The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-17
LETTERS ARE READ
FROM MRS. BELLE GUINNESS TO A.
 K. HELGELEIN.
Prosecutor Smith, in the LOmPhere Trial, Scored Another TruaAS Card By Reading These
 Letters in Court.

when. with A. K. Helgelein, of Aoer- deen, S. D., on the stand, he offered m evidence and read to the jury copies of three letters written by Mrs. Belle Gun ness to Helgelein during March and April, this year, fin which reference 10 that crazy Lamphere" are made.
 Likewise these letters, which are most interesting, portray the methods employed by the arch murderess in all laying the suspicious of the relatives of persons she had murdered. Even with Andrew Helgelein lying dismembered in the Gunness farm buryins ground Mrs. Gunness asked his brother, A. K. HelgeIein to come to LaPorte to in- vestieate and to bring plenty of money with him.
 A. K. Heigelein. the star witness to- day. told of his anxiety over the dis appearance of his brother. Tn reply to the first letter of inquiry to Mrs. Guinness, he received the following an- swer:
 "LaPorte. Ind. March 27, 1908. MT. Axel K. Helgelein
 q have your recent letter in which you wish to know where your brother Andrew keeps himself. We'll. that is just what I would like to know.
 He came here about the middle of January. When he left here, he said he wanted to find his brother who had
 
 thought he was in New York or pos sibly had gone to Norway. He wanted to spend some tfmes with us when he returned. When he was In Chicago, he said he would be there so short time that I did not write. I have neither seen nor heard from him since then. saw a man who said he had gone back to South Dakota. I will close
 "Belie c,unness."
 This letter did not allay the suspi- cions of Helgelein and he wrote again to Mrs. Gunness, receiving reply as follows:
 "LaPorte. Ind. April Ii, 1908. "Mr. A. K. Helgelein:
 Your letter have received some days ago. but have not been able to answer in regard to your brother An drew. have tried every which way to find some trace of him. The man who told me he is in South Dakota is named Lamphere. who worked for me for a while. He said he had heard 1t from some one he knew in Mansfield. and hs had also probably told them about the Si0,000 I knew right away that it was a lie. But this Lamphere began to find so many wrong things to talk about. until at last they took and arrested him and they had three days to examine him and see if he was right They found him not quite crazy enough to put him in hospital. But perfectly sane, he Is not, He Is now out under bonds and is going to have a trial next week. therefore there Is no foundation to the stories told, but one thing I am sure of is that he in one way or another has taken the let- ter from Andrew he had sent to me. The man who Is now working for me found a piece of the letter in the barn door one evening when Lamphere was around There is no name on this pa- per, but know his writing and fl was written to a woman and it seems he had thought of coming back in May and it is very natural that he uamphere) has also got hold of other of his let. ters. but to find out positively in regard to this is almost impossible
 others have told me that Lam nhere was jealous of Andrew and for that reason troubled me this way, but to me he did not say anything and did not mention it to him when An drew left This Lamphere drank so much and got the impression that ne was not quite right and others say the same. Now this Is what Andrew himself told me and l believe 1t to be true Andrew had sent to him lot of money when he was here. Some of this got for a mortgage which he had made over to him and a lot of cash money but l do not think 1t was so much but he had lot of checks, but as far as l know I think they were all payable to himself, and he had other valuable papers. l think 1t would be best for you to sell the farm and creatures as soon as you can and come here in May. When Andrew comes up there again, which he no doubt will some time. be sure and do not tell him that told you this or do not tell 1t to the other either. l must now do the best I can here and we must hope that all will come out all right 1 think 1t Is this half-crazed L.amphere who has started 1t all, but there Is hardly anything to do about 1t.
 (signed.) Bella Gunness"
 Following a third inquiry came this letter:
 La Porte. Ind, April 24 1908.
 '.ATr. A. K. Helgelein-Your welcome letter I have received. for which thank you. It is a wonder to me as well as for you as to where Andrew keeps himself. It is very strange that the man should go away without his belongings. l cannot remember the &C., curate date he left La Porte. but it was either on the 18th or 18th of Jan uary. My little daughter IA years old, took him to the street car then. He went by way of Michigan City. Two or three days afterwards, had a let ter from him in Chicago saying that he had hunted for his brother but did not ind him and that the next day he would look around the Board of Trade to get track of his brother. If he could not And him he would go to New York and find out if he had gone to Norway. As I said before. he asked me not to answer his letter until ] had one from him. This is all that I can tell, and have not his letter. got the letter in the morning and read 1t and laid 1t in a china closet in the kitchen and went to milk and when l came back, the let- ter was gone. That Lamphere was here and he had probably taken 1t, but that part of letter which I spoke of wo found in the barn door in the even- ing when he was around, I will send 1t to you. l recognize Andrews writing and think you do too. You speak of sending me money with which to dis cover what has become of Andrew. If I thought this would be of any use, could not go and do the inquiring so it would be useless for you to send any. assure you that I will do all can If you will take a trip down here to see what you can do in this case. Be very careful with that part of the letter I am sending you and send 1t back to me in your next letter, If you please. Heartiest regards from us all,
 Bella Gunness."
 The following Is a copy of the piece of letter referred to in the letter:
 My Very Best Frtend-I am well and the spring Is here. as the snow Is going fast My creatures, most of them slept outside yesterday and to-