Lizzie Borden Research Paper

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“Lizzie Borden took an axe/ Gave her mother forty whacks/ When she saw what she had done/ She gave her father forty-one.” This mysterious rhyme concerning Lizzie Borden quickly suggests events from one of history’s most gruesome and eerie double homicides. Two murders took place in the Borden household, and the events during and after perplexed the nation. Unable to convict a suspect, officials and experts left the murder case unsolved. Over a century later, historians, detectives, and Borden enthusiasts alike continue to fail in identifying the true mastermind behind the horrific killings. Opinions of guilty parties and conspiracy theories have arisen over several decades. Nevertheless, the evidence of the true murderer, or in this case …show more content…

Several factors in the Lizzie Borden murder trial caused the jury to view the defendant in a biased way and ultimately to give an invalid verdict of not guilty. These factors include stereotypical views of females, ignorance of suspect behavior, and injustice from judge and attorney appointments. Beginning in the early morning of August 4, 1892, many unusual occurrences transpired in the household of the Borden family, eventually including murder (Filetti 471). Andrew Borden, head of the family, built the Borden fortune from his work in the industry of furniture (Stuart). As any other business day, Mr. Borden headed to work without any thought of the events that would soon unfold in his own home. Andrew Borden’s daughters, Lizzie and Emma, also lived in the house, along with Abby Borden, Andrew’s second wife, and Bridget Sullivan, the family maid. Surprisingly, the wealthy family resided in what many considered an “unfashionable neighborhood” (Stuart). To people of their time period, the Bordens seemed peculiar for not displaying their vast fortune with material possessions. The family’s resistance to extravagant material possessions created

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