Poison (Arsenic)

Apparently, Abby and Lizzie began to compare notes and realized that while Bridget hadn’t eaten the toasted baker’s bread she had served with dinner, everyone else had. This led them to suspect the bread that Bridget had purchased from a nearby bakery just before supper the night before as a possible source for their stomach woes—either that or the milk they had with dinner. But Abby had heard of people made sick by different kinds of baked goods, so she settled on tainted bread as the likely culprit. With that worry working its way through her mind, Abby decided to go across the street to consult Dr. Seabury Bowen, their family physician, about the matter. (According to Lizzie, her father disapproved, saying, “My money shan’t pay for it!”)

Dr. Bowen’s Testimony

Dr. Bowen reported Abby showed up at his door before breakfast, “sometime between seven and eight o’clock,” looking quite sick and still on the verge of heaving. He recalled Abby’s words to him from the witness stand at the inquest:

“[She] said she was frightened, said that she was afraid she was poisoned … I asked her what she had eaten for supper, and she told me. She said she had eaten some baker’s white bread, and she had heard of baker’s cream cakes being poisonous and was afraid there was something poisonous in the bread that made her vomit. She said she only ate cake and baker’s white bread.”

He told her not to worry too much, that it was most likely “the summer complaint,” or food poisoning, which was common in hot months before the advent of refrigeration, and told her to go home and take some castor oil.

A short while later, after he had eaten breakfast, Dr. Bowen decided to walk across the street to the Borden house to check on the family. He said Bridget let him in at the front door, and as he stepped in he saw Lizzie disappearing up the staircase. He then found Andrew in the sitting room, just then sitting up from lying on the sofa.

“I says, ‘Mr. Borden, what is the matter?’ He looked at me and asked if anyone had sent for me. I told him no, Mrs. Borden was over, I thought I would just come over and see. He seemed well enough then. He said he felt a little heavy, and did not feel just right, but he did not think he needed any medicine. I did not urge him at all, of course, and I went home. I did not think much about it. I saw Mr. Borden out two or three hours afterward.”

A bit later, Dr. Bowen would say that when he saw Andrew outside, he saw him “walking along between the side door and the gate,” and thus he felt satisfied that the family was recovering just fine.

What About the Milk?

However badly Andrew and Abby felt after being up sick half the night, they recovered well enough to welcome John Morse into the house when he arrived unannounced at 1:30 p.m. Abby offered him some of the cold mutton and mutton soup they had just finished eating and served it to him herself. Morse testified that although he did not see Lizzie, Abby told him that Lizzie was upstairs in her room, still not feeling well.

When asked on the stand at the preliminary hearing what Abby had told him about the illness they experienced, and she apparently hadn’t been swayed by Dr. Bowen’s diagnosis because Morse replied that she said “something about poison, thought she got poisoned.” When asked if Abby told him how it happened, Morse answered:

“She said she did not know how, unless, they had some baker’s bread that day, she spoke about that, and about some milk. She said she did not know but it might be poisoned, the way they were sick.”

Later that evening, Lizzie walked over to her friend Alice Russell’s house and told her about how sick Andrew and Abby had been, and that she herself had been feeling ill all day. She told Alice that she and Abby suspected they had been poisoned. According to Alice’s testimony, Lizzie first suggested the baker’s bread as a possible culprit, just as Abby had done, and when Alice disqualified that possibility (other people would have gotten sick from it, too), Lizzie then said, “Sometimes I think our milk might be poisoned.” She was speaking of the cans of milk that were brought from Andrew’s farm at Swansea early each morning and left on their doorstep for Bridget to bring inside. Alice tried to disqualify that possibility as well, as that would require someone to purposely tamper with it, and she didn’t think the Swansea workers would allow that to happen. But Lizzie did not seem mollified and continued to voice fears that her father had an enemy and somebody might soon do something to harm him.

Of course, somebody did do something; less than 24 hours later, both Andrew and Abby were murdered with a hatchet, and the dark prophecy that Lizzie voiced the night before was taken as evidence that she was the enemy plotting to “do something” to her father and stepmother. Soon, the vomiting illness that the family suffered two nights earlier no longer seemed a cut-and-dried case of food poisoning but was cast in a much different light.

Had Lizzie Already Tried to Kill Andrew and Abby with Poison?

When Dr. William Dolan, the county medical examiner, arrived at the scene of the murders, Dr. Bowen was quick to inform him that Abby had suspected they had been poisoned just the day before. That is no doubt why Dr. Dolan was equally quick to have an autopsy board brought to the house. Later that afternoon, he supervised a “partial autopsy” in the sitting room where Andrew had been killed, during which he removed their stomachs and sealed them in jars that were then sent to Harvard for testing. After also learning that both Abby and Lizzie voiced concerns about possible milk tampering, he made it a point to pour the leftover milk from Wednesday’s delivery into one jar, which he marked “Wednesday’s milk,” and he poured the milk delivered that morning into another jar, which he marked “Thursday’s milk.”

Four hours later, at 8 p.m., a druggist named Eli Bence informed two police officers who had come into his drugstore that he believed Miss Lizzie Borden had been in his store the morning before to ask to “Ten cents worth of prussic acid,” a dangerous poison. The officers, Philip Harrington and Patrick Doherty,  immediately escorted Bence to the Borden House, brought him through the side door into the back entry, and then summoned Lizzie into the kitchen so Bence could take a good look at her. He identified Lizzie as the woman who had been into his store.

Although Lizzie denied being in the store, the police didn’t believe her and were now certain that Lizzie had murder on her mind for at least 24 hours. They believed that she had initially intended to kill her parents with poison—before resorting to blows with a hatchet. So, of course, they began to wonder whether the illness that kept Andrew and Abby up half-the-night vomiting on Tuesday was a poisoning attempt that failed.  

The medical experts analyzing the case made every effort to ascertain if any leftover signs of poisoning could be found in the digestive systems of the victims and were asked about their findings in court. They reported no sign of any residual irritation or inflammation that would suggest recent poisoning. Meanwhile, both samples of milk taken from the Borden kitchen came back negative for the presence of any poison. Thus, the prosecution had no evidence to support a claim that Lizzie tried to poison them that Tuesday. But, of course, they didn’t have the milk from Tuesday to test, and Andrew and Abby recovered from their ordeal so quickly that there may not have been signs of poisoning left to discern. Thus, just because they didn’t have evidence she did such a thing, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Looking again at unfolding events: On Tuesday night, Andrew and Abby became unexpectedly and violently ill, but come Wednesday morning, when it seemed they had recovered, Lizzie allegedly attempted to buy a more reliable poison and failed in that effort. Wednesday night, Lizzie told her friend Alice she thought someone may have tried to poison the family and predicted more harm to come. Thursday morning, harm did indeed come with two flurries of hatchet blows delivered while Lizzie was the only person known to be in the house. As one astute poster on a Borden message board observed, “Each iterative time period and event flow together seamlessly. Each time period transitions smoothly and with greater intensity to the next.”

What could be more reasonable than to suppose that Lizzie launched this deadly series of events by attempting to poison them with a substance not quite so immediately effective as prussic acid (cyanide)—a poison like arsenic perhaps?

Through the Lens of Guilt

Many people who consider Lizzie guilty of the hatchet murders are convinced that Lizzie did indeed attempt to poison her father and stepmother on Tuesday evening, less than 48 hours before she hacked them to death. After all, three men identified Lizzie Borden, daughter of Andrew J. Borden, as the woman who tried to buy prussic acid on Wednesday morning at D.R. Smith’s drug store, so Lizzie clearly had poisoning them in mind. Arsenic was far more readily available than prussic acid and was well-known to be tasteless and odorless, and thus easy to hide in food and liquids.

It was also known that, once ingested, arsenic would set off violent vomiting and diarrhea within 30 minutes to several hours, which was roughly the amount of time Andrew and Abby began vomiting after eating their supper of fried swordfish, toasted baker’s bread, milk, cake and cookies that Bridget described serving on Tuesday evening. A large enough dose would have killed them both within a horrific day or two, yes; but, according to the National Library of Medicine in their description of arsenic toxicity, a small dose (under 5mg), resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, would have made them symptomatically sick for less than 12 hours and also permitted a full recovery in a day or two. That would also match the recovery time for Andrew and Abby from their illness.

As for how Lizzie could have managed to get Andrew and Abby to ingest it; well, we have Lizzie herself all but admitting her method of delivery to Alice Russell when she said, “Sometimes I think our milk is poisoned.” As it turns out, the Bordens did have milk with their supper on Tuesday. Bridget testified that she knew Andrew had his eaten his toasted bread “with milk in it,” and presumably Abby drank the same milk with the “baker’s bread and cake” that she told Bowen were the only things she had eaten that evening. She must ingested at least some milk or why else would she tell John Morse the next afternoon that she suspected the milk could have been what made them so sick?

As for where Lizzie procured arsenic, unlike prussic acid which could only be obtained at a pharmacy by doctor’s prescription, arsenic was available over the counter and used in all kinds of concoctions from rat poison to the green coloring of wallpaper and paints. It is not unreasonable to think she could have obtained arsenic powder in some form without too much difficulty. (One creative author on the murders suggested that the painter who put a new coat of paint on the Borden house three months before the murders likely had arsenic with him during the job and stored it with his supplies in the barn. Lizzie then allegedly staged a barn break-in to get her hands on that arsenic.)

Yet, however Lizzie may or may not have gotten ahold of arsenic, it would be naïve to believe that the elder Bordens becoming so ill—mere hours before Lizzie was shopping for more poison and two nights before she murdered them—was simply a coincidence. Lizzie was obviously determined to see Andrew and Abby dead, and it is logical to assume that as she plotted to make that happen, she may have failed in an attempt or two that drove her to more drastic action. Events as they unfolded, “flowing together seamlessly,” make it seem fairly certain.

Through the Lens of Innocence

The idea that Andrew and Abby Borden came down with a violent vomiting illness two nights before the murders because Lizzie had attempted to poison them pops up frequently in different accounts of the murders; yet there is no evidence for it. It is based entirely on conjecture that begins from a presumption of Lizzie’s guilt for the hatchet murders.

First, the autopsy showed no signs that either Andrew or Abby had been poisoned, and the only way that signs of poisoning with arsenic would not still be discernible by autopsy only 36 hours later would be if she’d them a small enough dose, less than 5 grams each, that allowed their digestive systems to recover fast enough. But why would someone intent on murder deliver such a small dose to the victims? A lethal one-time dose for an adult is in the minimum range of 70 to 200 grams, so that meant that if purposely poisoned, Andrew and Abby would have ingested only a tiny fraction of the amount it would have taken to cause their deaths. Of course, it could be that if Lizzie had no idea how much it would take to kill them and was simply giving it a try. However, according to Chemnotes, the most commonly available arsenic compound, arsenic trioxide, is of such density that less than 1/8 of a teaspoon can provide a lethal dose, so even if it was a different compound, it’s not as though it would have required Lizzie dump big scoops of powder into the milk; even a small amount would likely cause their deaths, or at least damage them much more severely.

When and how Lizzie would have managed to get the poison into the milk that only Abby and Andrew drank would also have been problematic, as it was Bridget who prepared the food and carried it to the table. It could be that Lizzie offered to “help” carry milk to the table and somehow managed to sneak the lethal powder into whatever pitcher it was poured into from the milk can that had been delivered that morning. Or, perhaps she managed to sneak it into their individual glasses before they got to the table or otherwise weren’t looking. We see such scenes in movies all the time, the clever poisoner able to pull it off, perhaps using a gambit like, “Father, look, is that a spider on the wall?” and then quicky dumping powder into liquid when victims look briefly away.

Of course, mocking the idea day does not mean Lizzie couldn’t have pulled it off; after all, if she was guilty of the hatchet murders and got away with that, then sneaking poison into milk might not have proved a great challenge, even if sneaking enough of it in clearly was. But it is known that vomiting is not the only symptom of acute arsenic poisoning; it usually comes with a raft of other symptoms as well. As described by the National Institute of Health, “The symptoms of arsenic poisoning are not vague and can be seen regularly.” And the “clinical features manifest in virtually all body systems.”

The first symptom of arsenic toxicity is often a garlic or metallic taste in the mouth, followed by burning lips, difficulty swallowing and/or excessive salivation. But the most common symptom of arsenic poisoning is profuse watery diarrhea, known as rice diarrhea, sometimes red with blood, leading to fluid loss and dehydration so severe that it causes rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure, and muscle cramps. Yet no symptoms beyond vomiting were reported by Abby to Dr. Bowen or anyone else that we know of, at least according to testimony in court.

Furthermore, Lizzie also reported being sick and nauseous but told Alice Russell that she herself did not vomit. One would expect that if she was going to fake being sick with the same ailment as Andrew and Abby to cover up her responsibility for it, she would report the same symptoms, but she didn’t. Some accept the food poisoning theory suggested by Dr. Bowen, but again, Abby had told Dr. Bowen she didn’t eat the swordfish at suppertime, which does indeed make food poisoning less likely.

However, there is another reason besides arsenic poisoning that several people in the same house might get sick, and that is a stomach virus. As Fall River native Victoria Lincoln noted, transmissible viruses weren’t well understood in the late 19th century and when people in the same house all got sick at the same time, they would usually blame it on “something they ate.” But there were hints that a virus may have indeed been moving through Fall River that week.

First, the daughter at the Emery house where John Morse visited on August 4th was said by Morse to be sick. Police also spoke to a woman, Ellan Eagan, who said she had been walking along Second Street the morning of the murders and had to stop in the yard next to the Bordens (the Kelly yard) to throw up. Next door, at the Buffinton house, Mrs. Churchill’s mother was said to be tending to a “sick baby” at the time of the murders. And while the Bordens were sick to their stomachs on Tuesday night, Bridget didn’t feel sick until Thursday morning when she went outside to vomit under the pear tree. This suggests an incubation time of 24 hours, typical for the transmission of a stomach bug, and would rule out both food poisoning and poisoning by arsenic. Certainly, Abby’s rejection of fish at suppertime and choosing instead a supper of toasted bread soaked in milk seems to be the kind of food choice someone might make if their stomach were already feeling a little uneasy.

Of course, it’s not necessary to believe Lizzie tried to poison her parents on Tuesday night in order to believe she tried to buy prussic acid on Wednesday morning, or murdered them with hatchet on Thursday morning, but those are separate issues. In the meantime, while evidence is lacking that Lizzie tried to secretly serve arsenic to her parents, it’s still worth asking why both Abby and Lizzie were so quick to suspect they had been poisoned.

Why the Fear of Poison?

A few weeks before the murders a series of stories appeared in newspapers about a shocking poisoning event in Massachusetts that killed a number of people and made many more ill. Vacationers at the Cable House Restaurant, in Salisbury Beach near Haverhill, who ate dinner there one evening in late July became violently ill, and several died. Initial speculation focused on bluefish that was served that evening. But not everyone who got sick ate the fish, so suspicion turned to spoiled canned goods or tainted water. As victims kept dying, though, it became clear they were poisoned. Their stomachs were removed and sent away to be analyzed for signs of arsenic poisoning the day before the Borden murders. (It was later determined that victims had been poisoned by “Paris green,” a powdered pigment made from arsenic.)

It could be that Abby and/or Lizzie noticed stories about the Cable House tragedy in newspapers in the week leading-up to the murders, creating a sense of alarm in the Borden household. Abby, though, didn’t mention the story to Dr. Bowen, saying instead that she heard about bad cream cakes sold at a bakery. Either way, such stories circulating in Fall River during that first week of August could explain Abby’s suspicion. On the flip side, if Lizzie had long hoped for Andrew and Abby’s demise, such stories might have given Lizzie the idea to start shopping for poison herself.

Yet it’s interesting that Abby, while initially blaming tainted baked goods, also felt suspicious of the milk delivered to the house from their own farm. If she seriously thought the milk was poisoned, who did she suspect had poisoned it? Lizzie justified her poisoning fears to Alice by saying she believed her father had an enemy. But since most people think his real enemy was Lizzie, they usually don’t wonder why Abby thought it reasonable to believe that someone tried to poison their milk.

In A Private Disgrace, Victoria Lincoln presented a version of Abby’s panicked visit to Dr. Bowen not found elsewhere. She wrote that Abby had told Dr. Bowen a lie. “She told him that her husband had received an anonymous note threatening poison.” This seems another of Lincoln’s dramatic flourishes; there is nothing in court transcripts or witness statements that support it. Most of Lincoln’s creative inventions were extrapolations from rumors she had heard as child or other bits of information she came across in newspaper accounts. One wonders what caused Lincoln to make such an assertion. Is it possible that Abby, like Lizzie, also thought Andrew had an enemy? Could she have said as much to someone she knew, triggering a rumor that simmered away over the decades until Lincoln decided to make use of it in her tale?

Some who believe that Lizzie did slip arsenic to the elder Bordens speculate that Abby was starting to “catch on” that Lizzie had poisoned them and perhaps confronted her. And that’s why Lizzie decided to break out a hatchet and begin her murder spree. According to Bridget, though, the conversation she heard between Abby and Lizzie only minutes before Abby’s murder was civil and unremarkable. So, even though some might look back on Lizzie as the real enemy in the house, it’s clear that’s not what Abby herself believed. If she truly thought it possible that someone tampered with the milk, then she likely harbored suspicions about why and who it might be. From preserved records, however, it appears that police didn’t pursue any such course of inquiry.

Here again was another opportunity for police to discover other possible—an opportunity lost in their rush to judgment against Lizzie. Of course, if Lizzie did ask for prussic acid from Eli Bence, and it was not a case of mistaken identity as her lawyer argued in court, then Lizzie is almost certainly the one who killed Andrew and Abby, which would justify a rush to judgment. But what if Lizzie actually was innocent of the murders? Then there was a different mystery to investigate, a mystery perhaps hiding in plain sight.