Source: The Evening Standard (Second Edition), Thursday, August 4, 1892, p.6, col. 5.THE BORDEN MURDER
Portuguese Farm Employe Sus-
pected Assassin.
Daughter of Slain Couple First
Discovered the Bodies.
Threads of Evidence Picked Up by
the Police.
Mr. Borden See on the Street
Shortly Before Found Dead.
No Trace of the Implements Used in the
Commission of the Crime.
[By Associated Press.]
Fall River, Aug. 4-- Andrew J. Bor-
den and his wife were found at their
home, 92 Second street, at 11 o'clock this
forenoon, both dead. Both had been
frightfully mutilated about the head and
face with an axe, cleaver, or a razor. Mr.
Borden lay on a sofa in a room on the
lower floor of the house. His head had
been cut, and gashes from four to six
inches long were on his face and
neck. Mrs. Borden was in her own cham-
ber on the upper floor, and the condi-
tion of her face and head was the same as
that of her husband. She lay face down-
ward on the bed, which was a veritable
pool of blood. The police were immedi-
ately notified and began an investigation.
Up to the hour of writing no implements
that could have been used in the commis-
sion of the crime had been found. This
leads to the terrible suspicion that Mr. and
Mrs. Borden were murdered. The mur-
der and suicide theory is advanced and
finds many supporters. Mr. Borden was
a wealthy real estate owner and mill man,
and was seen on the street half an hour
before he was found dead.
There is hardly any doubt now that
both were murdered. The daughter of
the unfortunate couple was the first to
make the discovery. She went up stairs
after finding the body of her father and
saw the form of her mother lying on the
floor. She thought she had fallen in a
swoon, but then finding that she too was
murdered, the girl fled down stairs and
fainted. The police have searched in vain
for any clew to the murderer. They are
now after a Portuguese who runs the
Borden farm at Gardner's Neck and who,
it is said, was in the house a few min-
utes before the bodies were discovered.
It is reported that word was sent to
Mrs. Borden this morning that a sick
friend desired to see her to-day, but she
didn't go out.
It is said that the servant, Bridget Sulli-
van, says she went into the room to make
some inquiry of Mr. Borden about five
minutes before Lizzie Borden gave the
alarm. He was then sitting on the sofa
reading a newspaper. Mr. Borden was
on the street and in several of the banks
as late as 10 o'clock.
New Bedford, MA, paper-found on microfiche-New Bedford Public Library
Also located in:
Lizzie Borden, Did She?...or...Didn't She?
Copyright © 1992 by Historical Briefs, Inc.
Note that Lizzie discovers both bodies, then faints. Mrs. Borden gets a message, not a note, but does not go out. Someone from the farm was in house before the crime, and Bridget speaks with Mr. Borden 5 minutes before Lizzie discovers the bodies.
In many ways, this account seems more plausible to me. It makes the other accounts seem like subterfuge ang cover-up.
The goofy part of the account is that Lizzie supposedly finds Abby on the floor in a possible swoon, but her body is discovered face down on the bed in a pool of blood. Hmm?
Boy, I really want to see that bedspread and those shams.
