Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-12
DEAD HAND
|. HOLDS HAIR
IMPORTANT CLEW FOUND IN
GUINNESS CASE
HELGELEIN STRUGGLED TO SAVE
HIS LIFE
important Discovery Winds Chains Of
Evidence More Closely Around
Lamphere as Accompllce In
Wholesale Murders

By Associated Press
LAPORTE, Ind, May 1.-THE Gun
ness farm failed to reveal new myste-
ries today, but excellent progress was
made In solving the puzzles already in
volved In the homestead, which has
witnessed the tragic deaths of at least
fourteen persons.
A series of heavy showers made ex-
cavation impossible, but Sheriff Smul-
ger worked on the apparatus with
and cinders in the cellar of the ruined
house. The heavier pieces of debris
and the piles of bricks were cleared
from the south half of the basement
and 1t is thought that the sluicing op-
erations will start in earnest tomorrow.
That Andrew Helgelein did not give
up his life without struggle is evil
denced by the fact that In one of his
clenched hands was a brown tuft of
short hair which is said to correspond
closely with the hair covering the head
of Ray Lamphere, who is being held
in Jail here.
This new phase of the mystery was
disclosed In the deposition of DR.. j. H.
William Mayer. one of the examining
physicians who went into an exhaustive
examination of Helgelein's body. After
full report of the heart, lungs, intes-
tines and other parts of the dismem-
bered corpse, all of which were found
to be in a state of almost perfect pres
,rvation, he states that one of the
hands of Helgelein held the lock of
brown hair.
Mrs. Guinness an Eleptoine
He also made his report on the body
of Jennie Olsen, the 17-year-old adopt
ed daughter and believed victim of
Mrs. Guinness This body also was
found to be in good condition with a
few exceptions. In the case of both
Helgelein and the Olsen girl, the cause
of death is given as unknown. Dr. b.
o. Bowel, a prominent physician of
Laporte, was for a time the physician
to the Guinness family. DR.. Bowel
stated today that it was his belief that
Mrs. Guinness was an eleptoine. He
had treated her for epilepsy for some
time. While attending Max Sorenson,
the former husband of Mrs. Guinness,
he studied the latter very closely. he
says, and came to the conclusion that
she was victim of epilepsy.
1t is said DR.. Bowel S opportunity for
observation and gaining an intimate
knowledge of the Guinness woman gives
his opinion weight.
William Schultz, the miner employed
to conduct the sluicing of the ashes
and debris in the cellar of the burned
house, in the hope of finding the gold
filings said 20 have been in the teeth
of Mrs. Guinness, began work today.
William BroCisky a Polander, liv-
ing with a Mr. Shoemaker, farmer
neighbor of RS. Guinness, was called
upon during the year of 1906-1907 to dig
three holes in the barn lot of the
Guinness place. He was told by Mrs.
Guinness that the holes were to be
utilized for rubbish and farm refuse.
Mrs. Guinness designated the dimen-
sions of the holes, which, Brogiski said,
were about six feet long and four feet
wide. In all of these holes bodies have
been found. Srogiski says he did not
see any rubbish put into them, but up
on subsequen- visits he noticed that
all of them had been filled up and
had a covering of old tin cans, bricks
and other rubbish.
Inc county BTdiu jury luCI luuoys
The jurymen were told to investigate
all murder crimes in Laporte county.
Postpone Lamphere's Case
The grand jury was to have con-
sidered Lamphere's case today, but
this procedure has been postponed for
a week. Experts who were called into
the affair by Sheriff Smulzer advised
this course although Ralph w. Smith,
prosecuting attorney for this judicial
district, had announced only a few
hours before the decision was made
that he was ready to go to court with
the evidence at hand. Since then the
case has been strengthened by the dis
coyery of Lamphere's trunk, contain
ing several letters which are said to
his participation in the muir
der of Helgeein, and by information
from a number of persons
who were intimate enough with the
prisoner to learn from him much con-
his relations with Mrs. Gun
ness.
The attitude of the defense has not
been revealed to any great extent. The
prisoner has received stringent orders
from his attorneys not to discuss the
charges against him with anyone, and
attorneys themselves have not
themselves to any particu-
lar line of action.
They have been free in advancing
theories to account for Lamphere's ac-
tions before and following his arrest
and have also given out alleged evil
bodies of the children was, they assert
and which they say establishes the fact
that Mrs. Guinness and not Lamphere
set fire to the house. The adult head
less corpse found with the blackened
bodies of the children was they assert.
that of another victim of the Guinness
woman, the theory being that the head
was severed by Mrs. Guinness in order
that it might be thought the pody OF
her.
Thus far however, efforts to substan-
tiate the announcements by the de-
Tense have failed, several persons hav-
Ing repudiated interviews accredited to
CONTINUED ON Page Two)