By Maddy Hager

THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN

The Crime: Victims?

We sang along to the rhyme when we were younger, but we didn’t know what it was truly about..until now.

In 1893, Lizzie Borden was arrested for the death of her father, Andrew, and her stepmother, Abby.

The Crime: The Happenings?Andrew and Abby were found in the Borden

house almost unidentifiable. Their faces were torn apart after being bludgeoned repeatedly with an axe.

Unlike the infamous rhyme, a total of 81 whacks did not take place. It was in fact only about 29 whacks total.

The Investigation: The Arrest?Lizzie Borden was arrested because she

performed suspicious acts. She reportedly burned her blue smock in the fireplace claiming there was “paint” on it.

She also claimed she was inside the shed when the murder supposedly took place but there was no evidence that proved she was outside in the shed.

Townspeople also didn’t believe she had a good relationship with her stepmother.

The Investigation: Suspects?

There were two possibilities, it was either the daughter of Andrew Borden, Lizzie Borden, or it was one of the townspeople (after all, Andrew was not a well liked man due to his wealthy-ness and reputation for being “rude”.)

The Trial: Evidence?

Two skulls, that of Andrew and Abby, were presented in court and used as evidence for the trial.

The burning of the smock was brought up as well as a handle-less axe they found in the shed at the Borden home (although there was no sign or evidence of blood being present on the blade of the axe.)

The Trial: Defense? Verdict?

Lizzie’s sister Emma told the jurors and judge that there were never problems in the household, if there were that would show a possibility of a motive to kill.

Lizzie Borden was found not guilty because of a lack of evidence and lack of motive- although some people still believed she killed Andrew and Abby Borden.

My Take: Do I Agree?I believe the verdict was correct, because it

is true that you need a decent amount of evidence to prove someone guilty of a crime- even if you think for sure that they are indeed guilty! There also was no blood found on the blade of the axe that they found in the shed, although handle-less. The dress was also no longer accessible due to the fact that it was burned. If it was I’m sure that’d be key evidence to determine whether she was really guilty or not.