Sale at Sargents

When Bridget Sullivan testified at Lizzie Borden’s trial, she described her activities the morning of the murders and a conversation she had with Lizzie in the dining room soon after Andrew returned home from his business rounds, less than 15 minutes before he was murdered. Lizzie, said Bridget, had been ironing handkerchiefs on a small ironing board she had placed on the dining table, while Bridget finished washing the windows in that same room. Hosea Knowlton then asked:

Q: You say you finished your washing of the windows and went into the kitchen?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: What did you do in the kitchen?

A: I washed out the cloths that I had washing the windows and hung them behind the stove. As I got through, Miss Lizzie came out and said, “There’s a cheap sale of dress goods at Sargent’s this afternoon, at eight cents a yard.” I don’t know that she said, “this afternoon,” but “today.” And I said, “I am going to have one.”

Q: What did you do then?

A: I went upstairs to my room.

This comment from Lizzie to Bridget has often been interpreted as an attempt to get Bridget to leave the house, so she could kill Andrew without fear of Bridget becoming aware of what was happening. In fact, at the preliminary hearing, Knowlton pointedly asked Bridget if Lizzie had ever told her about any kind of sale on any other occasion, and she said no. Emma, however, did sometimes tell Bridget about sales and bargains. (It is sometimes assumed that Bridget, having been raised in poverty in Ireland, did not know how to read.)

Knowlton asked Bridget about this at the hearing after becoming aware of a report made by Officers Doherty and Harrington on August 10th, 1892, the week after the murders. They wrote, “A story was circulated that Lizzie tried to induce Bridget to leave the house by reminding her of a cheap sale of dress goods at F. E. Sargent’s, and offered her money to purchase one pattern, after Bridget said she could not afford it. Bridget denies this, but says that Lizzie told her of the sale, and she, Bridget, said, “Well, I am going to have one.”

Bridget’s denial to officers that Lizzie offered to buy her a dress pattern prevented Knowlton from suggesting in court that Lizzie was attempting to get Bridget out of the way; however, the story the officers reported about Lizzie’s mention of the sale at Sargent’s never stopped circulating. As early as 1893, John Henry Wigmore, the judge who wrote an essay famously critical of the judges’ decisions at Lizzie’s trial, believed that Lizzie was betraying her intent to murder by offering Bridget that “inducement” to leave the house.

In the decades since, that interpretation of Lizzie’s comment has become yet another bit of “common knowledge” about the case and is often regarded as more proof of Lizzie’s guilt. Many will further suggest that Lizzie following Bridget into the kitchen was also a way of keeping track of her and her movements. But is such conjecture justifiable? Are there any good reasons to believe Lizzie was truly trying to be rid of Bridget so she could kill Andrew undisturbed?

Bridget testified that she expected she would have to begin cooking the noon meal at 11:30 a.m., or about 30 minutes from the time that Lizzie told her of the sale. Lizzie, of course, knew that Bridget would soon have to attend to her normal daily task, so why would she expect Bridget to skip her usual morning “lie down” before dinner and rush downtown to a sale? Bridget’s usual half-day off was reportedly on Thursdays, so if she wanted to go shopping she would have been free to do so after cooking and serving the noon meal that afternoon.

Furthermore, because Bridget was in the habit of lying down for awhile before cooking dinner if, as she testified, she had finished her morning work in time to do so, Lizzie didn’t need to induce Bridget to leave the house in order to kill Andrew. Indeed, Andrew was killed on the sofa in the sitting room with Bridget up in her room, none the wiser, whether it was Lizzie who wielded the hatchet or not.

In the end, there seems to be no reason to believe Lizzie mentioned the sale to Bridget with the hope of enticing her to leave the house. That is not to say it isn’t possible that Lizzie, if she was indeed intending to kill her father, wasn’t trying to keep track of what Bridget was up to and using idle chit chat as an excuse to follow her into kitchen. This is not an unreasonable supposition; however, neither is it a supported fact. We have no idea why Lizzie mentioned that sale, and it could be that she had seen it advertised in the newspaper and was simply offering a friendly suggestion to someone she knew liked to spend her afternoon off shopping. Bridget did seem appreciative of the news, even saying she meant to take advantage of the sale, so it was clearly not out of left field.

Either way, it is interesting how nearly every word Lizzie was known to utter that morning, even down to that offhand mention of dress goods sale, has been thoroughly examined and consistently transformed into a sign of murderous intent. It is no wonder the belief in Lizzie’s guilt is so deeply ingrained in American culture that we rarely question it. But for the sake of fairness to Lizzie and of justice for the victims, it’s worth questioning if it’s a legitimate belief.