31 Thursday Dec 2009
Posted in Potpourri
2009 was a banner year for all things Borden. What will the new year bring? Everyone is anxiously awaiting the publication from the Fall River Historical Society, Parallel Lives of course.
Happy New Year to Warps and Wefts visitors. There will be a few new features in the coming year. Thanks for emails and support in 2009.
To read all about the hot topics and major events of 1910 visit this link http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1910
24 Thursday Dec 2009
Posted in Uncategorized
21 Monday Dec 2009
Posted in Fall River, Fall River Now and Then, Potpourri, Victoriana
Fall River Government Center decked out for Christmas.
The center, which replaced the old Victorian City Hall, may be one of the few municipal government structures in the country to be situated directly over the top of a major interstate highway- a situation which has caused a few structural maintainance complications over the years.
The old City Hall
Two of the original front pillars are featured now at the beginning of Old Second Street.
18 Friday Dec 2009
Emma and Lizzie have a stocking at the mantel in the sitting room for Christmas. #92 Second Street was a popular stop on last weekend’s Victorian home tour sponsored by the Preservation Society of Fall River.
It would be interesting to know just how elaborate the Borden Christmases were and whether or not any of the fireplaces were ever used since Mr. Borden had installed radiators.
16 Wednesday Dec 2009
All across the country families now make their way to cemeteries carrying Christmas wreaths and baskets filled with artificial holly, greens and pinecones and red velvet bows. Our dead should not be forgotten at this family time of year.
On August 4, 1892, two elderly, harmless people were brutally slashed and bludgeoned to death in the sanctity of their home, a place which should have been a haven of safety. No justice will ever come for the silent slain. The killer went on to live and prosper another day, and to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas 1892 left Lurana Borden without her brother Andrew. Lizzie and Emma Borden were fatherless. Nobody knows for sure if they both mourned deeply. It is entirely possible that they did.
In the Whitehead household on Fourth Street, Sarah and Little Abbie mourned. Mrs. George Fish, Abby’s sister was bereft. Abby and Andrew Borden were loved by some family members, surely- and liked by some neighbors and friends. The tragedy of their loss was felt. How did they feel standing at the grave, bare of a marker in the Christmas of 1892? The citizens of the city, demanding that someone be brought to trial for the deeds during that hot month of August had a suspect in jail- waiting.
How curious it is that in 2009, the victims become but a side note to the tragedy. It is the accused and aquitted whose name lives on. If one were to stop by Oak Grove Cemetery and leave a floral tribute to the victims, within hours it would find its way to the grave of Lizzie Borden- taken without a thought and re-deposited without a thought. Below the frostline now lay today what remains of the sad, frozen bones of Abby and Andrew Borden- still headless, - and now their likenesses and characters the fodder for irreverent cartoons, gift products and unspeakable accusations made without a shred of evidence. Those who once were loved and walked among us. Does the interval of Time allow for such insensitive liberties? Is murder ever a source for humor?
How we memorialize our Dead says a great deal about ourselves in these modern times- a thought to contemplate any day- and especially at this time of year.
An epitaph often seen on grave markers
Remember friend as you pass by.
As you are now so once was I.
As I am now so shall you be.
Death take thy hand, and follow me.”
13 Sunday Dec 2009
The weather cooperated this year, with clear blue skies, lots of sun and just a chill in the air to remind us Christmas is two weeks away. This year decorated trolleys made the round of houses, which helped speed things along and spare weary feet as they climbed the hills of The Hill section of the city.
Homes on Belmont, Lincoln Ave, Cherry St. and Rock St. threw wide their doors to an appreciative throng of visitors. Fires crackled merrily, the fragrance of cloves and cinnamon, hot mulled cider and balsam flooded the air as decorations were admired. Period furnishings, historic photos and mementoes, and homey touches were appreciated by all who were lucky today to enjoy the insides of magnificent homes usually only glimpsed from the street.
18th century tea service and reproduction epergne
The Fall River Historical Society outdid itself this year as well, and all agreed that this was the best year ever for the popular house tour. At 4:30 footsore house tour guests were treated to a concert of holiday music by the Durfee High School String orchestra. All in all- a perfect day. Thanks to families participating this year. It was grand!
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10 Thursday Dec 2009
Posted in "Lizzie Folks", Crime Scene, Just Plain Lizzie, Lizzie T.V., Potpourri
Chances are, if you watch television programmes about Lizzie Borden, the face above will be very familiar. Ed Thibault, of Somerset, Mass. has been a leading figure in the Lizzie Borden community for over 40 years. Ed recently retired from his part time job as day tour guide at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast after many years of sharing the Borden Case with probably thousands of visitors. For many years Ed visited local schools and civic groups, giving lectures on his favorite topic, as well as maintaining an archive of clippings and books about the Borden case in his “Lizzie Room” at his home.
Most recently Ed gave a lecture at the Lizzie Gallery X art exhibition in New Bedford in October.
Ed is one of the original Second Street Irregulars, an amateur sleuth group dedicated to the case, and meetings were often held at Ed’s house in the 1990′s. But mostly, Ed is the face of Andrew Borden, and for many years Ed donned the black frock coat of the unfortunate father of Lizzie, and took part in the annual recreations of the crime on August 4th. Two prized possessions are Ed’s mock-up sculptures of the Borden skulls which for years Ed has carried around in a specially-made case-always a big hit with students! Lizzie has a champion in Ed, who believes her to be innocent of the crimes.
Ed celebrates his 75th birthday this week. Happy Birthday, Mr. Lizzie, – and thanks for many years of sharing Lizzie with so many!
10 Thursday Dec 2009
For those who thought Elizabeth Engstrom’s Lizzie novel was an eyeopener, 2010 may bring an even juicier Lizzie title from publisher Ravenous Romance. http://www.ravenousromance.com/
Award winning author Lisa Mannetti of Port Chester, New York has confessed she is “on tap” for a new approach on the Lizzie Borden story. Fresh from winning the Bram Stoker Horror award for her novel The Gentling Box, Bad Moon Books will be bringing out her dark gag book, 51 Fiendish Ways to Leave Your Lover (illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne) in February 2010 and Cargo Cult Press is publishing her novella, Deathwatch, in spring/summer 2010. A second novel The Everest Hauntings, is in the works. She has not given the date for her Lizzie novel. It should be something to look forward to in the near future, and quite likely another pageturner! Visit Lisa’s website at http://www.lisamannetti.com/ Read about her visits to the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast there at the link below. http://thechanceryhouse.com/res_ghosts_liz_2006/res_ghosts_liz_2006.htm
Night time tour guide, Eleanor Thibault has been the host at #92 Second St. for the visits of NECON, the Northeastern Writers Conference, an organization to which Ms. Mannetti belongs.
03 Thursday Dec 2009
Tags
Chances are that if you only take the day tour at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, you have missed meeting one of the great assets of the establishment, longtime head chef, Dave Quigley. Dave and the B&B started out together on the same day back in 1996, and Dave is the longest -serving employee of the business. When the house first opened its doors, Dave would come on duty at 10 p.m. just as the night tour of the house ended, and would spend the “third shift” perched uncomfortably on the narrow, hard Victorian sofa in the parlor, watching the tiny television set which received only 3 channels with rabbit ear antenna.
Dave was oncall to answer a million questions from overnight guests and deal with all the night time emergencies that can happen in an old house. “How do I get to Salem?”, “Where is Bellevue Avenue?”, “What’s a jonnycake?”, etc. and many other pressing inquires Dave had to field every morning. All these he answered cheerfully with good humor and an amazing talent for knowing the best places to eat, the best routes to take to most of New England attractions, and the usual queries about the Borden case and the house in general. Dave became a master of all trades by necessity. Leaky faucets, plugged up toilets, fire alarms going off in the night, special requirements from guests, unwanted visitors, power blackouts, snowstorms – Dave saw it all. And in the process probably flipped over 100,000 of the famous cornmeal jonnycakes. Foremost and primarily, Dave loved to cook and chat with the guests. Sometime’s Dave would forget the jonnycakes while visiting with the guests and the smoke alarms would sound, bringing the Fire Chief to the door in full gear, wielding an axe. Memorable moments.
The menu has not changed much since opening day: scrambled eggs, homefried potatoes, sausages or Canadian bacon, coffee, tea, fruit cup and jonnycakes, the last item served to the Bordens on the fateful day. Dave used to love to tell the story about jonnycakes, a local delicacy and an acquired taste. “Journey cakes, they were called because they could travel a long time in a saddlebag on a long trek”, Dave would intone every morning. “Put some maple syrup on ‘em- then they have some taste”.
Over the past few years Dave has been spared the hard sofa overnight, and arrives about 6 a.m. to get the coffee machine going for early risers. Chefs in training, Will and Logan, will be taking over for Dave next weekend. Here’s wishing Dave many happy golfing days on the greens, big wins at the casino, and relaxing hours with lovely wife, Jean. Best Wishes!
Dave’s old black gas Glenwood, once found rusting in a field in Vermont and refitted for gas pipes. “She’s temperamental but works like a champ if you know how to appease her”!
Dave (on the right) as Uncle John Morse, August 4, 2002.
02 Wednesday Dec 2009
Recently a letter surfaced in England written by Lizzie to a friend living there. The woman now owning the letter in the television programme that aired last week in Britain had the letter written to her grandmother by “L. A. Borden,” signed thus, over three pages, that was very conversational and ordinary in tone, being pre-murders. It was valued, very conservatively, at £600-800 or $1,200 to $1,600.
With the upcoming publication of the Fall River Historical Society’s Parallel Lives, (now delayed until late March -early Spring), Lizzie letters are much on the minds of Borden enthusiasts everywhere.
If a Lizzie Borden signature is out of your wallet range, many Lizzie-affiliated signatures can still be had for a bargain. The signatures of the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1892-96 and the former Governor, George Dexter Robinson, also better known as Lizzie’s head defense attorney, were bought recently for $30 on Ebay. Another former Governor’s autograph (John Davis Long 1880-1883) was thrown in as a bonus.
Roger Wolcott (1847-1900) was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1892-1896 and Governor from 1896-1900.
Roger Wolcott
John Davis Long (1838-1915)
Governor of Massachusetts 1880-1883, Secretary of the Navy 1897-1902
The Navy destroyer USS Long (DD-209) was named after him.
