Hi, this research paper is about Elizabeth Borden and the murder of her father and stepmother. It was after dinner on August 3, 1892 Abby and Andrew Borden were ill. The next morning Bridget Sullivan, the housekeeper, also became sick. Mrs. Borden thought someone was trying to poison them. While Mr. Borden went downtown to his office, his wife went upstairs to clean the guest room. Meanwhile, Lizzie suggested to Bridget, whom she always called “Maggie,” that she go downtown to a department store, which was having a sale. Bridget did not feel up to it, and instead cleaned the windows before taking a nap. At around 10:30 A.M. Mr. Borden returned home. When he asked for his wife, Lizzie told him that she had gone to visit a sick friend. Mr. …show more content…
(Emma had been at a friend’s house at the time of the murders.) Lizzie told Bridget that she had been in the barn when the intruder had killed her father. There was neither sign of forced entry nor evidence of robbery; no weapon was ever found. However, the circumstantial evidence against Lizzie was very strong. A few days before the murders, Lizzie bought prussic acid, a poison, saying she needed to kill rats. A friend reportedly found Lizzie burning a dress at the kitchen stove a few days after the slayings; she said she had spilled paint on it. The police arrested Lizzie on 13 August. Neighbors who were shocked at the crime were not stunned by Lizzie’s arrest. Lizzie engaged in charitable causes, but, like her mother, she had a reputation for being hot tempered, “worse than insane.” Moreover, she was “known to be ugly” and jealous of her stepmother. Nonetheless, the prosecutor doubted that he could convict Lizzie without a weapon. The brutal murder of the elderly couple generated national publicity, and people from all over the country wrote to the police with theories and suggestions. Some said Mr. Borden had an illegitimate son who committed the murders or that Bridget Sullivan was somehow