"Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one." Actually,the Bordens received only 29 whacks, not the 81 suggested by the famous ditty, but the popularity of the above poem is a testament to the public's fascination with the 1893 murder trial of Lizzie Borden. The source of that fascination might lie in the almost unimaginably brutal nature of the crime--given the sex, background, and age of the defendant--or in the jury's acquittal of Lizzie in the face of prosecution evidence that most historians today find compelling. A video is also provided.

Additional Tags

famous trials, from history's mysteries: the strange case of lizzie borden, a&e television, lizzie borden trial, lizzie's acquittal, killed her parents with an axe, trial courts

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 5 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)