Lizzie Borden and the Massachusetts Axe Murders

The case of Lizzie Bordon is one of the most infamous in criminal history having spawned songs, plays and a range of publications. It also ranks as one of the most puzzling. Having been acquitted of the axe murders of both her parents, Borden then simply returned home and carried on as before only to be roundly ostracised by the stoutly religious local community. Prosecutors never charged anyone else with the crimes leaving the case naggingly unsolved. Here, author Ronald Bartle revisits the events which occurred in Fall River, Massachussets in 1892. He explains how her answers to police questions were at times strange and contradictory and her accounts to them often bizarre. With so many pointers to her involvement the trial has been compared to that of O J Simpson in the modern day. It is immortalised in legal and other folklore as well as in the children’s rhyme: Lizzie Borden took an axeAnd gave her mother forty whacks.When she saw what she had done,She gave her father forty-one.A refreshing account of a very famous case. Contains legal and other analysis. A fly-on-the-wall view of the nineteenth century USA justice system. A true story that reads like a thriller.

The case of Lizzie Bordon is one of the most infamous in criminal history having spawned songs, plays and a range of publications. It also ranks as one of the most puzzling. Having been acquitted of the axe murders of both her parents, Borden then simply returned home and carried on as before only to be roundly ostracised by the stoutly religious local community. Prosecutors never charged anyone else with the crimes leaving the case naggingly unsolved. Here, author Ronald Bartle revisits the events which occurred in Fall River, Massachussets in 1892. He explains how her answers to police questions were at times strange and contradictory and her accounts to them often bizarre. With so many pointers to her involvement the trial has been compared to that of O J Simpson in the modern day. It is immortalised in legal and other folklore as well as in the children’s rhyme: Lizzie Borden took an axeAnd gave her mother forty whacks.When she saw what she had done,She gave her father forty-one.A refreshing account of a very famous case. Contains legal and other analysis. A fly-on-the-wall view of the nineteenth century USA justice system. A true story that reads like a thriller.