Curious Chapbooks & Hysterical Histories

THE MISSING BLOOD

One of the greatest sources of speculation in the Fall River Murders was the lack of blood. In both cases, the heads of the victims had been nearly ripped from their shoulders, yet neither the upstairs guestroom nor the downstairs sitting room showed more than traces of blood. "There were blood spots on the floor, on the wall over the sofa, on a picture hanging on the wall, but, Bowen said, there was 'nothing to indicate the slaughter that had taken place. The clothing on the body was not at all disturbed, nor was there any injury other than to the face (Sullivan, 30).'"

The absence of blood on Lizzie Borden's person so soon after the murders weighed heavily in her favor during the investigation. Adelaide Churchill, the neighbor who stayed with Lizzie until the doctor arrived, testified in court that she did not see any blood on Lizzie's dress when she left at noon. According to Mrs. Churchill, "I stood in front of her, rubbing both her hands and fanning her, and I did not see any blood on her hands or on her face, nor any disarrangement of her hair (Sullivan, 95)." Such a spotless appearance seems impossible if Lizzie indeed committed the crime, for she had at best 20 minutes after her father fell asleep to strike him 11 times about the head, hide the murder weapon and clean all evidence off her clothes and body.

Robert Sullivan suggests that the floor plan of the sitting room provides the solution to the puzzle. According to Sullivan, the horsehair couch upon which Andrew Borden lay for his nap was flush with the door leading into the dining room. With his head resting upon the arm of the couch nearest the dining room, Old Andrew was in striking distance of anyone behind the dining room door. In fact, there was a version of the Lizzie Borden song current at the time of the trial that suggested this modus operandi:

Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks. Then she stood behind the door and gave her father 40 more (Sullivan, 182-183)

Appealing though this jingle may be, hitting a target while behind a door takes delicate precision . Andrew's death was not delicate. Another theory of how Lizzie managed not to be caught red-handed centers around her father's Prince Albert coat. Andrew Borden always wore this garment on business calls, then habitually removed and hung it on the hat rack before taking a nap. However, when Andrew Borden was discovered, this prized possession was found rolled over the sofa arm stained with the victim's blood. Victoria Lincoln believes that Lizzie "saw the Prince Albert on the hat rack, reached out and, sheltered out of sight of the door, slipped it on back to front like a huge butcher's apron (Lincoln, 135)," and did the deed so celebrated in verse and song.

Nevertheless, for sheer horrific appeal, the most popular theory of how Lizzie committed the murders was in the nude. By undressing before each crime and sponging down afterwards, Lizzie could get away with murder without any signs giving her away. Reach alludes to this rumor in his article (61). Sifakis mentions it in his Encyclopedia of American Crime, but with this proviso: "There was a theory that Lizzie had stripped naked to do the deeds and then had put her clothes back on, but that certainly would have involved a great risk of her being seen by the maid (90)." One doubts the risk of being seen killing someone while in the nude is any greater than the risk of being seen while fully clothed. Strangely, this bare-bones theory was originally put forth by Lizzie's own attorney who suggested at the trial, "I would not wonder if they are not going to claim that this woman denuded herself and did not have any dress on at all when she committed either murder (Lincoln, 281)."

Whether Lizzie committed the crimes or not, her hands being unsoiled with her parents' blood leaves open an intriguing question. As one student of the Borden case suggested, there's something suspicious about a daughter finding her father murdered and not having any blood on her (Pearson, 240).

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