytons in this book; also pictured are her father and mother.)

The Skulls of Andrew & Abby Borden

Dr. William Andrew Dolan

The autopsies of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother were conducted one week after the murders – August 11, 1892, in the “ladies waiting room” at Oak Grove Cemetery.  It is the structure to the left in this picture postcard below.

Here is a more contemporary view:The little building is now used to house gardening tools and supplies and also serves as a break room for the grounds-keepers.

Upon the instruction of District Attorney Hosea Knowlton, the heads of Andrew and Abby were severed and taken home by Dr. Dolan.    They were unceremoniously boiled of their flesh on his kitchen stove (much to the fright of his two young sons), and maintained in his home until presented in court at the Preliminary Hearing.   The sisters were not informed, nor the media – one of the better kept secrets of the prosecution’s case. 

Below is the link to the letter from Dr. Dolan’s grandson, Donald Dolan, to Robert Flynn dated March 6, 1992.   (Don Dolan was a teacher, and a Presenter at the 1992 Lizzie Borden Centennial.  He passed away May 15, 2002 and is buried at Rutland Town Cemetery in Mass.  His widow, Joyce, still resides in the same home they shared for 50 years).

boilheads4

A thorough reading of the actual typed autopsy reports, including hand written notes, is available from the images below.

(Right click on the text below for larger view).

The Preliminary Hearing commenced on August 25, 1892 and once the revelation of the heads being severed hit the papers, it brought forth the indignation and revulsion of some readers.   As an example, also in my collection is this letter from one John E. Gray written to Dr. Dolan, referring to him as a “vile wretch”.  First is an image of the actual letter and then a translation done by his grandson, Don, to Bob Flynn:  brutal

It wasn’t until after the Trial in July of 1893, when Hosea Knowlton wrote to Dr. Dolan stating that Lizzie and Emma’s legal counsel, Andrew Jennings, wanted the skulls returned.   Click to see returnskulls.

Another letter in this collection remembers this occurrence as conveyed by Dolan’s grandson to Bob Flynn.   He also mentions visiting his Aunt Ellen who lives near Oak Grove Cemetery.      Porter-Skulls

The skulls were subsequently buried in boxes about 3 feet below ground.  Placement was a “guestimate”.

Note1:  Robert Flynn is a publisher, author and former bookseller.

Note 2:  Joyce Dolan told me Don Dolan remembered his father (Dr. Dolan’s son)  telling him of seeing Abby’s hair switch in the attic of their home where other “evidence” was kept.

Note 3:  Dr. William A. Dolan had 4 children; 2 sons (Tom and William A. Dolan, Jr. – Don’s father) and 2 daughters (Ellen, called “Nellie” and Mary – both were spinster school teachers in Fall River).

Lizzie Borden and an Unhappy Family

The period immediately after the crime up through the end of the Preliminary Hearing has always been of more interest to me than the Trial itself. So many clues into the twisted fabric of this enigmatic case can be found in that span of time.

This particular New York Times article of August 24, 1892 has always been one of the most interesting to me because it is so generously sprinkled with the seeds from which grew so many speculative theories on this case. First, read the article about Lizzie’s letter.

While Lizzie testified to writing such a letter to Emma, it embellishes beyond that to which she actually testified at the Coroner’s Inquest held August 9th thru 11th, 1892. The day following the NYT article, the Preliminary Hearing began and, of course, Lizzie did not testify nor Emma. Keep in mind that it was the day before the Preliminary Hearing in which the incident of Lizzie and Emma having an argument where Lizzie alledgedly said “You have given me away, Emma” and “I won’t give in one inch” as Matron Reagan testified. If you believe Matron Reagan, and I do, what was the issue?

Clearly tongues were wagging freely to investigative journalists and neighbor to neighbor up to the Preliminary Hearing. Comparatively, the period from the Hearing to the Trial, people who would later testify were more circumspect, especially in reference to harmony or disharmony within the Borden household.

Two weeks before the murders Andrew bought back the Ferry Street house, giving Emma and Lizzie a tidy $2,500 each (considerably more in 1892 purchasing power). Suddenly, “the girls” were flushed with cash. Lizzie and Emma immediately left town and that house and traveled to New Bedford and Fairhaven, respectively.

But there was much more going on in that two weeks leading up to August 4th, 1892. More information came out in the newspapers about the family background, trouble in the household, and even speculation of how the dastardly deed could have been done. The murders were all that anyone was talking about and soon they would be reading what people sworn to the truth would be telling the court.

It was during that period between the crimes and the Preliminary Hearing that we learn about things Lizzie said of her stepmother, Abby, and of various observations of the personal dynamics within that home. Most everything that the Government would gather to build their case on motive was during this period. As to means, something new would have to wait until the end of November when Alice Russell’s conscience (bless her soul) got the best of her. You won’t read about the “dress burning” incident during this period. But could it actually have been the issue, been the topic, to which Lizzie and Emma had words which Matron Reagan overheard? Did Emma tell Attorney Jennings Lizzie had burned a dress the morning after she was told she was suspected and Lizzie was determined to deny it?

Back to more snippets of unhappiness in the household is this article from the Fall River Daily Globe, August 24, 1892, page 7: Edwin Porter was the Globe reporter who wrote The Fall River Tragedy (George R. H. Buffinton, Press of J. D.Munroe, 1893) published immediately after the Trial. Within this article is a portion typical of the veiled sarcasm when speculating the scenario of the murders and how the “intruder” did it that one cannot help but consider Porter as the unknown “Todd Lunday”. (The Mystery Unveiled: The Truth about the Borden Tragedy: Fresh Light That Must Be Convincing to All Readers. Providence: J. A. & R. A. Reid, 1893). Or, maybe Lunday was the paper’s editor, James O’Neil, who penned those god-awful anniversary articles which were so anticipated and popular by the working class “below the Hill.” In any case, there are clues a-plenty to that unhappy family here.

The following article gives us more clues about unhappiness within the Borden household.

Draw your own conclusions. By the way, just what is YOUR idea of cordiality?

Borden Murders Timeline – Lizzie Borden’s Fated 4th of August

From the Fall River Herald News here is a video extract of the re-enactment tours given at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast on the 116th Anniversary of the crimes, August 4, 2008.

Investigating the murders

NEWS FLASH: LEONARD PICKEL, WHO IS TRYING TO OPEN A LIZZIE BORDEN MUSEUM IN SALEM, WROTE A LENGTHY AND RATHER WHINEY “COMMENT” TODAY, AUGUST 3RD, TO MY BLOG ENTRY OF JULY 31ST – WHICH I AM POSTING HERE IN FULL. THERE ARE MANY INACCURACIES IN THE SECOND HALF OF HIS DIATRIBE AND I WILL ADDRESS THEM SHORTLY. MR. PICKEL’S “OPEN LETTER” MOST LIKELY WAS IN RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE IN TODAY’S FALL RIVER HERALD NEWS.

“Leonard Pickel
http://www.lizziebordenmuseum.com | lizziebordenmuseum@gmail.com | 70.22.220.232

I find it interesting that a museum, which has not opened to the public as of yet, (we are working hard on that people, trust me!), has been dragged through the mud as much as The True Story of Lizzie Borden has.

“Home Haunter?” Do you even know what that means? I have built Attractions for Universal Studios, Madison Square Garden and 6 Flags Parks across the country. I have over 30 years in attraction design, own and edit the industry magazine, and own a convention. I am no hack!

Why don’t you at least wait for reviews of people who have been through the museum, or perhaps even tour the museum yourself, before casting disparaging criticism on the level of experience quality, amount of preparedness or fact checking.

I contacted the FRHS many years ago about getting photos, and they assured me there would be no problem. Then when I was ready to purchase them, everything was different. They have been trying to put together a quorum to even have a meeting for 2 months now. We will be open before they decide if they are willing to assist us in developing the museum content.

I had all the most of the photos I needed already, what I was looking for was photos with the best resolution available. I just spent $15,000 enlarging photos for the museum, most of which have never been enlarged, or enhanced. Very exciting!

While a Lizzie Borden attraction has been in my thought since 1992, I did not have the funding and the right location at the same time until January of this year. I am a busy guy and was not willing to devote the time to fully develop this back burner project until it was real! By then time was short.

We are behind on opening because of building permit, construction, and contractor delays, and may not be able to open on Monday due to a Fire Alarm panel programming issue. But I am sure we will be open by the end of the week. Then I worry about the web site!!

Will we be where we want to end up when we open? No. A museum as a constant work in process. We will be critiqued and fact checked by every person walking through the attraction, and we will make changes and corrections to the museum content as we go. Add better photos as they become available, and nuances as we or others thing of them.

We are in this for the long run! Taking our time now to get it right is what is important.

As for the lawsuit rumor, there are some people who think they own Lizzie! And that no one is allowed to do anything with her without their permission, which they do not give anyone. Maplecroft tried to open a B&B at one time, and those plans were squashed by the self appointed owners of Lizzie. Too bad, I would have loved to spend the night at Maplecroft, wouldn’t you!

So now they think they own the idea of a Lizzie Borden Museum, and no one can open one because they own it! They own Lizzie Borden!!

Sorry… I thought we were free in America, that pursuit of happiness thing, and monopolies were against the law.

The other thing that is against the law is slander! And when you announce a lawsuit in the newspaper, you had better stop wining and moaning and file the thing! All I have gotten so far are angry temper tantrum emails from some attorney, demanding that we take “Museum” off the logo and signage, demanding that we give them our URL, demanding that we take “Lizzie Borden” off of our logo and signage! Because they own Lizzie!

So either file your lawsuit or shut the hell up!

The sad part is that The True Story of Lizzie Borden is the best thing that ever happen to the B&B and the FRHS. There are 600,000 tourists that come to Salem each year. And most of them have no idea where Fall River is, or that Lizzie Borden lived there. Only an hour and a half south, we will drive more people to Fall River than the Fall River Tourism Board (if there even is such a thing), could ever dream of doing!

Our plan was to have an internet terminal, so people could find out the hours of the FRHS or rent a room at the B&B while in the museum.

But why would we do that if they are going to be ugly about the whole thing. If they don’t want the exposure, we can always tell people that, the Murder House is still a print shop, that the FRHS’s Borden exhibit is about the size of our men’s room, and that Fall River is in Rhode Island!

From Lizzie’s A-Twitter Be it Salem or Fall River!, 2008/08/03 at 7:17 AM”

******************************************************************

And now, an updated Timeline for August 3rd and 4th, 1892.

August 3, 1892	THE DAY BEFORE THE MURDERS
8:00 am	Abby goes across street to Dr. Bowen; tells him she fears she’s been poisoned.
9:00 am approx	Dr. Bowen crosses street to check on the Bordens; Lizzie dashes upstairs; Andrew rebuffs his unsolicited visit.
10:00-11:30 am	Lizzie attempts to buy prussic acid from Eli Bence at Smith’s pharmacy on Columbia Street. (PH310)
12:00 Noon	Lizzie joins Andrew and Abby for the noontime meal in the dining room.
12:35 am	Uncle John Vinnicum Morse leaves by train from New Bedford for Fall River.
1:30 pm	John Morse walks from train station & arrives at Borden house; Abby lets him in front door.
2:00-4:00 pm	John Morse and Andrew talk in Sitting Room; Lizzie hears their conversation. (TT141)
4:00 pm	John Morse hires horse and wagon at Kirby’s Stable and drives to Swansea in late afternoon. (CI 99)
7:00 pm	Lizzie visits Alice Russell in the early evening, states her fear “something will happen”.
7:00-8:00 pm	John Morse visits Frederick Eddy at Borden farm in Swansea, brings back eggs. (WS36-37)
8:45 pm	Morse returns from Swansea, talks in sitting room with Andrew and Abby. (CI99)
9:00 pm	Lizzie returns from Alice Russell’s, locks front door, and goes upstairs to her room without speaking to father or uncle.
9:15 pm	Abby Borden retires to bed.
10:00 pm	Andrew and Morse retire to bed.
August 4, 1892	THE DAY OF THE MURDERS (Note: Times given are based on various testimonies taken primarily from the Preliminary Hearing held August 25th to September 1st, 1892, and are approximated as close as possible). The “window of opportunity” for the murders to take place are indicated in RED.
6:15 am	Bridget goes downstairs, gets coal and wood in cellar to start fire in kitchen stove, and takes in milk.
6:20 am	Morse goes downstairs to Sitting Room.
6:30 am	Abby comes downstairs, gives orders for breakfast to Bridget
6:40-6:50 am	Andrew goes downstairs, empties slops, picks up pears, and goes to barn.
6:45 am	Bridget opens side (back) door for the ice man.
7:00 am	Bordens and Morse have breakfast in dining room. (Lizzie is still upstairs).
7:15 am	Bridget sees Morse for first time at breakfast table.
7:30 am	Bridget eats her breakfast, and then clears dishes.
7:45-8:45	Morse and Andrew talk in sitting room; Abby sits with them a short while before beginning to dust.
8:30 am	Morse sees Abby go into the front hall.
8:45 am	Andrew lets Morse out side door, invites him back for dinner.
8:45 am	Morse leaves for Post Office and then to visit a niece and nephew at Daniel Emery’s, #4 Weybosett Street.
8:45-9:00 am	Andrew goes back upstairs and returns wearing collar and tie, goes to sitting room
8:45-9:00 am	Abby tells Bridget to wash windows, inside and out.
8:45-8:50 am	Lizzie comes down and enters kitchen.
8:45-9:00 am	Bridget goes outside to vomit.
9:00 am	Andrew leaves the house.
9:00 am	Bridget returns, does not see Lizzie, sees Abby dusting in dining room, does not see Andrew.
9:00 am	Abby goes up to guest room.
9:00-9:30 am	Bridget cleans away breakfast dishes in kitchen.
9:00-10:00 am	Abby Borden dies from blows to the head with a sharp instrument.
9:30 am	Abraham G. Hart, Treasurer of Union Savings Bank, talks to Andrew at Bank.
9:30-9:40 am	Morse arrives at #4 Weybosset Street to visit his niece and nephew.
9:30 am	Bridget gets brush from cellar for washing windows
9:30 am	Lizzie appears at back door as Bridget goes towards barn; Bridget tells Lizzie she need not lock door.
9:30-10:05	Andrew visits banks.
9:45 am	John P. Burrill, Cashier, talks to Andrew at National Union Bank.
9:50-10:00 am	AJB deposits Troy Mill check with Everett Cook at First Nat’l Bank; talks with William Carr. (WS29)
9:30-10:20 am	Bridget washes outside windows, stops to talk to “Kelly girl” at south side fence.
10:00-10:30 am	Mrs. Churchill sees Bridget outside washing NE windows.
10:20 am	Bridget re-enters house from side door, commences to wash inside windows.
10:29 am	Jonathan Clegg (fixed time by City Hall clock) stated Andrew left his shop heading home. (TT173)
10:15-10:30 am	Andrew stops to talk to Jonathan Clegg, picks up old lock; Southard Miller (at Whitehead’s Market) sees AJB turn onto Spring St; Mary Gallagher sees AJB at corner of South Main & Spring; Lizzie Gray sees AJB turning north on Second Street.(WS10, 43)
10:30-10:40 am	Joseph Shortsleeves sees Andrew. (WS10)
10:40 am	James Mather sees Andrew leave shop (fixes time by City Hall clock)
10:30-10:40 am	Mrs. Kelly observes Andrew going to his front door.
10:30-10:40 am	Andrew Borden can’t get in side door, fumbles with key at front door, and let in by Bridget.
10:30-10:40 am	Bridget hears Lizzie laugh on the stairs as she says “pshaw” fumbling with inside triple locks.
10:35-10:45 am	Bridget sees Lizzie go into dining room and speak “low” to her father.
10:45 am	Mary Chase, residing over Wade’s store, sees man on Borden fence taking pears. (WS45)
10:45-10:55 am	Lizzie puts ironing board on dining room table as Bridget finishes last window in the dining room
10:45-10:55 am	Lizzie asks Bridget in kitchen if she’s going out, tells her of note to Abby & sale at Sargeant’s.
10:50-10:55	Mark Chase observes man with open buggy parked just beyond tree in front of Borden house.
10:50-10:55 am	Bridget goes up to her room; lies down on her bed. (WS3)
10:50-11:00 am	Andrew Borden dies from blows to the head with a sharp instrument.
11:00 am	Bridget hears City Hall clock chime 11:00.
11:05-11:10 am	Hyman Lubinsky drives his cart past the Borden house. (TT1423)
11:05-11:10	William Sullivan, clerk at Hudner’s Market notes Mrs. Churchill leaving the store. (WS10)
11:10 am APPROX.	Lizzie hollers to Bridget to come down, “Someone has killed father”. (TT244)
11:10-11:12 am	Lizzie sends Bridget to get Dr. Bowen. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am	Bridget rushes back across the street from Bowen’s, tells Lizzie he’s not at home. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am	Lizzie asks Bridget if she knows where Alice Russell lives and tells her to go get her. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am	Bridget grabs her hat & shawl from kitchen entry way and rushes to Alice Russell’s. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am	Mrs. Churchill observes Bridget crossing street, notices a distressed Lizzie and calls out to Lizzie who tells her “someone has murdered father.” (PH281-282)
11:13 am	Mrs. John Gormely says Mrs. Churchill runs through her yelling “Mr. Borden is murdered!” (WS9)
11:10-11:14 am	Mrs. Churchill goes to side door, speaks briefly to Lizzie, and then crosses street looking for a doctor. (PH283)
11:12-11:14 am	John Cunningham sees Mrs. Churchill talking to others then uses phone at Gorman’s paint shop to call Police.
11:15 am	Marshall Hilliard receives call from news dealer Cunningham about disturbance at Borden house.
11:15 am	Marshall Hilliard orders Officer Allen to go to Borden house. (Allen notes exact time on office wall clock).
11:16 – 11:20 am	Mrs. Churchill returns from giving the alarm. (PH284)
11:16 – 11:20 am	Dr. Bowen pulls up in his carriage, met by his wife, rushes over to Borden’s. (PH 273)
11:16-11:20 am	John Cunningham checks outside cellar door in Borden back yard, finds it locked.
11:18-11:20 am	Dr. Bowen sees Andrew, asks for sheet; alone with Lizzie for approx. one minute.
11:20 am	Officer Allen arrives at Bordens, met at door by Dr. Bowen. Sees Lizzie sitting alone at kitchen table.
11:20-11:21 am	Allen sees Andrews’s body at same time Alice Russell and Mrs. Churchill come in. (Where was Bridget?)
11:20-11:22 am	Allen checks front door and notes it bolted from inside, checks closets in dining room and kitchen.
11:20 am	Morse departs Daniel Emery’s on Weybosset Street, takes a streetcar back to the Borden’s.
11-22-11:23 am	Officer Allen leaves house to return to station, Bowen goes out with him. Allen has Sawyer guard back door.
11:23-11:33 am	Dr. Bowen returns home, checks rail timetable, goes to telegram Emma, and stops at Baker’s Drug store. Telegram is time stamped at 11:32. (PH274)
11:25 am	Off. Patrick Doherty, at Bedford & Second, notes City Hall clock time enroute to Station. (T589)
11:23-11:30 am	Lizzie asks to check for Mrs. Borden; Bridget & Mrs. Churchill go upstairs, discover body. (PH29-30)
11:34 am	Bridget fetches Doctor Bowen’s wife, Phoebe. (T250)
11:35 am	George Petty, former resident of 92 Second Street, enters the Borden house with Dr. Bowen. (WS21)
11:40 am	Bowen returns to Borden house. Churchill tells him they’ve discovered Abby upstairs. (TT322)
11:35-11:40 am	Officer Patrick Doherty & Deputy Sheriff Wixon arrive at house; see Manning sitting on steps, met at back door by Dr. Bowen, who lets them in. (T447)
11:35-11:40 am	Francis Wixon and Dr. Bowen check Andrew’s pockets and remove watch.
11:35-11:40	Officer Doherty questions Lizzie who tells him she heard a “scraping” noise.
11:35-11:40 am	Officer Doherty views Abby’s body with Dr. Bowen, pulls bed out to view her better. (PH330)
11:35-11:45 am	Morse arrives at Borden house, first going to back yard.
11:37 am	Officer Mullaly arrives.
11:39-11:40 am	Officer Medley arrives at 92 Second Street. (T686)
11:44 am	Doherty runs to Undertaker Gorman’s shop around corner and phones Marshall Hilliard. (PH331)
11:45 am	Doherty returns; Officers Mullaly. Allen, Denny, and Medley arrive.
11:45 am	Dr. Dolan arrives, sees bodies.
11:45 am	Morse talks to Sawyer at side door, later testifies he heard of murders from Bridget.
11:45-11:50 am	Morse sees Andrew’s body, then goes upstairs and sees Abby’s body.
11:50 am	Morse speaks to Lizzie as she lays on lounge in dining room.
11:50 am-Noon	Asst. Marshall Fleet arrives; sees bodies; talks to Lizzie in her room w/Rev. Buck, says “…she’s not my mother, she’s my stepmother” (PH354)
11:50 am	Morse goes out to back yard and stays outside most of the afternoon.
11:50 am -Noon	Deputy Sheriff Wixon climbs back fence and talks to workmen sawing wood in Chagnon yard. (TT452)
11:50-Noon	Doherty, Fleet and Medley accompany Bridget to cellar where she shows them hatchet in box on shelf. (WS6)
12:15-12:20 am	Officer Harrington arrives at the Borden house.
12:25 am	Officer Harrington interviews Lizzie in her bedroom (she wears pink wrapper). (WS6)
12:45 am	Marshall Hillliard & Officers Doherty & Connors drive carriage to Andrew’s upper farm in Swansea.
3:00-4:00 pm	Crime scene photographs are taken of Andrew & Abby. (PH160)
3:40 pm	Emma leaves on New Bedford train for Weir Junction to return to Fall River. (CI107)
4:30 pm	Stomachs of Andrew and Abby removed and sealed.
5:00 pm	Emma arrives in Fall River. (TT1550)
5:00-5:30 pm	State Detective George F. Seaver arrives from Taunton. (PH453)
5:30 pm	Dr. Dolan “delivers” bodies of Andrew and Abby to Undertaker James Winward.
5:35 pm	Winward & assistant remove sofa from house and store it in a room at his building. (BG8-5-92)
6:00 pm	Alice leaves 92 Second St. to return home for supper. (CI149)
8:45 pm	Officer Joseph Hyde, observing from a northwest outside window, sees Lizzie & Alice go down cellar.
9:00 pm	Officer Hyde observes Lizzie return to basement alone.

By 9:30 pm, all was quiet inside 92 Second Street. Morse slept in the room Abby was found killed. Lizzie slept in her room, Emma in her own room, and Alice Russell slept in Andrew & Abby’s room. Bridget slept across the street in the Dr. Bowen/Southern Miller double house with the Miller’s maid. Two Fall River police officers guarded the house from the outside.

Come morning it would be a brand new day with screeching newspaper headlines and a townsfolk aghast, appalled and mystified on how such a thing could happen.

Annette Holba – The Most “Cerebral” of Lizzie Authors

The newest book out on the Lizzie Borden case is Annette Holba’s (pictured above) Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, or Did She?- A Rhetorical Inquiry, <teneo>// press, 2008, 170 pages, softcover.

I met Annette Holba online as a result of her interest in attending the now cancelled “Lizzie Borden Conference 2008″ although I had been familiar with her writing for several years. As Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Plymouth State University, New Hampshire, she also holds a B.A. in Law & Justice Studies from Rowan University, an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Rutgers, and obtained her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Duquesne University. Published in a number of Journals, including The Lizzie Borden Quarterly, The Hatchet, World Leisure Journal, Journal of Social and Natural Philosophy, Pennyslvania Speech Communication Annual, New Hampshire Journal of Education, and Florida Communication Journal among others, I have found her to be the most “cerebral” of all Lizzie authors. Why? Because my pea brain can hardly follow some of her writing, that’s why.

In this book, Annette employs Kenneth Burke’s rhetorical theory as a means to look “through the lens” to gain a better understanding of the Borden case – “one that might shatter the myth of Lizzie Borden’s guilt.” Actually, what Holba does is draw from several previously published writings which makes up the majority of this 170 page book.

Kenneth D. Burke, 1897-1993

The book begins “easy reading” enough in its Introduction of “The Cast, The Facts, The Story”, although the first of 17 errors in those 10 pages begins with the second sentence stating that Andrew Borden was “one of the wealthiest individuals in Fall River at that time.” He was not. Not even close to some of the Braytons, Remingtons and other Bordens, not to mention E. P. Charlton. But still its a good overview and the 17 errors in 10 pages are mostly minor and derived from the perpetual misinformation from other published books. Corrective action? Two words: Source Documents. Let me say it again, Source Documents. One more time: Source Documents. Okay, I’m done now.

There is a whole intellectual movement in the rhetoric of inquiry theory, and even spending two hours researching it, reading some essays, skimming through others….I still don’t comprehend it all. Perhaps its because I’m more pragmatic and a linear thinker. Perhaps it’s because I’m a Capricorn. Perhaps its because I’m a senior citizen and gazillions of my brain cells have already burned out. I dunno. But I know this: After all her arguments with the application of Burke’s theory and looking through that lens, Annette misses or at least fails to point out the true reason of why the police and other authorities handled Miss Borden with kid gloves. She was a Borden. And to understand the significance of that one has to understand what it meant to be a Borden in 1892 in Fall River. And to understand the significance of THAT one has to know Fall River’s history. So even if I *could* understand all of what she writes to make her point, I most likely would not agree with it. Having said that, and before I sound unfairly negative about this book, let me quickly add that any time we can have a new book on the case – good or bad – is something I’m always grateful for. In this case, Annette has given us a well written, well organized and documented book that applies something NEW and DIFFERENT to this mystifying case. And that’s no easy trick. Clearly, her scholarly erudition will appeal to a special niche audience of the higher educated than the usual market who buy Lizzie books.

I *do* recommend this book. Not only for a collectible, but for looking through a different “lens”. And even if you don’t understand all of it – what you will understand will give you new ways in which to ponder old puzzles of this continuing connundrum. That was Ms. Holba’s intent. And that alone is worth the price.

So, hats off to you, Annette.

Came across these remarks from poster “wordweaver” on Annette’s book from a Lizzie chat forum which relate to the above:

Age: 48 Zodiac: Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 2:28 am Posts: 231 Location: Silicon Valley The time here is: 7:16 am

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:43 am Post subject: I’ve got mine from Amazon. From the point of view of Borden researchers, the meat of the book consists of five essays previously published in The Hatchet or the LBQ. Dr. Holba has cleverly packaged these as a college textbook designed to teach students to use critical thinking skills to analyze narratives of all kinds. Lizzie Borden’s story is a good choice for this: it has blood, mystery, murder, and hints of unsavory sex; it’s a story that almost everybody has heard about but whose facts and folklore are widely divergent; there is a great deal of written evidence from the time and a number of retellings.The Lizzie researcher who isn’t interested in critical theory is unlikely to find anything new here. The Lizzie researcher who is interested in narratives qua narratives will wonder why there isn’t a chapter explaining Lizzie’s lifelong notoriety in terms of Michel Foucault’s carceral continuum. http://unnaturalhistory.blogspot.com

Arthur Sherman Phillips – Lizzie Didn’t Do It

Arthur Sherman Phillips wrote the impressive 3-Volume History of Fall River and was a junior attorney assisting on Lizzie’s defense team. The case haunted him all his life and he never gave up on the belief that she was innocent.

As late as June 3, 1939, he wrote to Homans Robinson (1894-1973) of the Robinson-Donovan law firm. He was the son of 3-times Governor George Robinson, Lizzie’s lead attorney at her Trial.   In his 3-page letter shown below, Phillips cites so many of the sources of speculative theories surrounding this case and ones that surface repeatedly in books, articles, and arguments towards her innocence.

It is not known if Homans Robinson, a 1916 graduate of Amherst college, replied to this letter. Surely if he had complied with Phillips request for a copy of the questions Attorney George Robinson presented to Lizzie, along with her answers, something would have been published in that regard by now.

Clearly, that document still resides in the private files on the case with this law firm, still in existence in Springfield, MA.

Note that in the second paragraph of the third page, Phillips tells of someone speaking to Uncle John Morse the morning of the murder as he was walking up Pleasant Street towards Flint Village. Morse did, in fact, visit his relatives at the Emerys on Weybosset Street in Flint Village, about a mile from the Borden home.

AUGUST 3 & 4, 1892 – THE BORDEN MURDERS TIMELINE

I’ve been in Fall River the past 2 days and will be here nearly a week staying at the B&B doing my usual research jaunts to environs near and not-so-near.  My buddy Carl and his wife Linda, whom I met in 1989 and live in Swansea, went with me to Oak Grove cemetery around 9 pm last night and dang if the gates weren’t wide open!  When I was here in April  they were were closed and locked at night.  Robert Doherty, Jr. visited The House recently (great grandson or great-great-grandson, hmmm?)  Also last night there was a couple from Canada staying at 92 Second Street and the husband subscribes to the “Lizzie did it in the nude” theory.  I find men, in particular, are partial to that.   Fall River Herald News got the wrong “Andrew Borden” pic up in today’s write-up on the Victorian Mourning “live theatre” to be performed on Saturday, but hey, as they say any publicity for The House is good publicity.  Weather is absolutely beautiful today in Fall River, unfortunately I’ve spent most of the morning in the Fall River Room at the library…and so now another Bordenia blog.  “We blog.  Therefore we are.”

 

Let us remember:

“It was a horrible crime. It was an impossible crime. And yet it happened.”  

-Hosea Knowlton, District Attorney

-As we approach yet another onslaught of redundant “On this date” media mentions and website wordsmithing concerning America’s 115 year old classic unsolved crime, here’s an extract from my work-in-progress Timeline.

The What is a given. The Who and the How badger our brains for a solution. Well, for some anyway. For me, it’s less a Who-dunnit than a How-dunnit. But let us examine this resource for the When of things.

It should first be mentioned that times given are based on various testimonies taken from the Fall River Police Witness Statements, Coroner’s Inquest, Preliminary Hearing and Superior Court Trial and are approximated as close as possible. It is nearly impossible to construct an absolutely correct Timeline for the following reasons:

1. Witnesses often changed their statements among any two or more of the above cited source documents and, having forgotten or realized their times were off, may have knowingly changed their testimony in order to be more credible.

2. Clocks and watches were not all in sync, and not all testified as to how they fixed the time.

3. Witnesses often drew their recollection of the time based on their routine daily schedules which cannot be precise day-to-day.

Conflicting testimonies from the same witness are sometimes shown and cited here. It is important to realize that there are three – and only three – times that definitively establish the window of opportunity for Andrew’s murder, the explosive first knowledge of the crime and subsequent entry into the house by “outsiders”. These 3 times are :

1. Bridget hearing the City Hall clock strike 11:00.

2. Officer Allen noting the time as 11:15 when City Marshal Hilliard received the call.

3. The 11:32 am timestamp on the telegram Dr. Bowen sent to Emma.

All others are at the least conjecture in comparison, or at the most best-guess estimates – much like the following:

AUGUST 3, 1892
THE DAY BEFORE THE MURDERS:

8:00 am Abby goes to see Dr. Bowen & tells him she fears she’s been poisoned. 9:00-10:00 Dr. Bowen gos to check on the Bordens notices Lizzie rushing up the stairs. Bowen is rebuked by Andrew for his unsolicited professional call.
10:00-11:30 am Lizzie visits Smith’s pharmacy on Main & Columbia Street & attempts to buy prussic acid from pharmacist Eli Bence. (PH310)
12:00 Noon Lizzie joins Andrew and Abby for the supper in the dining room.
12:35 am Uncle John Vinnicum Morse takes the train from New Bedford to Fall River. (CI98)
1:30 pm Morse walks from the train station to the Borden house.
2:00-4:00 pm John Morse and Andrew talk in Sitting Room; Lizzie hears their conversation. (TT141)
4:00 pm John Morse hires horse and wagon at Kirby’s Stable and drives to Swansea in late afternoon. (CI 99)
7:00 pm Lizzie visits Alice Russell with telling her she’s afraid “something will happen”.
8:45 pm Morse returns from Swansea, talks in sitting room with Andrew and Abby. (CI99)
9:00 pm Lizzie returns from Alice Russell’s, enters and locks the front door and goes immediately up to her room without speaking to her father or uncle.
9:15 pm Abby Borden retires to bed.
10:00 pm Andrew and Morse retire to bed.

AUGUST 4, 1892
THE DAY OF THE MURDERS:

6:15 am Bridget goes downstairs, gets coal and wood in cellar to start fire in kitchen stove, and takes in milk.

6:20 am Morse goes downstairs to Sitting Room.
6:30 am Abby comes downstairs, gives orders for breakfast to Bridget
6:40-6:50 am Andrew goes downstairs, empties slops, picks up pears and goes to barn.
6:45 am Bridget opens side (back) door for iceman.
7:00 am Bordens and Morse have breakfast in Dining Room. (Lizzie is still upstairs).
7:15 am Bridget sees Morse for first time at breakfast table.
7:30 am Bridget eats her breakfast, and then clears dishes.
7:45-8:45 Morse and Andrew talk in Sitting Room; Abby sits with them a short while before beginning to dust.
8:30 am Morse sees Abby go into the front hall.
8:45 am Andrew lets Morse out side door, invites him back for dinner.

8:45 am Morse leaves for Post Office and then to visit niece at Daniel Emery’s #4 Weybosset Street.
8:45-9:00 am Andrew goes back upstairs and returns wearing collar and tie, goes to sitting room
8:45-9:00 am Abby tells Bridget to wash windows, inside and out.
8:45-8:50 am Lizzie comes down and enters kitchen
8:45-9:00 am Bridget goes outside to vomit.
9:00 am Andrew leaves the house.
9:00 am Bridget returns, does not see Lizzie, sees Abby dusting in dining room, does not see Andrew.
9:00 am Abby goes up to guest room.
9:00-9:30 am Bridget cleans away breakfast dishes in kitchen.
9:30-10:00 am Abby Borden dies from blows to the head with a sharp instrument.
9:30 am Abraham G. Hart, Treasurer of Union Savings Bank, talks to Andrew at Bank.
9:30 am Morse arrives at #4 Weybosset Street to visit his niece and nephew.
9:30 am Bridget gets brush from cellar for washing windows
9:30 am Lizzie appears at back door as Bridget goes towards barn; Bridget tells Lizzie she need not lock door.
9:30-10:05 Andrew visits banks.
9:45 am John P. Burrill, Cashier, talks to Andrew at National Union Bank.
9:40 am Morse arrives at the Emery’s on Weybosset Street.
9:50-10:00 am AJB deposits Troy Mill check with Everett Cook at First Nat’l Bank; talks with William. Carr. (WS29)
9:30-10:20 am Bridget washes outside windows, stops to talk to “Kelly girl” at south side fence.
10:00-10:30 am Mrs. Churchill sees Bridget outside washing NE windows. 10:15-10:30 am Andrew stops to talk to Jonathan Clegg, picks up old lock; Southard Miller (at Whitehead’s Market) sees AJB turn onto Spring St; Mary Gallagher sees AJB at corner of South Main & Spring with a small package in his hand (WS10); Lizzie Gray sees AJB turning north on Second Street. (WS10, 43)
10:20 am Bridget re-enters house from side door, commences to wash inside windows.
10:29 am Jonathan Clegg (fixed time by City Hall clock) stated Andrew left his shop heading home. (TT173)
10:30-10:45 Joseph Shortsleves& James Mather finish talking with Andrew on Main St. as he heads towards Spring Street. (WS10)
10:30-10:40 am Joseph Shortsleeves sees Andrew.
10:40 am James Mather sees Andrew leave shop (fixes time by City Hall clock)
10:40 am Mrs. Kelly observes Andrew going to his front door.
10:40 am Andrew Borden can’t get in side door, fumbles with key at front door, and let in by Bridget
10:40 am Bridget hears Lizzie laugh on the stairs as she says “pshaw” fumbling with inside triple locks.
10:40 am Bridget sees Lizzie go into Dining Room and speak “low” to her father.
10:40-10:43 am Andrew goes upstairs to his bedroom and returns in a few minutes, going to Sitting Room sofa.
10:45 am Mary Chase, residing over Wade’s store, sees man on Borden fence taking pears. (WS45)
10:45-10:55 am Lizzie puts ironing board on dining room table as Bridget finishes last window in the dining room
10:45-10:55 am Lizzie asks Bridget in kitchen if she’s going out, tells her of note to Abby & sale at Sargeants.
10:50-10:55 Mark Chase observes man with open buggy parked just beyond tree in front of Borden house.
10:55-10:58 am Bridget goes up to her room in attic and lies down on her bed. (WS3)
10:55-11:00 am Andrew Borden dies from blows to the head with a sharp instrument.
11:00 am Addie Churchill leaves her house for Hudner’s grocery store on South Main. (WS8)
11:00 am Bridget hears City Hall clock chime 11:00.
11:05-11:10 am Hyman Lubinsky, peddling ice cream, drives his horse cart past the Borden house. (TT1423)
11:05-11:10 William Sullivan, clerk at Hudner’s Market notes Mrs. Churchill leaving the store. (WS10)
11:10 am Lizzie hollers to Bridget to come down, “Someone has killed father”. (TT244)
11:10-11:12 am Lizzie sends Bridget to get Dr. Bowen. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am Bridget rushes back across the street from Bowen’s, tells Lizzie he’s not at home. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am Lizzie asks Bridget if she knows where Alice Russell lives and tells her to go get her. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am Bridget grabs her hat & shawl from kitchen entry way and rushes to Alice Russell’s. (TT245)
11:10-11:13 am Mrs. Churchill observes Bridget crossing street, notices a distressed Lizzie and calls out to Lizzie who says “someone’s killed father’. (PH281-282) 11:10-11:13 am Mrs. John Gormely says Mrs. Churchill runs through her house yelling “Mr. Borden is murdered!” (WS9)
11:10-11:12 am Mrs. Churchill goes to side door of Borden house, speaks briefly to Lizzie then crosses street looking for a doctor. (PH283)
11:12-11:14 am John Cunningham sees Mrs. Churchill talking to others then uses phone at Gorman’s paint shop to call Police.
11:15 am Marshall Hilliard receives call from news dealer Cunningham about disturbance at Borden house.
11:15 am Marshall Hilliard orders Officer Allen to go to Borden house. (Allen notes exact time on office wall clock).
11:16 – 11:20 am Mrs. Churchill returns from giving the alarm. (PH284)
11:16 – 11:20 am Dr. Bowen pulls up in his carriage, met by his wife, rushes over to Borden’s. (PH 273)
11:16-11:20 am John Cunningham checks outside cellar door in Borden back yard, finds it locked.
11:18-11:20 am Dr. Bowen sees Andrew, asks for sheet; alone with Lizzie for approx. one minute.
11:20 am Office Allen arrives and is met at door by Dr. Bowen. Sees Lizzie sitting alone at kitchen table.
11:20-11:21 am Allen sees Andrew’s body at same time Alice Russell and Mrs. Churchill come in. (Where was Bridget?)
11:20-11:22 am Allen checks front door and notes it bolted from inside, checks closets in dining room and kitchen.
11:20 am Morse departs Daniel Emery’s on Weybosset Street, takes a streetcar back to the Borden’s.
11-22-11:23 am Officer Allen leaves house to return to station, Bowen goes out with him. Allen has Sawyer guard back door.
11:23-11:25 am Dr. Bowen returns home, checks rail timetable, goes to telegram Emma, and stops at Baker’s Drug store. Telegram is time stamped at 11:32. (PH274)
11:25 am Off. Patrick Doherty, at Bedford & Second, notes City Hall clock time enroute to Station. (T589)
11:23-11:30 am Lizzie asks to check for Mrs. Borden; Bridget & Mrs. Churchill go upstairs, discover body. (PH29-30)
11:35 George Petty, former resident of 92 Second Street, enters the house with Dr. Bowen. (WSp21)
11:40 am Bowen returns to Borden house. Churchill tells him they’ve discovered Abby upstairs. (TT322)
11:34 am Bridget fetches Doctor Bowen’s wife, Phoebe. (T250)
11:35-11:40 am Officer Patrick Doherty & Deputy Sheriff Wixon arrive at house, see Manning sitting on steps, met at backdoor by Dr. Bowen, who lets them in. (T447)
11:35-11:40 am Francis Wixon and Dr. Bowen check Andrew’s pockets and remove watch.
11:35-11:40 Officer Doherty questions Lizzie who tells him she heard a “scraping” noise.
11:35-11:40 am Officer Doherty views Abby’s body with Dr. Bowen, pulls bed out to view her better. (PH330)
11:35-11:45 am Morse arrives at Borden house, first going to back yard.
11:39-11:40 am Officer Medley arrives at 92 Second Street. (T686)
11:40-11:45 am Doherty runs to Undertaker Gorman’s shop around corner and phones Marshall Hilliard. (PH331)
11:45 am Doherty returns; Officers Mullaly, Allen, Denny, and Medley arrive.
11:45 am Dr. Dolan arrives, sees bodies.
11:45 am Morse walks thru side gate, talks to Sawyer at side door, (later testifies he heard of murders from Bridget.)
11:45-11:50 am Morse sees Andrew’s body, then goes upstairs and sees Abby’s body.
11:50 am Morse speaks to Lizzie as she lays on lounge in dining room.
11:50-11:55 Lizzie goes up to her room.
11:55 am Asst. Marshall Fleet arrives; sees bodies; talks to Lizzie in her room w/Rev. Buck, says “…she’s not my mother, she’s my stepmother” (PH354)
11:55 am Morse goes out to back yard and stays outside most of the afternoon.
11:50 am -Noon Deputy Sheriff Wixon climbs back fence cutting his hand, and talks to workmen sawing wood in Chagnon yard. (TT452)
11:50-Noon Doherty, Fleet and Medley accompany Bridget to cellar where she shows them a handless hatchet in a box on a shelf.
12:15-12:20 pm Officer Harrington arrives at the Borden house. (WS6)
12:25 pm Officer Harrington interviews Lizzie in her bedroom (she wears pink wrapper). (WS6)
12:45 pm Marshall Hillliard & Officers Doherty & Connors drive carriage to Andrew’s upper farm in Swansea.
3:00 pm Bodies are photographed by Walsh. (PH160)
3:30 pm Crime scene photographs are taken of Andrew & Abby.
3:40 pm Emma leaves on New Bedford train for Weir Junction to return to Fall River. (CI107)
4:00 pm Stomachs of Andrew and Abby removed and sealed by Dr. Dolan.
5:00 pm Emma returns from Fairhaven and arrives at the Borden house. (TT1550)
5:00-5:30 pm State Detective George F. Seaver arrives from Taunton. (PH453)
5:30 pm Dr. Dolan “delivers” bodies of Andrew and Abby to Undertaker James Winward. (PH388)
6:00 pm Alice leaves 92 Second Street to return home for supper. (CI149)
8:45 pm Officer Joseph Hyde, observing from a northwest outside window, sees Lizzie & Alice go down cellar.
9:00 pm Officer Hyde observes Lizzie return to cellar by herself.
Sources:

1. 100 Years of The Boston Globe. Louis M. Lyons. 1971
2. A Fall River Incident, Jno. Gilmer Speed, 1895.
3. Constant Turmoil-Politics of Industrial Life in 19th Century. New England. Mary H. Blewett. 2000.
4. The Democrat & Chronicle Newspaper, Rochester, New York
5. Description and Biographical Record of Bristol County, MA. Hon. Alanson Borden. 1899.
6. Fall River – A Pictorial History. Judith A. Boss. 1982.
7. Fall River and Its Industries. Frederick M. Peck and Henry H. Earl. 1877.
8. Famous Front Pages from The Boston Globe, 1982-1972
9. History of Fall River, Massachusetts, Henry M. Fenner. Fall River Merchants Association, 1911.
10. Inquest Upon the Deaths of Andrew J. and Abby D. Borden, August 9 -11, 1892, Volume I and II. Fall River, MA: Fall River Historical Society
11. Lizzie Borden Murder Case Chronology. Neilson Caplain. Lizzie Borden Quarterly, Jan. & July 2001.
12. Lizzie Borden, Past & Present. Leonard Rebello. 1999.
13. LizzieBorden Sourcebook. David Kent and Robert A. Flynn. 1992.
14. Preliminary Hearing, Second District Court, Fall River. August 25-Sept. 1, 1892.
15. The Phillips History of Fall River, Fascicles I, II, and III. Arthur Sherman Phillips. 1941.
16. Trial Transcript (Commonwealth of Mass. vs. Lizzie Andrew Borden).
17. Victorian Vistas, Fall River 1865-1885. Philip T. Silvia, Jr. 1987.
18. Victorian Vistas, Fall River 1886-1900. Philip T. Silvia, Jr. 1988.
19. Victorian Vistas, Fall River 1901-1911. Philip T. Silvia, Jr. 1992.
20. Witness Statements (Fall River Police Department officer interview reports)
Key:
ASPI, II, III = The Phillips History of Fall River
AB = Arnold Brown
Beasley = David Beasley, McKee Rankin & Heyday of American Theatre
CI = Coroner’s Inquest
D-C = The Democrat & Chronicle Newspaper
DK = David Kent, Forty Whacks
ER = Edward Radin
ES = The Evening Standard (New Bedford)
Fenner = History of Fall River
FREN = Fall River Evening News
FRHN = Fall River Herald News
FRI = A Fall River Incident
HBW = Borden Genealogy, Hattie Borden Weld
KP = Knowlton Papers
KPC = Knowlton-Pearson Correspondence
LR = Leonard Rebello, Lizzie Borden Past and Present
NYT = New York Times
OG = Oak Grove (taken from Headstones)
PH = Preliminary Hearing
TT = Superior Court Trial Transcript
VL = Victoria Lincoln, A Private Disgrace
VVI = Victorian Vistas, Volume I
VVII = Victorian Vistas, Volume II
VVIII = Victorian Vistas, Volume III
WP = Washington Post
WS = Witness Statements

Faye Musselman©1998 All Rights Reserved

“MR. ROBINSON! TEAR DOWN THAT FILE CABINET!”

Jun. 29th, 2007

 

 

George Dexter Robinson Blue Flo Plate of Gov. Robinson

3X Governor of Mass. private collection of Faye Musselman

Headed Lizzie’s defense team On loan to Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast

 

from South Coast Today April 14, 1998

“By Paul Edward Parker, Providence Journal-Bulletin

FALL RIVER — In a locked storage room on the 16th floor of a high-rise office building in Springfield, a five-drawer file cabinet may hold the secrets of Fall River’s most enduring mystery: Who killed Andrew and Abby Borden. Only one man has the key to that locked filing cabinet, an administrator in the law firm that, more than a century ago, represented Lizzie Borden when she was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother. Since June 1893, the papers inside that filing cabinet have remained a secret between Lizzie and her lawyer, former Gov. George D. Robinson. But all that may soon change.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case involving former White House aide Vincent W. Foster, who committed suicide in 1993. Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr has demanded to see notes of a conversation between Foster and his lawyer just days before the suicide. The high court will hear oral arguments in that case on June 8, with a decision expected in late June or early July. The court will decide whether attorney-client privilege, which protects the secrecy of the relationship between lawyers and their clients, continues after the client dies. It is the attorney-client privilege that has kept the Robinson papers out of the public eye for 105 years. Though Lizzie is long gone, her lawyer lives on, in the form of Robinson, Donovan, Madden & Barry, the law firm that succeeded Governor Robinson’s firm.

The Supreme Court’s pending ruling opens a tantalizing possibility to historians and Borden buffs. “Would we like to look at Robinson’s papers? Absolutely, of course,” said George E. Quigley, president of The International Lizzie Borden Association.

Said Michael Martins, curator of the Fall River Historical Society: “Any documents that pertain to a case as notorious as the Borden case, a great unsolved murder mystery, would be of tremendous interest to researchers and scholars.” The historical society is home to the largest collection of Borden material, including the papers of prosecutor Hosea M. Knowlton and City Marshal Rufus B. Hilliard, Fall River’s police chief at the time of the murders. “I’m sure it’s an interesting collection,” Martins said of the Robinson papers, “but I doubt there’s anything that’s going to prove the case.”

The types of documents in the collection are as mysterious as what they might say.
Bruce Lyon, administrator at the Robinson firm, said the collection includes newspaper clippings and other materials that were publicly available. It also includes a lot more material, he said, all of which is privileged.

Around the time of the 100th anniversary of the murders, in 1992, the firm consulted with the Board of Bar Overseers, the agency that oversees the conduct of lawyers. The board informally advised that not only does the attorney-client privilege bar the firm from releasing the papers, it prevents the firm from disclosing the nature of what it holds. Lyon said the Robinson papers have been catalogued and placed in protective document holders, but he could not say anything more.

Speculation is that the files might contain letters between Lizzie and Robinson; letters between Robinson and other lawyers involved in the case; Robinson’s notes, both strategic preparations and documenting how the trial progressed; and other documents relating to testimony at the trial and preliminary proceedings.

Few expect to find anything directly incriminating Lizzie, such as a signed confession. But the papers may hold bits of information that may have seemed inconsequential at the time that, viewed with a modern understanding of the case, might bolster one or more theories of the crime.

“Some things in there might be historical,” Quigley said. “There might be statements in there that might be damning or might be helpful to her. There would be notes that Robinson wrote about the case that would be telling. Who knows.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling will probably only deal with whether lawyers can be ordered to divulge material relating to dead clients. A ruling paving the way for release of the papers would only be the first step to their becoming public. If the Robinson papers became publicly available and the law firm wanted to lend or donate them to the historical society, Martins would be happy to accept them, but added, “we wouldn’t go after them.”

Martins said the society, in such a case, would probably seek to publish the papers, a painstaking process involving years of transcribing handwritten notes. The society published prosecutor Knowlton’s papers in 1994, and has been preparing the roughly 600 documents in Hilliard’s papers, which are still several years from publication. Despite the keen historical interest in the material, even Martins and Quigley are hesitant to advocate that the Supreme Court extinguish the attorney-client privilege upon a client’s death.

Quigley noted that Foster has living relatives, who could be hurt by the release of confidential material. “Lizzie, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “She’s dead. She’s dead a long time.”

Martins thinks the privilege should be extended even to the long-dead accused ax murderess. “Personally, I think Lizzie Borden bought and paid for her defense,” he said. “Isn’t it important that they protect the documents of their former clients? I think it’s important that they do that.”

***********************
The Supreme Court, using the case of Vincent Foster, ruled that lawyers must still maintain the attorney-client privilege, even when the client is dead. Personally, I can see the merits of this with regards to private correspondence. But the firm most likely has what remains the only surviving copy of Bridget Sullivan’s Inquest Testimony. Testimony from all others called by District Attorney Knowlton has long since been made public via the “Jennings hip bath collection” sold by the Fall River Historical Society. The Inquest was a legal proceeding and if this firm does have Bridget’s testimony, it surely is not “material between lawyers and their client” and, IMHO, should be released and made public.

About 5 years ago I sent an email to attorney Jeffrey McCormick (no longer with the firm) following up on Jules Ryckebusch’s earlier plea in 1992 to release the files. I received a prompt and courteous email response citing their standard reply as indicated above.

The firm has evolved and grown, now known as Robinson Donovan P.C. Check out their website: http://www.robinson-donovan.com/index.epl

Tags: george dexter robinson, robinson donovan p.c., robinson law firm