The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-06
BENDERSOUTD0NE
Sheriff's Party Digging in
Yard of Guinness Home
Continues to Unearth Bodies oi
! Murdered Persons.
SLEW BY WHOLESALE.
Woman Seems to Have Con-
Quoted Slayers' Clearing House
Doubt That Corpse Found IN
Ruins Is Hers.
THE HEAD is MISSING.
Officers Believe She Substituted
Another for Herself in Fire.
Mysterious Deaths Of Two Hus-
bands Now Recalled.
Woman Seems to Have Con
Quoted Slayers' Clearing Hous'
Doubt That Corpse Found In
Ruins Is Hers.
THE HEAD is MISSING.
Officers Believe She Substituted
Another for Herself i'm Fire.
Mysterious Deaths OF Two Hus-
bands Now Recalled.

Laport. Ind, May 6.-The gangs oi
men excavating on the Guinness IariIl
TODAY under the direction OF Sherlil
Smulzer came upon another disturbed
spot within six feet of the place Wnele c
yesterday four bodies were dug up anu
upon digging three feet down struck
a wooden box, which fell to pieces
when their spades hit it. Upon takihs
awav the dirt the men found the
skeleton of a man lying face ooWh-
ward The ground is being still fur-
ther excavated.
The body discovered in the box haa
been dumped in carelessly. ON top Oh
II was debris including little TN
stove. evidently a baby's playthlng.
The digging in the yard was CON
+inued this afternoon with expectation
that further developments Will De
made.
From out of the mass of tangled and
sensational evidence which indicates
that Mrs Bella Guinness was one OF
the most monstrous murderers of the
century and that her beautlfuI ana wen
kept farm a mile from Laporte was
clearing house of ASSASSINATION anu
crime, there developed TO-DAY tne
startling theory that the woman dlo
not die in the fire which destroyed her
home on the night of April ZS. ana
that she is still alive and in hiding,
probably in Chicago. This tneory Is
strengthened by the fact that the heao
of the body of the woman found IN
the ruins of the Guinness home a1ter
the fJe is still missing although every
effort has been made to locate IT, IN
less the head is found today the oHl-
GERS will make post mortem examlh-
alton of the remains of Mrs. Guinness
and subject them to more careful
analysis to learn whether the woman
was herself killed in the fire or mad
substituted the remains of one or her
females victims for herself and then
set fire to the house in order to cover
up the crime. In case 1t is proved that
Mrs. Guinness did substitute the body
of another woman for her own, 1t is
very likely that she was also guilty of
the murder of her three children.
Never before has this part of the
state been so excited by crime and
all day yesterday and today stream
of newspaper men from throughout
the west poured into the city to dig
up the details of the crime. With
five bodies already unearthed a force
of men under Sheriff Smulzer and
Coroner Mack resumed their search
today in quest of other victims.
Digging for Bodies.
When Sheriff Smulzer reached the
Guinness farm at dawn today he
was met by Joseph Maxson, the farm
work of digging for more bodies. A
cloud of smoke curled up from the
ruins of the house, covering, as was
believed in its ruins, the bodies of
Mrs. Guinness and her three children.
The search of today included as one
of its objects the head of Mrs.
Guinness, which is missing from the
charred trunk. 1t was in a yard used
as a runway for hogs that four
bodies We're unearthed yesterday
about 100 feet south of where the
body of Helgelefn was dug up. Living
on the mattress the decomposed BODY
of Jennie Olson Guinness, known by
the matted yellow hair of the 1S-year-
old girl was found four feet beneath
the surface and under the mattress
the other three skeletons were found
The headless body of Mrs. Guinness
|. lies at the morgue, burned almost to
coal but as yet no analysis of the
stomach has been made. Fish Tran
lake will be dragged for the missing
head.
theory that Mrs. Guinness is alive
that the day before the Guinness
home was burned the woman de.
posted $1,500 in the state bank here
She was worth about $4,000 and he,
passion for money is given as the in.
centive for the crimes committed
theory that she might be alive in.
cludes the supposition that she feared
Lamphere was about to expose he1
through jealousy Mrs. Guinness,
maiden name was Bella Rousilun
She was of Norwegian descent and ir
1883 married Max Sorenson, a Swede
who died under suspicious circum
stances She later married Phili1
Guinness, who died, she claimed a.
a result of a sausage grinder fallins
on him in the kitchen of their home
They carried life insurance aggreeat
ing $4,000.
The sheriff today began an investi
cation into the disappearance of Ol
Budsberg. of lola, Wis. Budsberg cam
to Laporte in March, 1907. He was az
quainted with Mrs. Guinness and i,
company with her visited the Lanort
Savings bank. where he deposited
note for $4,000. The note was naid
few days later. Budsberg has neve
been seen since.
May Be Mistake
There is today strong reason to y.
lieve that the Identification of the die
membered body found Yesterday q
that of Andrew Helgelein was an erro,
A. K. Helgelein, a brother of Andrew
yesterday, declared himself positiv
that the body was that of his brothe,
but today he says there are MANY dis
crepancies which make it almost posi
tive that the body is that of anothe
man and that Helgelein's disappeaT
ance is not yet explained DR.. 7 +
Myer. the coroner here, said today.
"The body identified Yesterday q
that of Andrew Helgelein bears no re
aemblance whatever to him. The fra J