She Gave Her Father Forty One

This here is the handsome Bridget Sullivan, whom our tour guide noted looked like "Christopher Reeves in a bun." She is not wrong.  Bridget was a witness for the prosecution.

Lizzie's initial inquest was held at her house, and she was denied an attorney at the time.  She was high on morphine, having been given it for her nerves, and therefore made absolutely no sense.  She was arrested and held in Taunton, as there were no facilities for women in Fall River, and her trial was held the following June, but the inquest was deemed inadmissible. 

The second picture you see is the jury of Lizzie's "peers."  In this case, however, it was in her favor, because Lizzie's lawyer, Andrew Jennings, played up her "weak femaleness" (the prosecution brought in Lizzie's father's skull, and she fainted upon seeing it) and the jury's preconceived notions of what it meant to be a woman, coupled with the evidence being only circumstantial, led to her acquittal on June 20th.  Deliberation only took 15 minutes, though the jury waited an hour and a half to release the verdict, out of respect to Mr. Borden. 

After her release, though she had been supported by them through the trial, Lizzie was shunned by her former friends.  She and Emma lived in the house for a few months, but eventually moved to a house Lizzie dubbed "Maplecroft" in the fancy neighborhood called "the Hill."  Lizzie changed her name to Lizbeth, and began partying with actors, which was truly scandalous (unlike murder?) so her sister peaced out and never spoke to her again.  Lizzie died at the age of 66, following complications of having her gall-bladder removed, and nine days later her sister died of kidney disease.  Bridget Sullivan disappeared for five years following the murders, but resurfaced in Montana, was married, and outlived both the sisters by 21 years.  When she was 87, she fell ill and called a friend, stating she had "something important to tell her."  When the friend arrived, having traveled for three days, Bridget felt better and was like "J/K nevermind thanks for coming," and never revealed what she was going to say.  She died the next year.

Lizbet left most of her money to the Fall River Animal Rescue League.

So--who did it?  There are many theories, and armchair detective tourist thinks Uncle John did it, or at least helped, whereas human Shannon and Lizzie think that Lizbeth herself committed the murders (and the Lifetime made for TV movie "Lizzie Borden Took and Ax" agrees), or at the very least, committed them in concert with Bridget Sullivan.  If I were shitting myself silly, and someone made me climb a ladder in the sweltering heat to clean the mother fucking windows, I'd axe them in the head, too.  Haha just kidding no I wouldn't....

But paper doll Lizzie would...