Lizzie Borden is fairly notable woman, and just adds to my list of interesting family members. Lizzie Borden is also a paternal great granddaughter (x6) to Rebecca Cornell My 12th great grandmother i have recently written bout who was murdered, then whom's own son was sentenced and executed for her death based off of "Spectral Evidence" (yes the testimony of a ghost, it was a wild time)
Lizzie was born July 19, 1860 to Sara and Andrew Borden, being their second born daughter, Emma being their eldest. Lizzie's father was notably wealthy, he created and sold furniture and caskets early on, before becoming a fairly succesfull property developer, running 7 different textile mills at his peak. He also became the president of the Union Savings bank, and the director of the Durfee Safe and deposit trust company. Lizzie's father had quite a bit of money, about 300,000 or around 9 million in our current year. Though he had money he was also very frugal, not even having electricity or running water in the family home, nore bathes or indoor bathrooms.
It is suspected that because of Andrew Borden had money, this may have been the reason his new wife Abby Durfee Grey married him. She did not have a good relationship with Lizzie or her sister Emma. There was a lot of tension between the sisters and their new step mother.
Their live in maid testified, that after she moved in the sisters rarely came down to eat at the families table. After arguments and more unrest in the house, the sisters both took extended trips outside of the home. Upon returning it is said Lizzie stayed four additional days in a local boarding house vs. come home to stay in the family house where her step mother and father resided.
More friction continued as Andrew (LIzzie's father) gifted a house to Abby's sister (the sister of Lizzie's step mother). Both Lizzie and Emma were notably upset and demanded that their father gift them the house that their mother had passed in.
A week prior to the murders the whole family had been violently ill. Abby had thought it was poisoning, and because they were all so extremely sick before death, they were tested after death for poison. However none was found in either victims system. Though it is a bit strange because a shop keeper testified to Lizzie coming in the day before looking to buy chemicals that could be used as poison. She claimed it was for cleaning jewelry and none was ever found in the home.
The night before the murders John Morse, the brother of Lizzie and her sisters deceased mother spends the night in the Borden home. It is said he was there to talk business with Andrew. A little after a quarter to nine in the morning, he gets up and leaves to buy a pair of oxen. He would be questioned in the future about the murders but only briefly as his alibi was extremely solid. A short while later Andrew left for his morning walk. This was litterally about 10 minutes after his brother in law left the house.
Abby then went upstairs to make the bed in the guest room, even though this would have generally been Lizzie or Emma's chore. It is said that she was facing her attacker, forensics showed this, followed by 17 more hits with an ax. A short time later Andrew came back from his walk. It is said that when he tried to open the door it was locked, the maid had to come and let him in. She testified in court that at this time she could hear LIzzie upstairs laughing. Andrew tired from his walk laid down on the couch downstairs to nap unaware that his wife was upstairs brutally murdered. The maid who was also violently sick like the rest of the family went upstairs to her third floor room and laid down for a nap.
At some point after this Andrew was killed, also by a hatchet/ax. At about 11am the maid was woken up by cries downstairs from Lizzie calling her, telling her someone had broken into the family home and killed her father.
The quickly centered the investigation around Lizzie, though they could not explain how she would have been able to kill both the step mother and her father, and call the maid and still had time to clean up her bloody clothes etc. There is one theory she could have done this in the nude. There is also the potential someone did break in and kill both the stepmother and her father, however there is an hour and a half between deaths meaning either someone broke in to kill the one, left and came back to kill the other, or was in the house for an hour and a half with both Lizzie and the maid at home as well.
In the end Lizzie would be acquitted of the crimes. But there is a lot of trial details etc. that i am leaving out as i have just started looking into this case. It is said that even though LIzzie was acquitted she never regained the trust of the town, and when she died nobody attended her funeral as they laid her body to rest in the cemetery next to her parents.
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