Lizzie's Jail letters: #2

[MysteryReader]

** Mrs. Andrew Wright was the wife of the Sheriff. Sarah was 3rd wife and step-mother-in-law of Annie and she died at age 53 of tuberculous meningitis. This is written just like the other one. (p. 483).

My Dear Annie,

I meant to have written long ago, but my head troubles me so much I write very little.

I think soon they can take me up the road, to the insane asylum [Taunton Lunatic Hospital].

We all feel very sober here this week.

Mrs. [Andrew R.] Wright is very ill with pneumonia both lungs affected. Her daughter [Mrs. Charles Sumner Aldrich, nee Isabel M. Wright] is with her- and a trained nurse.

Was it sudden about Mrs. [William] Lindsey [Sr., nee Sarah J. French]? I can hardly realize it.

A box of nice candy came to me Tuesday and no one but my friend Annie sent it. Thank you dear very much indeed.

Do you know I cannot for the life of me see how you and the rest of my friends can be so full of hope over the case.

To me, I see nothing but the densest shadows.

It is fine sleighing here the bells jingle all night long.

I must say good-by for this time.

With much love for my loyal friend

L.A.B.

[Curryong]

Thank you for posting this, Mystery. Lizzie does seem to have felt quite depressed. It must have been more than a bit embarrassing, too, for the husband of one of your friends to be transporting you to Taunton Jail, however discreetly it was done. Sarah Wright's death wouldnt have exactly lifted her spirits either.

I suppose the hours passed very slowly in jail. She would probably have sewn a little, read a little, eaten her meals and received visitors a couple of times a day, and that would have been it.

[MysteryReader]

Well I didn't post #3 and 4 but she was allowed to plant/take care of plants, in addition to what you listed, Curry. What's interesting is that there is another female Borden already there at the Taunton Lunatic Hospital or had been in the past (she was a distant cousin).

[debbiediablo]

Does it say how distant a cousin and what her diagnosis was or why she had been committed. This has my captured my curiosity, MR....

[MysteryReader]

Debbie- let me check my notes and get back to you. It doesn't say why she was committed, that much I remember. When I read it, I wondered about Lizzie. But being females, I can understand her feeling blue, depressed, etc. but there isn't a need to check most of us into an insane asylum.

[MysteryReader]

Okay. The relative (I want to say some sort of cousin) was Miss Eliza Ann Borden, daughter of the late Deacon Charles Borden. It was in a local paper that published everything about everyone, even if it was personal, like ^^.

[twinsrwe]

Eliza Ann Borden was a sister to William. S. Borden.

Posted by Kat on Feb-8th-04:

Rebello's research on William s. Borden, pg. 373+

"Profile: Charles Lott Church Borden was born in Fall River, November 12, 1811, and was the tenth of twelve children born to Joseph Borden (1763-1843) and Susan Church. Charles Borden was a carpenter and was involved in church work all his life. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in 1846. He later assisted in the formation of Second Baptist Church, serving as a deacon for many years.

Deacon Borden was married twice. His first marriage, at the age of twenty-eight, was to Phebe Hathaway, age twenty-three, on October 16, 1839. She was the daughter of Michael and Hannah (Davis) Hathaway of Freetown, Massachusetts. Phebe was born in Freetown, July 30, 1816. Charles L. and Phebe (Hathaway) Borden were the parents of six children: Charles A. Borden, Amanda M. Borden, Hannah H. Borden, Eliza Ann Borden, Eliza Ann Borden (2nd.), and William S. Borden."
.....

"The last son, William S. Borden, was born in Fall River, April 20, 1854 (see marriage record, Weld Genealogy, p. 253 and Federal Census, 1900) William, age twenty, a laborer and peddler, married seventeen year old Rebecca Francis Gammons of East Taunton, Massachusetts, October 14, 1874. They were married in Raynham, Massachusetts, by Rev F. A. Reed. Rebecca was born in East Taunton (January, 1858- ?). She was the daughter of Lewis B. Gammons, a nailer who worked for the Old Colony Iron Company, and A. Frances Gammons. Rebecca was the sister of Frederick B., a shoemaker and Jesse B. Gammons. The Gammons and Bordens all resided at 38 Liberty Street from 1872-1901. Within those years, William moved twice (1885-1893, 1896-1897) to a house at the corner of Caswell and Staples Streets located about a half mile from Liberty Street. This was the home of Eldridge Staples and his son, Charles G., both farmers. William returned to Liberty Street in 1898. Two months after he was married, William was committed to Taunton Lunatic Hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts, December 8, 1874, and released December 2, 1875. William S. Borden committed 'suicide by hanging.' He was found hanging from a tree on New Boston Road in Fall River, on April 17, 1901 (death record). Hospital records and newspapers accounts of William Borden's suicide reported that his two sisters, 'Eliza Ann Borden [2nd.] and Amanda (Borden) Taylor and two aunts were at the asylum in Taunton at the time William committed suicide. He was survived by his wife who had been "ill and ...partially helpless for some time." ' Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Mr. H. H. Loud at the Congregational church in Taunton. Burial took place at King's Furnace Cemetery (King Cemetery) in East Taunton, Massachusetts. His wife and her two brothers moved to Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1909. Rebecca Borden's last known residence was in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1917."

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/Archive04 ... mexist.htm

Note: Highlighting is mine.

[Curryong]

Thank you for that twins, very interesting. That particular branch of the Borden family that contained Bill, Mr Brown's suspect, certainly seem to have had several members who suffered from mental illness, something that seems to have interested the prosecution with reference to Lizzie.

[taosjohn]

Thank you for that twins, very interesting. That particular branch of the Borden family that contained Bill, Mr Brown's suspect, certainly seem to have had several members who suffered from mental illness, something that seems to have interested the prosecution with reference to Lizzie.

That they all seem to have lived in roughly the same place makes me wonder about radon, bread mold, black mold, etc-- even though they weren't getting bombarded with microwaves as we are, they must have been subject to some of the psychoactive environmental influences that we know about today...

[debbiediablo]

Or genetics.....

[twinsrwe]

Thank you for that twins, very interesting. That particular branch of the Borden family that contained Bill, Mr Brown's suspect, certainly seem to have had several members who suffered from mental illness, something that seems to have interested the prosecution with reference to Lizzie.

You're welcome. Here is another tidbit of information, which I can't find a source for, but since Kat posted it, I know it is accurate.

On Jan 29, 2007 Kat posted:

It seems as if Eliza Ann had an illegitimate child- a little girl who only lived to be 5.
Eliza Ann died in the Taunton Asylum in November of 1901.
Billie (William) Borden died in April of the same year, 7 months earlier.

Kat also posted a basic tree for William S. Borden, which she complied:

CharlesL_BordenTreeKK.jpg

Source: viewtopic.php?t=2584

[debbiediablo]

Fascinating, Twins. Thank you!

Some genetic conditions are predisposed rather than guaranteed...for instance children of a parent with Huntington's Disease have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease regardless of environment, fetal trauma, etc. Other syndromes such as autism are believed to be genetically predisposed, meaning they need a trigger (illness, some believe MMR vaccination, high fever) to manifest. This makes me wonder if Andrew's family (or Sarah's, given descriptions of her moodiness) carried a predisposition for some type of neurological condition or mental illness. Taking TJ's earlier point, toxic waste from Fall River mills and manufacturing could have contaminated the water, soil, local produce, animals slaughtered locally...any of which could trigger a genetic predisposition or result in genetic mutations. The flipside is asylum living in that period could have turned a perfectly sane person crazy.

[Curryong]

Yes, Debbie, toxic water, eroded soil was a feature of most manufacturing and industrial areas in the 19th century. Still, even discounting that era's propensity to pop everyone from schizophrenics to children with severe learning difficulties in institutions it does appear that Billie Borden's immediate family were disposed towards some kind of mental disturbances. I agree being shut up in an 'asylum' for any length of time must have been like a living death.

[irina]

Another thing we don't know is if there was a metabolic condition, autoimmune disease, etc. in the family. It was once written that asylums were full of, especially women who suffered from diseases of the thyroid or adrenal glands. Even in my own case a heart arrhythmia was misdiagnosed as "mental illness" for almost 40 years until I almost died. Toward the end of this time my heart beat so fast that I seldom slept and that alone could have led to mental illness. A beta blocker completely fixes this problem for me.

In Lizzie's day they didn't know about hormones or metabolism or the immune system. Even President Kennedy lived most of his life deficient of adrenal hormones since he had Addison's disease. Much is made of his physical feats but what is amazing is that he was severely ill all of his life.

My personal opinion would be that in a family in that day and age, with a lot of mental illness and institutionalizations I would suspect some sort of metabolic deficiency. Even today when actual mental illness is seen in families and perhaps augmented with drugs and alcohol, cases of actual mental illness seem to be less in number than are recorded in this one branch of the Borden family. I am sure Debbie knows more on this subject than I do. I think it was also noted that Billy Borden smelled bad. That could definitely be due to a metabolic issue, if not poor hygiene.

[Curryong]

Apparently Billy Borden made 'ice cider,' a sort of 'blow the top off your skull' liquor. He cleaned his cider casks with a mixture of lyle soap and axle grease! As a horse renderer Billy would cut up dead horses that had died of Blister Beetle poisoning, a disease the attacks a horse's bladder and urine. Both these activities left him so smelly that his wife would insist that he sleep in the barn!

[debbiediablo]

I was about to comment that persons with certain forms of mental illness do smell differently...it's an absolute fact which ends up being blamed on poor hygiene as a side effect of psychotropic medications. However, Irina is right. There is a metabolic element that leads to a different body odor even for those who are scrupulously clean and minimally or unmedicated. Then I read Curryong's post and nearly fell off my chair laughing: Billy most certainly had a lot of odor problems from multiple sources. I wonder if their marriage was conducted by proxy with his wife in the chapel and him on the back porch of the parsonage with wind blowing away from the buildings. We can pretty much eliminate Billy as the murderer since he would've left a residual smell worthy of a bag of Nag Champa incense, half a dozen Yankee candles scented like apple pie and three bottles of Febreeze.

[Curryong]

Years ago there was a multiple rapist and double murderer in Melbourne the Press christened 'Mr Stinky,' who must have smelled like Billy Borden! Unbelievably, he remained at large for years, until nabbed by the police in another State for indecent exposure and his fingerprints were checked. He was a share-cropping dairy farmer and his smell came from milk, manure and chemicals, a delightful combination!

[twinsrwe]

Fascinating, Twins. Thank you! ...

You're welcome, Debbie, but the credit should really go to Kat since she is the one who complied that family tree.

[twinsrwe]

I agree, being shut up in an 'asylum' for any length of time must have been like a living death, and being put in a place like the Taunton State Hospital for the insane, would be horrible. If a person were not insane before being put in such a place, then they would certainly became insane having to live there!!! There are a ton of images available on the internet. Here are some web pages with images and information about the Taunton State Hospital, which I found not only informative, but the photos are awesome. I know there are a lot of sites listed below, but I find this state asylum fascinating, and the ones I have posted are, to me, the most interesting. I hope you will find these web sites as interesting as I did.

The Taunton State Hospital was. at one time, a HUGE facility!!!

taunton_1915.jpg

At the bottom of the main article in this site, you will find several pictures under the title of Historic Images; click on the first photo, which will take you to a slideshow for the following ones. Also click on the section titled Up and Over, for a couple of images that I did not find anywhere else on the internet.
http://tinyurl.com/khkotxo

This site gives us Matthew Christopher’s personal account of his trip to the Taunton State Hospital. There are also a couple of photos on the site which I did not find anywhere else on the internet.
http://tinyurl.com/nr84hwn

Click on the first picture in this site. The picture will be enlarge with a title of what the photo is; at the bottom of each photo is an option for seeing the next picture.
http://tinyurl.com/l6ywpe3

This site includes a video of the abandoned Taunton State Hospital; I had to turn the volume way down, because I couldn’t take the music! Otherwise, it was an interesting video. There is also a Photot Gallery section.
http://tinyurl.com/pamf9yk


This web page gives us some insight as to what was included in the building, before it was demolished. Apparently, the Taunton State Hospital was also haunted.
http://tinyurl.com/lzdjtw2

On Jan. 29, 2012, the Taunton Daily Gazette had an article about the Taunton State Hospital. There is a very cool photo of a ward with nurses at work in the Taunton State Hospital in the 1800s.
http://tinyurl.com/odxkgja

[twinsrwe]

Whether Deacon Charles Lott Borden’s family suffered from toxic waste, genetics or some unknown condition(s), this family sure had more than their share.

... Hospital records and newspapers accounts of William Borden's suicide reported that his two sisters, 'Eliza Ann Borden [2nd.] and Amanda (Borden) Taylor and two aunts were at the asylum in Taunton at the time William committed suicide.

I wonder who William’s two aunts were?

[twinsrwe]

Apparently Billy Borden made 'ice cider,' a sort of 'blow the top off your skull' liquor. He cleaned his cider casks with a mixture of lyle soap and axle grease! As a horse renderer Billy would cut up dead horses that had died of Blister Beetle poisoning, a disease the attacks a horse's bladder and urine. Both these activities left him so smelly that his wife would insist that he sleep in the barn!

Curry, do you have a source for this information? I'm just curious since parts of this statement are in Arnold Brown's book, Lizzie Borden: The Legend, The Truth, The Final Chapter.

[Curryong]

I got it from

http://my.ilstu.edu/~ftmorn/cjhistory/c ... orden.html

Web site titled 'The Bordens of Fall River--My Illinois State'.

Never read Mr Brown's magnum opus. Is it from there?

[twinsrwe]

Thank you for posting the source, Curry. It doesn’t say who wrote this article, but at the very bottom of the page it states:

Suggested Further Readings
Arnold Brown. Lizzie Borden: The Legend, The Truth, The Final Chapter (1991)

So, I’m thinking, whoever wrote this article probably did obtain some of the following basic information regarding the Blister Beetle Poisoning from Arnold’s book, and then embellished on it. Their embellishment was in William’s wife frequently forcing him to sleep in the barn. That part was not in Arnold’s book.

On pages 288-291, of A. Brown's book, Ellan Eagan questions Henry Hawthorne about Bill Borden's odor; Brown wrote (Note my underlined and highlighted sections):

After preparing him something to eat and while her resolve was at its highest, Ellan placed herself across from Henry, stared directly into his eyes, and without any introduction asked hum, "Did Bill Borden ever smell different from anything normal?"

"What the heck!" Henry was startled and amused.

"Just tell me. Did Bill Borden ever stink real bad?" she persisted, almost begging.

"He was a farmer. He killed and gutted chickens and ducks, he slaughtered many a horse, he butchered pigs and cows, and anytime anyone shot a deer he was the one they called upon to butcher it. He mucked his barn twice a day. Of course he stunk. I never knew a farmer who didn't. Why?"

"No," she said sternly. "Was there ever a time when he smelled of stink you can't describe?"

"No," he told her honestly. "But I remember the time he made me stink to high heaven, if that answers your question. I'll never forget that awful stench, and I swore I would never smell like that again."

"Well. I hope you never do, too, whatever it was. Tell me about it." They both seemed to relax as Henry returned to his boyhood days with the newfound confidence that he could handle all the frightening memories that had lingered so long in his life.

Bill was not above playing pranks on Henry. One memorable practical joke occurred when he told Henry how to clean himself after the last hard day of cleaning the casks. When Henry had finished the cleaning to Bill's satisfaction, Bill handed him a jar of something that looked like axle grease and a cake of lye soap and told him to be sure and rub this secret grease on all of the spots of his body where the cider residue and the cleaner had come in contact. Henry did exactly as he was told and, when he got into the waterhole that was a summertime bath tub, every part of his skin he had rubbed with Bill's grease began to burn. When the burning stopped, he noticed the foulest odor he had ever smelled. He sniffed the water, the soap, the rag; they all smelled awful. He dried and dressed and ran from the waterhole, but the stench seemed to follow him.

Henry had to sleep in the barn that night and for the next three nights, too, which was no hardship to a young farm boy. It seemed that the livestock grew restless in his presence through, as if he offended them. He knew he offended any human who came within yards of him. The smell lasted two weeks.

Henry added that during his war service he had kidded a veterinarian about the perpetual odor of his boots, and the vet told him that horse urine had high concentrates of many waste product chemicals in it and that sniffing it was one of the quickest ways to determine imbalances that could point directly to possible health problems in the animal. The vet then delivered an unasked-for lecture on the possible variations in odor that could occur and the ramifications of each.

Henry didn't really listen until the doctor mentioned a fatal disease called Blister Beetle Poisoning and the related stench always found in the dead horse's bladder. He had laughed when the vet mentioned that the Blister Beetle is also known as "Spanish Fly," but stopped laughing when the doctor added that getting any of the dead horse's urine on your own skin was not recommended unless you wanted to be ostracized from the human race until it wore off. When Henry asked if it could be washed off with soap and water, he was told that water would make it worse.

"Your Bill Borden acted as a vet or a renderer, didn't he? He removed dead horses, you told me," Ellan stated.

"Oh, I figured it out that Bill had added something to that jar of salve he gave me to use long before the vet explained what it might have been."

According to Arnold Brown's book, Henry Hawthorne did not verify that Bill Borden ever smelled like a stink you can't describe. Brown is insinuating that the stench of a stink you can't describe, is the same as the stench found in a dead horse's urine that had become infected with the fatal disease called Blister Beetle Poisoning.

I have done extensive research on Blister Beetle Poisoning, to see if there was any truth to Arnold Brown’s claim of getting any of a dead horse's urine on your own skin was not recommended unless you wanted to be ostracized from the human race until it wore off.

Nowhere is it mentioned that there is a stench associated with the horse's bladder or urine that has been poisoned by them eating Blister Beetles. The principle poison found in the Blister Beetle is called Cantharidin, which is an odorless, colorless compound that is soluble in various organic solvents, but only slightly soluble in water. Nowhere did I find that horse’s urine infected with Cantharidin would smell or make you smell if you got it on yourself. The only sign of an infected horse's urine is frequent urination with small amounts of blood in the urine itself; the urine must be tested in a lab to determine if the horse has been poisoned by ingesting a Blister Beetle.

[Curryong]

Thanks for your investigations, twins. Whoops and double whoops! That'll teach me to keep to Parallel Lives, Lizzie Past and Present and other such reliable sources in the future. Disregard my source everyone, and sorry!

[irina]

All that about the bad smell from blister beetle poisoning I think is a bunch of horse puckey or bull dust as Curryong puts it.

One of the worst things I have ever smelled is some of the sexual attractants used in trapping, made from scent glands of various animals. I mention this in passing in case anyone knows of Bill Borden doing any trapping. (A scent that can nearly make me vomit even today is the smell from expressing the anal glands of cats or dogs. (If anyone is unfamiliar with this procedure, it is done to relieve discomfort in the animals and is a veterinary procedure or is done by most groomers. Though oily in nature this stuff washes off with soap and water. One speck of it on clothing can be noted.)

[twinsrwe]

Thanks for your investigations, twins. Whoops and double whoops! That'll teach me to keep to Parallel Lives, Lizzie Past and Present and other such reliable sources in the future. Disregard my source everyone, and sorry!

You're welcome, Curry. However, there is no need for you to apologize. We all make mistakes; that's why we are called humans. In addition to Parallel Lives and Lizzie Past and Present, I do put a great stock in Harry and Kat's posts; both of these people have spent years doing research and are/were highly knowledgeable regarding the Borden Murders.

[twinsrwe]

All that about the bad smell from blister beetle poisoning I think is a bunch of horse puckey or bull dust as Curryong puts it. ....

I whole heartily agree!

One of the worst things I have ever smelled is some of the sexual attractants used in trapping, made from scent glands of various animals. I mention this in passing in case anyone knows of Bill Borden doing any trapping. (A scent that can nearly make me vomit even today is the smell from expressing the anal glands of cats or dogs. (If anyone is unfamiliar with this procedure, it is done to relieve discomfort in the animals and is a veterinary procedure or is done by most groomers. Though oily in nature this stuff washes off with soap and water. One speck of it on clothing can be noted.)

I know the spray from a skunk seems to last forever. My mother used to use tomato juice to get rid of the stench of a skunk's spray. Believe it or not; it worked!!!

[Curryong]

Yes, twins, Harry and Kat were marvellous and badly missed. I loved the way Harry especially would gather bits and pieces about the Borden mystery from obscure newspaper articles and quickly post them.

I don't know anything about animals' anal glands but the worst smell I ever experienced, (apart from being stuck on a train next to a person with dreadful B.O.) was being quite close to seals. I went to a bird sanctuary once one a boat trip and a lot of seals were sunning themselves on a rock nearby. When their coats are wet they are ten times smellier than a dog with a wet coat, though it's a similar smell. Add to that their waste, which stinks anyway in a fishy sort of way, and the aroma is more than pungent. I also think that hen poo smell is not the best!

[irina]

Camels don't smell good. Rhino pee absolutely stinks. At the San Diego Zoo the rhino backed up to a board fence thing and peed with the force of a firehose, for a long time until men in the crowd were murmering about the strengths of that male rhino. Anyway there was a horrific smell also. I can't watch a show about the African plains full of animals without wondering if the whole thing stinks to high heaven. No wonder some African tribes dress their hair with cow dung. At least that's kind of a clean smell.

Tomato juice does work on skunk. Turns skunk oil into something that smells like vomit, then it washes off. People say this doesn't work but I have found that it does. These scents are oily and sulfurous. The stink is supposed to come from the sulfur compounds.