Bridget Sullivan

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Bridget Sullivan was born in the copper mining village of Allihies, Co. Cork, Ireland and emigrated to the United States in 1886. She was employed as a domestic servant by the Borden family of Fall River, Massachusetts, at the time of the 1892 murders of Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby Durfee Grey Borden. Andrew Borden's younger daughter, Lizzie Borden, was the chief suspect but later acquitted.

While in the family's employment, Bridget was addressed by Andrew Borden's daughter Lizzie as "Maggie". Borden authority Victoria Lincoln was quoted by essayist Florence King that the use of Maggie may have been forgetfulness; the Borden's previous maid had been named Maggie, or it could have been a courtesy; the name "Bridget" having taken on an "off" stereotype of the typical Irish maid of the era.

During Lizzie Borden's trial, Sullivan testified that on the day of the murder, she prepared a meal of two-day old mutton for the Bordens and then was sent to wash the windows before retiring to her third floor room to rest, claiming that she felt ill. At 11:10 a.m. on the date of the murders, Bridgett Sullivan was called by Lizzie Borden: "Maggie! Come quick! Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him."

Prior to moving to the Bordens' home, Sullivan worked as a scullery maid in Newport, R.I. She then moved to South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where she likely joined relatives. In 1888 she returned to Fall River and worked as a cook for Charles Reed, a lawyer who lived in the exclusive "Highlands" neighborhood of the city. In 1889 she moved on to the home of another Highlands resident, Clinton V. S. Remington. Her next job, with the Borden family of 92 Second St., was a step down, as the extremely wealthy and frugal Bordens lived in a less tony setting than her two previous employers. The Borden's home, however, was two blocks from the Irish neighborhood, Fourth Street's Corcaigh (Corky) Row, which may have influenced her decision. In her testimony Sullivan denied having connections to the Irish neighborhood, although many of the Irish in that section of the city also originated from the Allihies region of Cork.

During the trial of Lizzie Borden, prosecutors and the press equated her gender with innocence, claiming that no woman could commit so terrible a crime. Sullivan, however, testified that Lizzie Borden shed no tears for her murdered father and step-mother.

[edit] Sources

• Binette, Dennis and Michael Martins, eds. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Lizzie Borden: The Knowlton Papers, 1892-1893 (Fall River, Mass.: The Fall River Historical Society, 1994), 464.

• Burns, Catherine M., "The Irish of Fall River, Massachusetts, 1843-1894: Variations of Irish Ethnicity in an Industrial City," (Unpublished B.A. thesis, University of Massachusetts--Amherst, 1999).

• King, Florence. WASP, Where is Thy Sting? Chapter 15, "One WASP's Family, or the Ties That Bind." Stein & Day, 1977. ISBN 0-552-99377-8 (1990 Reprint Edition)

• O'Dwyer, Riobard, "Who Were My Ancestors? Geneaology (Family Trees) of the Allihies (Copper Mines) Parish, County Cork, Ireland," n.d., n.p. Located at the Fall River Historical Society.