Lizzie Borden – Gianna Gullace : Passion Blog

I’m sure that most of you at some point have heard the rhyme: Lizzie Borden took an ax, and gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one. This week my passion blog will be about Lizzie Borden.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860, in Fall River, Massachusetts. She had two older siblings. Lizzie’s middle sibling, Alice, passed away at two years old and her mother, Sarah, passed when Lizzie was very young. Three years after her mother’s death, Lizzie’s father, Andrew, remarried a woman named Abby Durfee Gray.

Andrew directed several textile mills and owned many properties. Growing up, the oldest Borden sister, Emma, raised Lizzie. The two girls grew up in a very religious household, and her father was very modest about money. Lizzie did not like the way that she was brought up. She was forced to only participate in Church or religious socials and was forced to save up money to sew her own dresses. Money was not an issue in the family, but Andrew did not see the point in living a luxurious life when he had all he could ever want. This drove a wedge between the family.

Andrew gifted properties to his wife’s family, but not to his daughters. Emma and Lizzie saw this as wrong on their father’s part. Lizzie’s relationship with Abby became strained and she started only referring to her as Mrs. Borden.

Leading up to the murders, The Borden household was robbed. Many of Abby’s sentimental and expensive items were missing and despite Emma and Lizzie being in the house at the time of the robbery, no one heard anything. Many fights between Lizzie and her father broke out, leading her to resent him.

On August 4, 1892, the day started just like any other. The family had morning breakfast, and Lizzie did not go. Abby had spent the morning cleaning up the house and between the hours of 9:00 and 10:00am, she was killed. Lizzie’s father returned from his morning walk and Lizzie was heard laughing at the top of the staircase. From where Lizzie was located, she should have been able to see the body of Abby Borden. At 11:00am, Lizzie screamed downstairs to the maid that her father had been killed.

After the police came to investigate, Lizzie’s story contradicted itself but there was not a lot of clear-cut evidence that she committed the murders. Her story was not lining up, and there was extremely suspicious behavior from her. After the funerals of Abby and Andrew, Lizzie was charged with double homicide and was brought to jail. During her testimony and trial, Lizzie’s stories were still contradicting each other. In the jury, the evidence brought was not enough to make a decision that Lizzie had actually committed the murders, so she was acquitted and free to go. It is still a mystery who actually killed Abby and Andrew Borden, but after researching and learning about this case, I believe that Lizzie did murder them.

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