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Cast of Characters, Page 2

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PHILIP HARRINGTON, 1859 - 1893. Born in Fall River, Mass., Harrington was the son of James P. and Mary (McCue) Harrington. He was hired as a patrolman in the Fall River Police Department in 1883. He was appointed captain in December of 1892 and served as a clerk of the Fall River Police Beneficial Association that same year. He provided testimony at Lizzie's preliminary hearing. He died unexpectedly in Newport, RI, in 1893.

RUFUS BARTLETT HILLIARD, 1849 - 1912. Born in Pembroke, Maine, Hilliard was the son of David and Elizabeth (Wilson) Hilliard. In 1879, he was hired by the Fall River Police Department, where he received periodic promotions until, in 1886, he was named city marshall. In 1888, he married Miss Nellie Smith Clark of Fall River. Hilliard provided extensive testimony at both Lizzie's preliminary hearing and trial. He was also instrumental the following year in resolving the Bertha Manchester murder case. Under his command, the Fall River Police Department grew to be the third largest in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He resided in Fall River until his death in 1912.

WILLIAM H. MEDLEY, 1853 - 1917. Born in England, Medley was the son of Joseph and Hannah (Chambers) Medley. A member of the Fall River Police Department as of 1880, he was a patrolman at the time of the Borden murders. In 1910, he was appointed assistant city marshall and, in 1915, promoted to City Marshall. He died in an automobile accident in Fall River, in 1917. Medley was one of the first police officers to arrive at the scene of the crime. His testimony at the trial detailed his observations there that day.

CHIEF JUSTICE ALBERT MASON, 1836 - 1905. Born in Middleborough, Mass., Mason was the son of Albert T. and Arlina (Orcutt) Mason. In 1857, in Plymouth, Mass., he married Miss Lydia F. Whiting. He was appointed associate justice in 1882 and, in 1890, chief justice of the superior court. He was one of the judges who presided over the trial of Miss Lizzie A. Borden. He died in Brookline, Mass. in 1905.

JUSTICE CALEB BLODGETT, 1832 - 1901. Born in Dorchester, NH, Blodgett was the son of Caleb and Charlotte (Piper) Blodgett. He married Miss Roxie B. Martin of Canaan in 1865. In 1882, he was appointed associate justice of the superior court by Governor John D. Long, a position from which he retired in 1900. It was in this capacity that he served at the Borden trial in 1893.

JUSTICE JUSTIN DEWEY, 1836 - 1900. Born in Alford, Mass., Dewey was the son of Justin and Melinda (Kelsey) Dewey. He wed Miss Jane Stanley in Great Barrington in 1865. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1862 and again in 1877. He was also elected to the state senate in 1879. In 1886, he was appointed judge of the Massachusetts superior court by Governor George D. Robinson, the man who would later successfully defend Lizzie Borden. He died in Springfield, Mass. in 1900.

NELLIE S. MC HENRY, Wife of detective Edwin D. McHenry, Nellie resided with her husband in Providence, RI, in 1892. On August 19th of that year she allegedly conducted an interview with Bridget Sullivan, supposedly having gained the confidence of the Borden's former maid by posing as a relative of the family. The following year she moved with her husband to New York City and, in 1894, resided in a boarding house in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Fall River Evening News of February 7th of that year noted that "Mrs. E. D. McHenry, wife of the detective who was employed by the government in the Borden case, has obtained a divorce nisi on the ground of adultery."

HANNAH B. (HOWE) REAGAN, 1848 - 1924. Born in Ireland, Reagan was the daughter of Henry and Catherine (McCarthy) Howe. She married Quinlan M. Reagan, a stonecutter, in Fall River, Mass. The first matron of that city's Central Police Station, she served in that capacity from 1888 to the time of her resignation in 1909. She testified at the trial regarding several incidents which occurred during Lizzie's nine-day incarceration at the Fall River jail.

EDWARD STICKNEY WOOD, 1846 - 1905. Born in Cambridge, Mass., Wood attended Harvard University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1867. Entering Harvard Medical School in 1868, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1871. Appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Harvard in 1871, he remained in this capacity until his appointment to a full professorship five years later, a position he held until his death. An expert in the analysis of blood and blood stains, he was called upon to testify at numerous murder trials, including the Borden Murders of 1892.

Fall River Board of Aldermen of 1857; William Mason, Southard H. Miller, John P. Slade, Robert Adams, William Carr, James Henry (left to right); photographed July 10, 1891.

Edmund Lester Pearson.
Considered one the best writers on the Borden murders, as well as the most prolific, "the Borden Case" is Pearson's first work on the subject. After a careful analysis of the murder events and the trial, Pearson offers a strong argument for Lizzie's guilt.

Fall River Police Force, circa 1900.

EDWIN AUGUSTUS BUCK, 1824-1903. City Missionary of the Central Congregational Church in Fall River from December 1867 until he retired in 1899 at age 75. With the Rev. Mr. Jubb, he was a strong supporter of Lizzie "almost every day from the time of the murders... until her acquittal". Born in Bucksport, Maine, his parents were James and Lydia (Treat) Buck. In January 1853 he married Elmira R. Walker of Medway, Mass. After giving birth to five daughters, she died on 16 February 1877. The Rev. Mr. Buck died on 9 March 1903, after a brief attack of pneumonia. His daughter Alice Lydia Buck was a good friend of Emma Borden and "an ardent supporter of Emma and Lizzie Borden during the latter's trial." Mr. Buck was Emma's advisor until his death. After Emma left Maplecroft in 1905, she lived with Alice Buck at least briefly during the year 1912.

W. (WILLIAM) WALKER JUBB, 1837-1904. Pastor of the Central Congregational Church in Fall River (of which Lizzie was an active member) from September 1891 to 1896. On the first Sunday after the murders, Rev. Jubb's sermon included these words in reference to Lizzie: "a life which has always commanded respect, whose acts and motives have always been pure and holy." His pastoral prayer included this: "Save us from blasting a life, innocent and blameless; keep us from taking the sweetness from a future by our ill-advised words". Throughout the ten month ordeal, he was "a strong and vocal champion of Lizzie and a firm believer in her innocence." During the trial he was constantly at her side. Born in Morley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, his parents were John and Mary Jubb. At age 17, he joined his mother's church (Methodist) and at 20 began to preach. Leaving that denomination for "the freer life of Congregationalism", his first pastorate was in Ilkeson, Derbyshire, in 1864. Mr. Jubb died in Illesley, near London, in March 1904.

BORDEN JURY.
Frank Cole, William Dean, John Finn, Lewis Hodges, George Potter, Charles Richards, Augustus Swift, William Westcot, Fredrick Wilbar, Lemuel Wilber, John Wilbur, Allen Wordell, Charles Richards served as jury foreman.

ALICE MANLEY RUSSELL, 1852 - 1941. Alice was born in New Bedford, Mass., the daughter of Frederick W. and Judith (Manley) Russell. Employed as a clerk for several years in Fall River, she later taught sewing in the public schools of that city. In 1908, she was promoted to supervisor of sewing, retiring from that position in 1913. She resided in Fall River for the rest of her life. She was a witness at both the inquest and the preliminary trial but it was not until the grand jury hearing that she revealed her "burning of the dress" testimony. She was also a witness at the trial of Miss Lizzie A. Borden in June of 1893.

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Narrative Source: Commonwealth of Massachusetts VS. Lizzie A. Borden; The Knowlton Papers, 1892-1893. Eds. Michael Martins and Dennis A. Binette. Fall River, MA: Fall River Historical Society, 1994.

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