It has been one hundred and twenty-two years since "Lizzie Borden took an axe..", in accordance to the folk rhyme, and Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered in their home; but still today it remains one of America's most famous, or infamous, unsolved crimes. Although Lizzie was acquitted and no one was ever proved guilty of committing the crime; it is still the popular opinion that Lizzie was, in fact, the murderer. Not many people have in doubts in their mind about Lizzie's guilt, although there is no one alive today who could witness to what happened. The eventful day in August was followed by a very short trial. There are many reasons she could have been proven guilty but also an abundance of rationalities for her acquittal; and it makes sense that it is discussed and talked about in the year 2014. Lizzie Andrew Borden was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, where she spent her entire life, in July of 1860. She lived with her wealthy father, Andrew Borden, and step-mother, Abby Borden. Lewis shares that Lizzie's biological mother, Sarah, passed away when Lizzie was very young and Andrew remarried just a couple years later. The three of them, along with Lizzie's sister Emma who was ten years older, lived a mostly simple life together. On the morning of August 4th, Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered in their home with an axe or a hatchet. During her inquest testimony, Lizzie claimed that she had left her father lying on the sofa and gone out to the barn to look for lead for a sinker to go fishing with(even though she also shared that she hadn't gone fishing for almost five years). Bridget, the maid, was outside washing windows at the time and was the only other person at the Borden residence. Emma had b... ... middle of paper ... ...014. Inquest Testimony of Lizzie Borden. 9-11 Aug. 1892. Jones, Melanie. "Lizzie Borden Journals; Will Lawyer's Notes Reveal Truth About Murder Case?" International Business Times. IBT Media Inc. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Kenney, Michael. "What if Lizzie Borden Did it Now?" Boston Globe. 03 Aug 1992: 10. Proquest. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Lewis, Jone J. "Lizzie Borden. Was She a Murderer?" About.com:women's history. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Macintyre, Ben. "Academics have another whack at Lizzie Borden; USA". The Times. 01 Aug. 1992. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Puente, Maria. "Death Expert Takes Up Lizzie Borden Case". USA TODAY. 11 Feb 1992: 02A. USA TODAY.com. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Roufa, Timothy. "Forensic Science: A Modern History". About.com Crimonology Careers. Web. 3 April 2014. Watson, Stephanie. "How Fingerprinting Works". How Stuff Works. Web. 1 April 2014.
Lizzie said that she was in the barn during the time of the murders. She had told her Sister, Emma Borden that she was out in the backyard during the time of the murders. In the Hyman Lubinsky testimony he states “Saw a lady come out the way from the barn right to the stairs back of the house, the north side stairs” (1). Hyman Lubinsky had also said that it couldn’t have been the maid because he knew the maid well enough to know if it was her. In the Adelaide Churchill testimony she says that she asked Lizzie where she was during the murders. Lizzie answered “I went to the barn to get a piece of iron” (1). Lizzie had also said that she was on the bottom floor of the barn. She had then switched it up and said that she was on the top floor of the barn. Lizzie had said what she could see from the windows in the barn, and it changed on what she could see. Her story is always changing. There is no way to tell where she was on the day of the murders. The barn was found
The murder of JonBenet Ramsey has become one of the nation's notorious unsolved murder mysteries. A wide range of crime scene investigators and police officials have searched for clues for JonBenet's killer, but countless authorities have already considered this murder to be one of the most inexplicable cold-cases in America. As the world marks the twenty first year anniversary of the tragic event with still no standing suspects, an abundance of evidence proven through research points to one suspect in particular.
Lizzie Borden is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of slaughtering her father and stepmother in cold blood.
O'Neill, Laurie A.. Chapter 8: The Massacre. The Millbrook Press, 1993. eLibrary. Web.
Have you ever gotten so mad at your parents that you would consider harming them? In 1892, a woman named Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her father, and her stepmother. However, she was found innocent because of the reason that there was not enough evidence that she committed the murders. In fact, there was no evidence that anyone performed the murders. I do think that Lizzie borden murdered her father and stepmother because Lizzie borden was an odd person who would most likely do this odd action. I believe Lizzie borden killed her parents because she had a somewhat bad relationship with her stepmother, her father's decision in living was not how it should have been, and she was a weird person.
In March, 1918, French teacher, feminist and socialist activist, Hélène Brion was trialed for treason and defeatism in regards to the spread of her propaganda items throughout France, that challenged the Allies war efforts in World war 1(Michallat, W. 2013). The primary source to be analysed in this essay is the statement Brion delivered at her trial for treason.
Fear begets hate and hate begets violence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the 1741 New York slave conspiracy trials. Much like the violence in the Salem Witch Trials, a set of natural circumstances coupled with the word of one or two people from a lower order of society caused hysteria and bloodshed. This case is flimsy by modern-day standards and is also very flimsy by the standards of the 1740s.
Wortham, Anne. "Sojourner Truth." World & I Issue 3 (2000): 22 Pages. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
In the month of August, a married couple was murdered inside their own house and their own daughter, Lizzie Borden, was accused and trial as if she committed the murder. Lizzie Borden was found innocent even though many found her guilty due to evidence against her. Some might say that justice was done but was it truly done? During the trial, a famous poem about the case was made, “Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”. This poem was written about Lizzie Borden, who was accused of the murder of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892. Both her father and stepmother were violently murdered within their own home at the fall of an ax. Even though the poem did
One case that dominated the pages of The Revolution, the paper owned by Susan B. Anthony and edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Parker Pillsbury, was the sentencing of a young girl to hang for the death of her child. While not a case of abortion, the death was termed an infanticide and drew strong opinions from the public as well as both the editors. The unfortunate Hester Vaughan, an English girl living in Philadelphia, was discovered in a tiny tenement room devoid of furniture February 8, 1868, forty-eight hours after giving birth. Alone during labor, without food or heat, she was found frail and feverish with her baby dead beside her. She was immediately brought to the police and imprisoned, under the assumption that she had killed her child. For thirty dollars, she acquired the services of a lawyer by the name of Goforth and underwent a brief trial. Having never actually confessed to committing the crime, she was nonetheless sentenced to death by County Judge Ludlow, and placed in Moyamensing Prison until her execution.
Murder, one of the worst crimes that can be committed by man, or woman. One murder that has managed to stay in the lime light through the years do to it’s arguably unproven and uncertain nature is the case of Mr. and Mrs.Borden, who were alleged to have been murdered by their own 33 year old daughter, Lizzie Borden. Much of this case went without clear and trustworthy explanation, sparking curiosity and debate even now. While there are many who believe that Lizzie Borden was guilty despite her acquittal, careful examination of the evidence proves that Lizzie borden is in fact innocent, just as the court had decided.
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped at knife point in her apartment. She was able to escape and identify Ronald Cotton as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming to her that she had chosen the right suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the man Jennifer Identified, Ronald Cotton was innocent and wrongfully convicted. Instead, Bobby Poole was the real perpetrator. Sadly, there are many other cases of erroneous convictions. Picking cotton is a must read for anybody because it educates readers about shortcomings of eyewitness identification, the police investigative process and the court system.
Churchwell, Sarah. "The Death of Innocence." New York Times 18 Aug 2008, n. pag. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
The character of Mary Warren fuels the ideal that the devil can be found in the communities considered ‘less desirable’ citizens through broadcasting in court that Goody Osburn has afflicted her previously. When recounting her clam to John Proctor stating, “So many time, Mr. Proctor, she come to this very door, beggin’ bread and a cup of cider - and mark this: whenever I turned her away empty, she mumbled… and I thought my guts would burst for two days after” (Miller p.168). There also in lies the motif of individuals pertaining to a certain ethnicity or social standing as the enemy. Seen as in Salem the poor, downtrodden women of the village are without hesitation seen as prime suspects. Similarly as during the Cold War era anyone in the U.S. with Russian descent were scrutinized based off the fear of a possible nuclear war between the two nations. As in the Rosenberg couple’s endeavor, quick opinions of their guilt as not only communist supporters, but also as accused traitors of the state by giving Soviet ties information concerning the U.S. government. Anxiety accumulated over the years finally gave way to a scapegoat of sorts, with the average people to court officials pre deciding their plea of innocence as false to the little evidence that the court did have proving their relations with someone from the Soviet Union. It also did not help their case that the
Sayres, William G. “Compounding the Crime: Ingratitude and the Murder Conviction of Justine Moritz in Frankenstein.” Sayres, "Compounding the Crime", knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/sayres.html.