On August 4, 1892, the axe-mutilated body of prosperous businessman Andrew J. Borden was discovered in the parlor of his home at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Mr. Borden’s body had been found by his 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie (1860–1927); soon after others arrived on the scene, the similarly brutalized corpse of Andrew’s wife (and Lizzie’s stepmother), Abby, was discovered in an upstairs bedroom. Thus began a sordid saga that would ultimately become one of the most celebrated unsolved cases in the history of American crime. Within days, the strange circumstances pointed to a prime suspect: Lizzie. When she was tried for the crime in the following summer, the evidence, though some of it circumstantial, appeared to be damning. Both Lizzie and her sister, Emma, harbored an intense dislike of their stepmother that only intensified when their father placed property—at one time, presumably, destined for them—in her name. On the day before the murders, Lizzie had attempted to purchase prussic acid—a deadly poison—from a nearby druggist. Nothing of value had been taken from the house, and Mr. and Mrs. Borden had been killed an hour and a half apart, making it extremely unlikely that an intruder was responsible. And, a few days after the murders and in the midst of the investigation, Lizzie was seen burning a “paint-stained” dress in the Borden backyard. At the conclusion of the two-week trial, which included the dramatic display of the slain Borden’s skulls, Lizzie was acquitted. Despite her public exoneration, she was largely shunned by Fall River society for the remainder of her life, and the truth behind the events of that August day remains one of the most enduring mysteries in the annals of American folklore. Lizzie’s notoriety would ultimately blossom into full-fledged legend, perhaps best personified in the grisly (if historically inaccurate) children’s rhyme in which she dispatches her mother with forty whacks—“and when she saw what she had done, gave her father forty-one.” Rare partial ALS signed “Lizbeth A. Borden, Fall River,” one page trimmed to 4 x 4.5, May 1 [no year]. An excerpt from a letter to an unknown recipient. In full: “annual meeting, but shall hope to see you before long. Sincerely….” Accompanied by a 1995 letter of opinion from the curator of the Fall River Historical Society, stating that the handwriting is Borden’s. Faint horizontal fold (just touching ascenders of first name), otherwise fine, bright condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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