Lizzie Borden's New Home-NYSun 24Sept1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:27 pm

This is a newspaper item that I collected last night and I think it's appealing and you all might enjoy it!

Typed, transcribed by Moi, with one finger, so you can imagine how long it all took. Thank goodness there was football on in the background or I might have gone crazy- I read and downloaded over 100 articles as PDF's! Some are good enough to add here for you as downloads in future. This one is the best tho!

New York Sun
24 September 1893

LIZZIE BORDEN’S NEW HOME.

She And Her Sister Have Come Into Their Money.

Neither One Has Put on Mourning Garments- Escape from Public Scrutiny During a Visit to Newport- Nerves of Steel.

If Lizzie Borden ever tried to live so as to satisfy her critics, she has given it up as a hopeless task. They found no end of fault with her as long as she lived in the old house on Second street, Fall River, where the murders were committed, and now that she has moved into another dwelling in a better part of the city they say that she has come into the money of her murdered parents and is making it fly. Among the sensational stuff that has been published about her recently is the news that she refuses to wear mourning and goes tearing through the streets in a buggy beside her sister Emma in a very light dress while Emma dresses in deep mourning. The fact is that she has on two occasions hired a livery team and gone out for a ride, her own and only horse being busied by the work on the farm, beyond the city limits. She has, indeed, worn a light gown- one of the old ones that the detectives pulled over as they hung in the girls’ closet in the old house after the murder. But Emma has not accompanied her in deep or any other kind of mourning, for the simple reason that neither of these original and interesting women believes in wearing mourning. They did not go to the burial of the elder Bordens in that attire. They did not wear mourning in court when Lizzie was tried for the murders. Lizzie wore a crepe dress part of the time, but had a purple feather in her hat. The rest of the time she wore her black lace dress, with the same hat- but, according to the rulings of fashion, lace would not have been considered mourning, even had the hat been different. Miss Emma Borden has recently had a new dress made, the first notable purchase of the kind made by either of the women since the murder. Their neighbors watch them pretty closely, and know all that they do. This new gown is decidedly not mourning. The feminine readers of The Sun will know what sort of a dress it is when they are told that the name of its stuff sounds like “shallee de lane.” It is black with a green figure in it. The light gown that Lizzie is criticized for wearing is a light drab with blue threads in it. The neighbors- both the friendly and the unfriendly- say that the testimony at the murder trial created a false impression as to the way the Borden girls dressed. They never made any show, but always dressed very well indeed, in clothes of good material and plenty of them. They had their own means, in money and mill stocks, and they made good use of them, paying as high as $10 a yard for trimmings, each wearing silks, and each possessing an elegant sealskin jacket. Both always had their shoes made to order.

There is equal misconception, not as to how they lived, but as to the style of their home. The parlor was newly and stylishly furnished for the use of the young women, and the rest of the house was set with substantial but not new furniture. All through, the carpets were of the best. Any one may judge the style of the appointments from the fact that the girls have moved the material bodily into their new home in French street, on the hill. There will not be much to call the stepmother to mind in the new house, as Miss Emma gave all Mrs. Borden’s things to that lady’s sister, Mrs. Fish of Hartford. This is the elder sister. Mrs. Whitehead, the younger one, who lives in Fall River, is yet almost a girl, and would have found less use for them. But in the new house in the select residence part of the town the young women will live as they never were able to live in their old home, because their former home had practically none of the modern improvements. The old couple were satisfied without them, and the girls were far more anxious to leave that neighborhood of stores and tenements than to have the old house modernized. They moved into their new home, with its modern lighting and plumbing arrangements two weeks ago last Thursday, and immediately the workmen whom they employed took possession of the old house and began to make it fit for rental.

It would scarcely be thought that any one would be found who would wish to live in that house of horrors, but the women have already had applicants for it and can easily keep it rented. They will only rent to persons suitable to the neighborhood, that is to say, satisfactory to their old neighbors with whom they lived twenty years. Those neighbors have had an unenviable time since the murders. There is never a day that sightseers do not linger around the old house staring at it as if, by watching, they may be able to solve the mystery it once enveloped. Usually they stare at the right house, easily picking it out because of the barn behind it, but once in a while a man or a woman will stand for half a day studying the wrong house and the people who go in and out of it. The neighbors who own their homes do not criticize the Borden women for moving away. They would do so if they could. When they moved there the street was like a pretty residence street in Brooklyn, with blooming dooryards and tree-lined curbs. Now it is just such another street as Varick street in this city- a medley of business and tenement buildings. It turns out that the elder Bordens wanted to move away, and would have done so ere this had they lived. They waited for Mr. Borden to find just what he wanted in a better part of town. He had looked at the old Mason house on Main street and at one other. The other residents, of the older set, are remaining there in the belief that when business gets firmly entrenched in the street the property will fetch high prices.

It was rumored that the Borden sisters were going to turn their old home into a storehouse and office building, but it is more profitable to rent it as it is. Its recent history is of interest. Emma did not live alone there at any time. Her uncle Morse stayed some months and the hired woman and the farmer man afterward lived with her there. While her sister was in duress in Taunton Emma visited her during two days in every week. She never was as solitary there as Lizzie often was, for that young woman at one time made it a practice to stay alone in the big house while Mr. and Mrs. Borden and Emma spent the hottest weeks at the farm. This she did until Emma decided that it was not right and that she should remain with her. After that only the old folks went away. When Lizzie was discharged by the court and came back there to live she seemed to bear no grudges against those who had been obliged to testify during the trial. With the exception of Miss Russell, her old companion, all the friends were taken up again. Miss Russell is the girl who told about the burning of the Bedford cord dress. She is much to be pitied, for she was rudely dealt with in the Massachusetts press at the time, although she only told the truth, and yet she suffered an agony of mind because she had not done so at first and because she feared she might harm her old friend. She was so nervous on the witness stand that, as she said afterward, she could not have told her own age if she had been asked.

One other incident in the old house was the visit of Bridget Sullivan, who was the family servant at the time of the murders. She called on the day that Lizzie reached home. It was a short call, and has never been repeated.

Very much that is utter nonsense has been published about the fortunes that the sisters have come into. The “fortune” of the stepmother consisted of about $1,700 in cash and half of a tenement of the value of, possibly, $2,000. This property the Borden girls gave to the sisters of their stepmother, Mrs. Fish and Mrs. Whitehead. It will be remembered that this tenement was referred to in the testimony at the murder trial. Mr. Borden had given the property to Mrs. Borden, and as it was apparently to the advantage of Mrs. Borden’s relatives, the sisters were vexed with their father and his wife, but particularly with her. It was after this that Lizzie ceased to address Mrs. Borden as “mother.” Emma had never called her anything but Abby. It is not true that the sisters of Mrs. Borden threatened to sue for more than has been given to them, or for any part of the estate. The method of the murderer of the old couple rid them of all title as heirs, because it was proven that Mrs. Borden was murdered first. Her property, therefore, went to his heirs, and, when he was murdered next, his property went to his daughters. Mrs. Borden’s sisters had this explained to them, and had no intention to bring suit for a share in the estate. The gift to them of their dead sister’s little belongings was an unforced kindness on the part of the Borden girls. They have taken their father’s estate, which is commonly spoken of as the value of $400,000. It is probably less than that, but is of a nature to increase greatly as time goes on. On August 5, Emma Borden filed a petition with the Clerk of the Probate Court in Taunton and qualified, with a bond of $50,000 to act as administratrix of her father’s estate. The bond filed with the court by Lawyer Wood, as administrator of Mrs. Borden’s estate, was one of $500 only. Miss Emma Borden is now in control of the estate for her own benefit and that of her sister Lizzie. She has not yet filed a schedule of the properties which compose her trust, but must do so within a few weeks, and must thereafter report her operations as administratrix once a year. The cruel and gratuitous insinuation that there may have been a will, and that there was talk of forcing the sister into court again in order to air this supposition, has no basis. If Mr. Borden had made a will, he would have kept it where he kept all his papers, in the vaults of the financial institutions with which he was connected. It was said that he was about to make his first will at the time he was murdered, but that was not brought out on the trial.

The new home of the Borden girls on French street is not on the
best street in the town, but it is in a good neighborhood and near
the most fashionable avenue. It was occupied by a man of means
and good social position, who sold it because he wished to live
where he could enjoy the fine prospect that is to be had from
another point on the same hill. It has been said that the sisters paid $11,000 for the place, and that may be the fact, though the house scarcely warrants a belief that such was a true figure. French street is a modern thoroughfare, set with pretty villas, generally wooden, in open grounds with a showing of neat lawns, a few vases and flowers, and plenty of shade trees. The houses are small, and of the type of dwellings with which most of the smaller suburbs of this city are built up. The new Borden dwelling is a yellow and brown frame house, with a little pointed tower on one corner of the roof and a porch in front and partly on one side. The house might have cost $3,000 to $4,000 to build. It is not as fine as several neighboring cottages. It is said that the sisters employ only one servant, as they did in the old house down town.

Few of the overcurious ever get there to disturb the women with their staring, and, so far as that goes, the change is a delightful one for both of them. But it will be a long while before either of the sisters will be allowed to resume the privacy that others enjoy. Whenever they go shopping or to market they are stared at, watched, and followed. Lizzie got her first welcome respite from this constant, though unintentional, persecution when she went to Newport quite recently. There she stopped with old friends in a private house and remained unidentified by the townspeople. She walked on the famous cliff walk and about the old town, and even went to church, feeling such a sense of freedom as she had begun to believe must only be known to the birds. She had a less successful experience during a visit to the town of Warren. One of the Boston newspapers put her in a pother recently by establishing a most-popular-candidate contest, in which she led for a long time. Altogether she got something like 96,000 votes, and the editors- if that is what contest managers are called- notified her that she was about to win and would be entitled to a free ticket to the World’s Fair. Her very able counselor, Mr. A.J. Jennings, courteously requested the “editor” to give the prize to the next person on the list- but just then the friends of somebody else made a rush with their votes, and the prize went to their candidate. The jurors who acquitted Lizzie next had their pictures taken in an impressive group, and dispatched the New Bedford juror with a copy of it to Miss Lizzie Borden with their compliments, doubtless fancying that if she possessed a copy it would complete her happiness by enabling her to frame it and hang it in her sitting room as a constant reminder of an episode in her life which she might otherwise forget. Unfortunately she was out and could not personally thank the jury for its thoughtfulness. She has had a narrow escape from breaking her decision never to be interviewed. She made the decision as part of her plan to contribute nothing that would lengthen her notoriety or increase it. But soon after her return to Fall River a woman who had been kind to her in her trouble sent an interviewer to her with a written plea that he be given what he wanted, This was hard to refuse, but she kept firmly to her decision.

Lizzie bears up extremely well after her remarkable experience: indeed she appears to be as well as she ever was, and stouter and better looking. The case is different with the older sister. The family affliction, the horrors of the murders, and the long strain during Lizzie’s trial, were more than her nerves could endure, and she is nothing like the woman she was. Her health is far from robust, and she frequently has to give up, or, rather, to break down. Lizzie says that she made up her mind not to allow her troubles to get the better of her, and she has had will enough to remain proof against all that has happened. At the trial the lawyers on both sides declared her to be a most remarkable woman, and people are generally coming to the same conclusion.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:52 am

When you-all are done with this story, I will start a topic with news items as PDF downloads.

I liked:
-The house at French street was brown and yellow and not too impressive at the time.
-That Abbie's estate was worth $1700
-That Lizzie usually stayed home at Second Street while the rest of the Borden family went to the farm in the summer but ole' Emma decided to be her chaperone/kill-joy
-That Lizzie did have a horse but it was at Swansea
-That Emma ordered a new dress
-That the girls loved fine clothes and paid a lot for special trimmings
-That their shoes were made to order! (Remember Abbie's shoes in her death photo? One shoe differing from the other? Custom shoes perhaps, as we speculated?)
-That people would come and stare at the wrong house on Second Street! (I'm sorry but that is funny.)
-That Lizzie enjoyed the Cliff Walk in Newport! Harry and I walked there- (How many of us have walked there?)
-That Andrew looked at *The Mason house* to buy, on Main Street
-I wonder what/where is Varick Street in Fall River?

Stefani · Post by **Stefani** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:56 am

This is great stuff! Thanks Kat for doing this. One finger . . . . I can't imagine how much time it took you. I guess you missed out on typing class in junior high.

The article presents many new facts. If we can believe it!

I was most interested in the Lizzie staying home part. I wonder why. Perhaps she liked having the house to herself? Or did she not like Swansea. I have not been in the summer home, and I wonder how many bedrooms it had and if it is bigger or smaller than second street. In the beginning, they shared the house with the Almys. So that could indeed been a crowded house in the summer (wasn't it a duplex originally?).

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:54 am

Thank you, Kat for the great article. That's a LOT of typing. There's some interesting nuggets in there.

Julian Ralph was the reporter who covered the trial for the New York Sun. Whether he was still covering the case 3 months later would be a guess.

DJ · Post by DJ » Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:10 pm

Kat, I type "ten-fingered," and I don't know whether I would have undertaken the transcription of this. Muchos gracias! But, you're right, it's chock full o' juicy nuggets.

The writer did get the bit about Mr. Borden never having a will incorrect-- and I think, from context, Varick Street is in Brooklyn.

Interesting to know the paint-scheme of Maplecroft, tho' the writer makes it out to be a "cottage." What, like the "cottages" at Newport?!!!

Well, of course it is not as grand as those, but still ... gimme one of those cottages, any old day.

Enjoyed reading about the Sisters' taste in clothes. Sealskin capes, at that. At least that part was true!

Wonder if Lizzie didn't create buzz by staying unchaperoned at No. 92-- maybe Emma was sensitive to this. I was going over Witness Statements again recently, and had forgotten the one in which one of Lizzie's female acquaintances was in a complete lather about Lizzie attending church with Dr. Bowen. I remembered the incident, but the witness's reaction to it just seemed way over the top.

IOW: Lizzie must have been the subject of some serious chat.

Also interesting to get the contemporary take on the "social status" of Second Street, how the Sisters wanted more.

Went to Google on Varick Street. There's one in NYC, from whence this account originated. Thanks again for sharing it!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:01 am

Yes, I checked City Directories for Fall River and there was no Varick street! Thanks!

I have some small items I collected this weekend to put up here next. It occurred to me that those who have no Rebello might be interested in these news snippets- some of which are mentioned in his reference tome.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:04 am

30 June 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:05 am

4 July 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:07 am

14 July 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:08 am

28 July 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:10 am

5 August 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:12 am

10 October 1893

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:15 am

1894, the following year. Poor girl- she was reported on for every little thing!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:17 am

Early 1895

Angel · Post by **Angel** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:45 am

I found it very interesting to read in one of the articles that the two girls were said to completely break down when they entered the old home. I wonder how accurate that is. If so, it completely contradicts everyone who said that Lizzie was supposed to have been so cold and composed.

Tina-Kate · Post by **Tina-Kate** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:47 am

Thanks so much for these Kat, esp for the big 1st one you typed with one finger! (I'm only using 1 hand these days as I broke my shoulder) That must have been a LONG haul to type!

Awesome reads!

Isn't it funny one article sez Lizzie tears fast thru the streets in her carriage & another sez she drives "quietly".

DJ · Post by DJ » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:43 pm

That WCTU incident had completely slipped my mind-- Lizzie should have realized then and there that she would be a social pariah, at least in Fall River.

She should have reinvented herself elsewhere, but I suppose there was too much New England Yankee in her to expatriate to Paris, or even London. And, I suppose, home was home was home, at least for her.

Also-- Maplecroft becomes "pretentious" at the hand of another reporter.
That first, lengthy account is certainly sympathetically slanted toward her.

Again, thanks for sharing!

diana · Post by **diana** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:55 pm

I'm thrilled to hear Lizzie strolled on the Cliff Walk in Newport -- it's one of my favorite places to walk when we visit that part of the country!

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 2:39 pm

Tina-Kate @ Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:47 am wrote:Thanks so much for these Kat, esp for the big 1st one you typed with one finger! (I'm only using 1 hand these days as I broke my shoulder) That must have been a LONG haul to type!

Awesome reads!

Isn't it funny one article sez Lizzie tears fast thru the streets in her carriage & another sez she drives "quietly".

Hey, they'll be no broken shoulders around here!

Seriously, hope you are in no pain and heal fast.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:51 am

Yea TK! Whot 'Appened??!
Hope you are OK and feeling better soon!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:53 am

Did anyone (besides Harry) notice that first article claimed that Bridget returned to the Borden house the day Lizzie returned, for a brief visit?

Maybe she collected some of her things? Maybe to be paid? $$$ Maybe needed a reference? Fly-On-The-Wall Time!

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:14 am

The visit took place the day of Lizzie's return, and Bridget could have gone to Emma at any time for any of those reasons, Kat, I think it must have had to do with Lizzie directly.

DJ · Post by DJ » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:30 pm

That sounds logical-- was it pure "auld lang syne," or was it, "Dear Maggie, you were such a good and faithful servant. Here's a little something to tide you on your way?"

stuartwsa · Post by **stuartwsa** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:45 pm

I love the fact that Lizzie's dress is described as "light drab." An ironic choice of words, given how much fuss the word "drab" stirred up at the trial!

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:49 pm

Yes, "light drab" is an odd description, kind of like describing gray as pastel black. Drab must have been a distinct hue which has fallen out of favor over the years.

DJ · Post by DJ » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:55 am

Yes, drab is a first cousin to khaki, with a bit more brown to it.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:19 pm

There were also different shades of drab. I've come across drab - green, drab - yellow, drab- gray, light drab, medium drab, fawn drab, etc...These were the actual names of the colors, and in some instances there were recipes for how to mix it.

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:07 pm

That's interesting. So, either drab was an actual color, perhaps a shade of tan, which was tinted with other colors, or it was a tint used to dull other colors. Kind of like white is used to make pastels. I guess it amounts to the same thing either way! I have heard it used to describe military uniform colors, like Army drab.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:26 pm

Lizzie's mailbag- and who's the guy collecting it?

Earlier we read a man from the farm was there- I wonder which man that was?

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:30 pm

1895 -New Bedford is in the papers again for *Lizzie-related* subject matter after hosting her trial!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:37 pm

A relative of Lizzie? Needs some genealogy work here- if it seems worthwhile... Jeesh! Some folks did not ever want their names linked with Lizzie Borden, yet others seem to go out of their way to claim some kind of relationship!

DJ · Post by DJ » Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:04 pm

Back in "J School," I knew someone who was going to do a master's thesis on "The Murderer as Media Superstar" (though it never came to be).

Looks as if Lizzie was the first such personage (acquittal or no) in America, thanks to coverage by so many newspapers, along with the Associated Press wire.

Two hundred letters a day? You'd better believe some of them were marriage proposals!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:04 am

Just so!

Here you are!

patsy · Post by **patsy** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:38 am

Great job, Kat. Thanks so much for sharing all of this with us, all that typing too. Wow! You are too good to us!

Lots of interesting nuggets, and I want to believe it's true that they broke down when they got home. It would be that way for me to put on a cold-appearing front in public but let it all out later. Kind of a defense mechanism I suspect.

Poor Lizzie, not running away from all of it seems to show an awful lot of gumption -- It's not always easy to give up roots.

Hope your shoulder heals well, Tina-Kate. I can't even imagine how it must hurt. Ugh. So sorry.

DJ · Post by DJ » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:52 pm

"Impecunious" men??? Her "pile"? (Glad this wasn't England, where that has a TOTALLY different meaning!)

What about her mind???!!!!

Thanks again for sharing, Kat!!!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 12:19 am

You're welcome!

Here are two clubs meeting each other! Sounds like us!

But this is 1893 and our Borden girls are still very much alive, around town and kicking! Can you imagine, if it were you?

DJ · Post by DJ » Sun Oct 31, 2010 3:25 pm

The boiled clams sound almost as bad as the boiled-over mutton. Maybe they meant "steamed."

Anyway, bad enough for Lizzie, but Emma must have been mortified. What was the credo of the E.B. Club? Leave town and let your little sister do the dirty work?

Tina-Kate · Post by **Tina-Kate** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 12:22 pm

Sorry to add information & skip out --- not much internet access these days.

I broke my shoulder mid-Sept. Coming down a very steep hill in the rain, my bike brakes failed. Luckily I fell off the bike just several yards short of charging thru the intersection (where the light had just turned red). I was lucky. Saved by a young lad from ENGLAND (of all places!) who took me to the ER.

It was unbelievable pain for a few weeks. I had a kind of external bone for a couple of weeks, then an immobilizer. I'm now free of all that, but have to get some physiotherapy --- my mobility is very limited.

Could have been worse, tho.

Everything happens @ once. I was also in the midst of moving, among other things. I'm now in my nice new apt for a week now. Onward & upward!!!

Angel · Post by **Angel** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:01 am

So sorry you're going through that, Tina-Kate. Hope the healing goes quickly.

nbcatlover · Post by **nbcatlover** » Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:39 am

DJ--you've never heard of a New England clam boil? They are similar to a clambake, but done in a pot over a fire. Delish!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:35 am

Hope you are doing better TK!
That's a hair-raising story! It sounds like a book or a movie scene!

Please take care!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:38 am

Here is another little-bit thing on that Lizzie-and-the-Juror story.

I'm not sure what the reference is.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:49 am

Lizzie goes to Boston, 1895

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:59 am

Here is a later rumor that Lizzie would wed- from Otago Daily Times 13 Feb 1897. (I could not fit the cite onto the page- sorry!)
It is probably "cousin" Orrin Gardner to whom they allude.
He had no intention of marrying anyone.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:03 am

1905 Lizzie writing a play for Nance.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:25 am

Borden sisters part, 1905.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:36 am

I'm throwing this one in here because it's sooooo odd!
I call it "Lizzie Borden Murdered!"

patsy · Post by **patsy** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:13 pm

Thanks again, Kat, so interesting to read all of these clippings. Lizzie murdered huh.

So many rumors happens but it has been said that there is at least some basis for them. So was there some talk about Lizzie writing a play for Nance. I'd like to think she seriously thought about it just because I like the idea I guess.

DJ · Post by DJ » Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:20 pm

No, never heard of the clam boil. Just clam bakes and oyster roasts (which are popular down South-- although I much prefer oysters either fried or raw-- one of my fave treats growing up in New Orleans: a dozen raw and a dozen fried, preferably in a po'boy).

A seasonal treat, if you have access to good oysters. Toss saltine cracker crumbs in plenty of butter, layer with raw oysters in a casserole, pour one pint of cream-- yes, cream-- over the dish and bake at 350 degrees F till bubbly. Oh, man ....

Kat, many, many thanks for the articles. Puts the period on the rumors, as much as one can go. Interesting that the poor coachman got dragged into the fray. Wonder whether he "disobeyed" Emma over "obeying" Lizzie and taking the carriage to the stage door.

Lizzie seemed to enjoy elegant means of conveyance, from her private carriage to motor cars. She couldn't have been too happy when the horse and buggy went bye-bye at No. 92. Yet another reason ....

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:49 pm

I'm wondering if Emma's move from Maplecroft might have been done, in part, to protect Lizzie's reputation as well as her own. This assumes that the association with Nance O'Neill and with theater people in general was the reason for the split.

If Emma chose to live with Lizzie after the trial and acquittal, it tends to imply that either Emma thought Lizzie to be innocent of the murders, or that Emma was concerned enough with Lizzie's reputation that she was willing to do it for the sake of appearances. Emma had sufficient resources to live separately from Lizzie if she chose. Emma's choice to live with Lizzie in spite of the notoriety may have served to moderate public opinion against Lizzie.

Lizzie decided to entertain Nance O'Neill and her theater friends on a couple of occasions, which at the time was another form of notorious conduct. This time there was no question involved as there was in the murders. Emma could either remain in the house with Lizzie or move. By remaining in the house, the implication was that Emma was willing to tolerate notorious conduct when Lizzie was known by her to be guilty of it, which tends to indicate Emma would have remained with Lizzie even if Emma thought Lizzie guilty of the murders. If Emma moved out, it implied that Emma was not tolerant of notorious conduct by Lizzie when she knew Lizzie to be guilty of it.

Emma may have felt compelled to move out as much to protect her own reputation as to protect Lizzie's reputation. It makes absolutely no sense to move out over a comparatively trivial association with actors if Emma had been living with a person she thought guilty of a double murder.

On the other hand, another possibility is that Emma may have come to believe that Lizzie was guilty of the murders and the association with Nance O'Neill was the perfect excuse for a separation without causing speculation about Lizzie's guilt of the murders. Emma might have simply grown tired of the notoriety in general and wanted out, without necessarily believing Lizzie to be guilty, and Nance was her opportunity.

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