Bridget Sullivan’s full court testimony, where she described the Borden murders in detail

After Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, here’s the maid Bridget Sullivan’s full real-life court testimony, where she described the moment she found Abby and Andrew dead. 

Other than Lizzie, Bridget was the only one home when Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally killed with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892. When Lizzie was arrested the following June, the maid stood up in court and recalled the entire day that the murders took place. 

She said she woke up with a “dull headache” on the morning of the murders and came downstairs at 6.15am. Bridget went to get wood and coal to start the fire, collected the fresh milk from the doorstep and began getting breakfast ready. All her normal morning chores. 

“Mrs Borden was the first one I see that morning; she gave me orders about breakfast; it was about half-past six. Mr Borden came down in about five minutes; he went into the sitting room and put the key of his bedroom on the shelf. He kept it there. He then came out into the kitchen, put on a dressing coat and went outdoors with a slop pail he had brought downstairs,” she recalled in court.

Credit: Diana Porter

For breakfast, she made them “mutton, broth, johnnycakes, coffee and cookies”. Lizzie came in while she was washing the dishes and said she didn’t want any breakfast, but made herself a coffee. Bridget felt unwell and went outside into the garden to vomit. When she got back, Andrew had gone up to his room, and Abby was cleaning. 

“Mrs Borden was dusting the door between the sitting room and dining room. She had no covering on her hair. She said she wanted the windows washed, inside and outside both; she said they are awful dirty,” the maid said. “After that I didn’t see Mrs Borden any more until I found her dead upstairs.”

Lizzie told her to clean all the windows, so she did as she was told and “didn’t see anyone come to the house” the entire time. While she was washing them, Mr Borden got home. 

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“Miss Lizzie brought an ironing board from the kitchen, put it on the dining-room table and commenced to iron. She said, ‘Maggie, are you going out this afternoon?’ I said, ‘I don’t know; I might and I might not; I don’t feel very well’. She says, “If you go out be sure and lock the door, for Mrs Borden has gone out on a sick call, and I might go out, too’,” she told the court. 

Credit: Netflix

“Then I laid down in the bed. I heard the City Hall bell ring and I looked at my clock and it was eleven o’clock. I wasn’t drowsing or sleeping. In my judgment I think I was there three or four minutes. I don’t think I went to sleep at all. I heard no sound; I didn’t hear the opening or closing of the screen door. I can hear that from my room if anyone is careless and slams the door. The next thing was that Miss Lizzie hollered, ‘Maggie, come down!’ I said, ‘What is the matter?’ She says, ‘Come down quick; Father’s dead; somebody came in and killed him’.”

Bridget claimed she ran downstairs and saw Lizzie “standing with her back to the screen door”. Lizzie told her to get a “doctor quick,” so she rushed out to Dr Bowen’s surgery “right away”. 

“Dr Bowen came out from the sitting room and said, ‘He is murdered; he is murdered.’ And I says, ‘Oh, Lizzie, if I knew where Mrs Whitehead was I would go and see if Mrs Borden was there and tell her that Mr Borden was very sick. She says, ‘Maggie, I am almost positive I heard her coming in. Won’t you go upstairs to see?” I said, ‘I am not going upstairs alone’,” Bridget continued. 

“Mrs Churchill [a neighbour who was one of the first people on the scene] said she would go upstairs with me. As I went upstairs, I saw the body [of Abby Borden] under the bed. I ran right into the room and stood at the foot of the bed. The door of the room was open. I did not stop or make any examination. Mrs Churchill did not go in the room. We came right down. Miss Lizzie was in the dining room, lying on the lounge.”

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