The Story Of The Infamous Lizzie Borden Murders
The Story Of The Infamous Lizzie Borden Murders
A spinster from a well-off family, Lizzie Borden seemed like the last person capable of committing a horrific crime. But in 1892, she was charged for the murders of her father and stepmother — after they were discovered at their home butchered by an ax.
The residents of the sleepy town of Fall River, Massachusetts, couldn't believe that such a gruesome double murder had taken place there. But they were even more stunned to hear that Lizzie Borden may have been responsible. As one reporter noted, "Our proper Victorian ancestors couldn't fathom that someone among the upper class — especially a woman — could commit such a heinous crime."
The notorious trial of Lizzie Borden and the double ax murder that remains unsolved to this day.
Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden became a media sensation when she was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an ax on August 4, 1892. But was she guilty?
In 1892, a grisly crime rocked the quiet town of Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew Borden and his wife Abby had been found brutally murdered — bludgeoned to death by an ax. While police didn’t know who to blame at first, suspicion soon fell on Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden.
A spinster and Sunday school teacher from a well-off family, Lizzie Borden seemed like the last person capable of committing a horrific crime. But cops struggled to find any other suspects in the murder case, and they couldn’t help but notice that Lizzie’s story kept changing.
The Day Of The Borden Ax Murders
At first, August 4, 1892, started out as a normal day at the Borden house in Fall River, Massachusetts. The family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, served breakfast to Andrew and Abby Borden while Lizzie slept upstairs. Before long, Andrew went into town. And Abby decided to straighten up the guest room in the home, where Lizzie’s uncle had slept the night before.
The Bordens were a prosperous family and well-respected in Fall River. Andrew had been married to his first wife, Sarah, until her death, and married his second wife a few years later. His two daughters, Emma and Lizzie, were known for being well-behaved and devoutly Christian.
But all was not well beneath the surface at the Borden house. Although Abby had been their stepmother nearly all their lives, Emma and Lizzie didn’t like her. And Lizzie really wanted the family to move to a nicer part of town.
That August, tensions in the Borden family were particularly taut. For one thing, it was extremely hot outside. And the Borden family had felt unwell for the past couple of days, perhaps because of bad mutton stew.
But by the morning of August 4th, everyone except for Sullivan felt more or less back to normal. So after Andrew Borden left for town, Abby climbed the stairs to the guest room to make the bed and tidy up. And — in the oppressive heat of that August morning — someone followed her.
Later on, Andrew Borden returned from town. He asked Lizzie where Abby had gone, to which his daughter replied that “Mrs. Borden” had left the house. According to Lizzie, her stepmother had received a note about a sick friend.
Andrew believed the story. He settled down on a sofa in the sitting room, as Sullivan — still feeling unwell — went to take a nap in her room.
But soon, the maid was awoken by a scream. It was Lizzie Borden, calling for Sullivan and crying that her father was dead.
Shortly after the discovery of Andrew Borden’s body, Sullivan fled the house to find a doctor. But in the meantime, Lizzie’s screaming had attracted the attention of several neighbors, who called the police. Slowly, a curious crowd began to gather around the Borden residence.
At this point, Abby’s whereabouts were still unknown. Lizzie Borden told her concerned neighbors the same story she’d told her father: that her stepmother had received a note asking her to visit a sick friend.
Lizzie also mentioned that her parents had been ill in the previous days and that she suspected that their milk had been poisoned.
After Sullivan returned with a local doctor named Seabury Bowen, the maid went to see if Abby was upstairs — and found her dead body lying face down. She was surrounded by a pool of her own blood.
It was later determined that Abby Borden had been struck 19 times with a hatchet. And Andrew had been hit 11 times with the same weapon. While Andrew was hit fewer times, his corpse was still extremely gruesome.
One of Andrew’s eyes had been cut in half and his nose had been completely severed from his face. Meanwhile, Abby’s blood was dark and congealed. This led Bowen to believe that she had been killed first.
But who had killed them? Unfortunately, the case of the Borden murders would yield far more questions than answers.
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