Читать книгу Lizzie Didn't Do It; Emma Did! - E. Elaine Watson - Страница 4

Andrew Jackson Borden - Andrew Jackson Borden was born September 13, 1822. He was the 8th generation of Bordens who had lived in Fall River. The past generations were considered to be part of Fall River high society.

By August of 1892, he was well known in Fall River and served in various positions in the town. He was president of the Union Saving’s Bank, and was on the board of directors at several other banks. He also owned real estate in town and was the director of three major cloth mills in Fall River. Mr. Borden was very wealthy and loved having money; however, he hated to spend it, even on his family. The Borden house did not look like the home of wealthy people. There was no indoor plumbing, and no “convenient source of hot water”. Mr. Borden’s first wife, the mother of Lizzie and her older sister Emma, was Sarah Anthony Morse, born September 19, 1823. She and Andrew were married on Christmas Day of 1845. She died March 26, 1863 of spinal disease and other medical problems. Mr. Borden remarried on June 6, 1865. Everyone in town knew Mr. Borden. No matter the weather or season of the year, he could always be seen wearing his double-breasted Prince Albert black suit and string tie. Mr. Borden was 70 years old at the time of his death.

Abby Durfee Gray Borden - Abby Durfee Gray Borden was born on January 21, 1828. The daughter of a push cart peddler, she was the second wife of Andrew Borden. They married in June 1865. Her friends said she was seeking respect and social status by marrying Mr. Borden, but she was well liked by her friends and neighbors. Emma was about 13 years old, and Lizzie was almost five when their father brought the new Mrs. Borden home to be their step-mother. But the three of them never had a good relationship. “Less than loving” was the description of their relationship according to witnesses at Lizzie’s trial. The second Mrs. Borden was 64 years old at the time of her death.

Emma Leonora Borden - Emma Leonora Borden was born on March 1, 1852. She was the older daughter of Andrew Borden and was about 11 when her real mother died. She became mother to her two-year-old sister, a position she took very seriously.

Not a lot is known about Emma as a person and there are very few pictures of her. It seems she never had much of a social life. She was quiet, plain and was most satisfied just to be left in the background of life. However, at one time, she did take a stand against her father. He wanted the two daughters to stop being friends with Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Harrington. Mrs. Harrington was Andrew’s sister, but Andrew never got along with his brother-in-law, Hiram, who was a “loud, powerfully built” blacksmith. Lizzie gave in to her father and dropped the friendship. But Emma defied her father and kept right on being friends with her aunt and uncle. Emma and Lizzie had a close relationship with each other, maybe because Lizzie had looked to Emma as her “mother” for many of her childhood years. And even when Lizzie became an adult, Emma continued her duty of watching over and protecting Lizzie.

Emma always called her step-mother by her given name. At Lizzie’s trial, Emma testified that “we never thought she was much interested in us”. According to the testimony of the maid, Bridget Sullivan, the two daughters almost never ate their meals with their parents. Emma was 41 years old at the time of the murders.

Lizzie Andrew Borden - Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860. She was close to her father even though they hardly ever ate their meals together. Mr. Borden always wore a ring that had been a gift from Lizzie.

Lizzie was socially active and liked people; she was active in church and several clubs in town. Lizzie loved money, as her father did, but she loved even more what it could buy her. She was a high society young debutante, but because of her father’s tightwad ways, she was without the benefits of being well-to-do. One of the only times he spent any money to help further Lizzie’s place in society was her trip to Europe in June of 1890, when she traveled with some other young ladies in town. It was on this trip that Lizzie got a taste of the so-called “good life” that could be hers. Lizzie was still single – maybe because she was not a great beauty, or maybe because her father did not think any men were her equal.

Lizzie was 32 years old at the time of the murders.

John Vinnicum Morse - There was a guest visiting in the Borden house at the time of the murders, which was an unusual circumstance. He was John Morse, the brother of the first Mrs. Borden, and an uncle to Emma and Lizzie. He was not a frequent visitor to the Bordens, having only been a guest once or twice every few years. But he was on friendly terms with Mr. and Mrs. Borden, and was probably the only true friend that Mr. Borden had. Morse had arrived for this visit the day before the murders. Strangely, he came without any luggage.

Bridget Sullivan - Bridget Sullivan was the Borden’s live-in maid. She was originally from Ireland and had been in America for about seven years and worked for the Bordens for about three years. She was 20 years old at the time of the double murder. She was on good terms with the family. She washed, ironed, and cooked meals. Emma and Lizzie called her “Maggie” because they had had a previous maid with that name. Mr. and Mrs. Borden called her Bridget.