Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-11-13
SECURE JURY
IN LAMPHERE
MURDER CASE
STATES ATTORNEY BEGINS
HIS ARGUMENT
SAYS PRISONERS STATEMENT
WILL CONVICT HIM
circumstantIaI Evidence Produced by
Prosecutor Shows Strong Chain
Winding Around Alleged
Murderer

APORTE, Ind, Nov. 12.-The intro
duction of evidence in the trial Of
- Ray Lamphere for the murder of
Mrs. Belle Guinness and her three chill
dren, by setting fire to the house, will
be begun tomorrow, jury having been
secured late this afternoon and State s
Attorney Smith having made his open
ing statement to the jury,
Prosecutor Smith went into much de-
tail as to what he could prove. After
reading the Indiana statute, which pro-
Vides that where a person or persons
lose their lives in a fire, willfully start
ed by another, even though he may not
have intended to cause the death OF
the persons, it becomes murder in the
first degree and is punishable by death
or life Imprisonment. Prosecutor Smith
stated:
"All we are required to show is that
the defendant set fire to the house and
that the occupants lost their lives by
reason of this act"
Mr.. Smith said the evidence Will
show that Lamphere made remarks to
various persons indicating his hatred
for Mrs. Guinness and his intention to
do her harm, including statements that
he knew how to get money from her.
The fear that Mrs. Guinness felt for
Lanphere was touched on, and then
the prosecutor took up the story or
the night of the fire and what the state
would prove. He said that by Lam
pheres own statement 1t would be
proved that he set the alarm clock at
Mr.. Smiths house, where he spent the
night, for 3 o'clock on the morning or
April 1S, and that fifteen or twenty
minutes later he left there.
1--WE will also prove" continued the
states attorney, "by Lamphere's own
statement that he took the road going
by the Guinness house, and that he was
on the spot when the fire broke out,
about o'clock, and that he was the
only person around at that time.
His Movements Known
1--WE will prove that he was at the
Lake Erie crossing at 4:50 a. m. This
is a mile and quarter away. We will
show that instead of going on the high
way, Lamphere jumped over fences and
ran along throug' the woods to John
Ross place, where he was going to
get a broadax before continuing to the
Henry Warwick place, where he was
employed. We will show by the evil
dence that when he wa arrested that
night by Deputies Anstill and Marr
the first thing he said was, Did those
folks get out of the houseT So you
see that the thought foremost in his
mind was the burning of that house. "
Continuing, he said that the state
would prove that Mrs. Guinness and
her 5-year-old son Philip slept in a
bed in the northwest corner, on the
second floor, and that the two girls
slept in a room in the southwest cor
ner; that the fire was started in the
southwest corner, and was driven to-
ward the north by the wind; that Mrs.
Guinness and the boy were overcome.
and that later when the fire entered
the girls room, they ran into their
mothers room, thereby getting into the
hottest Of the flames and going down
with the mother and brother.
1--WE will also prove" said Mr. Smith,
"that when the bodies were found there
was a foot of debris underneath-mat-
tresses, bed springs, etc.-showing that
these bodies could not have been ca
davers placed on the cement floor of
the basement"