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Miss Manning, a.k.a. Lorraine Gregoire in real life, posed as The Fall River Herald’s Ace Girl Reporter out under the “pear trees” of #92′s parking lot on August 4th.
Dressed in a green plaid summer cotton frock with jaunty black straw hat, Miss Manning had her steno pad in hand to interview guests and visitors as they exited the Borden cellar. As history records, John Cunningham, the chap who was ambling down Second Street after exiting Wade’s market, overheard Mrs. Churchill exclaiming to a friend in front of Hall’s Livery about the shocking assault on Andrew Borden. Cunningham, being an enterprising and helpful sort of guy, beat feet to Gorman’s Paper and Paint Store down the end of Second Street and rang up several newspapers and eventually got around to calling the police too!
Mr. Manning, from the Herald, was soon dashing up to #92 in his carriage as one of the first on scene. We had a “Miss Manning” this year, who filled a much-needed role of transitioning guests from the gift shop to the house, setting that 1892 tone immediately, and continuing it at the exit. Visitors were amused, and naturally very chatty about what they had seen inside. Miss Manning’s easy, friendly warmth and vintage charm disarmed the crowds- for who in this day and age doesn’t enjoy escaping into the Past- even for a little while? And of course- EVERYBODY wanted to give their opinions on whodunnit!
Read all about Miss Manning’s Big Day in the Pages section to the right.
Lizzie Borden- LeeAnn Wilbur
Abby Borden -Shelley Dziedzic
Andrew Borden – Jeff Massan
Bridget Sullivan- Kathleen Troost-Cramer
Emma Borden- Barbara Borden Morrissey
Mrs. Churchill- JoAnne Giovino
Mrs. Bowen- Susan Hauck
Mr. James E. Winward, Undertaker- Andrew Correia
Miss Manning from the Fall River Herald- Lorraine Gregoire
Dr. Dolan- Ted Gregoire
Detective Seaver- Ben Rose
Little Abbie Whitehead- Kathryn Woods
Alice Russell- Colleen Johnson
Ellen Borden- Hairdressing 
Applause applause! The Lizzie B&B day manager, Dee Moniz, designed some great tickets this year. After last year’s crowd and sell out by noon, this year she decided printed tickets were the way to go- and it sure made things run so much more smoothly! This was the first time this was tried and it will be a return engagement NEXT August 4th! Thanks, Dee, from all the P.E.P. Players!
James E. Winward was the man Lizzie Borden wanted immediately to undertake the funeral of her father. On the day of the murders, just a very short time after Lizzie said she found her father on the sofa, she requested the services of Mr. Winward, who at the time had his business address at 13 South Main Street. Even before the body of Abby Borden was found on the second floor, Lizzie was voicing the opinion that she would be the one to go down to Oak Grove Cemetery to arrange her father’s funeral and burial. This may be construed as a curious statement as Mrs. Borden would have had this task herself-did Lizzie already know Mrs. Borden was lying dead upstairs?
Young Mr. Winward (aged only 38 on the day of the murders) came as requested, and was to find not one, but two bodies at #92 Second Street. He and his assistant had the grisly task of removing the heavily blood-stained sofa from the sitting room later in the day.
Mr. Winward enjoyed a successful career in his field, and fitted the ideal of a funeral director in every aspect of appearance and decorum. A photograph of Mr. Winward is soon to be published. At the end of his life, Mr. James E. Winward lived in a prosperous section in the north end of the city on Madison Street. He is buried with his wife Annie, his daughter Helen Winward Brown and his son-in-law in the cemetery where he spend so many years organizing funerals for so many city clients- Oak Grove. The role of Mr. Winward was ably performed by funeral director Andrew Correia for the recent August 4th re-enactments at # 92 Second Street.
After the 1992 Lizzie Borden Centennial was but a memory, six people who had met at the event decided to form an armchair sleuth society which would meet about every 8 weeks. Dubbed The Second Street Irregulars in homage to the Sherlockian society, the group would soon form the core of the Pear Essentials Productions troupe, an amateur band of would-be thesbians dedicated to bringing the Borden story to life. The original six would grow over the years, and so did their projects and creative endeavors- from singing costumed quartets to large cast productions at the Second Street house on August 4th. We live what we love.
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