All language subtitles for S01E17 - The Older Sister.en

This is an axe.

I say this for the information
of those of you
whose television tubes...

may have burnt out.

I wish to reach
the widest possible audience.

Tonight we have a story based
on one of our most celebrated
murder cases.

One that rocked
Fall River, Massachusetts
and the entire country...

late in the last century.

The crime was and still is
a shocking one.

But since it actually happened
and is a matter of record...

we felt it unwise to
pretty up the details...

to make them palatable
for the squeamish.

Tonight's theme song will be
that familiar little ditty
everybody knows.

"Lizzie Borden took an axe

"And gave her mother
forty whacks

"And when she saw
what she had done

"She gave her father
forty-one"

I venture that by this time
you can see we are not...

presenting
a romantic comedy tonight.

However, we shall not
re-enact the crime.
We had intended to...

but casting difficulties
interfered.

We had no trouble casting
the mother and father...

but we kept losing them
in rehearsals.

So, instead, we shall show you
a slightly different...

interpretation of
the Lizzie Borden story.

It begins just one year
from the time of the murder.

~ Lizzie Borden took an axe,
gave her mother
forty whacks ~

~ And when she saw
what she had done,
gave her father forty-one ~

~ Lizzie Borden took an axe
gave her-- ~~

That's a wicked thing
to say.

You come right home now
and stop annoying
Miss Lizzie.

You'll miss your train,
Miss Emma. Have you got
everything, Miss Emma?

My grip, my lunch...

my purse, my gloves.
My umbrella?

I'll get it.

Your ticket, now.
I have that, Margaret.

Then hurry.
She'll be down any second.

Best be going in time.
Margaret...

will you tell Miss Lizzie that
I've gone to Fairhaven?

No, Miss Emma,
I won't be here.
I'm leaving, too.

Margaret.

I only stayed this long
for your sake, Miss Emma.

I couldn't bear to
leave you alone with her.
I know.

But when I come back
from my vacation....

She'll have another servant
in the kitchen before then.

How can she get another?

I don't know...

I only know
I can't stand it no more.

I'll be minding
my own business...

there she'll be,
standing there...

just looking at me.

She knows
every move we make.

It's more than
a body can stand.

Never a party, no callers.
Not even a friend
to drop in of an evening.

I know.

I can't stand it
any more than you can.

That's why I'm going
to Fairhaven for a while.

That's why I decided
to leave, too. I can't
stay here alone with her.

I suppose you're right,
Margaret.

Don't miss your train,
Miss Emma.

I still have half an hour.
And besides, there's
another one soon after.

I know you,
don't miss them both.

[doorbell rings]

[door opens]

(Nell)
Good day.

(Nell)
Is Miss Lizzie Borden in?

(Margaret)
Miss Borden is out.

Hello. Miss Borden?

No, you mustn't come in.
We don't see anyone.

Of course I'll come in.

I'm leaving, Miss Emma.
Margaret, don't go now!

(Nell)
So this is
the scene of the crime.

And this is the picture
that got so much attention
at the trial.

[grunts]

I'm surprised
you haven't replaced it.

It must bring back
very many unpleasant memories.

I see
you've had it cleaned.

You are Miss Lizzie Borden,
I presume. I must say you're
not exactly what I expected.

I'm not Miss Lizzie.

I'm Emma.

The sister.

Hmm.

Let's see,
it's been a year since
your mother and father were--

My stepmother and my father.
Well, it's the same thing.

I missed your sister's trial.
She's quite an old girl,
they tell me.

My sister was acquitted.
And we never talk about it.

Of course you don't.
But the public is interested,
you know.

Now, I represent
the Sacramento Record.

You're one of those reporters?
That's right.

And I'm here to collect
a few impressions
for my newspaper.

"Second Street revisited."
All that sort of thing,
you know.

Dear Lizzie hates reporters.

She won't talk to you
for a moment.

Say, isn't this
a gold nugget?

Yes.

Uncle Morse brought it back
from the goldfields.

Well, now isn't that
a coincidence?

I'm from those same
goldfields myself.

Uh....

Is your Uncle Morse
an old codger,
around sixtyish, maybe?

With a drooping moustache
and a--
That sounds like him.

Do you know Uncle Morse?

Knew him well in Sacramento.
Put her there, Miss Emma.

How do you do, Miss--
Nell Cutts, just call me Nell.

You know an interview with
Miss Lizzie Borden...

twelve months after
might be real interesting.

Dear Lizzie
will never see you.
She hates reporters.

You must excuse me now.

Tell me, Miss Emma,
is it true that on the morning
of the murders...

breakfast consisted of
bananas, cookies,
and cold mutton soup?

I don't know.

I wasn't here.
I was in Fairhaven.

Cold mutton soup in August.
No wonder
somebody committed murder.

Miss Emma, now tell me,
how does it feel to
take three meals a day...

with the woman
who was a murderer....

Who was tried for murder?

I have to get away.

That's why I'm going
to Fairhaven for a while.

Oh, dear,
I mustn't miss the 3:37.
You won't miss it.

I suppose that living with
Miss Lizzie must be
very trying on the nerves.

She can hear
everything we say.

Her room is right up there.

Yes, but
she wasn't in her room...

on the morning the murders
were committed, was she?

She was in the barn
eating pears, so she said.

Yes, she was.

She was out there.
Now, let me get this
clear in my mind.

Mrs. Borden was found
upstairs, wasn't she?

That's right.

And there was no one in
the house at the time
excepting the servant.

Where did she go?
I'd like to get
a statement from her, too.

It wasn't Margaret.
We had another girl then.

But she left us
when it happened.
They all leave us.

Well, it doesn't matter.

The servant hears your father
at the front door.
She goes to let him in.

But the door is triple-locked.

Nobody could have
gotten in that way.

The servant is
unlocking the door,
and meanwhile upstairs...

the murderer is gloating over
the first victim.

The servant goes out to
market. Your father enters...

he locks the door behind her
and relaxes on the sofa...

not knowing that his wife
is lying dead upstairs.

Don't.

The murderer comes down
the stairs...

sees him there alone, asleep.

She creeps up on the old man
from behind with the axe...

and brings it down.
Stop!

Stop! Please don't!

It was Miss Lizzie, wasn't it?
Wasn't it?

No! It couldn't have been.
She was out in the barn.

Yes. Just standing there
quietly eating pears?

Now how could anyone from
the outside have done it?
That door was locked...

but she could see
the side door.

How could they escape
right under
Miss Lizzie's eyes...

if Miss Lizzie
was telling the truth?
Was she, Miss Emma?

I told you, I don't know.
I wasn't here.
I was in Fairhaven.

Fairhaven. My train.
You must excuse me now.

What about the kitten,
Miss Emma?

Oh, dear.

The kitten was found
dead in the cellar.

It had been killed
with an axe, too.

The kitten was the hardest.

I cried for a week.

It brought my neuralgia
back again.

But Lizzie didn't cry.

And it was her kitten.

Miss Emma, you'll have to
forgive me, but I have to
ask this question.

Is there a history of insanity
in your family?

Certainly not.

That was the first thing
they started asking about.

Especially about
Uncle Morse.

Oh, yes, he arrived for
a visit the day before
the murders, didn't he?

Yes, he did.

And the police
were horrid about him.

They kept asking people
if he was
quite right in the head.

Uncle Morse is
as sane as I am.

Where was he
the morning of the murders?

Visiting around.

Lizzie was the only one
who didn't have an alibi,
so they arrested her.

But she was acquitted.
I know.

Beats me how they
ever acquitted her, though.

It's simple. You said yourself
there were stains all over.

Whoever did it
would have been stained, too.

But the whole world saw Lizzie
within 10 minutes of the crime
and...

she hadn't a spot on her.

Maybe she used an apron,
one of those
big coverall aprons.

They never found one.

They never found the axe,
either, did they?

No.

I often wondered
where the axe got to.

It'll be easy enough
to hide one of them
in your own house.

But they searched
the house.

Yeah, did they take up
the carpet?

Yes, they did.
What about the chimney?

Did they open the flue?

Of course not.
We couldn't have them
tearing up the house.

~~[girl singing]
I'd tear it up.

That horrid child.

(girl)
~ Lizzie Borden took an axe ~

~ Gave her mother
forty whacks... ~~

Lizzie Borden took an axe....

(Emma)
You've been told
never to play here.

And gave her mother
40 whacks.

Emma, you know
we don't see anyone.

But, Lizzie,
this is different.

This is a friend
of Uncle Morse.

Go upstairs, Emma.

All right, Lizzie.

Now, Miss.

Miss Borden, I represent
the Sacramento Record.

You're a friend
of Uncle Morse, eh?

What color hair
has the old man got?
Gray.

What there is of it.

There's plenty of it and
it's completely white.

You never saw Uncle Morse
in your life. Good day.

Miss Borden,
my paper wants an interview.
I don't give interviews.

Then just answer
this one question...

Miss Lizzie,
what became of the apron?

I have nothing to say.
And the axe?

Why wasn't the fireplace
searched, Miss Lizzie?

Good day.

[meowing]

[meows]

I missed my train.
That's too bad.

But, Lizzie, I missed it.

Lock the front door.
That's the axe.

Yes, Emma.
You hid it.

I had to...

in the fireplace.

I always wondered
where the axe got to.

I didn't see how
they could search and search
and never find it.

Father kept money
hidden there.

He thought no one knew about
his hiding place,
and once he...

was dead,
nobody did know except me.

There's a way to tell,
isn't there?

Who's been handling a weapon,
I mean.

I don't know, Lizzie.
You've always been
the clever one.

I don't see any marks on it.
I don't either.

But they say
the police can tell.

Besides, the store mark
is etched on it.

Lots of people buy axes.
This one
was bought in Fairhaven.

I don't know what you mean.
Yes, you do, Emma.

You bought that axe.

Then you knew all the time?

I saw you from the barn.

You came out the side door.
I saw your face.

That was all I needed.
You ran into the street.

I came in and found father.

You shouldn't have used
my apron, Emma.
It was the handiest, Lizzie.

I only had a minute.

I threw it in the fireplace
and it burned.

But I had to hide the axe.

There was only one place.

It was safe.

Until that newspaper woman
started getting ideas.

Why did you do it, Emma?

I hated her, too,
but not enough to....

You couldn't have hated her
as much as I did.

Lizzie, don't you see?
She was wicked.

She ruined everything for us.

We could have been
married and happy now,
but she prevented it.

She even turned father
against us.

So you killed him, too.

I had to, Lizzie.

He was wicked, too.
She made him wicked.

I've wondered so long.

Time after time
I wanted to ask you.

When they were examining me,
and cross-examining me,
and hounding me...

I wanted so much
to know the truth...

so I'd know what to say.

Lizzie...

why didn't you ask me?

I'd have told you.

I never dared.

I made so many mistakes.

I shouldn't have said that
I hadn't seen anyone
leave by the side door.

I should've said that I'd seen
a big bearded man
carrying an axe.

But I wasn't used to lying.

Oh, Lizzie.

All the time
I was in Fairhaven,
I kept seeking for an answer.

And then the answer
came to me.

And I went to the shed...

and got out the axe and
came back to Fall River.

What a risk you ran.

They might have found out that
you'd been away
from Fairhaven.

It was no risk.

Nobody saw me.

Someone protected me.

I protected you.

Why?

Why? Why did you let them
arrest you? Why did you
protect me, Lizzie?

Because you're my sister,
Emma.

There's no one else
I cared about.

You're all I have left.

Lizzie...

I'm sorry
about your kitten.

I didn't have to
kill your kitten.
That was bad of me.

Forgive me.
Oh, Emma.

Lizzie...

what would you have done
if they'd found you guilty?

Gone through with it,
I suppose.

I used to think:

"I've had enough,
I'll tell them now."

And then that prosecutor would
come in with his pious face
and I'd say to myself:

"They shan't break me."

Lizzie...

you always had
a will of your own.

What would you have done,
Emma...

if they'd found me guilty?

I didn't worry about it.

I knew the answer would come
to me when the time came.

So you didn't
worry about it.

You let me go through with it,
sitting in court...

the crowd hating me,
hissing at me,
wanting me dead.

Listen!

There she is...

Mrs. Borden...

going upstairs.

(Lizzie)
There's no one on the stairs,
Emma.

Can't you hear?

I'll have to hurry.
She's gone, Emma.

Mrs. Borden has been dead
for a year.

Don't stop me now, Lizzie,
I've got to do it.

Emma, what are you doing?

I'll need my apron.

Put down that axe, Emma!
We're going out.

Where?
Just across the street...

to see Dr. Bowen.
No.

So they can put me away?

Do you want to
shut me up, Lizzie?

I wasn't meant
to be shut up.

We'll just go
and see Dr. Bowen.

No. They'll put me away.

I won't have it, Lizzie.

I'll die first.

But I don't have to die,
do I?

Nobody knows but you.

Think, Emma...

you can't escape twice.
Yes, I can.

I do what I have to do.

The rest
takes care of itself.

[grunts]

I took care of you.
I hid the axe for you.
I know.

That's how I knew
there was to be another.

As soon as
I saw the axe, I knew.
Wait, Emma.

Don't talk, Lizzie.

[doorbell rings]

Take off the apron, Emma,
and answer the door.

Answer the door, Emma.

[doorbell ringing]

(Nell)
Hello, Miss Emma.

(Nell)
Missed the 3:37 after all,
did you?

(Nell)
Miss Lizzie...

I just had to come back
to get a statement.

My editor will have a fit
if he doesn't get one.

Very well, young woman.
But be quick about it.

I've been thinking about
that murder weapon
that was never found.

Now, what's your opinion?
Where did it get to?

I think that the murderer
carried it away with him.

Fine. That's good.

I need something to write on.
Emma, get your friend
a book to write on.

The axe isn't around here
or the police would have
found it.

It's not easy to destroy.

You could burn the handle,
but what about the head?

Say, I never thought of that.

Say, isn't this
the Providence Journal? I'd
like to take a look at this.

I hear it's a....

It's time to go, Emma.
(Emma)
Yes, I must get to Fairhaven.

Write when you can.
I will, Lizzie.

Good-bye, Emma.
Good-bye, Lizzie.

(Nell)
Now will you give me
a statement?

I have no statement to make.
You killed them,
Miss Lizzie, didn't you?

No, I didn't kill them.

Come on, now, come on,
give me a statement.

You've been acquitted,
you can't be tried again.

I know that.
Then you have
nothing to lose.

I didn't kill Mama.
Then who did?

It had to be somebody in
the house. The murder weapon
is still here.

If it wasn't you,
who was it?

And I know
you'll have a lovely visit
in Fairhaven, Miss Emma.

It's not a visit.
You're never coming back?

No. I've said good-bye
to Lizzie.

I'm never coming back
to this house again.

Emma?

Was it Emma, Miss Lizzie?

Stop talking nonsense!

Wouldn't that be something.
Why that'd be
the greatest sensation...

since the gold strike.

Emma Borden.
All right...

I'll make a statement.

I killed them both
with the axe.

All right, if you say so.
But why did you kill them?

Because I don't like
cold mutton soup.

[chuckles]

I bet Emma doesn't either.
What a scoop.

It isn't a scoop if you can't
print it. And I'll sue you
if you do.

All right, go ahead.
I'll prove what
I write with this.

Stay away!
I certainly will not.

I have a duty to my paper.
Get out!

All right, Miss Lizzie.

I never meant
to take it anyway.

Now I know why Emma left.

Good-bye,
Miss Lizzie Borden.

Did she seem a trifle
overwrought to you?
She did to me.

But you know, I react in
precisely the same manner...

whenever I hear a child
singing Davy Crockett.

Being more civilized
than Lizzie, I don't go about
hitting tables.

I hit the child instead.

Not with the axe, of course,
but in a nice way.

It's so much better to end the
program on a pleasant note.
Don't you think?

Good night.