Andrew's club and home security

[Aamartin]

In another thread we speculated as to whether or not A&A locked themselves in their bedroom at night and the consensus seems to be that they did. I lean towards yes, even without specific testimony.

The way the house was situated-- and internal room to room doors being locked and blocked with furniture-- what if Lizzie or Emma screamed out in the night? It would have taken a spry, young man some time to run downstairs, through the house and then upstairs to offer any help.

It seems like he was more concerned about his safety (And Abby's) versus the entire family. Surely he didn't think Lizzie would sneak into their room at night to vandalize or steal things? (If he did indeed suspect her of the daylight robbery).

Could he have been afraid for his life?

[irina]

I made a somewhat long, thoughtful reply on the other thread and it criss-crossed another & was deleted. Shorter this time, my thoughts on this subject are somewhat the same.

In reply to did Andrew and Abby feel safe, I looked at two perspectives. One side is, yes they were afraid. The other possibility is they were self sufficient and felt they could defend themselves and thus were cautious but not afraid.

My feeling is if they were afraid, or as this thread begins, afraid for life, I think they would have taken even more precautions and been better armed. It would not have been impossible for Andrew to have had a pistol or some other deadly weapon in the bedroom besides a club.

I have no idea how good were telephones in 1893. I really don't seem to be learning anything about policing in FR in 1893. Suffice it to say they didn't have 911. If a burglar was in the house would the home owner have tried to fight it out personally or when if ever would a home owner summon help? Would he summon the neighbors first? When, if ever would police be summoned? Is it reasonable to think that if the senior Bordens were afraid in any severe sense, that they would have had a telephone or that they would have let neighbors know they were afraid to a greater extent than Abby fearing poisoning? Or perhaps they did tell people of fears and no one said anything after the tragedy.

If they were afraid surely Andrew would have imposed some kind of curfew on Bridget and the girls. All of them seem to have come home after dark on occasion. An assassin could have easily overpowered one of them, gained access and committed murder.

Considering if they were afraid, I have wondered if Abby had the hatchet with her in the guest room for personal protection, and if she initially threatened an intruder, ending up as did Bertha Manchester. Similarly, did Lizzie have the hatchet in her room or hand bag for personal protection? Why did Abby believe the stomach illness was so severe that she thought of poison? Why did she think deeply enough to suggest poisoned milk or baker's bread? Why did Dr. Bowen decide to cross the street (to be sent away by Andrew), based on Abby's complaint? If Lizzie was not setting the ground work for murder in her conversation with Alice Russell, upon what exactly did she base her fears and assumptions?

My feeling based on what evidence we have is that Andrew was merely a cautious and self sufficient home owner.

[Curryong]

When you look at the Borden family attitudes to home security it is contradictory. Rooms were blocked off after the daylight robbery but, as Irina has pointed out, if a burglar attacked the front of the house in the middle of the night Andrew would have had to get out of bed, grab his club and either pull or push large pieces of furniture away, after unlocking the door to Lizzie's room. Alternatively, and more likely, he could have unlocked his bedroom door, hurried down the stairs then up the front stairs to Lizzie's room. In either case, by that time his daughters could have been attacked.

With Andrew's wealth he could have had a couple of dogs on the property to help protect or at least warn the household, or even employed a night watchman for a few dollars. The family didn't even have a telephone, a necessity I would have thought, if you were frightened about security. Andrew's Quaker background might have precluded him having firearms in the home, but the other measures are just common sense.

I think people in those days were always vigilant about adulterated or 'off' foodstuffs and drink, milk with a blue tinge for example, butter that was too yellow because of additions etc. Andrew was wise to have farms as although they weren't close enough to provide daily milk, the family's eggs and butter no doubt came from them.

I just think Abby was in a heightened state of fear perhaps because of things that Lizzie had said, just as she said things to Alice the night before the murders when she was setting the scene. We don't know what the family dynamics were just before the murders, though the atmosphere in the home cannot have been pleasant. Andrew's unusual remark about 'trouble at home' shows that.

[phineas]

What an interesting thought, that Andrew might have feared for his life. Not in a general paranoid sense, but from a specific direction! Sharp business practices lead to unhappy people. He must have had many threats over the years. We don't know when the locking started or whether it had been in place from the time they moved to 92. Perhaps it started after a credible threat and he never stopped the practice. And of course he was right to be concerned. It reminds me of that tombstone with the headline "I told you I was sick." In Andrew's case it could read, "I told you to lock those doors."

If he locked his bedroom door, Andrew had bulwarked himself and Abby against the world with his club. The girls were on their own, as you point out - he couldn't be much assistance with the cockamamie blockages of doors. Thinking this way does put Abby's fears of poisoning in another light. I've always found it weird she thought poison versus "gone bad" or "ptomaine" or "spoiled" - who expects poison??? And if you think something's gone bad, you don't say poison except if you were really diligent about English. The usage is flexible enough to allow for poisoned to stand in for the reaction to a bad food....but it doesn't appear that's what she meant. She meant poison. When you consider that Lizzie mentions similar dire things to Alice (if it wasn't performance art), you have a picture of a very paranoid family - for what reason? It seems they feared someone. So yes, I think could you could definitely say Andrew feared for his life and had, for some time. It could be a folie a deux that turned quatre, and the whole family was infected by what was Andrew's sole paranoia and whether or not it was founded in realistic threat or not, they believed it. Viewed in this light - of a fear of threat - it does make you wonder about an intruder. And it really is ironic that with all his precautions, Andrew still winds up murdered whether at his daughter's hands or someone else's.

[Curryong]

It seems to me that there was a sea-change in the Borden household after the 'daylight robbery' of 1891. We don't know whether the family were so careful about locking individual rooms internally before that date. They certainly were afterwards!

Andrew's desk was forced and his papers rifled through. This must have been a considerable shock to the old coot, especially as it appears that Lizzie was the culprit. This has never been proven, but according to the story Lizzie (rather naively I would have thought) distributed some horse-car vouchers among friends and acquaintances. These tickets or vouchers were among the stolen items. Andrew stopped the police investigation after these appeared and were traceable to Lizzie. After that, the door between Lizzie's room and that of her parents was locked and blocked with furniture.

I don't know whether Andrew being regarded as a ruthless businessman who would stop at nothing to seal a deal is an accurate view, though. Because Lizzie told the police that she had heard a short exchange between her father and a stranger over some commercial property, they (the police) were very careful to ask around town about Andrew's business dealings and whether he had any known enemies. None were found. Andrew came from an austere Quaker background. Although he was not the most soft and cuddly type, to say the least, he seems to have been regarded as upright and scrupulously honest. A 'my word is my bond' type.

Second St was becoming a very mixed commercial locale during the last years of the Borden residency at No 92. Lizzie and Emma who wanted to move somewhere a bit upmarket, regarded it as becoming quite rough. As Andrew grew older he probably became more paranoid about security, especially as he often kept quite large sums of money in the house. Therefore, every outer door was triple-locked and/or bolted, and the club remained under the bed!

[Aamartin]

There is a HUGE difference between locking a room so someone can't get in to it and either take things or riffle through your personal belongings to locking a room with you in it to keep someone from coming in to do you harm.

If Andrew suspected Lizzie of the daylight robbery-- he effectively put an end to the possibility of it being repeated by pointedly keeping the key on the mantle. Locking him and Abby in the room while they slept might suggest fear of their personal safety and not just their belongings.

It's one thing for a parent to worry their truant teenager is going to sneak a 20 out of their purse or wallet (so they hide it) and a total different thing to think he's going to come in their room at night and have a Mendenzez family reunion.

[Curryong]

Do you think he was afraid of anonymous strangers Anthony, or that Lizzie might appear in the middle of the night, with or without hired assassins?

[debbiediablo]

I do wonder if he was protecting life or safe. Were its contents ever inventoried. For as many banks as Andrew served, I'm guessing he had a healthy mistrust of keeping his money locked away in one...or maybe even more than one. Time would prove him on that account.

[Curryong]

Crikey, it's my turn to lose a post to the ether! irina, is that you? 'Smile". I posted that Andrew had 80 dollars on him that Thursday, which might have been money for the workmen downtown which he never got round to giving out. They found that and the key to the safe and went through what was in it. Andrew kept some cash at home because of the bits of business he supposedly conducted on most days between eleven and noon.

I wonder whether they had safety deposit boxes in those days? When I was a child there were elderly people about who didnt trust banks, and there were jokes about them keeping their savings under the mattress. I'd be more worried about Andrew tottering through town on his way home with the equivalent of about two months wages for some people in his pocket-book.

[PossumPie]

Locking doors so you couldn't get out/in, blocking doors with furniture, having a lock on the INSIDE of the front door that can only be opened with a key are all very dangerous practices in a time when house fires were common due to so much open flame/wood burning stoves, etc. That had to enter into their thinking making all the locking even more unsettling!

[irina]

I personally don't think the locking was against family members. I also don't think it was true that Lizzie gave car tickets to friends. I believe she mentioned that in the one interview she gave from jail.

Something that was said about Andrew's business practices is that if a shop renter was doing good at his business, Andrew raised the rent. Guess they didn't have leases. Another thing I will throw in here concerning Andrew trusting banks is that in his lifetime the US currency was not stable. At times it would have been to his advantage to hold Spanish coin for example. Currency could be issued by towns. I don't understand that but it was done and was one of the reasons the early day Mormons got into trouble. They issued their own currency which was not illegal. In addition banks did fail. As an American citizen I tend to think of national financial issues in regard to the Depression, but almost up to that time it was a free for all. Andrew very likely had all sorts of things in his safe. There is about one sentence somewhere saying the safe was cleared out at some point.

[twinsrwe]

No where have I found out why Andrew kept the club under his bed. However, I have come to the conclusion that if it is true that Andrew feared for his and Abby’s lives, then according to Lizzie’s Inquest Testimony, he had lived in this state of fear for 17 or 22 years!!!

Lizzie’s Inquest Testimony regarding the wooden club (p86):

"Q. Did you ever see that thing? (Wooden club.)
A. Yes, sir; I think I have.
Q. What is it?
A. My father used to keep something similar to this, that looked very much like it under his bed. He whittled it out himself at the farm one time.
Q. How long since you have seen it?
A. I have not seen it in years.
Q. How many years?
A. I could not tell you. I should think 10 or 15 years; not since I was quite a little girl, if that is the one. I can't swear that it is the one; it was about that size. (Marks it with a cross.)
Q. How many years, 10 or 15?
A. I was a little girl, it must be as much as that."

According to Lizzie’s testimony, the club Andrew kept under his bed was not something he had put there shortly before he was killed. I have always found it odd that Andrew kept a club under his bed; whether he was 48, 53 or 70 years old, if an intruder had, by some incredible miracle, gotten into the house and his and Abby’s bedroom, by the time he would have leaned over his bed to get the club, the intruder would have had more than ample time to kill him.

If Andrew did not live in a state of fear, then why did he keep the club under his bed? Why not keep it in the barn?

[debbiediablo]

ON TOPIC: Good point, Twins. Maybe Andrew had a streak of paranoia in him or perhaps his earlier life was less stable when less well established. Or maybe he really did have enemies as Lizzie claimed. One thing for sure, he didn't place it under the bed after the jewelry theft...

OFF TOPIC: The eyes of my new avatar are of my late daughter's beloved black cat Puffy who died earlier this month at the age of 15. He had the sweetest disposition of any cat I've ever known. I miss both of them every single day. There's an excellent picture of him in Stay to Tea under Rest in Peace.

[twinsrwe]

Thanks, Debbie. You may be right about Andrew having a streak of paranoia; it sure seems he did, given the fact that he had the house locked up from the outside as well as the inside.

OFF TOPIC: I love your new avatar, Debbie. I do have to say that I liked the green colored eyes you had of this cat earlier today, better than the yellow eyes, but the yellow eyes are also very nice. I remember the picture you posted of Puffy in the Rest in Peace thread. He sure was a beautiful cat!

[irina]

Beautiful cat and beautiful picture! Cats are so photogenic.

Maybe Andrew figured he could grab his club while someone was trying to bust into the locked bedroom door. I have weapons available for self defense but an intruder has to get through my dogs first. I have time to use the phone and arm if necessary.

[twinsrwe]

You may be right, Irina, but I far as I know, there is no testimony that states Andrew and Abby actually kept their bedroom door locked during the night, while they were sleeping.

[irina]

Taking a possible time frame for Andrew whittling the club and putting it under his bed, I did a cursory search on Fall River history. It's real hard to find historic crime stats for the city because there are millions of entries for Lizzie to wade through. However a basic glance through Wikepedia showed something startling.

Fall River population grew exponentially throughout the 1800s. In 1820, the decade when Andrew was born, the population was 1,594. In 1850 when Andrew was a young businessman the population was 11,524. In 1870 when Lizzie was still a pre-teen, the population was 26,766 which was +90.8% in ten years. 1880 when Lizzie was a young woman, population was 48,961, +82.9%. In 1890, four years before the murders, population was a whopping 74,398, +52%.

Looking at history of the Fall River Police Department a cursory search makes it appear the organized police force only slightly pre-dated the Borden crime. I could be wrong but sites like www.frpd.org/timeLine1.html seem to show that.

In the late 1800s it is noted that large amounts of Portuguese arrived for work in whaling and the mills of Fall River. Other sources describe these new arrivals as being viewed as outsiders as would be normal with a quickly expanding immigrant population.

Considering population figures only and the amount of change throughout Andrew's life, psychologically it is easy to see why Andrew would whittle a club and keep it under his bed. It is hard for anyone, I think, to deal with huge population changes. The world Andrew was born into had changed drastically by the time Andrew was an old man. It must have been threatening in a general sense. Another way to look at Borden security is that Andrew locked the rest of the world out~with Lizzie inside in case anyone suggests he feared his own daughter. Perhaps he feared the changing world and I don't blame him.

My little search refreshed my knowledge that Emeril Lagasse is Fall River's greatest export. I use a lot of his recipes and people always wonder why my food is so good. There is always something a little special in his recipes that make the difference between good and superb. God bless the Fall River Portuguese immigrants for producing Emeril!

Some Wiki-travel site said that today's Fall River is one of the most dangerous towns in Massachusetts but I don't think that has anything to do with Lizzie's times. It appears overall crime was low in her time, however growing population means there will necessarily be more crime, mental illness, etc., all of which seems or is, threatening to people unused to it.

[Aamartin]

You may be right, Irina, but I far as I know, there is no testimony that states Andrew and Abby actually kept their bedroom door locked during the night, while they were sleeping.

And that's just it. I really wish we had testimony to know for sure. It would be very telling.

[debbiediablo]

If Andrew feared the outside getting in (and this seems to be the case as I doubt he whittled a club to take out his tee-aged daughter) then the location of their home looks to have a lot to do with it. It was in the gray zone between commercial and residential, relatively close to the docks and the railroad which brought in strangers of potential danger. And allowed them easy exit following a crime.

Later he may have feared Lizzie pilfering Abby's jewelry or other sentimental items, but there's also what behind Door #3. Maybe the lockdown also had to do with what happened in the house between the persons who lived there. Maybe Andrew had more to hide than his money and belongings or Abby's

[irina]

Just working from the population stats I cited, I think the exploding population would have caused drastic emotional changes in those who remembered Fall River as a village early in the century. Plus the way society was stratified immigrants may have seemed more alien than they do even today. I could imagine (since I have not yet found any sources) that even though the crime rate in Victorian FR may have been low, ANY crime committed by a member of an immigrant group may have been seen as doubly threatening and thus an occasion for good, moral, Protestant yankees to protect themselves from the outside.

[Aamartin]

the exterior doors of that house were buttoned up tight. There is little reason to lock interior doors except from one another. Lizzie and Emma would have been sitting ducks in the front part of that 2nd story if an intruder came in. One would naturally think, unless they knew the layout of the house in advance, if a burglar was looking for Andrew's cache of cash-- he would have ascended the front stairs, thinking Andrew was up there.

[Curryong]

I've just taken a look at Sherry's book 'Resurrections'. There was definitely a police force in Fall River in 1877 as Marshal Fleet joined it as a patrolman in that year. I believe the population of Fall River at that time was under 40,000.

There would indeed have been huge changes to the place in Andrew's lifetime, and as you get older you do get more conscious of security in your home. On the balance of probabilities I think Andrew probably locked his bedroom door and kept the club as an extra. We aren't likely to get anything more definite at this point in time.

The immigrant question came up of course in the eerily similar Manchester murder just before Lizzie's trial. It would have been a great relief to the Fall River citizens had a Portuguese labourer been arrested for the Borden murders as it would have played to all the prejudices of citizens of the time.

Love the cat debbie. Please keep it.

[twinsrwe]

Irina: Great information on the Fall River History! Thank you posting this; it given us a better understanding of what Fall River was like.

Anthony: I agree, it would be very telling. I can't imagine living in Andrew's house, with all of the doors locked up the way they were.

Debbie: I think you made a good point regarding the location of the Borden house being in the gray zone between commercial and residential areas. Interesting thought you have: 'Maybe Andrew had more to hide than his money and belongings or Abby's'. Now that givens us something new to speculate about!

Curryong: Good point!


OFF TOPIC: Debbie, I really like your new avatar!!! This is the best one yet!

[Curryong]

This is Andrew, according to the Boston Globe August 5th 1892. Rebello Page 25.

'He was a man of tall stature, erect as a post, and dressed very plainly, almost to the point of shabbiness. His reputation among his neighbours was that of a severely honest man, who, if in debt to any man, would pay that debt to the last farthing, and who, if he occupied a place on the credit side of the ledger, would collect his payment as did Shylock of yore, even to the pound of flesh....He was famous for wearing shocking bad hats, and retained a tie until it was almost threadbare.'

[irina]

A problem with this case, and perhaps any case like this, is that writers and journalists try to make EVERY scrap of information pertain to the crime. Therefore sometimes innocent things or things that might give more depth to the characters are palmed off as clues in order that every action becomes sinister.

I know I have read somewhere that Andrew sold things from the home and somewhere it is written that people knew they could conduct business with Andrew at home after a certain hour in the morning. This may be in the forum somewhere though I didn't find the exact thing I was looking for. I did find Charles Sawyer's inquest testimony about buying vinegar from Andrew at home, which has been reproduced several times on the forum. I also saw almost what I was looking for on a thread titled 'Dr. Bowen', July 24, 2005.

On the thread a poster named diana wrote, "There was testimony that people came to see Andrew on business to do with his real estate holdings,--amd they also came to purchase vinegar and whatever,--the keys probably filled a need for a public/private division within the house. Lizzie locked her door, too." This is very close to the other statement I could not find.

Charles Sawyer testified:

Q: Were you acquainted with Mr. Borden?
A: Yes Sir I knew him, not intimately; I had had some business dealings with him.
Q: Did you visit the family?
A: No Sir I was not in the habit. I have been there in the house. I used to go there once in awhile to make some little purchases in vinegar and stuff.

As I searched the forum with the search term +vinegar+ I note that empty vinegar casks were found in the cellar at 92 Second. There are other mentions of Andrew selling eggs. It sounds like he had more than a little business which he conducted from home. It is entirely reasonable that the private rooms were locked since the main downstairs seems to have been at least at times a store/office for Andrew. We all know Lizzie's tale of the man and her father arguing in the house.

It is things like this that reinforce my thoughts about Abby dealing with a man (probably) that morning, and he got mad and killed her. Andrew was killed to cover up the identity of the killer. It could have been a neighbor or acquaintance. Whether or not this actually happened 92 Second was more exposed to the outside world than would have been a home that conducted no business from the premises. These facts leave a decent sized crack through which a bit of reasonable doubt can slip in.

[Curryong]

Andrew would conduct business sometimes at his home between 11am and noon. There's no evidence that he had any business-type appointments on that particular day, however. Andrew just went home because he was feeling unwell as he told his banking acquaintance that morning..

Catbooks found a piece on one of the threads about the David Anthony theory in which it became clear that Andrew sold pickles from his home (presumably pickled at the Swansea farm as well as No 92, perhaps by Abby) vinegar and also eggs. He would sell these between 11 and noon. (The pickles and possibly Apple cider vinegar are the vinegar products Charles Sawyer's referring to!) Probably other farm produce was sold at No 92 from there as well from time to time. Pears, too, perhaps, which would be why Andrew was so vigilant about his pears being nicked!

Andrew apparently would also embarrass his daughters by taking a basket of eggs up the street to sell to passers-by if there was a surplus. I suppose in hot weather such produce would deteriorate in a short while.

The main objection to the angry trespasser theory is that (a) the houses were close and neither neighbours nor onlookers in Second St saw anyone going in or near the Borden property. Plus,if there had been an argument surely Bridget or the Kelley servant, who was outside at the same time, would have heard something, however faint.

(B) The callers after produce came round to the kitchen door not the front door. Thus, Abby would surely have confronted any such intruder in the kitchen rather than retreating upstairs where she would be isolated. The ninety minutes between the murders, too, would have surely cooled anyone's temper and they would just have made off!

(C) Why would Andrew, returning home at 10: 40 am or so, then have deep suspicions that it must have been the man he had an argument with who caused his wife's death at around 9:30am? The police made very careful inquiries about business enemies of Andrew's. No-one else heard Andrew having words with any stranger but Lizzie. He had no disputes about property at the time of his death. Another Lizzie lie attempting to create a mysterious murderer, in my opinion.

(D) There's no evidence anywhere that Abby was sharp-tongued, a battle-axe type, the sort of woman who would begin a dispute with a man in her yard. If anything she struck onlookers at the time as long-suffering, sad about her step-daughters' attitude to her, and very much under Andrew's thumb, except in one single solitary case where she wormed some money out of him for her half-sister's house.

[debbiediablo]

Irina: Great information on the Fall River History! Thank you posting this; it given us a better understanding of what Fall River was like.

Anthony: I agree, it would be very telling. I can't imagine living in Andrew's house, with all of the doors locked up the way they were.

Debbie: I think you made a good point regarding the location of the Borden house being in the gray zone between commercial and residential areas. Interesting thought you have: 'Maybe Andrew had more to hide than his money and belongings or Abby's'. Now that givens us something new to speculate about!

Curryong: Good point!


OFF TOPIC: Debbie, I really like your new avatar!!! This is the best one yet!

OFF TOPIC: Thank you! All of them except the one with the really really green eyes have been Puffy. His eyes changed depending in the light. The one with the really really green eyes was his lookalike son Ruffy who was born many months after we had Puffy neutered. Since Puffy and the female cat, Mamba, were the only two cats in the house and Ruffy looked just like Puffy that vet had some explaining to do! I jokingly threatened to sue for kitten support.