I am a native of Lizzie Borden’s hometown. I was born less than twenty years after her death and raised in Fall River approximately a generation later. Lizzie remained very much alive in the city’s collective memory and oral traditions. We all knew the site of the crime and details, many of which proved to be inaccurate, that made up the Borden story. As we grew older, we realized that outsiders usually knew of our city through Lizzie’s notoriety or infamy. She stigmatized our world. Thus I kept my distance from the blood-soaked crime as I became a historian of New England. It amounted to little more than a murder story, a mystery some said. During all of my years as a New England historian, I don’t recall reading a single book about the crime. None of the many books about the Borden murders was a work of academic history. The last thing I expected was to author a work about Lizzie Borden, especially after recently publishing a book about growing up in our hometown. But I came to realize that what happened in the Borden house in the summer of 1892 amounted to more than a murder mystery, that events surrounding the tragedy and encompassing the trial revealed much about late Victorian life in Fall River and well beyond. What follows is an account of the Borden legal saga from arrest to acquittal. I also hope my narrative provides much more. I have tried to put behind me what I thought I knew about Lizzie growing up. As to her guilt or innocence, I have followed the evidence, as I see it. Much of that evidence is contained in 3,000 pages of courtroom testimony covering three legal proceedings. I have quoted the transcripts as they were recorded, often with inconsistent or incorrect punctuation. Sometimes the lawyers didn’t use proper English. I have spared the reader the repeated use of “sic” to note errors.