Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-07
FARM
ISCHARNEL
MUTILATED C0RPSES DUG UP
BY POLICE
REMAINS OF VICTIMS HIDDEN IN
TRUNKS
Awful Crimes Revealed by lnvestiga.
tion at La Porte, Indiana.
Laborer Is Held as
Suspect
BY A associated Press

| LA PORTE, 1nd., May IA poSSlple
solution of the Guinness farm mystery,
which was deepened today when four
additional bodies were found in the
barn yard, developed this afternoon.
Evidence that the nine dismernbered
corpses unearthed yesterday and to-
day had been shipped to this city.
probably from Chicago, came to light,
the testimony of draymen who had
| ccrted trunks and boxes to the Gui-
ness home bearing this out.
In addition, the local authorities re-
ceived information that two trunks
consigned to Mrs. Belle Guinness
were being held in an express office
in Chicago and the assistance of the
Chicago police in unraveling the puz-
zle was sought at once.
Two of the nine mutilated bodies
were identified in a qualified way this
afternoon. Antoine Olson, 2410 Indiana
avenue, Chicago, reviewed the re-
mains, supposed to be those of Jen-
ME Olson, the 16-year-old foster
daughter of Mrs. Guinness, and pro-
nounced them those of his daughter.
A sister of the dead girl, Mrs. Leo
Olander 2818 South Park avenue, Chi
cago accompanied the father and
added her testimony of her sisters
characteristics.
A. K Helgelin, whose inquiries re-
garding his missing brother, Andrew.
led to the first. discoveries on the
Guinness farm, Is certain the largest
end best preserved of the corpSes Is
that of his relative.
Mystery Increases
Against this, however, is the evil
dence of the autopsy performed on
this particular body by DR.. j. H. Will
liam Meyer. He found contradictory
conditions, which to his mind at least
proved that the dead man perished
long after Andrew Helgelin disap-
peared in January last even going so
fa~ as to say that the corpse showed
evidence of having been in the ground
less than two weeks. A. X. Helgelin,
however, refused to be convinced by
these findings.
Raw Lamphere who is held on
charge of first degree murder growing
out of the fire which destroyed the
Guinness home and caused the deaths
of Mrs. Guinness and her three chill
dren, offered no new evidence despite
repeated questioning.
Ralph M. Smith, prosecuting attor-
ney of the district, asserted, however,
that a confession is not necessary so
| far as Lamphere is concerned. I'VE
have" said he, positive evidence in
| the shape of letters connecting Lam
| phere with the recent murders at the
| Guinness farm"
The exact nature of these letters was
carefully guarded by Smith.
Victim from Wisconsin
An attempt to identify one of the
| corpses as Ole B. Rudesburg of lola,
Wis, was also started by the sheriff's
| office here. In response to telephone
| messages sent there, word came to-
night that member of Rudeburg's
family had left there for this city.
Delving into the past of Mrs. GUM
ess the local authorities find one un-
explained death in her immediate fam
| ily which, they think. may shed light
on the present tragedy.
| Six years ago there was at the farm
| a child named Swanhilda, supposed to
have been the daughter of Mrs. GUM
| ess' first husband. The girl was then
| about years old. DIR. H. H. Martin
of Laporte was called to attend her
one night and diagnosed the case as
an attack of bronchitis.
Three days later the child was dead.
DR.. Martin, not having been called in
the interim, refused a death certifi-
cate and the infant, it Is said, was
| buried without fulfillment of the legal
requirements. The coroner is consid-
ering the advisability of exhuming this
| body for the purpose OF an autopsy.
The Guinness farm was mecca for
sightseers today. The crowd became
| so dense that the road was choked and
it was almost impossible for late COM
ers to force their vehicles through the
press.
With morbid interest the men.
women and children pushed their way
toward the spot where the sheriff and
| his men were turning up the earth and
| refused to draw back. Finally the
sheriff appealed to the police to keep
| the crowd back
Bones Dug UP
Relieved of the hindrance, the exca-
vators redoubled their efforts and
within half an hour were rewarded.
| First few scattered bones were turned
| UP, then a skull was uncovered. Dig
| ging around this, another corpse was
| exposed and beyond this a second. and
| yet another
One of the bodies in this second char
mel pit is believed to be that of a
| woman. The other two, and that found
earlier, are probably those of men. OF
the nine cadavers. seven are males. All
are remains of adults, the two smaller
bodies found yesterday and which were
at first thought to have been those OF
children proving otherwise when the
bones had been inspected by the coro-
ner and his assistants today
The best clue which has yet been
found came to light Immediately fol-
lowing the discovery of the last three /.
bodies today.
John A. Welker a deliveryman. and
| Leo Ware his employe, told of having
carted heavy trunks to the Guinness
farm in the summer and autumn or
1906. Clyde Sturgis, employed by Fos-
ter & De Garmo, another livery con-
cern, remembered that he took two
CONTINUED ON Page Twol