Lizzie at her most nubile, perhaps |
One of the prevailing mysteries of the Lizzie Borden murder case is
the note Mrs. Borden purportedly received the morning of August 4, 1892, which
Lizzie claimed called her away to care for an ill friend.
The note was never found.
And Mrs. Borden was not visiting a sick friend. She was
lying upstairs in the guest room dead for hours before her body was discovered.
Did the note even exist?
Did Mrs. Borden receive a note from a sick friend? |
Or was it a way for Lizzie to explain to her father, when he
returned from errands, why Mrs. Borden wasn’t home (although she was, in a
manner of speaking)? And further, once Mr. Borden had been murdered and
“discovered,” was it a way to explain why Lizzie, for a while, displayed no
concern or worry about where Mrs. Borden might be?
Mrs. Borden never told any living witness other than Lizzie
about the note. Although Irish maid Bridget Sullivan testified about it, she
was only repeating what Lizzie had told her. Notices were placed in the
newspaper to try to locate the person that might’ve been sick or sent the note,
with no success.
People conjecture that perhaps the note was sent to Mrs.
Borden by the killer. But, in Victoria London’s book A Private Disgrace,
she makes a good point. Why would anyone “write a note to get her away when he
was going there to assassinate her?” (London 342)
Perhaps the note writer only wanted to kill Mr. Borden, thus
trying to get Mrs. Borden out of the house and out of harm's way. But then why
wouldn’t Lizzie be pulled away too? And perhaps even Bridget?
Emma, Lizzie’s sister, was away visiting friends in another
town. Lizzie was supposed to be away, too, at the seashore. Perhaps the killer
(if it wasn’t Lizzie herself) knew this, but wasn’t aware she had changed her
plans and decided to stay home?
Is it possible Mrs. Borden did indeed slip out, visit a sick
friend and then return, all without being noticed? It’s unlikely. The household
was small and Bridget was washing windows, indoors and out, moving back and
forth to refill her bucket. It’s possible Mrs. Borden left without it being
remarked if Bridget was temporarily in the barn where the tap was, or by Lizzie
who was always avoiding her anyway…but the houses were close together and
neighbors watched.
In fact, neighbors witnessed and testified about Mr. Borden
returning from his errands, and about poor Bridget running across the street to
fetch a doctor when Mr. Borden’s body was found scarcely an hour later.
Even if Mrs. Borden did go to the sick visit, what happened
to the note? Did she burn it, drop it?
Or was it all just an invention of a frazzled murderess?
. . . .
3 comments:
At the Superior Court Trial's summation, prosecutor Hosea Knowlton emphatically said he believed there was no note, that no note came.
-Faye Musselman, California
phayemuss@wordpress.com
Thank you so much for commenting on my blog, Faye! It's like a visit from Elvis. :) I agree with Knowlton that I don't think there was ever any note.
Great post! I long have believed that the note was a fiction, told in order to either delay looking for the missing Mrs. Borden or to
Give a reasonable excuse for her (apparent) absence. Since it couldn't exactly be disproven, I'd say the ruse worked all too well. I also think that Mr. Borden was the main target and that killing Abby was secondary...more to eliminate an obstacle by Lizzie.
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