Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
IS MRS. GUINNESS
LIVING OR DEAD2
laporte Authorities PerpIexed
Over Problem.
PROOF FOR EITHER ANSWER
Murder for Revenue Only" the
Truth of the Crimes.
HAD BEEN MARRIED TWICE
Was Norwegian Of Powerful Build.
With Abnormally Small Feet.
"More Devil Than Woman"

Special Dispatch to The Star.
LAPORTE. Ind. May 9.-There is no
better way OF indicating the demoniaca.
qualities now generally ascribed to Mrs.
Belle Guinness hereabouts than by say
ing that when Il was announced at night
fall today that no more bodies had been
dug up In that garden of death on the
Guinness place everybody I'm Laporte was
surprised. Always in her lifetime dis
liked. suspected and feared. the woman
has now become in the public mind "A per-
feet demon OF blood, lust craft and
treachery. Apparently nobody would he
surprised to learn that every square yard
Of her fifty-acre farm is sown with the
bodies of her victims
Meantime. where is Belle Guinness? Are
those fragments OF n female body that lie
in the morgue charred past recognition
really hers. or are they the remains o.
still one more OF her victims intended
10 throw dust in the eyes OF the police
until the multi-murderess makes good her
escape
Summary of Crimes.
There are SD many circumstances TO sup
port either theory that the case remains
today As mysterious as II was last Tues
day, when the murder garden Welded I'm
its first grim fruit. Meantime. certain
things stand out az facts. hard and hr,-
tai facts that cannot be explained away
Since little Dan Hudson and Joe MAKO
son got to work with their picks and
spades five days ago they have dug up
what the doctors say are the portions of
ten human bodies. Four OF them were
buried in "A single pit about fo,r h, s~,,a.
feet. ~
Only three Of them have beer, identified
with any certainty. The first was in life
Ahorew K. Heglean. middle-aged Nor
wegian, lured from his home at Abe,-
oeen. 3. OAK. by the expectation OF mar
rage with the well-to-do widow. The
second was o. C. Budsberg, an elderly
farmer from Lola. Wis The same bait
brought him to his death The last OF
the three Identified bodies was Jennie
Olson, an cighteen-year-old girl ami th,,
adopted daughter of Belle Guinness.
All the remaining six whose bodies this
terrible little garden has yielded up wero
men, with single exception and when
that is said all that Is known OF Them
has been stated
No Doubt Of Murder.
That all ten Of these were murdered
there is no doubt. As to the four whose
bodies were found buried beueath the
ruins OF the house the morning OF April
Is there is some doubt. Three of them
were children Of this Lucretia Boreia OF
Laporte-two girls and n boy-Myrtle.
aged IL; Lucy, |? and Phillip ;. In the
identity Of the fourth lies the solution of
the problem -
Murder Tor revenue only was apparen,Iv
the passion that consumed Belle Gunness
Ihat several or her victims were per-
h<a..a
profit In a pecuniary way in no manner
controverts this statement. In every case
OF wholesale murder there have been
some victims who died because their.
silence was to their slayer more precious
thar gold. In such = position Jennie
Olson doubtless found herself. THIS adopi-
ed daughter was 81 simple minded. Quiet
girl, who WAS known to the neigIrbora
chieny because she did more work than
any hired man.
She was Belle Guinness slave. And yer
the mistress feared the slave So IL.
slave died and WAS buried In uuicklina i'm
the same death garden that had r.ceive.I
the bodies of others who died because they
had money.
More Devil Than Woman
What sort of woman Was this ustound
ing murderess is Il hard question, and ye:
can be- done toward answer
ing. She Was Norwegian who lacked
about two years Of the half-century mark
She was born in Norway and came to
America young girl. Ia Chicago in
1883 she married Max Sorrenson. a fellow
He died sudd enly in 1890.
Two years later she married Guinness
He died suddenly. also.
Death, sudden and mys,erousiy, at
tended Belle Guinness for many years.
When she came TO Laporte six years ago
coarse featured woman. Sine stood about
five feet seven and weighed about 2:U
pounds. She had big. heavy head. a mop
Of coarse hair Of d muddy brown, littlo
eyes that just missed being black. huge
hands. but f.-e< grotesqu"iy small for tho
burden they had to support. Everybody
who knew her agrees that she was far
from attractive. Most of her acqiaintances
describe her as repulsive. Some or her
neighbvrs 40 further than that.
More a devil than woman" is tho
way William Deissl-in puts Il. and 10
ought to know because his farm Is next 10
the Guinness place.
Authorities Puzzled.
IAPORTE Ind, May 3.-Nhether Mrs.
Bella Guinness Is alive somewhere aifd
subject TO arrest Tor alleged murders
committed on her farm, one mile north
Of Laporte, or whether she was burned
with her three children in her house that
was destroyed By fire April -, Is the
problem that tonight loomed UP most
before the officers investigat-
ing the mystery surrounding the deaths
of the ten persons whose bodies have
been found buried IN the Gunness baril-
ward and the manner in which the Gun-
ness farmhouse was burned.
Ratiocination. AS practiced by the varf-
GUS officers OF Laporte county, and po-
litical differences among these officers
nave led TO division Of opinion to
whether Mrs. Guinness H. still alive. Tho
majority believe that she was burned TO
death in the fire that destroyed her house,
or that her body was partly incinerated IN
that fire after she had been killed by sonia
person outside the family.
Previous assertions that Mrs Guinness
is still alive Were added TO today by "A
statement said To have been given out by
Or. ii. r. Long. former coroner OF Ia
porte county and one of the four physi-
clans who performed the autopsies on tho
bodies found In the ruins Of th.. Guinness
aopaa V)f Long however said fopiU.t-