In
November 1915 Mary Connor purchased a large two-story home in the small town of
Newmarket, New Hampshire. Mary and her sister, Annie, moved there from their
farmhouse two miles away. The middle-aged, unmarried sisters were soon joined by
a reclusive older woman, a stranger to townsfolk. George Bennett, the sisters’
former neighbor, would often drop by their new house for a visit. As Bennett
recalled, “that lady living with them would instantly slip away and disappear
upstairs.”
The
mysterious lady was sometimes seen—dressed in black—stepping outside the house
briefly but only at night. From a second-floor bedroom closet, the mysterious
lady had a hidden staircase built that descended to the back of the house. She
made a strange, cryptic remark to one of the Connor sisters of her inevitable
fear that “one night they will come for me.”
Mail
carrier Robert Bennett (brother to the sisters’ former neighbor, George
Bennett) knew the name of the mysterious lady living with the Connor sisters,
because he delivered letters addressed to her. She was Emma Borden, the estranged
sister of Lizzie Borden who was acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her
wealthy father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. Emma’s New
Hampshire residence was nearly 130 miles away from Fall River.
This
story, from Frank Spiering’s Lizzie: The Story of Lizzie Borden (New
York: Dorsett Press, 1984), pp. 219-222, says Emma moved into the Connors’ home
in 1916. However, in Lizzie Borden: Past & Present (Fall River:
Al-Zach Press, 1999), pp. 312-313, author Leonard Rebello notes the appearance
of Emma’s name in Fall River directories during 1914 to 1918. She then moved to
an apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1919. Annie Connor later told a
newspaper reporter that Emma moved into her home in 1923.
What
caused Emma to relocate to the small New Hampshire town? Why did she live in
fear?
While
Spiering speculates Emma chose Newmarket because of its remoteness, Rebello’s book
(p. 314) points to a 1981 newspaper article in which Louis Fillon recalled that
while delivering grain to the Connor house, he learned that Emma Borden was
living there. “He was requested by Emma’s lawyer to keep his discovery a secret
to prevent Lizzie from finding Emma’s whereabouts and taking her money.” Annie
Connor was surprised that Fillon discovered the mysterious lady’s identity.
In
Lizzie: The Story of Lizzie Borden (p. 224), Spiering tells of Emma’s
being awakened at night after hearing a noise on the first floor. She came down
the concealed staircase to investigate but missed her footing and fell,
breaking her hip. She died on June 10, 1927, nine days following the death of
her sister, Lizzie.
