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Lizzie Andrew Borden ( July 19, 1860 - June 1, 1927) was an American woman accused of murder, but acquitted, and remembered chiefly as the subject of an American nursery rhyme:
She was tried for the axe murders of her father and stepmother. The anonymous rhyme represents a gross overestimate of the number of axe wounds (her mother suffered 19, her father 11), but it has ensured that she is remembered as a figure of American folklore.
On August 4, 1892, Lizzie and Bridget Sullivan, the maid of the household, discovered the corpses of Mr. Andrew J. Borden and Abby Gray Borden, Lizzie's father and his second wife. Both had been slain by multiple axe blows. The Bordens were one of the wealthiest and most prominent families of Fall River, Massachusetts.
A circumstantial case against Lizzie was made, without any identification of a murder weapon and no incriminating physical evidence such as bloodstained clothes. The case against Lizzie was based mostly on the testimony of a pharmacist that said that Lizzie had attempted to purchase prussic acid, a form of cyanideA cyanide is any chemical compound that contains the group C≡N, with the carbon atom triple bonded to the nitrogen atom. Inorganic cyanides contain the highly toxic cyanide ion C N- and are the salts of the acid hydrogen cyanide ( HCN). Organic cyan, and that a neighbour had seen her burning a dress.
Borden's trial occurred in June of 1893Events January 1 Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar January 2 Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers January 13 The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting. Janua. It took two weeks, a quite long time for the period. On June 20June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. Events 1214 University of Oxford receives its charter. 1685 Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwa, 1893Events January 1 Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar January 2 Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers January 13 The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting. Janua, after ninety minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted Lizzie of the crime.
Although acquitted of the crime, many people believed that she had done it and ostracized her. Later in life, Lizzie changed her name to Lizbeth and became somewhat eccentric. She died of complications from gall bladder surgery in 1927, at the age of sixty-six. Many books expounding different theories have been written about the crime.
Lizzie Borden was even made the subject of an operaCharles Garnier's Opera, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. The drama is presented using the typical elements of theater such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera,.