Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-05-13
WOMAN RuroHERED VICTIMS.
Death List of Murdered Persons Now
Estimated at Twenty.

sDS"eh A<iSC Va NAuTutFeO GefSOnS NOW
Estimated at Twenty.
La Porte, Ind, May THE grizzly
story of the private graveyard at the
farm of Mrs. Bella Guinness, mile
north Of La Porte, is still in its early
chapters. To-day the estimates of
the number of persons murdered at
the place through the lure of mat
rimonial bureau run all the way from
IL to 20.
The exhumation yesterday of four
dismembered bodies wrapped in bur-
lap brings the total of victims known
to have been murdered to nine.N In,
Guiding the bodies supposed to be
those of Mrs. Guinness and her three
children, discovered after the fire,
which burned the farm house on the
28th of April, the total OF deaths to
be Investigated and accounted for is
thirteen.
Two New Graves are Found.
There was a scant doubt that She
riff Smutzer to-day would discover
evidences of murder In two more sus-
pected graves as yet unopened. All
suspicious parts Of the premises are
TO De dug up, with especial attention
to the soft" spots beneath rubbish
heaps, which SO far invariably have
been found to contain bodies.
Ray Lamphere, who is in Jail here,
still protests his innocence. Prose-
cutting Attorney Smith, however,
says he has positive proof that Lam
phere had guilty knowledge of the
Guinness murders, IL he had not in
deed participated in them.
The prosecution is in possession
of letters, written in Norwegian,
which he is carefully guarding. These
letters, written to Andrew Helgelein
by Mrs. Guinness, are said to contain
references which indicate Lam
phere's guilt. That he killed Mrs.
Guinness and her children and set
fire to the house in order to prevent
any revelations that might involve
him Is the theory of the prosecution.
Chamber of Horrors.
In his cell, Lamphere was asked
concerning secret room in the
Guinness country mansion to which
no one was ever admitted except
Mrs. Guinness herself. She had the
key and kept the door locked con-
stantly. In the night hours no one
in the household was ever near that
room. That the authorities believe
was the chamber of horrors whose
walls must have been Ispattered with
the blood of the Inflated victims Of
the woman's greed for gold and pas
sion for blood.
81 never was in that room," Lam
phere said. 'I knew that there was
a room in the house that was always
kept locked and there was also
room in the basement, sort of ice
box, that no one ever knew much
about. 1t was big place, capable
Of accommodating several persons"
Buried in Groups.
This place near door which led
out to the barn yard is believed to
have been the temporary morgue for
the victims. SO many bodies have
now been found that the authorities
believe the woman saved her victims
bodies in groupes and buried them
that way, sewed up in gunny sacks
adding chloride of lime to the earth
to aid dis'uI rgration.
l. Worse and Worse.
Laporte, Ind, May 9.-No more
bodies were dug up yesterday on the
farm Of Mrs. Belle Guinness, but
Sheriff Smutzer, in an interview says
there. Is no doubt that 33 persons
were kill ID by the woman, and he is
getting kilograms and letters from all
parts of the country asking him to
look for bodies of men long missing
from home. He reiterated his belief
that the woman did not perish in
the fiames, but put the body Of ano-
ther woman amid the farmhouse
ruins, and is in hiding waiting for a
chance to sail to Norway in dis
guise. State Attorney Smith still
disagrees with the sheriff. He is GER
tain that Ray Lamphere set the fire
for revenge, and burned Mrs. GUM
ness with tho hnuco