Red-Haired Ash Reads

I am sure most of us have heard the nursery rhyme about Lizzie Borden. If you are like me, you might have thought she was actually guilty and charged with the murder (which I learned differently until a few years ago when I started doing more true crime reading). This book dives into the case and a detailed accounting of the trial of Lizzie that led to her being acquitted. 

Like I said, I didn’t know much about this case outside of it being an axe murder and Lizzie was charged with their murder. So this whole book was fascinating for me. This was a detailed account of the trial that used the transcripts of the legal proceedings, newspaper accounts, unpublished local accounts, and even letters from Lizzie herself to tell this story. 

First off, like I said earlier, I didn’t realize that Lizzie was acquitted of the murders. I really thought she was put away for these murders so it was interesting learning all about the trial and how it led to her going free. I also was really surprised by how the trial kept going back and forth with the evidence and testimonies because of how inconsistent everyone was. Up till the announcement of her charge, there was no way to tell how this case would play out because so much information had been presented, represented, removed, and challenged. 

What I really enjoyed about this accounting was that it was such a great blend of trial proceedings, newspaper quotes and a few accounts from Lizzie itself. It made me feel like I was there and watching this case play out in real time. I was hooked from the very beginning and learned so much about this case, what trials were like then, and what ended up being ignored by the case because of “women’s illness”. The whole idea of menstruation during crimes was fascinating to learn about and it makes me wonder how many women were let off the hook because they were on the rag. Also it was crazy to me that Lizzie’s inconsistencies were viewed as just proof she was a woman, not that she was a murderer.  It makes me want to do more research on early criminology and trials views on women. 

After reading this, I will say I still don’t know if Lizzie did it but I can now better see how challenging this case was to determine a culprit. Was it Lizzie? Was it the maid Bridget? Or was it some stranger? The world will probably never know but I am very interested to see if Robinson’s files (lawyer) will ever be released to the public and if it will provide the information needed to determine the true criminal. 

TW: graphic death; eugenics; racism; animal death mentioned; brief mention of animal experimentation;

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