Without Lizzie's damaging inquest testimony, the prosecutors were left with circumstantial evidence against her. Would it be enough for the government to prove its case?

The papers were full of the story. "The Great Murder Trial" was the talk of the town. The prosecutors were asking for the death penalty.

The electric chair was a new device in 1893. (Follow this link, and scroll down halfway, to see one of the original chairs.) Had Lizzie been convicted and sentenced to death, she would have been the first woman to die in the electric chair. It was too much for her jury to reach that result. In just over an hour, they returned a verdict of "not guilty."

Who were the jurors who set Lizzie free? Twelve men from Fall River, Massachusetts who didn't want her to get the death penalty. Twelve men who believed it wasn't Lizzie who massively bashed in her father's skull. (Follow this link, and scroll down halfway, to see a photograph of the actual skull.)

Lizzie Borden spent the rest of her life in Fall River. Although the jury had acquitted her, townspeople believed she was guilty. They ostracized her from the life she used to enjoy in her home town.

Lizzie moved out of the house where her parents had been murdered. She and Emma bought a new 13-room house Lizzie named Maplecroft. It wasn't long before Emma and Lizzie had a disagreement, though, and Emma (nine years older than Lizzie) moved out.

When she died at age 67, Lizzie was buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River. Her grave is just a few steps away from the final resting place of her alleged victims. At the time of her death, Lizzie had not spoken to her sister in twenty-two years. Nine days after Lizzie's death, Emma died.

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