From: "Kelly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> On a brief personal note, thank you June for posting your fascinating
> article on Lizze Borden! I haven't had a chance to re-read it, but I
> was wondering about the family maid. I seem to recall reading an
> article many a year ago that pointed out she had never been
suspected,
> but had every opportunity and reason to commit the murders. What say
> you? I would really like your opinion on this.
Bridget Sullivan was briefly considered a suspect by the police...after
all, she was the only other person besides Lizzie to admit to having
been on the premises at the time both murders were committed.
Her elimination as a suspect was due to several reasons...first off,
she was genuinely and demonstrably frightened, refusing to spend
another minute in the house. She was so very emotional about the
murders that it quickly became obvious that it would be obvious if she
had any 'guilty knowledge' of the crime.
Another reason for her elimination is the thought that she lacked
motive...it was argued (mostly by those who had decided Lizzie had done
it), that Bridget would have lost her source of employment in murdering
her employer and his wife. But I've always thought that a weak
argument, since the Borden sisters seemed fond enough of Bridget, there
was no reason not to expect that Lizzie and Emma would have kept
Bridget on after their father and stepmother died...but WHY Bridget
would have done it, solely on her own, can't be adequately explained.
No, she had no reason to kill the Bordens.
But the biggest reason for her elimination as a suspect is due to the
commonly accepted estimate of Mrs. Borden's time of death...the doctors
who examined the bodies decided that Abby Borden had died some time
before her husband...nowadays it's said that they said an hour to an
hour and a half before Andrew Borden was murdered. But when one reads
the actual source documents, one finds out that they actually
originally stated much different times of deaths...for example, one
doctor who examined Abby Borden at about 1pm on the day of the murders
stated she had died 2 to 2.5 hours earlier...which would have put her
time of death much closer to the time Andrew had also been murdered...
There is currently a new book on the market that makes quite a valid
argument for Abby Borden actually having died at about the same time as
her husband...namely, closer to 11am than the commonly accepted 9:30 to
10am time frame. But the Fall River police in 1892 accepted the
premise that Abby Borden had been killed between 9:30 to 10am...and
Bridget was outside washing windows at that time, even chatting up the
maid next door for some minutes. So she had an airtight alibi for that
timeframe, while Lizzie did not.
But if Abby DID die closer to 11am, then Bridget's alibi falls apart.
She admitted to having finished washing the downstairs windows before
11, and went upstairs to lie down, reporting hearing the city hall
clock toll 11.
But even though she doesn't have an alibi for that time period, there's
still the basic argument used to defend Lizzie's innocence that can be
applied to Bridget -- if she DID do it, how could she do it in such a
short time frame and not make a sound and be able to not get a spot of
blood on herself?
Bridget DID make an intriguing comment shortly after the murder of
Andrew Borden had been discovered, but BEFORE Abby Borden's body had
been found: Dr. Bowen told her and Mrs. Churchill (the nextdoor
neighbor who rushed over as soon as she saw something was amiss at the
Borden house) to fetch a sheet to cover Andrew Borden's body. Bridget
(who at that point refused to go anywhere alone in the house,
presumably because she was afraid the murderer was still around), as
she handed a sheet to Mrs. Churchill, stated something to the effect of
needing TWO sheets, to which Mrs. Churchill responded that one would do
for a person.
Some people have latched onto this comment of Bridget's as suggesting
that she knew Mrs. Borden was dead, although the body hadn't been
discovered yet, and Lizzie was still claiming that her stepmother had
gone out that morning, and presumably hadn't returned yet. But I think
that is reaching a bit. It's hard to say what was going through
Bridget's mind at the time...but Andrew Borden WAS a pretty tall man,
and the murder was so bloody, perhaps she thought an extra sheet may
have been necessary to adequately cover everything...
Bridget also made an intriguing comment much later in her life...in the
1940s, when Bridget was in her 60s and living in Wyoming, she came down
with a serious illness and was thought to be dying. She requested a
dear friend come visit her, saying that she had something important
regarding the Borden case to tell this friend before she (Bridget)
died...
As luck would have it, this friend could not immediately visit
Bridget...and by the time she could, Bridget had recovered from the
illness. The only thing she would say, when prompted by her friend
regarding what the important thing was that Bridget had said she needed
to tell her, was "I gave testimony at the Borden murder inquest"...
Well, that is a matter of public record, hardly a deep secret one would
beg to tell a friend when one thought oneself dying...so we are left to
wonder what it was that Bridget, in her fever, decided she had to get
off her chest (and presumably conscious) before going to meet her
maker...for she never had another word to say to this friend (or anyone
else, as far as we know) on the matter, before finally dying a few
years later...
June
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