The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-05-21
q DEATHS LAID
TO MRS. GUINNESS
Semi-OfficiaI Report Is Given
Out at LapOrte-List Includes
Supposed Victims.
10000 VISIT MURDER FARM
Picnic Parties ROmp Around Death
Garden"-SeekS to Identify Man
From Minnesota.

Lpporte. Ind, May 15.-Deniais by
Laporte officials that the Rev. r. A.
Schen had revealed to them the sub
stance of his conversations with Lam.
phere and the discovery of evidence
that Mrs. Bella Guinness was aided by
an accomplice in Turing her victims
TO h farm were the chief develop.
ments in the case yesterday.
Points to Accomplish.
The evidence regarding the aids of
Mrs. Guinness came in a letter from
a resident of Cleveland, addressed to
the local chief of police. 1t told of the
writer's having met a stranger in that
city last August who gave him a pho
tograph of "a rich widow who resided
in Laporte," and tried to persuade
him to come here to see the woman.
The photograph is a fairly good pho
tograph of Mrs. Guinness and was evil
IDENTIFY taken some time ago.
Louis Schultz, the miner who is
sluicing the ashes and cinders from
the cellar of the Guinness house, turn.
ed over to Sheriff Shutter a number
of pieces of fused metal which he had
found in the tailings of the sluice box.
Several of these relics are globules
and believed to be bits of gold.
Schultz also found some small pieces
of bone. One of these, the sheriff
says, is thought to be a portion of a
v%ertebrae.
Woman Feared L%amphere.
A new witness regarding Mrs. Gun.
ness fear of Lamphere was found
yesterday. Bertha Schultz, a clerk in
a local dry gods store, said that the
woman was in TIE store several days
before the fire and told her that she
was afraid Lamphere would set fire
to the farmhouse.
Jawbone That of Arch-Murderess.
Laporte, Ind, May 17.-"The identi.
f~ication of the piece of jawbone taken
from the ruins of the Guinness farm.
house as a portion of Mrs. Guinness
skull, bears out most conclusively the
contentious of the state regarding the
identity of the bodies found in the
cellar on April %. 1t is the cliDching
bit of evidence which should set at
| rest the rumors that Mrs. Guinness
had escaped"
This statement was made by Mrs,
Ralph n. Smith, prosecuting attorney,
last night. 1t followed a report from
DR.. c. p. Norton. a dentist. who found
that the piece of charred hone pre-.
| scented evident characteristics which
he had observed while working on
Mrs. Guinness teeth.
Search Continues.
The search of the premises yester-
day revealed almost nothing of impor-
lance. The screening of the ashes
produced several additional bits of
bone, but none of them is of sufficient
size or well enough preserved to fur
nish convincing ,roof of their origin.
The first of the Guinness victims to
be inferred with Christian rites was
buried last night in Patton's cemetery,
on the outskirts of Laporte: The
corpse was that of Andrew K. Hedge
lein of Mansfield, s. d. The body was
released for burial last evening, after
Coroner Mack had received the re-
ports of the Bertillion experts who
have examined it and compared their
findings with figures taken from the
records of the Minnesota p~enitentiary
at Saltwater.
% Deaths Laid to Mrs. Guinness
Laporte, Ind, May 19.-Twenty-two
deaths are now charged to Mrs. Bella
Guinness. area murderess of the age
in a semi official report given out by
the authorities. Should it be proved
later that Mrs. Guinness is alive and
that the headless body Of a woman
found in the ruins is that of another
victim the total number will be in
creased by four, counting the three
children who persisted in the fire, and
the total number of murders for which
Mrs. Guinness will have to answer will
reach twenty-six.
Lured to Death.
The list given II by the authorities
! contains the names of Mrs. Guinness
Two husbands and all those who are
| known to be her victims. Added to
this list are the names of all those
who have been traced to the Guinness
farm and have disappeared. 1t is the
| belief of Sheriff Shutter. that all of
these were victims OF Mrs. Guinness
| lure to death and that the remains
| of some of them now lie in a mass,
hopeless of identification, in the i'm
! provised morgue near the site of the
"deSth garden"
10000 Visit Murder Farm.
The scenes of last Sunday were re.
peated yesterday at the Guinness
farm. Fully 10000 perscns-not quite
as many as a week ago-visited "the
farm of mystery" m saw all that
there vas to be seen. even to viewing
the skeletons Of the seven unidentified
dead. Hundreds brought their lunch
ons along and at o family groups
dotted the orchard and the large front
lawn. Souvenirs of all kinds were
sold on the grounds. Refreshments
were dispensed on the grounds by en-.
terprising owners of the lemonade. ice
| cream and peanut stands.