Was Lizzie Borden's bed found in the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford?

NEW BEDFORD — Was notorious accused Fall River ax murderer Lizzie Borden's bed located at the country's oldest jail?

The Ash Street Jail believes it has Lizzie Borden's bed, WCVB first reported.

“It’s sort of like a Bristol County Sheriff’s Office legend," Jonathan Darling, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, told The Herald News.

On Thursday, members of the Fall River Historical Society and the Lizzie Borden Museum visited the jail to see the bed up close.

They're trying to figure out if it was really the bed Borden slept on during her trial.

Lizzie Borden history: Rare 'Lizzie Borden bible' author Len Rebello was driven to find the truth about her case

Borden was acquitted of using an axe to brutally kill her parents in their Fall River home in the late 1800s.

Was this the bed Lizzie Borden slept in while on trial?

While she was on trial, she stayed in a cell in what was then the Bristol County sheriff's residence, to keep her separate from the other prisoners. That location is now a staff break room in the jail, with the original 1,000-pound steel door still intact.

The bed has been kept in storage on the upper floors of the jail.

Darling said the bed is thought to have been in the jail for around 100 years. For decades, staff have passed down an urban legend that it was the one Borden slept on while in custody.

“That was just the lore that was passed down for years and years and years at the Ash Street Jail," he said. “We’ve always thought it was Lizzie Borden’s bed.”

Now, with plans underway to close the Ash Street Jail, the sheriff's office is working to identify, catalogue and preserve any potentially historic items contained in the jail, which has been in operation since the 1880s.

Fall River Historical Society looks into reports of Lizzie's bed

While staff have always said the bed was the one Borden slept on, Darling said, they've never brought historical experts in to look at it before this week. On Thursday, two members of the Fall River Historical Society visited the jail the examine the bed.

"Now, they’re on the case," Darling said.

Historical society members have limited information to go on.

"There’s no serial number, there’s no manufacturing date, there’s no company that made it on it," Darling said.

Still, the bed has an usual marking on it that could be a head or perhaps an inverted depiction of Massachusetts. Representatives from the historical society said they plan to see if they can track down the original manufacturer and use that to reveal when the bed was made.

"If that bed was made in the 1920s, it obviously wasn’t hers," Darling said.

Proposal to close the Ash Street Jail

Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux brought a legislative delegation on a tour of the Ash Street Jail in January to showcase the aged jail as part of a proposal to close it permanently. Heroux's plan would bring jail operations to the main House of Correction complex in Dartmouth.

Sorting through the archived: New Bedford's Ash Street Jail records chronicle 100 years of criminal history.

What's in the archives at the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford

Jail records dating back more than 100 years, including charge lists and glass plate negatives of inmate photos, are currently collecting dust in the Ash Street Jail's attic as officials await plans to close the jail.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is working with the Bristol County Sheriff's Office to take possession of these vintage items and make them a collection unto themselves, providing insights into Bristol County's criminal history over multiple past generations.

What's new: The Lizzie Borden house has undergone restorations and upgrades.

Renovations at Lizzie Borden house

The Lizzie Borden House Bed and Breakfast is where Lizzie Borden lived with her father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden, before they were found violently murdered there in 1892 has also recently undergone an upgrade. The house on Second Street in Fall River got an updated antique stove he old stove reminiscent of the one Lizzie allegedly used to burn the dress she was wearing on the day of the murders.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Experts look at Ash Street Jail bed believed to be used by Lizzie Borden