Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts

Carrie and Anna Borden and Lizzie all applied for passports on the same day.  Ellen Shove’s application comes from 1889 as does Elizabeth Brayton’s.  The hunt is still on for Miss Cox and Sarah Brayton’s passport application.  Unfortunately, photos were not required at the time. Interesting to note the average height of ladies was 5′ 3″-5′4, with “Roman” nose and “fair” complexion listed as descriptions of personal traits.  Lizzie’s passport application is included in the March article at the link above, and lists her hair as light brown – putting an end to Lizzie the Redhead myth.

Some have speculated that had Lizzie not experienced a taste of the Good Life on her 19 week Grand Tour adventure, she may not have become so disenchanted with life at #92 in Fall River.  Sadly, we do not know much about all of the places Lizzie visited, but it is possible, based on travel diaries and journals of the period, to piece together what it may have been like to make the transatlantic crossing in 1890 with a band of girlfriends for the first time, and imagine what fun Lizzie must have had.  Maybe one fine day a diary or journal will come forth with more details, penned by one of the ladies who accompanied Lizzie.  Until then, the Mutton Eaters Online article for March can be found at the top of the page- Making the Grand Tour!

Most “Boomers” will recall the big hit Lloyd Price had with Stagger Lee back in the 60’s but few probably know that there is a true story of Victorian crime connected to the pop tune. St. Louis, Missouri was the place where Stack Lee Shelton and Billy Lyons had some kind of disagreement on Christmas night- whether over gambling, politics, or a woman, is not clear. The final insult came when Billy took Stack’s fine Stetson hat, and Stack pulled out his gun and shot Billy dead on the spot in a bar room.

Stack Shelton did time for the murder, ultimately dying in prison of tuberculosis in 1912.  Their story has been immortalized in song in many versions over the years.  Thanks to Murder by Gaslight for shining a  light on this case. For much more about the details visit their link at http://murderbygasslight.blogspot.com/2009/09/staggerlee_05.html

Lyrics to the Lloyd Price version

The night was clear, and the moon was yellow
And the leaves came tumblin’ down. . .

I was standin’ on the corner
When I heard my bull dog bark.
He was barkin’ at the two men
Who were gamblin’ in the dark.

It was Stagger Lee and Billy,
Two men who gambled late.
Stagger Lee threw a seven,
Billy swore that he threw eight.

“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
“I can’t let you go with that.
“You have won all my money,
“And my brand-new Stetson hat.”

Stagger Lee went home
And he got his .44.
He said, “I’m goin’ to the ballroom
“Just to pay that debt I owe.”

(bridge)
Go, Stagger Lee

Stagger Lee went to the ballroom
And he strolled across the ballroom floor.
He said “You did me wrong, Billy.”
And he pulled his .44.

“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
“Oh, please don’t take my life!
“I’ve got three hungry children,
“And a very sickly wife.”

Stagger Lee shot Billy
Oh, he shot that poor boy so hard
That a bullet went through Billy
And broke the bartender’s bar.

1931 Transgression starring Nance O’Neil as Honora Maury with
Kay Francis … Elsie Maury
Paul Cavanagh … Robert Maury
Ricardo Cortez … Don Arturo de Borgus
For more about the film, plot and stars, visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022501/

Over the decades since Lizzie Borden’s death in 1927, the pansy has become the flower associated with her.  She herself never claimed that this was her favorite, and we have only the well-known photograph of her wearing the pansy brooch at her throat as any indication that she liked the flower.  Whether it was a favorite of Lizzie’s or merely a favorite blossom of the era cannot be known with any certainty.  Postcards, other ephemera, jewelry, household decorations, needlework, painted china, and such are all lavished with pansies.  It was a sentimental favorite, probably second only to blue forget-me-nots.  Violets, which signify faithfulness, and rosebuds of varying colors were other flowers most often seen.  The Language of Flowers was a popular code of the times, of which most ladies were very knowledgeable.  Pansies, from the French “pensees” means “thoughts”.  Naturally this was an ideal flower to associate with card sending and gift-giving.  There is a very good possibility that Lizzie’s pansy brooch was a gift given to her by a lady friend of close acquaintance.  Lizzie seemed to have a great many dresses in her closet which featured blue, so perhaps the blue-violet shades of pansies appealed to her for that reason.  Another well-know name for the tiny johnny-jump up, a diminuative pansy cousin, was “heart-ease”.  The motif was very popular in handwork for ladies of the time.  A lady reporter who wrote about Lizzie’s neat bedroom mentions a pale blue coverlet worked in embroidered flowers by Lizzie.  Too bad she did not mention what kind of flowers!  Today a vase of silk pansies is kept in Lizzie’s bedroom on Second Street, a Victorian oil painting of pansies hangs above her bed and pansies are always planted in the garden at #92.

Here is a poem by Louisa Don Carlos, born in 1874, one of many Victorian verses about the beloved pansy.

O give me not red roses,
That early dews have wet!
They speak to me of kisses
That are remembered yet.
 
O bring me not white roses,
That summer winds have drest!
For once I placed white roses
Upon a quiet breast.
 
But bring me purple pansies
If so you wish to please,
For them I have affection;
For pansies are “heart’s ease”.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day- Victorian screensavers, icons and magnets.  Click on this link and scroll away to Victorianize your computer today!    http://www.corrieweb.nl/gaslight/screensaver.htm

Readers of W&W will surely enjoy this excellent site -here’s one for the bookmark to favorites! http://murderbygasslight.blogspot.com/

There’s just something about the glow of Victorian gaslight that seems to go with mystery and crime and dark winter nights.  For fictional gaslight adventures, look into Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries (all available on Amazon).

 or the classic film thriller with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman

Gaslight (1944) — Part 1