They were the objects of the Trial of the Century - one the nineteenth, the other the twentieth. Both were accused of savage double murders. Both obtained acquittals that were nearly as horrifying as the crimes themselves.
And years after their crimes, both made national headlines again when they were accused of audacious acts of theft.
The recent arrest of OJ Simpson for robbery in Las Vegas bizarrely echoes the Borden affair. Though she became something of a recluse after her acquittal, Fall River's most infamous resident was arrested in 1897 - five years after the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden - for shoplifting. If nothing else, this accusation confirmed the low opinion of her held for years by Fall River merchants.
Many books and internet articles discussing Lizzie's second brush with the law incorrectly state that it took place in 1904.
This article from the Fort Wayne News, Feb. 17, 1897, is typical of the pieces that circulated across the country.
If history repeats its entire sentence, OJ's current criminal dilemma will be quietly settled out of court.
I have all the newspaper articles concerning the theft of "Love's Dream" and 'Love's Awakening". It's quite a story and Lizzie did, in fact, steal them. She gave them to the wife of Preston Gardiner of Swansea, who subsequently quietly returned them to Tilden Thurber and the matter was dropped, without the warrant being served. This was in 1897, when Emma still lived with Lizzie at "Maplecroft" on French Street in Fall River. How humiliating and distressing it must have been to Emma. And how thankful she was for her intervention. Emma left Preston, his wife Mary, and their daughter Maude, $15,000 each in her Will. Lizzie left them nothing.
Posted by: Faye Musselman | September 25, 2007 at 11:44 AM
I meant to say "for HIS intervention" meaning Preston Gardiner. The paintings, btw, were not oil, but porcelain. Lizzie actually gave only one to Mary, and the other was actually in her home and observed by a representative of Tilden-Thurber and a Fall River police officer who came a-calling to investigate. Lizzie persisted in her denial that she had paid for them. Had it not been for Preston, she surely would have been arrested ......and convicted this time. That Lizzie. Ya gotta love her.
www.phayemuss.wordpress.com
Posted by: Faye Musselman | September 25, 2007 at 11:48 AM