The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-06-21
Details of the Crime.

The eldest victim OF the crime was Andrew
J. Borden, capitalist OF Fall River. Mass,
who was seventy years old. The other vic.
tim was his second wife. stepmother to the
prisoner. She was considerably younger
than her husband. who married her when
Miss Lizzie was about four years old.
She was large, heshy woman. There
were two daughters. Lizzie and Emma.
Emma was out Of town on the day OF tho
murder which took place on August 4, 1922.
Emma called her stepmother "Abb1e. but
Lizzie did not call her anything to her face
or speak to her at all. She quarrelled with
her i've years ago because her stepmother
induced ner father to clear piece OF prop
erty OF debt and give it to his wifes sister.
Miss Lizzie was born in 1860. She and her
sister had $4,000 in cash or in mill shares or
in each form. This their father had given to
them.
At the time of the murder oil the members
of tho family were I'll. and this led to the
theory that they had all been poisoned. A
drug clerk was said to have sold prussic acid
to Miss Lizzie. but it was case OF mistaken
identity. No poison was found in the bodies
of the victims.
On the morning OF the day OF the murder
Mr.. Borden had been on his business rounds
and had come back. Mrs Borden was
dressing to go out. Bridget Sullivan was up
stairs washing windows. The old man went
to sleep on lounge in the sitting room.
The wife continued dressing. il she was
not already dead, and Lizzie Borden. ac-
cording to her own story. went out to the
barn in ths yard and stayed there thirty
minutes. She passed her father In going
out. and stopped to stroke his head. All this
was between half past ten o'clock and ten
minutes past eleven o'clock in the morning,
in q disagraeable side street, a semi-tena-
ment neighborhood with small shops in it.
It was in the heart OF the city, in its business
part.
The wife had sent the servant to wash the
down stairs dining-room windows. At four
or five minutes before II the servant went up
to her room to lie down. She had been lying
there ten or fifteen minutes when Miss Lizzie
called to her from down stairs in voice
suggesting alarm or terror. She is reported
to have seen Lizzie in the kitchen. who said
either Gathers dead 20 for doctor" or
Fathers hurt; 90 for the doctor" Tue
servant will clear up this confusion as to
what was said.
The servant. Bridget Sullivan, went and came
back and was sent out TO get Mrs. Russell.
When she returned again DIR. Bowen was
there and had been preceded by Mrs. Church
i'll, neighbor, whose windows looked close
UPON the Borden house. These visitors saw
the fathers body. Mrs. Churchill said some
one should notify Mrs Borden, and Lizzie re-
marked that shethousht she heard her mother
come in. The neighbor and servant went up
and discovered the dead woman. Both vic
tins had been brutally chopped about the
head and face. Lizzie Borden was suspected
and placed under surveillance from the mo-
ment the crime was discovered. Finally. the
District Attorney went before the Grand jury
and declared that he mad sufficient evidence
to convict her. SO she was indicted, arrested,
ana has been confined in JUL ever since.