Hosea Morrill Knowlton (1847-1902) was the district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts and as such led the prosecution team at the trial against Lizzie.
From the time he was assigned to the Borden case, Knowlton believed he would never be able to obtain a conviction. Knowlton personally questioned the witnesses at the preliminary hearing held between August 25 and September 1, 1892.
In his summary at Lizzie's criminal trial, Knowlton stressed the brutality of the crimes and Lizzie's hatred for Abby. He also reminded the jury that neither a sick friend nor a note to Abby had ever been located. Due to the facts that Lizzie & Abby had been alone in the house, that the dress worn on the morning of the murders was not the dress she turned over to the Fall River police, and that she suspiciously burned a dress in the kitchen stove on Sunday morning, three days after the crime she was informed that she was the prime suspect.
Even though he lost his most famous trial, he was well respected and garnered praise from many in public and private life.
Six months after the trial, he succeeded Pillsbury as Attorney General of Massachusetts, an office to which he was re-elected a total of five times.
Hosea Knowlton died in 1902 at his summer home in Marion, Massachusetts.
Andrew Jackson Jennings was born in Fall River in 1849 to Andrew M. and Olive (Chace) Jennings.
He had been Mr. Borden's lawyer for many years prior to the murders and continued his position by representing Lizzie.
After Lizzie's arrest on August 11th, Jennings sought the help of Colonel Melvin O. Adams, former assistant district attorney for Suffolk County of Massachusetts. Adams was active during the preliminary hearing between August 25th and September 1st 1892. By the start of the trial on June 5th 1893, Jennings had found help in George D. Robinson, the former Governor of Massachusetts.
Andrew Jennings gave the opening statement at Lizzie's trial on June 10th 1893. Instead of trying to outline the defense argument, he made a strong emotional plea by expressing his own personal regard for the Borden family, including the accused by detailing Lizzie's close relationship with her father. He also stressed Lizzie's church, charitable and volunteer efforts. His opening statement took 38 minutes.
George Dexter Robinson (born George Washington Robinson; January 20, 1834 – February 22, 1896) was an American politician.
He was born in Lexington, Massachusetts. He attended Lexington Academy and Hopkins Classical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1856.
Robinson studied law for nine years with his brother, and earned a masters degree from Harvard. He was admitted to the bar in Cambridge in 1866 and commenced practice in Chicopee. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1874 and served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1876, both times representing Chicopee. He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1877, to January 7, 1884, when he resigned, having been elected the 34th Governor of Massachusetts. He held this position from 1884 to 1887.
Upon leaving office, Robinson resumed the practice of law in Springfield, Massachusetts, at what is now Robinson Donovan, P.C. In 1892, he served as Lizzie Borden's defense counsel for a retainer of $25,000 and secured her acquittal.
Lizzie Andrew Borden (1860-1927)-
Born on July 19, 1860, in Fall River, Massachusetts, Lizzie Borden and her sister, Emma, lived with their father, Andrew Borden, and stepmother, Abby (Durfee Gray) Borden, into adulthood. On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered in their home. Lizzie was arrested and tried for the axe murders. She was acquitted in 1893.
Lizzie and Emma Borden inherited a significant portion of their father's estate, which allowed them to purchase a new home together. The Borden sisters lived together for the following decade. Although free, Lizzie was considered guilty by many of her neighbors, and thusly never enjoyed acceptance in the community following her trial. Her reputation was further tarnished when she was accused of shoplifting in 1897.
In 1905, Emma Borden abruptly moved out of the house that she shared with her sister. The two never spoke again. Emma may have been uncomfortable with Lizzie's close friendship with another woman, Nance O'Neil, although her silence on the issue has fueled speculation that she learned new details about the murders of her father and stepmother. No member of the household staff ever offered additional information on the rift, even following Lizzie's death.
Lizzie Borden died of pneumonia in Fall River, Massachusetts, on June 1, 1927. Emma Borden died days later in Newmarket, New Hampshire.
Emma Lenora Borden- was born to Andrew & Sarah on March 1, 1851. She was 12 yrs old when her mother died, and in making a deathbed promise to her, promised to always watch over little Lizzie.
On the day of the murders Emma was 15 miles away in Fairhaven, MA visiting her friend Helen Brownell. It was here that she received the telegram from Dr. Bowen informing her of the killings and urging her back to Fall River.
Emma showed nothing but the strongest support for her sister during the trial and believed in Lizzie's innocence until the day of her death. She testified at Lizzie's inquest and was a star witness for the defense at the final trial in June 1893.
In 1905, Emma Borden abruptly moved out of the house that she shared with her sister. The two never spoke again.
John Vinnicum Morse (1833 – 1912) was born in Fall River, Mass., the son of Anthony and Rhody (Morrison) Morse and younger brother to Sarah, mother of Lizzie and Emma.
John arrived unannounced at 92 Second St on Wednesday, August 3rd, and Abby put him in the second floor guestroom, the same room where her body would be found less than 24 hours later.
A witness at the inquest, preliminary trial and final trial of his niece, he provided testimony of his intimate knowledge of events within the Borden household.
John was the brother of Andrew's first wife (Lizzie and Emma's mother). He appeared to be the only true friend Andrew had in life. The two men were always quite close. They had, at one point, gone into the casket making business together. However, the business relationship ended when John chose to move west on the advise of Horace Greeley. He first settled in Illinois and then moved to Iowa, where he lived for twenty-five years as a horse breeder.