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Lizzie Borden

By

James Kirby Martin and others

Preview

A prosperous businessman and his wife lay dead, murdered with an ax. Their unhappy daughter had the motive and opportunity to kill. Modern experts strongly believe that Lizzie Borden was guilty of her parents' murder. Yet she was swiftly found innocent. In this selection taken from the history textbook America and Its People, Second Edition, Lizzie's acquittal is examined in light of the social views of the late nineteenth century.

Words to Watch

maintained (1): claimed alienated (3): set apart from

grisly (5): causing horror preponderance (7): great amount

unanimous (7): agreed upon by everyone affirmed (7): stated

docile (9): obedient frivolous (9): silly

preconceived (9): decided before knowing all the facts

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(1) Andrew Borden had, as the old Scottish saying goes, short arms and long pockets. He was cheap, not because he had to be frugal but because he hated to spend money. He had dedicated his entire life to making and saving money, and tales of his unethical and parsimonious business behavior were legendary in his hometown of Fall River, Massachusetts. Local gossips maintained° that as an undertaker, he cut off the feet of corpses so that he could fit them into undersized coffins that he had purchased at a very good price. Andrew, however, was not interested in rumors or the opinions of other people; he was concerned with his own rising fortunes. By 1892 he had amassed over half a million dollars, and he controlled the Fall River Union Savings Bank as well as serving as the director of the Globe Yard Mill Company, the First National Bank, the Troy Cotton and Manufacturing Company, and the Merchants Manufacturing Company.

(2) Andrew was rich, but he did not live like a wealthy man. Instead of living alongside the other prosperous Fall River citizens in the elite neighborhood known as "the Hill," Andrew resided in an area near the business district called "the Flats." He liked to save time as well as money, and from the Flats he could conveniently walk to work. For his daughters Lizzie and Emma, whose eyes and dreams focused on the Hill, life in the Flats was an intolerable embarrassment. Their house was a grim, boxlike structure that lacked comfort and privacy. Since Andrew believed that running water on each floor was a wasteful luxury, the only washing facilities were a cold-water faucet in the kitchen and a laundry-room water tap in the cellar. Also in the cellar was the only toilet in the house. To make matters worse, the house was not connected to the Fall River gas main. Andrew preferred to use kerosene to light his house. Although it did not provide as good light or burn as cleanly as gas, it was less expensive. To save even more money, he and his family frequently sat in the dark.

(3) The Borden home was far from happy. Lizzie and Emma, ages 32 and 42 in 1892, strongly disliked their stepmother, Abby, and resented Andrew's penny-pinching ways. Lizzie especially felt alienated° from the world around her. Although Fall River was the largest cotton-manufacturing town in America, it offered few opportunities for the unmarried daughter of a prosperous man. Society expected a woman of social position to marry, and while she

waited for a proper suitor, her only respectable social outlets were church and community service. So Lizzie taught a Sunday school class and was active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Ladies' Fruit and Flower Mission, and other organizations. She kept herself busy, but she was not happy.

(4) In August, 1892, strange things started to happen in the Borden home. They began after Lizzie and Emma learned that Andrew had secretly changed his will. Abby became violently ill. In time so did the Bordens' maid Bridget Sullivan and Andrew himself. Abby told a neighborhood doctor that she had been poisoned, but Andrew refused to listen to her wild ideas. Shortly thereafter, Lizzie went shopping for prussic acid, a deadly poison she said she needed to clean her sealskin cape. When a Fall River druggist refused her request, she left the store in an agitated state. Later in the day, she told a friend that she feared an unknown enemy of her father's was after him. "I'm afraid somebody will do something," she said.

(5) On August 4, 1892, Bridget awoke early and ill, but she still managed to prepare a large breakfast of johnnycakes, fresh-baked bread, ginger and oatmeal cookies and raisins, and some threeday-old mutton and hot mutton soup. After eating a hearty meal, Andrew left for work. Bridget also left to do some work outside. This left Abby and Lizzie in the house alone. Then somebody did something very specific and very grisly°. As Abby was bent over making the bed in the guest room, someone moved into the room unobserved and killed her with an ax.

(6) Andrew came home for lunch earlier than usual. He asked Lizzie where Abby was, and she said she did not know. Unconcerned, Andrew, who was not feeling well, lay down on the parlor sofa for a nap. He never awoke. Like Abby, he was slaughtered by someone with an ax. Lizzie "discovered" his body still lying on the sofa. She called Bridget, who had taken the back stairs to her attic room. "Come down quick; Father's dead; somebody came in and killed him."

(7) Experts have examined and reexamined the crime, and most have reached the same conclusion: Lizzie killed her father and stepmother. In fact, Lizzie was tried for the gruesome murders. Despite a preponderance° of evidence, however, an all-male jury found her not guilty. Their verdict was unanimous° and was arrived at without debate or disagreement. A woman of Lizzie's social position, they affirmed°, simply could not have committed such a terrible crime.

(8) Even before the trial began, newspaper and magazine writers had judged Lizzie innocent for the same reasons. As historian Kathryn Allamong Jacob, an expert on the case, noted, "Americans were certain that well-brought up daughters could not commit murder with a hatchet on sunny summer mornings." Criminal women, they believed, originated in the lower classes and even looked evil. They did not look like round-faced Lizzie, and did not belong to the Ladies' Fruit and Flower Mission.

(9) Jurors and editorialists alike judged Lizzie according to their preconceived° notions of Victorian womanhood. They believed that such a woman was gentle, docile°, and physically frail, short on analytical ability but long on nurturing instincts. "Women," wrote an editorialist for Scribner's, "are merely large babies. They are shortsighted, frivolous°, and occupy an intermediate stage between children and men." Too uncoordinated and weak to accurately swing an ax and too gentle and unintelligent to coldly plan a double murder, women of Lizzie's background simply had to be innocent because of their basic innocence.

Directions: Write the letter of the correct answer in the blank.

_____1. In paragraph one, the word parsimonious means

a. generous.

b. lazy.

c. stingy.

d. deadly.

_____2. Which sentence best expresses the central point of the selection?

a. Andrew Borden's unpleasant personality and cheap ways probably led to his

murder.

b. The case of Lizzie Borden should be reopened and reexamined to determine if she

was truly guilty.

c. Despite much evidence of her guilt, Lizzie Borden was found innocent of murder

because of society's beliefs about women of her social class.

d. In the late 1800s, Americans assumed that middle-class women who were well

brought up were weak and gentle people who could not possibly commit a murder.

_____3. In paragraph one, the word amassed means

a. spent.

b. found.

c. accumulated.

d. donated.

_____4. The supporting details of paragraph 2 are mainly about

a. the ways in which Andrew Borden saved money.

b. Lizzie's and Emma's embarrassment with their home.

c. the reason the Bordens often sat in the dark.

d. the fact that the Bordens used kerosene rather than gas for light.

_____5. What is the relationship between the two parts of the following sentence?

"Instead of living alongside the other prosperous Fall River citizens in the elite

neighborhood known as 'the Hill,' Andrew resided in an area near the business

district called 'the Flats.'"

a. cause and effect

b. contrast

c. time order

d. addition

_____6. The main idea of paragraph 2 is expressed in its

a. first sentence.

b. second sentence.

c. third sentence.

d. last sentence.

_____7. The odd occurrences in the Borden home began after

a. Bridget Sullivan was hired to be the maid.

b. Andrew Borden brought Abby home to be Lizzie and Emma's stepmother.

c. Andrew Borden changed his will.

d. Lizzie joined the church's Fruit and Flower Mission.

_____8. The pattern of organization of paragraphs 4-6 is

a. narration.

b. list of items.

c. comparison and contrast.

d. definition and example.

_____9. We can infer from the mention of Andrew Borden's changing his will that

a. he had decided to leave all of his money to his daughters.

b. he was a lawyer.

c. his new will was unfavorable to Lizzie.

d. his new wife was not going to inherit any of his money.

____10. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of paragraph 8?

a. Lizzie had a round face and belonged to the Ladies' Fruit and FlowerMission.

b. Americans couldn't believe a pleasant-looking, respectable woman like Lizzie could

be a killer.

c. Trials in the late 1800s were widely covered in newspapers and magazines.

d. Americans of Lizzie's day believed that killers looked evil.

____11. In the following excerpt, what does the second sentence do?

a. It establishes a cause and effect relationship.

b. It contrasts Lizzie Borden's behavior with that of other women.

c. It defines a term in the first sentence.

d. It compares Lizzie Borden to other women of social position.

"Society expected a woman of social position to marry, and while she waited for a proper suitor, her only respectable social outlets were church and community service. So Lizzie taught a Sunday school class and was active in the the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Ladies' Fruit and Flower Mission, and other organizations."

____12. Paragraph 2 is organized as a

a. series of events in the Borden household.

b. list of ways in which the Bordens lived very thriftily.

c. comparison and contrast between the members of the Borden household.

d. definition of wealthy followed by examples.

____13. The authors imply that Bridget, Andrew, and Abby all became ill at about the same

time because

a. they became sick from living in the cold, dark house.

b. they suffered from food poisoning as a result of eating three-day-old mutton.

c. Lizzie poisoned them.

d. Bridget poisoned them, but pretended to be ill herself to hide her actions.

____14. In general, the authors' tone is

a. sad and hopeless.

b. objective and analytical.

c. light and amusing.

d. bitterly critical.

____15. Which of the following statements is a valid conclusion based on the information in

paragraph 9?

a. The editorialist for Scribner's expressed opinions that were unusual for the day.

b.Lizzie Borden was an exceptionally unintelligent, gentle person.

c. Men were thought to be more competent, mature, and intelligent than women.

d. The ax used in the Borden murders was very heavy.

____16. The main purpose of this selection is to

a. persuade the reader that society's views about women led to Lizzie Borden's being

found innocent of two murders that she probably committed.

b. inform the reader about the everyday life of a well-known nineteenth-century family

and about a famous trial of the time.

c. entertain the reader with a crime story.

____17. Which statement does not support the following point?

Point: Lizzie Borden was probably guilty.

a. She had attempted to buy poison shortly before the killings.

b. She was miserable living with her stingy father and disliked her stepmother.

c. She was alone in the house with her parents when the killings occurred.

d. She was active in church and community organizations.

____18. One of the following statements is the point of an argument. The other statements

support that point. Write the letter of the answer that states the point of the argument.

a. The common belief that upper-class women were unable to swing an ax well was

false.

b. The jurors' reasoning in finding Lizzie Borden innocent was faulty.

c. The jurors' idea that criminals looked a certain way was mistaken.

d. The jurors' belief that women were too gentle and unintelligent to plan a murder was

false.

____19. Which of the answers is true about the following sentence?

"By 1892 he had amassed over half a million dollars, and he controlled

the Fall River Union Savings Bank as well as serving as the director of

the Globe Yard Mill Company, the First National Bank, the Troy Cotton

and Manufacturing Company, and the Merchants Manufacturing Company."

The sentence contains

a. only facts.

b. only opinions.

c. a mixture of both fact and opinion.

____20. From the text, can you infer that the home life of the Borden family was a happy one?

a. Yes

b. No

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