The researchers who can't get enough Lizzie Borden often publish their findings in The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies. Their latest discovery: a photo they believe is of a nine-year-old murderess-to-be. If it's her, sadly, Lizzie was a homely child. What do you think? Do the eyes have it?
Mondo Lizzie Borden has a collection of all the news stories this new photo has generated. The Boston Globe, bless its tabloid heart, gave the story the play it deserved in that particular publication.
Or if you've never heard the story, here's the tale of the Boston Globe reporter who paid for his Borden exclusive with his life.
That could be her - I'd need to see the photos in a larger size, but it does look like her.
Posted by: Lidian | February 21, 2008 at 06:34 PM
It does look like her, but I'm reluctant to condemn her as homely. Frankly, almost all Victorian photographs of females look homely. It's difficult to know where honest homeliness leaves off and the period deficiencies of the medium begin. By the time the Edwardian "professional beauties" come along, clearly photographers have figured out how to make ladies look their best. Before then, it's just highly disturbing. The most respectable females look like gaunt-faced, sullen-eyed serial killers.
Posted by: Foose | February 22, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Has anyone ever taken a good look at the women Jack the Ripper murdered? I can't see how they made any money at all. And can you imagine what their customers must have been like?
Posted by: Kevin M. Sullivan | February 22, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Jack the Ripper's world was completely different than what is depicted and for some reason more often than not, glamorized in the movies, etc. Four of the five women murdered were over forty. They had drink problems and at least one of them was dying. The poverty was unimaginable. They wore on their backs all that they possessed. A broken mirror or comb was highly valued. His last victim, Mary Jane Kelly was however regarded as a beauty in her twenties. And there are contemporary sketches of how she looked.
An excellent information site is the Jack the Ripper casebook on the internet.
Posted by: carole gill | February 22, 2008 at 03:05 AM
Well, my point was this: If a person appears, (how can I say this and not sound rude?)less appealing than others, it's not the fault of the camera or the photographer. Lizzie Borden appears homely because she was homely. Very rarely will you come across a very good looking person, and they not appear so on camera. When someone appears ugly, they are, well...ugly. What makes Victorian photos so different is the tendency of the person not to smile, and the antiquated clothes they wore, which of course was the style of the day. But when a person is dog-ugly, (my attempt at humor) it really does come through, and the camera captures it as it is; and that's the beauty (ha,ha) of photographs.
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Posted by: Ann Anderson | February 24, 2008 at 09:35 AM
True, Lizzie wouldn't have won any beauty contests. Point taken about that.
Poor old Lizzie. But then Abby wouldn't have won any contests either.
I wonder though, how we'll look to future generations?!
Posted by: carole gill | February 25, 2008 at 01:07 PM
I don't think she was ugly or homely. And I really doubt that's her photo as a child. Doesn't look like her at all --- the facial shape alone is totally different. And the shapes of a face doesn't change, size maybe but not shape.
Posted by: Kicha | March 05, 2008 at 02:33 PM
oh believe me, the photo of the young girl is definitely lizzie borden.. the EARS are what never changes.. look at the bottom part of the ear, {the lobe} they are exactly alike. No two peoples ears are exactly alike. Also, the child photo of lizzie looks as normal as a young girls photo should look for that time period. that was the style for her age then , better than the way they dress these days, half dressed and think they are 20 years old. The bone structure in a childs face is going to change in shape until they reach maturity. so the shape of her face was going to change some as she matured. common sense. to whoever owns this photo , you have an authentic lizzie borden.
Posted by: elaine | May 29, 2009 at 11:37 PM
Not Lizzie. The eyes aren't even similar. As a matter of fact, nothing resembles Lizzie.
Posted by: Jasmine West | August 01, 2009 at 07:29 PM
no I do not belive it is her .... the eyes are too small and the child mouth is turned down......
Posted by: mystery luver | September 08, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Thank you for the fair minded and fact based article on Andrew Borden. He cared about his family; his second wife and two daughters. He care about, or at least was civil to, other family members. He was an employed and married man of his time. It has always bothered me that people thought poorly of him.
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