The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders

The most sensational crime of the nineteenth century, seen through the eyes of the journalists who covered it. Edwin H. Porter's account, published just a year after Lizzie Borden allegedly took an axe to her father and stepmother in their modest Fall River home, captures the moment America became obsessed with a murder that would never be solved. Porter attended every day of the trial, and his account offers front-row access to the testimonies, the contradictory evidence, and the moment twelve jurors declared Lizzie not guilty while the courtroom gasped. The investigation was botched from the start. The witnesses contradicted themselves. The circumstantial evidence piled up like kindling but never caught fire. What emerged instead was a portrait of a nation hungry for spectacle, ready to pronounce judgment before hearing the facts. More than 130 years later, the question still has no answer. Porter's book preserves the original testimony, the newspaper sensationalism, and the cultural anxieties of a society that didn't know what to do with a woman accused of brutal violence. For true crime readers, history buffs, and anyone fascinated by the stories America tells itself about crime and guilt.