NEW BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - Local authorities and members of the Fall River Historical Society are working to learn more as questions surround a more than century-old bed that Lizzie Borden may have slept in while on trial in connection with the 1892 Fall River ax murders of her father and stepmother.
The bed has spent years in storage at the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford. It doesn’t have a manufacture date or serial number. But it does have a clue for historians, according to Jonathan Darling of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office.
“There’s this very unusual marking on the side that looks kind of like a face, or maybe a backward state of Massachusetts,” Darling said.
Darling said there is a theory that the manufacturer could have used the marking as a trademark in place of their company name.
The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office discussed the mystery in a message on social media earlier this week after officials said they hosted personnel from the Fall River Historical Society to see the bed.
“There’s a history mystery unfolding at the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The bed is likely from the old jail infirmary; could the old Sheriff have used a bed from there for Lizzie, who was considered a high-society inmate?” the sheriff’s office later asked. “How will the mystery unfold?”
Darling said there is “sort of a Bristol County Sherriff’s Office legend” that Borden slept on the bed. Officials have since opted to call in outside help from the historical society in an attempt to verify its authenticity.
The Ash Street Jail opened in 1888 and is the nation’s oldest operating jail.
Administrators are currently deciding whether to close the jail and transfer its inmates to a more modern facility.
If that happens, officials hope to find the jail’s historical artifacts a place where they can get the care they need.
“We want to make sure they find a good home, that they’re preserved and that they’re cared for,” Darling said.
Borden was acquitted in her trial.
Years later, officials with the sheriff’s office are hoping to be able to add the bed to the collection at the Lizzie Borden Museum.
They also plan to donate Borden’s original arrest documents.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)