The Lizzie Borden Society archive

Further research found this under Hixson (page 59):

"Although Lizzie and Emma, who shared the costs, later blanched when they
received Robinson's bill for $25,000---a massive sum in 1893---he had clearly been worth every cent."

Spiering in a footnote, page 107:

"Lizzie and Emma paid Robinson $25,000 for his services. By comparison, the annual salary for Superior Court judges in 1893 was $5,000."

There is also this in Sullivan (page 200)

"Apparently Lizzie considered the fee satisfactory and paid it, because it is said that there was considerable post-trial correspondence between Lizzie and her former attorney, which ultimately came into the hands of Governor Robinson's grandson, a distinguished member of the Springfield Bar until his death late in 1973. I inquired of the correspondence, hoping for the opportunity to examine it, but learned from associates of Mr. Robinson that he was then very seriously ill, that he had destroyed much of the correspondence several years ago, and those letters which he had retained he did not wish to make public on the understandable ethical grounds of confidentiality of client-attorney communication...."

I wonder if these are some of the same papers currently in the Robinson law firm files and also what papers were destroyed.


(Message last edited Apr-14th-02  9:10 AM.)

DeMille's wording:
"to her mother's dying behest"
implies it is straight out of that *interview* that I don't believe in.
I haven't read it personally, but hope to get my hands on it.  Having an "educator" as a sister is very helful to get at sources!

The "Mother's Behest" I do refer to, is that this is the article I call the *Emma and the Deathbed Scene*--where she supposedly says to the reporter that she promised her mother Sarah, on her deathbed, that she would always "care for baby Lizzie"...OH PULEEZZEE...

I rather think, DeMille, the dramatist, got this from that "interview."

Harry, that was a GREAT JOB!  I'm so far away from the books now, I need this stuff from you guys!

(EDIT:)
Probate, in Florida, is one year and one month.  That's 13 months but an extension can be granted for extraordinary circumstances.
Didn't Morse's estate take rather long also, as I recall?


(Message last edited Apr-14th-02  10:10 AM.)

Good morning, Kat:

The words of de Mille concerning Emma's interview are not a "fragment' of her imagination.  They actually occur in an interview given to reporter Edwin J. Maguire of the Boston Sunday Post of April 13, 1913.
I have a copy of the newspaper. The transcript is rather long and takes up about six pages.  I'll send you a copy if you so desire.
Bill

Stef tells me we HAVE read the interview in "That Book", the Casebook of Family and Crime in the 1890's, Williams, Smithburn,Peterson, 1980, pg. 248-254.

Here are the QUOTED excerpts supposedly from Emma, without all the flowery phrases and padding by the "reporter":

By Edwin J. Maguire

("Queer?  Yes, Lizzie was queer, but guilty on that terrible charge made against her--no--emphatically, No.  Time and again she has avowed her innocence to me, and I believe her....") [the article starts]

"...The tragedy seems but yesterday, and many times I catch myself wondering whether it is not some frightful dream, after all...Often it had occurred to me how strange is the fact that no one save Lizzie was ever brought to trial for the killing of our father and our mother-in-law.  [i.e., stepmother --Eds.]

Some persons have stated that for years they considered Lizzie's actions decidedly queer.

But what if she did act queerly?  Don't we all do something peculiar at some time or other?

Queer?  Yes, Lizzie is queer.  But as for her being guilty, I say 'No,' and decidedly 'No.'

The day the crime took place I was at Fairhaven on a visit to friends, I hurried home in response to a telegram, and one of the first persons I met was Lizzie.  She was very much affected.

Later, when veiled accusations began to be made, she came to me and said:

'Emma, it is awful for them to say that I killed poor father and our stepmother.  You know that I would not dream of such an awful thing, Emma.'

Later, after her arrest and during her trial, Lizzie many times reiterated her protest of innocence to me.

And after her acquittal she declared her guiltlessness during conversations that we had at the French street mansion.

Here is the strongest thing that has convinced me of Lizzie's innocence.  The authorities never found the axe or whatever implement it was that figured in the killing.

Lizzie, if she had done that deed, could never have hidden the instrument of death so that the police could not find it.  Why, there was no hiding place in the old house that would serve for effectual concealment.  Neither did she have the time.

Another thing to be remembered is Lizzie's affection for dumb animals.  She fairly dotes on the dogs, cats and squirrels that are at the French street mansion.  She always was fond of pets.  Now, any person with a heart like that could never have committed the awful act for which Lizzie was tried and of which she was acquitted.

I did my duty at the trial when I sat with Lizzie day after day and then testified for her.  And despite our estrangement, I am going to do my duty in answering the cruel slanders that have been made against her both in public print and by gossiping persons who seem to take delight in saying cruel things about her.

The happenings at the French street house that caused me to leave I must refuse to talk about.  I did not go until conditions became absolutely unbearable.  Then before taking action, I consulted the Rev. A.E. Buck...

After carefully listening to my story he said it was imperative that I should make my home elsewhere.

Before going, I had an agreement drawn up by our lawyer so that no trouble could arise regarding the French street house.

Although the general public believes that Lizzie owns that house, such is not the case.  It is our joint property, and so is the land it stands on.  Under the agreement we entered into, Lizzie is to occupy the house as long as she lives, and is to pay me rent for the use of my half of the estate.  Lizzie is the sole owner of land she added to the original estate.

I do not expect to set foot on the place while she lives.

Perhaps people wondered why I stood so staunchly by Lizzie during the trial.  I'll tell them why.  Aside from my feeling as a sister, it was because I constantly had in mind our dear mother.  She died when Lizzie was only 3 years of age, while I had reached 12 years.

When my darling mother was on her deathbed she summoned me, and exacted a promise that I would always watch over 'baby Lizzie.'

From childhood to womanhood and up to the time the murders occurred, I tried to safeguard Lizzie.

And although it is not generally known, the obligation imposed on me by my mother impelled me to assume as a duty the payment of one-half the costs of that murder trial.  Of course, the expenses of such a case were very heavy.  I stipulated before the trial was entered upon that I should pay one-half the costs, and I insisted on fulfilling my promise, after everything was over.

I did my duty at the time of the trial, and I am still going to do it in defending my sister even though circumstances have separated us.

The vision of my dear mother always is bright in my mind.  I want to feel that when Mother and I meet in the hereafter, she will tell me that I was faithful to her trust and that I looked after 'baby Lizzie' to the best of my ability."

"(Convulsive sobs shook the form of Lizzie Borden's 'little mother.')"

"Yes, I intend to defend Lizzie against the harsh public so that mother will say I have been faithful to my trust.

I have been told of the unjust stories that have appeared in print.  Right here in Fall River, is a newspaper that year after year, on the anniversary of the crime, publishes what I cosider a most uncalled for review of the case,  Just what the purpose of this practice is I do not know.

One of the stories that has been going the rounds in connection with my sister deals with Nance O'Neil, the actress.

This report is to the effect that Nance O'Neil met my sister in another city, became intimately acquainted with her, and maintained this friendliness until she discovered that the Lizzie Borden she knew was none other than Lizzie Borden, the woman who had been tried on a charge of murder.

I know such a tale to be absolutely unfounded.  Nance O'Neil has for years been a close friend of Lizzie, and she holds that relation to this very day.

Another wild rumor has to do with the family fortune.  Someone, who knows more about the Borden estate than I and my sister do, has declared that our combined wealth would go over the million mark.

Now here is the truth in respect to that.  If all the property that we own jointly should, through our lawyers, be turned into cash, the total amount of our worldly possessions would not go beyond one-quarter of a million dollars.  That is a large amount of money, but is certainly less than a million.

Some of the neighbors in and around French street who have criticised Lizzie so freely have not treated her as fairly as they might in certain things--matters of business, I mean.

Some unkind persons have spread the report that my father, despite his great wealth was niggardly, and that he refused to even give us sufficient to eat.

That is a wicked lie.  He was a plain-mannered man, but his table was always laden with the best that the market could afford.

Every Memorial Day I carry flowers to father's grave.  And Lizzie does not forget him.  But she generally sends her tribute by a florist.

Yes, a jury declared Lizzie to be innocent, but an unkind world has unrelentingly persecuted her.  I am still the little mother and though we must live as strangers, I will defend 'Baby Lizzie' against merciless tongues."

BTW:  Thanks William!

What do you-all think?

I think the Elizabeth Montgomery movie used some of these very words in the dialogue, as well as the "Lizzie in Jail" *interview.*
They were pretty savvy to do so...
It sounds a bit schmaltzy to me, and I don't think there's anything here that wasn't in the newspapers or public records, with a little "Sweet Mother MaCree" thrown in.  Just my opinion.
I can't think WHY shy EMMA would all of a sudden break her silence.  It doesn't FIT.
I checked the dates in Rebello, as to when the "Anniversary Articles" stopped being published annually reminding the populace of the tragic event.
I thought maybe THIS article was *someone's* way of putting a stop to those annoying and hurtful columns.
Rebello, page 300 & 301 says the articles started Aug. 4th, 1893, and ran each August 4th, excepting the year 1908, until August 4th, 1914.
This *interview* apparently took place around April, 1913.  So it DIDN'T stop the 1913 or 1914" article-reminders", but they DID cease after that.
Otherwise, I can't find a *connection*...

This article says Emma says she sat with Lizzie "day by day" during the trial and "then testified for her."

Aren't witnesses excluded during the trial until it's their turn?  And since Emma was for the defence, wasn't she out of the courtroom untill near the end, the eleventh day, June 16th, when she finally went on the stand?

Was Emma a witness? How could that be since she was miles away?
Maybe court rules were different then?

She was a witness to the demeanor of the family;  she provided an inventory of the girl's wardrobe;  and their relationship with Morse.