"Lizzie Folks"
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April Mutton Eater’s Article Online Now
Lizzie Borden’s School Days & The Morgan Street School
(photo courtesy of Hollie B. Dziedzic)
Lizzie’s grammar school still stands on Morgan Street. Re-named the Nathaniel B. Borden School many years ago, the venerable edifice, built in 1868 closed its doors as a school forever in 2007. This month’s article features a slideshow and article about the school and comments about Lizzie’s school days there. Click on the tab at the top of the page header for April Mutton Eaters Online to read this month’s feature. -
Living History-Laura Loew
Photograph courtesy of JENNIFER KARPUS/SUN NEWS
Laura Loew lives what she loves. The Medina, Ohio woman offers classes and lectures in various Victorian-era topics including Lizzie Borden, one of the most popular presentations. Ms. Loew presents programs on many aspects of Victorian fashion from hats to needlework to mourning customs including hairwork jewelry. Her company, Lost in the Past, has a web site at http://lostinthepast.com/ where she may be contacted to book a lecture, date a photograph, advise on period costume, plan Victorian teas and myriad other fascinating services related to the Victorian era. Her next class will take place in her restored Italianate Victorian home and will be a craft session in making a fan, a presentation on the language of the fan, and a tour of her home filled with period antiques on April 10th. -
Lizziewear for tots
Nothing Says Love Like Lizzie !
This little fellow in the Youtube segment below loves Lizzie, but apparently not his day care teachers. Even worn as an undershirt, Lizzie’s face raised a few eyebrows. Need one for your baby from Baby Wit? What next- hatchet rattles? To order: http://www.babywit.com/TRR105I.html -
Lizzie Borden goes on a spree!
Several ladies in New Bedford and Fall River, anticipating Lizzie’s acquittal in June of 1893, decided to raise a “purse” to send the long-suffering Miss Borden on a treat to Chicago to see the Columbian Exposition, an event celebrating 400 years since Christopher Columbus made his famous landing. The White City was the place to see when it opened in 1893.
Instead of a cash purse, vacation coupons were assiduously clipped and mailed in to the newspaper with Lizzie Borden’s name on them for a contest where the first prize was the coveted trip to Chicago. According to the Fall River Weekly News, she received 94,097 coupons and came in second. She declined to accept the generous second prize of a trip to Narragansett Pier on the advice of Mr. Andrew Jennings, her attorney, and funded her own trip, which she could now easily afford.
Leaving sister Emma to unpack at Maplecroft, Lizzie set off in early October with Miss Alice Buck, Rev. Buck’s daughter, and Miss Caroline Borden for a Girls -On- A- Spree- Adventure! Fun to imagine Lizzie up in a hot air balloon or riding the new-fangled Ferris Wheel.
While Lizzie was visiting, America’s first serial killer, H.H. Holmes was plying a grisly trade at his Murder Castle in Chicago near the fairgrounds, specializing in renting rooms to unmarried ladies without family who were traveling to Chicago to see the fair. Just suppose Lizzie and the ladies had opted to stay there!
For more about H.H. Holmes, visit http://www.hhholmesthefilm.com/
A must -read is Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
(reference source, Lizzie Borden, Past and Present, Leonard Rebello, Alzach Press, 1999, p.187.)
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Haunted U with Chris Moon this weekend
Ghosthunters University returns to #92 this weekend with Chris Moon.http://www.hauntedtimes.com/events.html#
Happy Haunting!
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Grand Tour Ladies’ Passport Applications
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.
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New for March
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! -
Nance O’Neil Speaks!
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/ -
Dr. Draper comes to call
The diningroom at Second Street now has a gallery of photos of physicians who were in one way or another connected to the Borden case. The most recent addition is Dr. Draper of Harvard Medical School, Boston, who assisted with the autopsy of Andrew and Abby Borden on August 11th in Oak Grove cemetery.
Dr. Draper has an uncanny resemblance to Dr. James Starrs, a forensics expert who had attempted to gain support for the exhumation of the Borden bodies in 1992. Professor Starrs was denied the request but did examine trial exhibits at the historical society and utilized ground penetrating radar to map the Borden plot.
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The Mutton Eaters Online
Warps & Wefts is pleased to announce a new feature for this site. Beginning this month, articles and photos of the exploits of the Second Street Irregulars will appear. The S.S.I. or “”Mutton Eaters” is an informal group of armchair sleuths from all over America who like to go “On the Road” whenever possible to chivvy out obscure and fascinating facts about the many individuals involved in the Lizzie Borden case. When the game’s a’foot there’s no telling what will happen or what they may find-and getting there is half the fun. This month the spotlight is on William Medley, one of the observant policemen on the scene of the crime August 4th. Our articles will remain for six months and are for private use only. To access this month’s feature, click on the tab Mutton Eaters Online Article above or this link http://lizziebordenwarpsandwefts.com/january-mutton-eaters-online-article/ You will feel as if you were riding right alongside!For more about the Second Street Irregulars visit http://secondstreetirregulars.org/
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Happy Birthday “Mr. Lizzie”
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!
