Lizzie Borden: a take on this famous TC you may not have encountered.

[BlueIris]

The Fall River murders allegedly commited by Lizzie Borden make for one of my favorite TC stories ever. Gruesome as the killings are, this case has always fascinated me. Mainly because I just never bought that Lizzie Borden did what she was accused of, nor did I buy her accuser's opinions of her purported motive. I came across the following analysis in 2002 and it is by far the most believable, compelling explanation for what went happened in Fall River that I've ever read. I would love it if the posters in this forum took a look at it and shared their thoughts.

http://www.feminista.com/archives/v4n1/gage.html

[shrike]

1. Don't find it credible personally

For the simple reason I don't find Bridget a credible culprit.

An Irish servant who killed her mistress out of rage -- since Abby was killed first -- would have panicked and fled, in my opinion, rather than hanging around for another 90 minutes or so, to murder the old man.

[politicat]

2. Hm. It's better than anything I've managed to come up with....

The murders don't make sense to me; everyone had motive, but no one who was possibly there had enough opportunity. (Lisbeth wasn't saying something that day, but as to what it was she wasn't telling, I don't think it was the murder.)

Aliens. That's it. Aliens.

[BlueIris]

3. Yeah. If nothing else, I give Dr. Gage points for originality.

:shrug:

[frogmarch]

4. I don't buy it

imo, Lizzie was good for it. According to most accounts, she and her sister despised their step mother and refused to eat meals with her and their father. Perhaps the Borden sisters hated her in part because they saw her as a hindrance to their inheritance. Lizzie, especially, resented living in the poorer section of town because of her father's miserliness. One of the first things she did when she got her inheritance was move to the ritzy part of town.

It's said that Lizzie cut off the head of her step-mother's cat because it annoyed her. A year or so before the murders, Andrew Borden accused Lizzie of break-ins, at least one of which was in the Bordens' barn, and to retaliate, he killed Lizzie's pigeons that were kept there.

I think Lizzie's resentment continued to build toward her father and step mother, and some incident, like perhaps having been served cold mutton stew for week straight before the murders, may have been the last straw.

I'm of the opinion that the jury failed to convict Lizzie because they saw the murders as too horrendous for a woman to have committed, especially one as demure-appearing as Lizzie was in court.

[BlueIris]

5. Update (new link to article posted in OP):

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/NewResearch/NewResearchArticles/Gage.htm