Victoria Lincoln (1905–1981)

I'm still reading this one, but I'm getting awfully tired of Ms. Lincoln. Her overweening narcissism in what she (and no one else) knows or what she (and no one else) has figured out is really getting hard to take. Moreafter, her treatment of poor Abby's weight is unbelievably cruel. More than once she cites the "fact" that Abby was so monstrously obese that she could hardly walk, and, when she fell, she must have made a horrendous noise (that no one noticed) and the entire house must have been shaken to its core (which no one noticed.) From the pictures I've seen, she was overweight, but far from morbidly obese, but this repeated nasty sniping from Ms. Lincoln makes me wonder if Mrs. Lincoln has her own "fat" obsession which she should have outgrown as a teenager.… (mehr)

I first read A Private Disgrace in law school while preparing for a mock trial. Victoria Lincoln has walked that fine line between accurately telling the facts she uncovered via meticulous research and telling a tale that is interesting (unlike the other horrid books we were assigned). She tells her tale like a Homerian bard might sing a song to a king; history and fact intertwined with just enough human interest to make it feel more like you have the inside scoop on some juicy gossip rather than the meticulously researched historical tome this book really is (and we were forced to read the actual court transcripts to prepare for our mock trial … this book -is- pretty accurate).

Although Lincoln falls firmly into the school of 'Lizzie did it,' the picture she paints of Lizzie is a sympathetic one. The science Lincoln relied upon in 1967 to hypothesize Lizzie suffered from a form of temporal epilepsy is nowadays discredited, but nonetheless the meticulously researched details Lincoln documented enable somebody with a mental health background (such as myself) to peg Lizzie as a likely sociopath (think Sleeping With the Enemy). I am pleased this book is now available once more in paperback and e-book and recently re-read it. It was as much a pleasure to read the second time as the first.… (mehr)

Arnold Brown beats out Victoria Lincoln for the booby prize, but this is pretty bad. Ms. Lincoln tells us that she had been dining out on being the next door neighbor of the famous axe murderess for many years. And then Edward R. Radin had the gall to write a book, Lizzie Borden: The untold story (A Dell book), claiming that Lizzie was innocent. Well, Ms. Lincoln certainly wasn't going to stand for having her story ruined!

So she returned to Fall River, and discovered that she actually didn't live next to Lizzie Borden - the house was down the street. Never mind, she remembers everything else perfectly!

Ms. Lincoln tells us that she had an inside track. She was part of the apparently psychic upper crust of Fall River who knew what had happened. And most importantly, she and Lizzie were part of the same strata of a highly stratified society. No wait, actually, she tells us later, Lizzie Borden was a wannabe. And Lincoln herself was born eight years after the crime, but outside of that she was practically an eye witness.

Lincoln tells us at one point that everything in this new chapter was sworn to in court. This apparently includes the thoughts of Andrew Borden as he walked home - alone - in spite of the fact that he apparently only saw Lizzie and Bridget before his death and neither of them testified to being his confidant.

She informs us that Mrs. Borden must have sent Bridget outside to wash windows because she didn't want her to overhear an argument with Lizzie. This is because, as Lincoln helpfully tells us, we all know that fat women are lousy housekeepers, so she couldn't have sent her out because she wanted clean windows! Some writers have argued that Bridget disappeared with suspicious suddeness. I can easily understand why Bridget would want to go somewhere else, but Ms. Lincoln has a more compelling reason: the Irish are like that.

She also finds it damning that Lizzie started using the name Lizbeth, named her house, entertained actors, and that her middle name is mispelled on her tombstone. No doubt Lizzie/Lizbeth carved it herself. The odd thing is that Lincoln ends by arguing that Lizzie Borden couldn't leave Fall River, as she herself did. On the contrary, Ms. Borden, perhaps figuring that her story would follow her wherever she went, stayed in Fall River, but seems to have lived her life to suit herself. It is Victoria Lincoln who is still fretting over these trivialities, even if she did move away.

Edgar R. Radin did a lot of interesting, careful research, which Lincoln mostly ignores, as she ignores contradictory testimony at the trial. She also gives us vivid recountings of damning stories, only to finish by cheerfully telling us that actually, that is known to be false. Apparenty if Lizzie Borden allowed such ugly rumors to be attached to her name, she must be guilty!

Ms. Lincoln tells us that while all the other children avoided Lizzie as they would Lucrezia Borgia, she, darling, friendly little Victoria would often go down to visit her famous neighbor. She informs us that Ms. Borden seemed sometimes to be abstracted. After reading this, I imagine that she was hoping that little Victoria would go away if she wasn't encouraged.

I don't encourage reading this book either, at least without also reading Radin and/or David Kent's Forty Whacks: New Evidence in the Life and Legend of Lizzie Borden.… (mehr)