1. "Lizzie in the parlor"
Posted by harry on Nov-10th-03 at 8:15 PM

I've been re-reading Bridget's trial testimony and came across this Q & A which I did not remember reading before (pg. 197):

Q.  Can you tell who took charge of the parlor sweeping, dusting and cleaning of it?
A.  Miss Lizzie in the summer.

Why just the summer? Were her church and hospital chores less in the summer and was she looking for something to do?  

Being the "Parlor" that noone used, maybe was off limits to Bridget
like the bedrooms.  I remember our parlor, in the same spot as Lizzies
was like a sacred place, kept spotless for visitors, no dogs or kids allowed.

I think you're right, Harry.  Lizzie probably had less to do in the summer.  Remember Alice Russell, in her inquest testimony, is asked:

Q.  Was that quite a frequent thing, for her to visit you?
A.  She has done so more this Summer, because she has not had quite so much outside work, .....

I've been re-reading Bridget's testimony, too, and I'd forgotten that she claimed Emma and Lizzie occasionaly went through the Borden's room and came down the back stairs. I've always held the impression the girls only used the front stairs and Bridget and the senior Bordens used the back stairs. Here's the Q&A covering that:

"Q.  Have you ever known people to go to the front part by way of the back stairs, or to the back part by way of the front stairs?
A.  Yes, sir.

Q.  When?
A.  Once in a while I used to see the girls, Miss Lizzie and Miss Emma, coming down the back stairs.

Q.  So they must have gone through, of course, in order to have done that?
A.  Yes, sir." (Trial,209)

Interesting how many times you can read the same material and be struck by different things.

Ah, then that puts Lizzie's Inquest statement in perspective:

Q. You do not remember of talking about washing the windows?
A. I don't remember whether I did or not; I don't remember it.  Yes, I remember; yes, I asked her to shut the parlor blinds when she got through, because the sun was so hot.

I always kind of wondered where this line came from, why was Lizzie so concerned about the parlor, well, because she went in there and cleaned it during the summer months.  But, from Bridget's testimony at the Trial, these blinds were already shut.

And from Bridget's Trial testimony, Lizzie meant the exterior shutters of the house, there were curtains up inside the parlor windows.

Q. Were the blinds of the parlor open or closed?
A. Closed.

Q. To wash them of course you had to open the blinds?
A. Yes, sir.

Q. Were the shutters in the parlor open or closed?
A. There was curtains for inside the parlor.

Page 231

Q. And these curtains, were how?
A. I don't remember how they were.

Q. You don't remember whether the curtains were up or down?
A. No, sir, I do not.

I think I know why you didn't remember that about Lizzie and the parlor.
Because Emma contradicts Bridget and Bridget really says she knows nothing about the parlor.
We know lizzie doesn't do much and Emma verifies that;  I think she adds in Lizzie to make her look good:

Inquest
Emma
108+
Q.  Did you have, yourself, any particular duty in connection with the house?
A.  Some things I always did.
Q.  What were they?
A.  I always took charge of the parlor, my sister and I, we always took charge of the guest chamber and our own rooms.
Q.  That is, you and your sister did that?
A.  Yes Sir.
Q.  Not your separate duty, but yours and hers?
A.  I did most of it, sometimes she assisted.
Q.  Did your mother never have charge of the guest chamber?
A.  I did not know that she ever did. When I was home I dont think she ever did.
Q.  You dont know how it happened that she was having the work of the guest chamber on this morning that she died?
A.  No Sir.
Q.  Any other duties that you and Lizzie did about the house, regular duties I mean?
A.  No. I dont think there was anything that we did steadily; just a as we felt, if we wanted to, we did.
..................

When Bridget says she saw the girls coming down the back stairs it is assumed they were *coming through*, but it's just as possible they were in the attic area after stuff stored in trunks and were not noticed ascending the back stairs, only coming down.