We all know, from the children’s ditty, what crime Lizzie Borden was accused of. According to the rhyme, she axed her parents with dozens of powerful and deadly whacks on the fateful morning of August 4, 1892. In all likelihood, Lizzie, shown her in a colorized photograph from the time, did murder her parents in a violent manner.
Lizzie Borden in 1890, two years before the murders . Source: Wikimedia Commons (colorized)
On June 20, 1893, ten months after the murders, however, Lizzie Borden was found not guilty on the charges. Her acquittal, as we will see, had more to do with gender stereotypes than it did with hard evidence.
The Crime
Andrew Jackson Borden, 70, and his wife Abby Durfee Gray Borden, 64. Source: Wikimedia Commons
It was a crime that shocked Victorian New England. A prominent resident of Fall River, Massachusetts, 69-year-old Andrew Borden and his second wife, 64-year-old Abby Borden, were found brutally slaughtered in their modest home. Andrew Borden’s 32-year-old spinster daughter, Lizzie, was the person who discovered the bodies. She was also home at the time of the murders but claimed she did not hear anything unusual that morning. Who could have committed such a horrible deed?
It Must Have Been a Foreigner…And a Man
No one in Fall River reported seeing anyone come and go from the Borden home, yet police investigators were initially certain that the murderer must be a foreigner. An American, they assumed, would never do such a thing. Moreover, they assumed the assailant must be a strong and powerful man. They arrested the first person to fit that description, a Portuguese immigrant who had nothing to do with the incident.
An Unlikely Suspect
92 Second St Fall River MA the home of Lizzie Borden at the time of the murders as it appeared in 1892. Source - Wikipedia-Colorized
Since no one saw anyone arrive or leave the Borden home, the police began to suspect that the murderer was someone from inside the home. They questioned Andrew Borden’s daughter, Lizzie, and became suspicious of her account of the day. How could she have heard or seen nothing? They also learned that Lizzie had tried, unsuccessfully, to purchase poison just the day before. But what really clinched it for them was that Lizzie didn’t cry. The all-male police force thought it was strange that she was not emotional over the murders. After all, women, according to the attitude of the time, were the fairer sex, weaker, and overly emotional.
A Possible Motive
Lizzie Borden hatchet. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Why would Lizzie Borden want to see her father and stepmother dead? The investigation looked into the Borden family dynamics. They learned that Lizzie had a contentious relationship with her stepmother, Abby. They also discovered that Lizzie was not happy that her wealthy father, Andrew, chose to live modestly and humbly. Lizzie longed to move out of their home – in a neighborhood she felt was being overrun with Irish immigrants – and buy a home in the posh neighborhood where the Fall River elite all lived. Her frugal father, however, refused to move. Lizzie also wanted to be in control of her own money, but as a spinster woman in the late 1800s, she relied on her father to provide for her. She had no income of her own, therefore no control over her life. It was a frustrating position that many women were in in the patriarchal Victorian era.
A Sterling Reputation
Lizzie Borden hardly looked like a calculating murderer. Source: Wikimedia Commons
As the daughter of one of Fall River’s prominent businessmen, Lizzie Borden enjoyed a sterling reputation that her defense team used to show that she could not have slaughtered her parents. She was, after all, an active member of the Central Congregational Church. She even served as a Sunday school teacher. The press called her a “Protestant nun,” a term used to describe a virtuous Victorian spinster.
Gender as a Defense
Lizzie Borden Trial Jury 1893. Source: Wikimedia Commons-Colorized
Lizzie Borden’s defense built their case on Lizzie’s gender rather than on the evidence. They claimed that women, particularly well-bred women, were simply incapable of committing violent crimes. They portrayed Lizzie as a devoted and loving daughter and a pillar of the community. Women’s organizations rallied to her defense, pointing out that, since women could not serve on juries, Lizzie could not get a fair trial by a jury of her peers. At her lawyers’ request, Lizzie came to court wearing a black dress with her hair in a neat bun. She carried a bouquet of flowers and a fan in her hand and fanned her face from time to time. Reporters covering the sensational trial described Lizzie as “quiet and modest.” They commented that she did not look like a “brawny, muscular girl of Amazonian proportions,” as one may expect an axe murder to look. During the trial, the defense claimed that the delicate Lizzie lacked the physical strength needed to wield a deadly ax.
Acquitted!
Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the charges. (tampabayauthorgary.blogspot.com)
Despite the physical evidence, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother. The all-male jury, as the defense had hoped, could not fathom that a well-to-do, properly brought up, spinster woman and Sunday school teacher could resort to murder. In the years following the trial, most historians agree that Lizzie Borden was, most likely, the murderer, however the Victorian gender stereotypes of the day were enough to get her acquitted.
