Crimes That Were Never Solved

Lizzie Borden

 "Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41."

Lizzie Borden, the only suspect in the ax murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, in 1892, was arrested, tried, and acquitted in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born on July 19, 1860, in Fall River, Massachusetts, to Sarah Anthony Morse Borden and Andrew Jackson Borden. Andrew and Sarah had married on December 25, 1845, and had three children, Emma Lenora on March 01, 1851; Alice Esther on May 03, 1856, who died before she was two years old; and Lizzie in 1860. Sarah Morse died on March 26, 1863, when Lizzie was just 2 ½ years-old. On her deathbed, Emma made a promise to her mother that she would always watch over little Lizzie.

On June 6, 1865, Andrew Borden married for a second time to Abigail "Abby" Durfee Gray. They never had any children. Lizzie along with her sister, Emma, who was nine years older, both lived with their father and step-mother well into adulthood. 

Andrew Jackson Borden descended from a wealthy and influential family, who by 1714 literally owned much of Fall River. However, he grew up in modest surroundings and as a young man, was apprenticed as a carpenter and helped to build the house at 92 Second Street, which he would buy decades later. He would later become an undertaker and after taking a $1,000 loan, he formed a business partnership with William M. Almy. Both men were undertakers and prospered in the manufacture and sale of caskets and furniture.

By the 1850s, Andrew had moved on to property development and later became the president of the Union Savings Bank. He also served as a director for several textile mills, including the Globe Yarn Mill Company and the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company, as well as a director of the Durfee Safe Deposit and Trust Co. and the First National Bank.

In April 1872, Borden purchased the house at 92 Second Street for $10,000 and moved in with his wife and daughters, Emma who was then 21 and Lizzie who was 11.

Despite his wealth, Andrew was known for his frugality. Though most of his family lived in a more fashionable neighborhood called "The Hill", Andrew was content to stay where he was. He also never bothered to upgrade his house with indoor plumbing and electricity that he could have well afforded. The family used oil lamps instead of gas. He was even known to sell eggs from his farm on Main Street. However, he did employ servants to keep their home in order. This frugality was known to have sometimes caused friction in the household, most often with Lizzie, who had aspirations to be like her relatives who lived on the "Hill"