Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507170063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FALLS RIVER, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
The owners of the house where Borden's parents were hacked to death 103 years ago are planning to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast inn.
``Look at today how many people are following the Simpson case,'' said Ronald Evans, co-owner of the Greek revival-style house and a printing company next door.
``Look at Salem. I bet they weren't too happy about the witches 300 years ago, but now the businesses are thriving,'' he said.
Evans and his business partner, Martha McGinn, plan to decorate their inn with Borden-era antiques and artifacts, Ouija boards, a library of books related to the case and a video collection of movies it inspired. They also A plan the occasional murder mystery dinner.
On Aug. 4, 1892, Abby and Andrew Borden were killed with an ax - Abby in her bedroom and Andrew in the sitting room of the house in Fall River, 46 miles south of Boston.
Abby was hacked 18 times; her husband was struck 10 times in the head. An analysis of the contents of their stomachs showed that she was killed at least an hour earlier than he was.
Lizzie, then 32, was accused of the deaths but acquitted on June 20, 1893, after a sensational trial. She died in 1927 at age 67, unmarried and ostracized. The accusations against her were memorialized in doggerel:
``Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father 41.''
The partners plan to open the inn Aug. 4, 1996, the 104th anniversary of the killings and McGinn's birthday.
McGinn, whose grandparents owned the house on Second Street, lived there as a teen-ager and says it's haunted.
``It wasn't just creaks we heard, it was genuine walking,'' she said. ``And there were doors that opened and closed, lights that went on and off.''
Evans lives in Rhode Island but occasionally stays at the house.
``Doors close by themselves for no apparent reason that have been open for years,'' he said. ``We've had an occasion when we went upstairs to the bedroom and there was a perfect imprint of a head on the pillow and not a wrinkle on the cover.''
Evans said he would like to open the house to the public for tours, which never has been done before. He plans a museum and has offered office space to the International Lizzie Borden Society, a group of scholars and hobbyists who study the case.
People often ask to see the house and write to ``The Borden Residence'' on Second Street for information about the case, Evans said. Some have asked if they can stay there, he said.
by CNB