An Unlikely Murderer Essays - American Folklore, Axe Murder

An Unlikely Murderer Essays - American Folklore, Axe Murder An Unlikely Murderer One would think that crimes with such a gruesome nature would be committed by a hatchet-wielding maniac as put by Russell Aiuto (1). But rather, the suspect was that of a church-going, Sunday-school-teaching, respectable, spinster-daughter(Aiuto 1). The young woman, Lizzie Borden, was charged with the killing of her father and stepmother, a crime worthy of Classical Greek tragedy (Aiuto 1). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to research the life and trial of Lizzie Borden in order to determine if she was innocent or guilty of parricide, the murder of ones parents. It was on the 19th of July, 1860, that in Fall River, Massachusetts Lizzie Borden was born (Radin 268). She grew up there alongside her father, Andrew Borden. He was a very prosperous man, starting out as the towns undertaker and ending up investing his profits into the textile industry. When Lizzie made it in to her teens, Mr. Borden was worth $500,000 (Paton 432). Being as prosperous as he was, he only had to places to spend his money: his two daughters, Lizzie and her older sister Emma (Paton 432). Andrew Borden also had a wife, Abby Borden. She was the stepmother of Lizzie and Emma and a hated one at that. Whenever Lizzie and Abby were together in the house, which happened a lot, the atmosphere was electric (Paton 433). Abby was called Mrs. Borden, and Lizzie did not eat when Abby was around. Their relationship was so distant, that Lizzie only spoke to her when it was needed (Paton 433). Lizzie first despised Abby when Andrew decided to purchase Abbys sisters home and have it in his wifes name. This prevented his sister-in-law from getting evicted, but Lizzie saw it as a chance for Abby to take advantage of Andrews money (Paton 433). What most people do not know, is that Lizzie had somewhat of a criminal record before she was charged with the murder. The first was committed in her own home. She had reported to her father that some of Abbys stuff had been stolen by a thief. Andrew called the police but stopped them in the middle of their investigation because he noticed that the only person that could have committed the crime was Lizzier herself (Paton 433). Perhaps the only reason Lizzie may have had any hate for her father was when he laid her pigeons to rest. Intruders had broken into the garden of the Bordens, where Lizzies pigeons were held. Mr. Borden assumed that the intruders were after the birds and therefore, decapitated the birds with and ax (Paton 434). Could this be a sign? 1892 was a year of record breaking heat. It seemed to have been 12 months of total summer (Paton 434). That summer, Lizzie bought small doses in several visits of prussic acid, a lethal drug. The drugstore owners started to notice, which caused her to make her visits more discreet (Paton 434). The day of August 4th was a day that would make history. It started out normal. Emma was not in town, and there was a guest staying in the house, Uncle John Morse. Bridget Sullivan, the maid, was up with Uncle John as she did her daily chores. She stopped short, however, because of a sickness she had had recently (Paton 435). Then, with John gone into town and Bridget cleaning the windows, the murders happened. At 9:00 AM, Abby Borden was killed. With nothing more worse happening, Andrew Borden was then killed two and a half hours later, at 11:30 AM (Sams 1). There were 20 wounds from a sharp instrument on Abby and only 10 on Andrew (Paton 432). Lizzie supposedly saw only her father dead. She ran to the neighbours and cried that her father had been killed. She said her mother had gotten a note, asking her to go aid an ill person. So obviously, Lizzie did not know that Abby was in the house dead. The police got there, and they found Abbys corpse in a bedroom. Then for some odd reason, Lizzie remembered that she may have heard her come back in to the house earlier (Paton 436). Lizzies alibi was rather odd. She said she had went out in to the outbuilding