Why a Booktrail?
1892: Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks…..
See What I Have Done
What you need to know before your trail
“Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.”
Many readers will know the rhyme of Lizzie Borden but not the real story. This novel attempts to bring the story to life again and into the modern day to look again at the women accused of killing – and was tried and acquitted – for the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts.
As you can imagine this case at the time was something of a cause célèbre throughout the United States. When she was eventually released from the prison in which she had been held during the trial, she chose to stay in Fall River but she was treated as an outcast and was never really part of the town again.
Travel Guide
Fall River, MA
Borden lived in Fall River in a house which despite the family’s wealth was very run down. It didn’t have indoor plumbing as the father was very frugal.
At the time of the murders, Second street was in an affluent area of the city. Her real mother died and her father remarried and Lizzie was said to think that this new wife, Abby was after the family money. There were several arguments in the family about money before the murders took place and Lizzie and her sister ensured they had a house to live in together.
For several days before the murders, the entire household had been violently ill. A family friend later speculated that mutton left on the stove for use in meals over several days was the cause, but Abby had feared poisoning, as Andrew Borden had not exactly been popular.This story is recreated even down to the mutton stew…
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: See What I Have Done
Author/Guide: Sarah Schmidt Destination: Fall River Departure Time: 1892
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
