HIST—615 Assignment 1 GREAT MAP HUNT
NOTICE: This is a working area not a final design area. Things are under construction. Color combinations must be tested. New fonts are arriving daily. Widgets need a test drive or two.
The question is not did Miss Lizzie Andrew Borden commit the murders but why did she do it? Since she never admitted to committing the crime she quite logically has offered no explanation as to why she did it. The motive offered at the trial by the prosecuting attorney Hosea Knowlton began with Lizzie's dislike of her step-mother exacerbated by her father's gift of a substantial piece of property to his wife. This gift was another item of irritation since both Lizzie and her sister Emma had been asking their father to move the family to a more fashionable part of town. As long as Mr. Borden appeared to be declining this request so that he could continue accumulating his fortune his daughters were able to accept it though disappointed.
Mr. Andrew Jackson Borden did not belong to the wealthy branch of his family. The Bordens had lived in Fall River, Massachusetts since the city was founded. They owned large tracts of land and by the 1890s either owned or were on the board of directors of most of the manufacturing mills in the city. Andrew's father had slid down the social scale and was a fishmonger. This was a condition that Andrew in the best Horatio Alger tradition through hard work and thrift, had reversed by 1890. While not the richest of the Bordens he was the president of the Union Savings Bank, a director of three mills, and the landlord of numerous properties. His net worth was estimated as close to $1 million. The problem from, the point of view of his daughters is that he still lived like a fishmonger.
The jurors at Lizzie's trial all came from Fall River. Because of this they all had a shared knowledge of the geography of the city. This was all the geography not just where the physical features. They knew where the mills were located and who owned them. They had a mental picture of the business district and all its shops and offices. Most importantly they knew the location of the invisible boundaries to each ethnic and economic neighborhood. Was Andrew Borden living where a wealthy, white, Anglo Saxon, protestant usually lived in Fall River?
Maps will be one of the keys to understanding Fall River, Massachusetts of 1892. The maps will also help show the relation of the extended Borden family to the community. Here is one of the first maps of the Fall River region. It was drawn in 1812 by a Cook Borden. Like all the maps I’ve found the original is large. This is a thumbnail of a portion of the whole map showing what will become the city center of Fall River. The map shows the names of property owners. I’ve highlighted in red all the Bordens. The second most prominent family in the town were the Durfees. Lizzie's stepmother was Abby Durfee Borden. Durfee properties are highlighted in yellow.
As industry grew in Fall River the major social divide occurred between the north and the south. The mills came to occupy the territory in the middle of the city and what wasn’t used for manufacturing was commercial property of one type or another. The governmental center was located here as well. South and east of the mills and the commercial district were the workers neighborhoods. In the north the mill owners and business leaders lived. The southern part of the city was lowlands and part of it had been swamps. This was one of the areas where King Phillip hid out. The north was highlands and call “The Hill” by residents.
The best view I have of the makeup of this community comes from the 1883 ward maps and the 1880 census. The first map is an index map to the more detailed maps to follow. However, it shows the city's ward are laid out in east—west bands. Wards 3,5, and 6 are mostly industrial. Ward 7 is the first of the middle class wards to the north and wards 1,2,and 4 are the working class wards.
The next map is the detailed map for wards 4 and 5. It show lot lines and structures. In most instances it list the name of the owner. There in ward 4 on Second Street just below Borden Street is the property of A.J. Borden. For a frugal man who thought a horse and buggy a frivolous expense it’s an ideal location within walking distance of his office and other business activities.
The census records show that where a single family lives at the Borden residence nearly all of the other houses on the street are occupied by two or three families. These families were made up of laborers of one type or another. Dr. Bowden, the cross street neighbor was the only professional living in the neighborhood. As more details are added to the map the more obvious the Bordens are out of place. But is that enough for murder?
Few, if any, of these maps appear in the literature about the Borden case. There is textual exposition of this information but neighborhood need to be seen in the space to really be understood. Especially how they interact with each other in the larger community. The maps that do get show are maps of the street around the house and floor plans of the house itself. Understanding the house is also important.
Much can be learned by viewing the layout of the Borden house and reviewing the sequence of events on the morning of August 4, 1892. These floor plans are based on the current layout of the house. The owner converted the property into a bed and breakfast about five years ago. A serious attempt to decorate the house as it was on the day of murders was made. Visitors to Fall River can take one of the scheduled tours of the house or spend the night there.
The locked up nature of the house was commented upon by the prosecutor during the trial and in his summation. All the exterior doors were locked at all times. As seen in the floor plans several interior doors were either locked at all times or blocked. A couple of years before the murders some items of value disappeared from within this locked house. It could only have been an inside job but since no one admitted to the theft the official story was a burglary. Additional locks were purchased and installed.
The house is not large. There is no wasted space. Considering the construction techniques of the day sound insulation was poor. Anyone in the house should have heard the sound of a 180 pound woman’s body falling to the floor.
There is much to do to try and understand what went on. The press of the day was convinced of Lizzie’s guilt. The jury acquitted her. Dozens of books and scores of articles have been written in the last 110 years arguing one point or the other. What few attempt to do is establish the context of 1892 Fall River.
Item for future research. How deeply had such modern connivances as flush toilets, electricity, and telephones penetrated Fall River by 1892?
