The story, and especially the trial, of Lizzie Borden has fascinated many for years. Now some new evidence may soon be available, 120 years after the murder.
Lizzie Borden was tried for killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet on August 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. The murders and subsequent trial was sensationalized by the media worldwide. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried and she has remained a notorious figure in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day. The question remains: did Lizzie commit the murders?
(A picture of Lizzie Borden, taken before the murders in 1889, is shown to the left. You can click on the picture to view a larger image.)
At the trial, Lizzie was defended by three of the leading Massachusetts lawyers of the day: former Massachusetts governor George D. Robinson, Melvin O. Adams, and Andrew V. Jennings. Jennings kept a journal during the trial and his papers have survived and now have been donated to the Fall River Historical Society. The journals reportedly contain information that has never been published. The journals are extremely fragile and will be conserved and transcribed, and eventually published by the society.
You can read more in an article by Deborah Allard in the Herald News at http://goo.gl/0XN42.
My thanks to Liesa Healy-Miller for telling me about this story.
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