The only person who had motive, means and opportunity was Lizzie. It would have been impossible to gain entry to that house (the front door had 3 locks; one a deadbolt) not to mention every single internal room was kept locked...(Andrew Borden liked locks!)
Bridgette had no motive to murder her employers; in fact, they were generally very considerate of her, right down to calling her by her ACTUAL name (unlike Lizzie, who called her by the nickname "Maggie"..considered an ethnic slur against Irish immigrants, who were on the lowest rung of society in those days.)
I do think that Bridgette knew more than she let on, or that she deliberately withheld information during the inquest and the trial.
She was a poor immigrant, who, prior to the murders, only owned 2 dresses to her name. During the trail, however, she showed up to court looking like a woman who had suddenly come into wealth (wearing fancy dresses with all the trimmings: expensive hats, parasols, etc.) After the trial, she went back to Ireland and bought a farm (where did she get the money, if not from Lizzie) but didn't enjoy her life there so she came back to the States, settling down in Montana, where she died. She was reputedly a nasty old woman, and yes, it is true that she almost made a deathbed confession, but decided not to, when her health suddenly improved.
Lizzie was the only person with the motive (money), the opportunity (she was the ONLY person in the house when Abby was murdered) and the only person in the room with Andrew when he got whacked, and the means (there were at hatchets and axes in the house and the barn.
I think she was wearing a light blue cotton dress when she murdered Abby, that she hid it UNDER a heavy silk dress in the back of the upstairs closet (police admitted they did not even look at the heavy winter dresses) that she subsequently burned it (after which her closest friend, Alice Russell became convinced she was guilty, and maintained that opinion the rest of her life) and that she murdered her father by putting on his overcoat backwards, surgeon-style, then stuffing it under his head.
When Andrew's body was examined, his head was lying on top of the coat, which was now blood soaked. It was totally out of character for him to use his coat as a pillow:
1. he intended to go out again in the afternoon, and he wouldn't have wanted the coat to be wrinkled
2. he ALWAYS hung up his coat on a nail when he came in
3. there were plenty of pillows in the sitting room that he could have (and did) use when he was resting.
People talk about the lack of blood on Lizzie, to which my answer is: she got lucky. The angle of the victims, the way she stood, would have resulted in relatively little blood spatter. Plus dried blood spots in brown hair are undetectable.
She was supposedly having her menstrual period during the time of the murders. Back then, there were no tampons....women used "menstrual towels" and then put them in a slop pail filled with water..(I know, gross) They were then rinsed, and bleached.
Policeman at the time would NEVER have searched Lizzie's "menstrual bucket" because it would have been considered improper.
How ironic that the same stifled, Victorian existence that made Lizzie go nuts and kill her parents in cold blood also afforded her the opportunity to get away with the deed.
I've been studying this case in detail for years. Lizzie did it, and the maid had knowledge, but was paid off to keep silent.
Lizzie and her sister bought a mansion in an expensive area of Fall River, but she was a tortured woman for the rest of her life. She had few friends, save a theater crowd that no doubt enjoyed her lavish house and money. She would venture out, by herself, in her limo. Even after she came into tremendous wealth, she continued act in ways that betrayed her compromised mental health...shoplifing, for example (she stole 2 paintings from the prestigous Tilder-Thurber store in Providence, RI...this is well documented.)
A woman who knew her from Fall River remarked "Lizzie Borden is a mental wreck..." supposedly she was a paranoid person who was constantly getting her feelings hurt and thinking that people hated her.
No...in my opinion, Lizzie absolutely committed the murders, and got away with it. It was a perfect storm of culture, Victorian attitudes towards women, and, of course, MONEY (her dream team of lawyers included the ex-governor of Massachusetts.)
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bpollen
10 years ago
Luvvie, your posts are very informative. But I'll take issue with one thing you mention in this one. You state that she was the only person in the house when Andrew was killed, and the only person in the room when he was killed. Bridget actually was the only one it can be proven was in the house when Andrew was killed, and it was never proven that Lizzie was the only one in the room when he was killed.
As for Mr. Borden's coat, he wouldn't have been wearing it at all that day, since it was a very hot summer day.
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