Lizzie Broden
...was murdered with “a total of 18 gaping wounds, over 1 of which went through the skull”. Lizzie was the first to discover her father’s body. The maid, who was resting in her room in the attic, was called downstairs at 11:10. Before the maid was able to see Mr. Borden’s mutilated body, Lizzie sent her across the street to the family’s doctor. Finding that he wasn’t home, she and the doctor’s wife returned to the Borden home. Meanwhile, Mrs. Churchill, the dearest neighbor to the Borden’s, discovered Lizzie on the back porch in great distress. She walked over to the house to console her after hearing that Mr. Borden had been murdered she volunteered to send her handyman to find a doctor, and to help. The police station, about 400 yards away, received the message at 11:15. By 11:45 the police and Dr. Bowen were on the scene. During all the confusion, while the handyman went for help, Mrs. Borden was completely forgotten. She had left the house earlier to visit a sick friend. After Dr. Bowen asker about her Lizzie recalled hearing her return and asked the maid to go upstairs to look for her. The maid refused fearing what she might find. So with the company of Mrs. Churchill the maid agreed to scale the steps finding Mrs. Borden murdered in the guestroom. Mrs. Borden was found with her head crushed in. there was a hole about 1.5 X 5.5 inches along with a scalp wound where the flesh was cut off but not separated from the head. The wound was 2 inches long by 1.5 inches wide. On the left side there were four wounds. Three of them went into the skull, one taking apiece right out of the skull. Many of the wounds crushed through to the brain. Altogether she received 18 blows to the head. Mr. Borden’s wound count was just less than that of his wife; he only had ten. From 1/2 inch in front of his ear to 1/2 inch behind it his skull was crushed in. One wound started at his left nasal bone and extended down through the nose, the upper and lower lip, and through the chin cutting into the bone. Another started just above the eye severing it completely in half and cutting the cheekbone. According to Mr. Harrington, a police officer questioned in court, when Mr. Borden’s body was examined “blood was still seeping from his wounds, and his body was warm.” However, Mrs. Borden’s body was cold and stiff. “No blood was flowing, and it was dark and congealed”. Judging form this and the stage of digestion in the stomachs of the two bodies, Mrs. Borden died first. This account of the murder day is entirely factual. The only things that can be argued are the alibis. Abby, her sister, the maid, and her uncle couldn’t prove their exact whereabouts at the approximate time of the murders. Not only is this account entirely fact, it is most of the facts. “No blood stained clothes, fingerprints, or murder weapon [were] ever found”. This is one strong reason why Abby was acquitted. However, there are other interesting facts that took place before, the day of, and after the murders. Lizzie and her sister Emma didn’t usually attend meals with their father and stepmother. This habit was created when their father, a self made man who was relatively tight with his money, bought half of his sister-in-law’s house. He did this as a favor so she didn’t have to sell it. He then allowed her to live in the other half. Lizzie and Emma took great offense to this and have been quoted as saying, “we thought what he did to her people he ought to do for his own”. Mr. Borden tried to make up for it by buying them their own house as well, but the damage was already done. From that point on they ate alone and addressed Abby, their mother since the age of 2, as Mrs. Borden. Another interesting event that occurred in the Borden household was the disappearance of Abby’s cat. Robert Sullivan, in his research of the case, interviewed Lizzie’s niece: Lizzie Borden had company and my aunt had a tabby cat and the cat ...