Lizzie Borden
Borden, Lizzie Andrew (1860–1927), the defendant in a celebrated murder case of the 1890's. She lived in Fall River, Massachusetts, with her father (Andrew J. Borden), who was a wealthy businessman, and her stepmother (Abby Gray Borden). The elder Bordens were brutally murdered with an ax on August 4, 1892, and, on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, Lizzie was accused of the crime. She stood trial in June, 1893, and was acquitted. Many townspeople, however, remained convinced of her guilt, and she was thereafter ostracized. The crime has been the subject of numerous books and theatrical productions but is probably best known through the following anonymous verse:
Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks;
And when she saw what she had done.
She gave her father forty-one.