Could Emma...
Moderator: Adminlizzieborden
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MysteryReader
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Could Emma...
I had a odd idea- could Emma have helped Lizzie with the murders and manage to leave before Lizzie sounded the alarm, taking with her any soiled/bloodied clothes and the murder weapon? People have been commenting on how long it took Emma to get home. She could have left, made it back to wherever she was staying, received the telegram, packed and made it home again... it's a stretch but something worth thinking about.
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Curryong
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Re: Could Emma...
There was a thread that discussed this in the early days, I think, called 'A bunch of Wild Theories' or something like that. Some of the stuff that was discussed on that thread about other suspects was quite amusing.
However, about Emma --- no-one saw Emma (or a small thin man, if she disguised herself as a man: where would she get the clothes, for a start) go into the Borden house. And various neighbours did observe things as did people over the road at the stables.
Horses and buggies travel at between 5 and 8 miles an hour. The Brownell home where Emma was staying was about 16 miles from Second Street. So it would take between two and three hours up and the same back. The people Emma was staying with had no horse, no buggy. If she borrowed one from friends that would be remembered, if she hired one from a livery stable, the same.
I think the main reason against Emma's direct involvement is that she was fiercely protective of Lizzie, regarding herself as Lizzie's second mother. Would she have allowed Lizzie to take the rap for murder, possibly be hanged, spend nearly a year in jail, have the spectre of being suspected of being a murderess hanging over her sister for the rest of her life? I just can't see it happening.
That doesn't mean that I don't think that Emma didn't stoke the fires of Lizzie's hatred of Abby. I think she did, for years. I also think that she knew very well what Lizzie was capable of, even if she would never admit it to herself.
However, about Emma --- no-one saw Emma (or a small thin man, if she disguised herself as a man: where would she get the clothes, for a start) go into the Borden house. And various neighbours did observe things as did people over the road at the stables.
Horses and buggies travel at between 5 and 8 miles an hour. The Brownell home where Emma was staying was about 16 miles from Second Street. So it would take between two and three hours up and the same back. The people Emma was staying with had no horse, no buggy. If she borrowed one from friends that would be remembered, if she hired one from a livery stable, the same.
I think the main reason against Emma's direct involvement is that she was fiercely protective of Lizzie, regarding herself as Lizzie's second mother. Would she have allowed Lizzie to take the rap for murder, possibly be hanged, spend nearly a year in jail, have the spectre of being suspected of being a murderess hanging over her sister for the rest of her life? I just can't see it happening.
That doesn't mean that I don't think that Emma didn't stoke the fires of Lizzie's hatred of Abby. I think she did, for years. I also think that she knew very well what Lizzie was capable of, even if she would never admit it to herself.