The Season of Lizzie Opens

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Yes, it’s that time of year again- the August through Halloween Lizzie Season when plays, books, Lizzie website news, hatchet-throwing contests and such begin to appear with a vengeance. The kickoff is usually on July 19th, Lizzie’s birthday, and the fever pitch continues right through Halloween night when the house on Second Street is packed to the attic and more than one trick- or- treater dresses up as the infamous Lizzie B.

A special Borden exhibit will debut at the Rock Street Fall River Historical Society on August 4th, and as usual, the Pear Essential Productions will be putting on the annual dramatization at the Borden house on Second Street. This year there will be a few new faces in the familiar roles, and a new director for the Bordenian amateur acting troupe, many of whom work at the Bed and Breakfast during the week. Oak Grove will be hopping with visitors to the Borden plot, and the Herald News and other area newspapers will not fail to recall those famous days of 1892. Are you ready for All Things Lizzie?

Still Keeping Them Guessing at 153- Happy Birthday Lizzie!

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by Shelley in Uncategorized

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July 19, 1860

A few changes for August 4th

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", "Lizzie Folks", "Lizziewear", 1890 fashion, August 4th, Pear Essential Players, Second Street Happenings

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The Pear Essential Productions’ annual August 4th dramatization at the Borden house will have a few new faces this year. Mike Shogi, from Cleveland will be directing this year for the first time as long-time producer-director and script writer Shelley Dziedzic steps down after a long run. She will still assist with ticket sales, script and costuming.

Mike is a familiar face at #92, having played Dr. Dolan in 2011 and Detective Seaver in 2012 as well as being one of the Second Street Irregulars “Muttoneaters” for many years.

There will be some big changes in casting this year as well as a few old familiar faces reprising their usual roles. Stay tuned for more cast announcements here.

Carol Ann Simone will be returning as Lizzie Borden this year, shown here in the famous pink and white striped wrapper which she designed and made herself.

Below: The cast from August 4, 2012.

Providence Journal Launches Six-Part Serial for the 120th Anniversary of Lizzie’s Acquittal

23 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", August 4th, Borden Family, Fall River, Fall River Historical Society, House & Testimonies, If Walls Could Talk, Just Plain Lizzie, Lizpix, Lizzie in Print, Newspaper Coverage, Read All ABout It, Stop the Press, Video Lizzie, YouTube Lizzie

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A much-anticipated series debuted today in the Sunday Providence Journal. ” Projo” writer Paul Davis certainly did his homework for this six-part article which runs all week and features some new, never-before-published information. The writing is crisp, accurate and thought-provoking and highlights trial coverage from 1893 Providence Journals. Lizziephiles will be over the moon with the expansive coverage. If you cannot obtain a hard copy of the paper, read all about it at the newspaper online link.

http://www.providencejournal.com/topics/special-reports/lizzie-borden-anniversary/content/20130621-part-one-to-me-i-see-nothing-but-the-densest-of-shadows.ece

A short trailer was put up on Saturday night to heighten anticipation.

http://m.providencejournal.com/projo/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DDG8ZlUp

A promotional online video is also on the Projo site and Youtube which features Warps and Wefts writer, Shelley Dziedzic who made a tour with Journal reporter Paul Davis in May. The tour encompassed all things “Lizzie” in and around Fall River and a jaunt to the New Bedford courthouse to visit the scene where the 1893 trial unfolded.

It’s Lizzie Time Again

19 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Shelley in Uncategorized

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It was a quiet Winter and Spring for All Things Lizzie in the public eye, but behind the scenes, there was a buzz. The big news in the Bordenphile community is the possibility of two new biopics about Lizzie and her trial. Casting of one Lifetime channel made-for-TV effort has been posted, with Christina Ricci in the coveted role of Lizzie B.
http://previously.tv/television/two-lizzie-borden-biopics-enter-one-leaves/
The long-awaited version with Chloe Sevigny in the title role was shelved due to the filming workload of the actress, which is a shame since Tom Hanks and Playtone would have been a dynamite combo for HBO. Maybe we have not heard the end of that one yet.

On the historical front, The Fall River Historical Society has pulled out all the stops for a refreshed Lizzie Borden display which includes a dainty Delft-like teapot Lizzie once bestowed upon her companion, Miss Russell (no relation to poor Alice).
http://www.heraldnews.com/newsnow/x372821630/Teapot-given-to-Historical-Society-offers-piece-of-Lizzie-Borden-story?zc_p=0

On Second Street, casting is underway for August 4th dramatizations, this year produced and directed by Cleveland’s Mike Shogi, taking over for long-time director, Shelley Dziedzic who has retired after 14 years. Yes, the Season of Lizzie is upon us and will be going full tilt through Halloween, you can be sure!

How well do you know. . . .?

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Shelley in True Crime

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5 Fun Quizzes to Test Your True Crime Trivia Knowledge

R.I.P. Ed Thibault, December 18, 2012

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Shelley in Second Street Irregulars

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It is with profound sorrow that I post the sad news about the passing of my old friend Ed Thibault today. We had been friends for over 20 years and worked at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast together for many years. Ed and I began the Second Street Irregulars together in 1993. Affectionately called “Mr. Lizzie”, Ed was the go- to guy on all things Lizzie back in the 80s and 90s. He gave tours of the Borden home, visited schools and civic groups and was never too tired to sit and chat about the case. We played Mr. and Mrs. Borden for many years. The photo below was for Monsterquest 2008, our last time together in the roles.

I am missing my old friend already. Ed had been suffering for a very long time with respiratory and heart ailments and had spent the past 6 weeks in Charlton Hospital before being released to a rehab and nursing establishment. News of funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. Lizzie Borden had a champion in Ed who never believed she was guilty.

Ed accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Second Street Irregulars at the Q Club, 2011.

October and Lizzie Borden Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", Borden Family, Halloween Lizzie Borden, Just Plain Lizzie, Uncategorized

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First, a big thank you to followers and readers of Warps & Wefts as we mark the 600th post since 2007. Comments and emails are much-appreciated.

Well, just as seen posted here every October, Lizzie is back in time for Halloween in every fun house, horror venue, costume contest, and not more than a few really BAD films. Usually seen in a red and black dress with puffy leg-o’-mutton sleeves and red hair, she is swinging a bloody hatchet- or even more often an axe, and looking maniacal. Sadly, a really intriguing mystery goes missing in all the gore, and much misinformation about the case gets repeated as Gospel truth which makes a lasting impression. The true story is as scary as anything: two harmless old people savagely slashed and bludgeoned in the head right in the safety and comfort of their family home; home– a place which should be the haven of safety. If this can happen there- then who is safe? Horrifying thought. Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock got it right. Horror truly comes in the unexpected violence which intrudes into the safe and simple day-to-day, ordinary life.

So this year, W&W is not going to comment on Halloween Lizzie doings all over America. Rather, try having a really good historical scare by reading the source documents on the case. The witness statements, inquest, preliminary, and trial are all available on Amazon, and some free online. And while you are waiting for your Amazon delivery, here is something interesting to read.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/17/4919351/research-uncovers-evil-runs-in.html

Happy Halloween.

Jury photo up for auction

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", Famous Massachusetts Cases, Just Plain Lizzie, New Bedford

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Swann Auction Galleries in New York is selling an oversized original photograph of the jury that acquited Lizzie Borden. It’s Lot 207 in the October 2, 2012 sale. Estimate is $800.00-$1,200.00. John O’Neil New Bedford, MA 1893 -photographer. The photo below is the one familiar to most and was given as a parting gift to Lizzie after her acquittal.

Officer Peter Gaskell Bence

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Shelley in August 3, August 4th, Case Personalities, Fall River, Fall River families, Fall River Police Dept., Oak Grove Cemetery, Potpourri, True Crime

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Eli Bence, Peter Gaskell Bence

One has to wonder if Eli Bence consulted his half-brother Peter Gaskell Bence in the matter of giving evidence to the Fall River Police Department regarding the attempt by the woman he identified as Lizzie to purchase prussic acid on August 3rd. Peter Bence had received a political appointment to the Fall River Police Department in 1878 and served as a patrolman until 1880. He is pictured above in his policeman’s uniform.

The Bences were a large and close-knit family. In 1892 Peter Bence, a widower, was preparing to marry again to Emma Macomber on August 25th. His first wife, Sarah Jane Ball Bence had died in childbirth at their home at 117 Bay Street in 1890. The house is still standing. The topic of the Borden case, Eli’s evidence, and trial must surely have been a hot topic of discussion within those walls. In 1893 Peter and his new wife moved into 56 Palmer Street, a duplex owned by the Harringtons, where they lived until after his second wife passed away. Peter died in 1919 in Newport where he had been spending his last days with his son.

After leaving the police force, Bence tried his hand at mill work as a weaver, many years as a carpenter and finally in later life, a janitor at the Mount Hope Elementary School. Carpentry was his first love and he did decorative interior woodworking at the B.M.C. Durfee High School and the Granite Block downtown. Boat building was a hobby.

Peter Bence, born in 1849, and his sister Ellen were born in Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England. Ellen died as an infant and Peter immigrated with his father William and stepmother Sarah in 1854. The family were living in Braintree when Eli Bence was born.

Peter and his wives are buried in the family plot in Oak Grove Cemetery, next to his parents. He does not have a marker.

*Photo above and some data courtesy of Ancestry.com and the Bence family descendants

Bence in later years

24 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizzie Folks", After the Trial, Aftermath, Case Personalities, Fairhaven, Fall River, New Bedford, Potpourri

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Eli Bence

As mentioned in an earlier article on Warps and Wefts, https://lizziebordenwarpsandwefts.com/mutton-eaters-february-article/, Eli Bence and his testimony about Lizzie Borden coming into the pharmacy where he was a counter clerk on the day before the murders was bombshell testimony. Although allowed through the Preliminary, Bence’s important revelations did not make it into the 1893 trial, being ruled as “too far remote in time” from the actual killings. No prussic acid was found in the bodies of either Borden, not surprising as the lady who inquired for the deadly poison could not obtain it without a prescription. Perhaps Bence’s and the testimony of the dress burning incident by Alice Russell might have turned the tide for Lizzie, had either been allowed.

Bence moved to New Bedford and set up his own drug store by 1894, then after the death of his wife, remarried a Fairhaven girl, Annie Coggshell Maxfield, whose father ran a successful plumbing concern on Bridge St. Bence eventually moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts with son Roy by his first wife Sarah Hayhurst, and his son Maxfield by his second wife Annie. They also had a little girl Priscilla who died very young. Bence died at his Pittsfield home after suffering a stroke while riding in a car returning from the Berkshires with his son and daughter in law and wife on May 4, 1915. He is buried in Fairhaven by the side of his wife Annie and their daughter Priscilla.

The only photograph we have seen of Bence until now has been of the earnest, 27 year old who tried to give his testimony at Lizzie’s trial.

Thanks to the Barrett Family and Ancestry.com, an older Eli is shown below, photo taken in New Bedford, year unknown.

Bence’s parents, William and Sarah are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River.

William Bence, Eli’s father who was active in Globe area politics.

A medicine dispensing bottle from the Bence Pharmacy in New Bedford.

And the results are in for August 4th

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", "Lizzie Folks", "Lizziewear", August 4th, Borden Family, Motives, Murder Most Foul, Pear Essential Players, Potpourri, Second Street Happenings

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After the annual August 4^th dramatization by the Pear Essential Players, visitors on tour at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum were asked to fill out an exit poll and give any comments they wished to leave. Some of the results were surprising and humorous.

Lizzie Guilty 55, Lizzie Innocent 11, Lizzie undecided or neutral 1, Uncle John Morse Guilty or Involved 24, Billy Borden, Guilty 1, Typhoid Mary 1, Emma Borden Guilty 1, Hired Professional Killer 1, Bridget Sullivan Guilty 6, Uncle John and Bridget together 1.

Motives ran the gamut: greed and hatred of stepmother, money and revenge, secret love affair between Lizzie and her Uncle John, mental instability, resentment, payback, anger, jealousy, incest, left out of will, freedom, and envy of her wealthy girlfriends on the Hill.

Other suspects considered were: an evicted tenant of Andrew Borden’s, and Lizzie and Bridget working together, Bridget aiding in the cover-up.

One very interesting motive for murder proposed was the effect that “overly busy patterns on the wall paper and carpeting brought on mental stress”, as did the killing of Lizzie’s “pet raven” which was probably confused with the pigeons Andrew Borden killed by wringing their necks.

Under the category of weapon, all agreed on HATCHET, with one writer filling in the word “Sufficient”!

For the most part all agreed that the murders would never be solved, with only two claiming confidence that they would be.

After the performances ended, there was a drawing for an overnight stay for two at the B&B. The Aruda family, who live in Fall River, won. The cast of 16 was the largest ever since the B&B opening in 1996. Carol Ann Simone debuted as Lizzie this year to an appreciative crowd. Tickets had sold out by lunch time.

Post mortem photographs on display for the first time

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", After the Trial, August 4th, Borden Family, Borden Spaces and Places, Case Personalities, Ephemera, Fall River, Fall River Historical Society, In the News, Just Plain Lizzie, Lizzie in Print, Museums & Exhibits, Potpourri, Stop the Press, The Victims, True Crime, Victorian True Crime

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http://www.heraldnews.com/newsletter/x1225366721/New-and-never-before-seen-Borden-items-post-mortem-pictures-on-exhibit-at-Historical-Society

The Fall River Historical Society special August-4-Sept 30 exhibit will display, for the first time, the post mortem photographs of Abby and Andrew Borden. Other rare and never-displayed items from the trial and trial lawyers will be on exhibit.

A Weekend with Lizzie Borden Not to Be Missed

01 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by Shelley in "Lizbits", "Lizzie Folks", August 4th, Borden Family, Borden Spaces and Places, Crime Scene, Fall River, Fall River Historical Society, Famous Massachusetts Cases, Famous Victorians, Just Plain Lizzie, On stage, Pear Essential Players, Potpourri, Second Street Happenings, Victorian True Crime, Victoriana

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For those who cannot get enough of the Borden Case, this will be a four-star weekend featuring the annual dramatization at the house on Second Street ( tickets on sale now at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast) and a VERY special exhibit which opens on August 4th and runs through September 30th at the Fall River Historical Society. For Letterboxers, a special letterbox will be hidden in Fall River to mark the 120th anniversary of the historic crime. Atlasquest.com will have the clue, so bring your stamp and notepad, an inkpad is provided in the box. To see the clue type Fall River, MA in the locator box at the Atlasquest.com site. Got Lizzie? And how!

Pear Essential Players One Day Only

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by Shelley in August 4th, Borden Family, Fall River, On stage, Pear Essential Players, Second Street Happenings

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Once a year the only dedicated amateur Bordenian thespian troupe gathers to put on their dramatization of events at the Borden house on August 4th. There will be a new Lizzie this year and a few other new faces. The amateur performers come together from all over the country only once a year on the 4th for this event. The group was founded in 1993 and the cast has increased every year with this year’s cast featuring 16 character roles. Tickets may be reserved by calling the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum at 508-675-7333. Major credit cards accepted. Tickets can be reserved for you in the giftshop for pick-up on the day of the event or purchased during giftshop hours. Don’t be disappointed-tickets sell out fast!

Abby Borden- Shelley Dziedzic

Andrew Borden- Don Sykes

Lizzie Borden- Carol Ann Simone

Emma Borden- Barbara Morrissey

Uncle John Morse- Joe Radza

Bridget Sullivan- Suzann Rogers

Marshal Hilliard- Ray Mitchell

Officer Phil Harrington- Mark Lomastro

Dr. Bowen- Jack Sheridan

Mrs. Phebe Bowen- Ellen Borden

Addie Churchill- JoAnne Giovino

Dr. Dolan- Michael Shogi

Miss Manning- Eliza Marks

Nellie Bly, Intrepid Globe-Spanning Reporter- Katrina Shogi

Undertaker Winward- Jerry Pacheco

Alice Russell- Kristin Pepe

The Night Sky on August 4, 1892

28 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by Shelley in August 4th, Ephemera

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http://choyt48.home.comcast.net/~choyt48/jcayer_run.htm

Mr. Ayers was the kingpin of patent medicines in the mid-Victorian era. Lowell, Massachusetts was the center of his far-reaching enterprise and his annual almanac publication was seen in the kitchen and privies of New England homes for decades, usually hanging on a nail by a piece of string. August 4th shows the sunrise at 4:55 a.m., sunset at 7:15 p.m in the far right Massachusetts column. Alice Russell was right about one thing- anyone tampering with the Borden’s milk can on the north side steps would have been seen at 5 a.m., provided someone was looking! The full moon was on the 8th, which would have shone over the holding tomb containing the bodies of Abby and Andrew Borden.