GOODBYE LIZZIE BORDEN

by Robert Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 1974

An attempt to tell the truth -- the whole truth once and for all about the case which has lingered longest not only in sentimental memory but also in the annals of crime (six books, 1000 articles, and the 2000 page trial transcript to which the author, a former Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, has given assiduous attention). Essentially the double parricide was a simple affair: Lizzie Borden, a dour young woman rather like her father, delivered eleven distinct blows with a handleless hatchet to his face, and nineteen to the back of the head of her stout, shy stepmother (even with one extra, they don't add up to forty whacks). Later she was seen by her sister Emma (away at the time of the murders) burning a dress -- the single most damning piece of evidence, according to Sullivan who also questions the exclusion of the fact, during the trial, that Lizzie had tried and failed to buy some prussic acid the day before. Including all the legal apparatus, Sullivan re-tries the case from the accusation to the acquittal, adds very little to the all-too-well-knowns except the testimony of one never-before-questioned relative, a now 90-year-old lady who was only too willing to talk and add her opinion that Lizzie was undeniably guilty. As the title indicates, the book is intended to serve as the last whack in the form of a scrupulous, definitive judgment on a woman who did not deserve the sympathy she attracted at the time or the legend she acquired later.

Pub Date: May 25, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stephen Greene Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION