Yesterday in Old Fall River.

Constantine · Post by **Constantine** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 10:42 pm

Have been dipping into Yesterday in Old Fall River, a Lizzie Borden Companion, by Paul Dennis Hoffman.

The guy certainly has the best of intentions, and no doubt the book has a lot of valuable information, but it is so riddled with careless errors as to make it difficult to know when to trust it.

Some of it is merely out of date, as when it says that no record of Hiram Harrington’s inquest testimony is currently available. The same applies to Augusta Tripp’s which he mistakenly attributes to Mrs. A.B. Tripp who operated the restaurant at 80 Second Street.

My favorite (an obvious slip) is: “Jane E.D. Gray was the widow of Oliver Gray and the father of Abby’s half-sister, Sarah (Gray) Whitehead.”

Priscilla Fish is described as “the half-sister of both Sarah (Gray) Whitehead and Abby Borden” (she was Abby's full sister) in the entry devoted to her (where her birth year is given (correctly) as 1820), but under the entry for Sarah Sawyer Gray (1794-1860), the first wife of Oliver Gray, who is described (correctly) as “the mother of Abby Durfee (Gray) Borden,” Hoffman then says, “After she died, Oliver married Jane E.D. Baker, the mother of Sarah (Gray) Whitehead and Priscilla (Gray) Fish. Hello?

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 10:51 pm

So true- but there's just a darling newpaper sketch in that book of- Hyman Lubinsky!!

Constantine · Post by **Constantine** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 11:07 pm

Adorable!

Bob Gutowski · Post by **Bob Gutowski** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:06 am

Sorry, but the stud of the case for me is that cute Phillip Harrington who, though married, certainly did seem to know a lot about fabric!

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:35 pm

Yes Phil was a gem to be sure but he did not enjoy married bliss for long. After a Newport honeymoon in 1893, he died not long after. She must have been a doozie! Yes, he was my man!

Constantine · Post by **Constantine** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 4:35 pm

Harrington certainly seems to have been one of the most intelligent people involved in the case. I was sorry to learn of his early death.

I don't think I can forgive George Robinson for his dig at his expense when cross-examining Officer Medley. (After Medley said there was "nothing stylish about the manner of wrapping it [the handleless hatchet] up," Robinson quipped, "Well, I am glad to find a man who is not on style.")

Constantine · Post by **Constantine** » Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:37 pm

Another choice item from this book:

The dates of Patrick Connors, one of the police officers who conducted the search of the house on Monday, August 8, are given as 1853-1926. Yet we are told that "He came to the United States with his family in 1840 . . . ." Hello?