Fall River Tragedy

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - True Crime

Authors: Edwin H. Porter In Year : 1893

Book Language: English

Audiobook: Fall River Tragedy

Preface
Discovery of the Murders
Police Searching the Premises
The Borden Family
Hiram C. Harrington’s Story
The Search of the House
The Funeral
A Reward Offered
A Sermon on the Murders
Theories Advanced
Chapter X
Miss Lizzie Borden Arrested
Lizzie Borden Pleads 'Not Guilty'
The Preliminary Hearing Adjourned
Dr. Dolan Cross-Examined
Second Day of the Trial
Third and Fourth Days of the Trial
Fifth Day of the Trial
Sixth Day of the Trial
District Attorney Knowlton’s Argument.
Lizzie A. Borden Indicted
The Trickey-McHenry Affair
Beginning of the Superior Court Trial
Third Day of the Trial
Fourth Day of the Trial
Fifth Day of the Trial
Seventh Day of the Trial
Eighth and Ninth Days of the Trial
Tenth Day of the Trial
Eleventh Day of the Trial
Twelfth Day of the Trial Part 1
Twelfth Day of the Trial Part 2
Twelfth Day of the Trial Part 3
District Attorney Knowlton’s Plea Part 1
District Attorney Knowlton’s Plea Part 2
Judge Dewey’s Charge to the Jury

The story of how Lizzie Borden supposedly murdered her parents has passed into American folklore, partly thanks to the albeit inaccurate playground rhyme, "Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41." Here we have the 'true' story, as reported by the local police reporter who attended the trial and lived only streets away from the Borden home with his young wife. After the trial, Porter 'disappeared' and it was widely speculated he had either been murdered or bribed to disappear in order to suppress the book. His reappearance some time later put paid to the first theory. After his death at age 39 from tuberculosis, a new theory emerged, that he had been away for treatment while keeping his illness secret. Meanwhile, the trial itself was noteworthy for several reasons: it was one of the first to be followed by nationwide press, providing a template for today's tabloid and cable coverage of major trials; it also had some distinguished personnel: one of the prosecutors, Frank Moody, later became the attorney general of the United States and was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Theodore Roosevelt; and Borden’s defense attorney, George Robinson, was the former governor of Massachusetts. The appearance of Professor Wood of Harvard University was an early use of an expert witness at trial.