The sun., 1908-05-10

hear any kind Of nebulous tale you like
as you walk about the strests Of Laporte
Yarns about mysterious buggies driving
up 10 the lonely Guinness house In the twi-
light, never TO be seen again; about screams
of infants having been heard In the dead Of
the night; about mysterious packages OF
great size and bulk having been delivered
there by weird messengers apparently
swallowed up by Soroery the moment their
burdens were deposited.
But out Of II all comes not ray Of light TO
illuminate the identity Of the other victims
or TO show how death overlook them. Nor
Is there anything TO show how even the iden-
tilted we're killed, with the exception that
upon one Of the skulls there is a wound,
and that is all. What evidence there might
otherwise have been was obllterated by the
quickhme,
The more you consider the facts the
more amazing do they become. Here was
the arch hend living in her two story house
on the little hill. In that same house lived
her three children ranging In ages from
II TO g. Nearly all this time some hired
man lived under the same roof Belle
Guinness herself, though big and strong
Of arms, had legs and feet 20 weak that she
could walk only with difficulty, and going
up and down stairs was a real trial 10 her
Yet such are the circumstances under
which this woman slew eight men and two
women and buried them In her garden plot.
These things stagger belief, yet there are
the gaping holes in the garden, there is
the quicklime, there are the ten corpses
in the little carriage house, ColluHon is
the natural suggestion and upon this the
local authorities are falling back In the
county Jail Ray Lamphere is awaiting the
action Of the Grand Jury, which will con-
vene next week. He 10 accused OF the
murder Of the murderess and her three
children, in setting the fire which destroyed
the Guinness house, In the ruins OF which
four bodies were found
LAMPHERE A 'No ACCOUNT
Lamphere is the son Of respectable
couple who live on a farm only few miles
from Iaporte. He Is about 81 years old
and has been known here for years. Nobody
ever REGARDED him as an especially vicious
character. He was earning a meagre liv-
ing "a a sort OF jack Of all trades and
the saloons got most Of the wages that he
earned. He was in fact merely a weak,
worthless. no account man. Nobody gave
him thought, save when they saw MN
drunk. The Sheriff has kept him from in
teryiewers save on one occasion. On that
occasion he was told that the bodies had
been recovered
THAT womanl' he exclaimed, Il know
she was bad. but that's awful. l do not
know anything about it, always suspected
she killed Helgelen and now am sure OF it.
As for the others, | don't know any more
but suspect that girl must be Jennie Olson.
never believed she was in California.
never heard Of any letter coming from her.
About a year ago a man with a blond
mustache came to the farm with trunk
She said he was a sweetheart OF Jennie
Olson. Again man and woman brought
a baby 10 the house in a carriage. When
they went away they didn't have no baby.
sShe used TO tell me not TO talk TO Hell
gelein. Once when they were together IN
the sitting room she drove me out OF the
house We got along all right before that
and she used TO come to my room at night
but after he came she had no use Tor me-
The revolver found after the fire was one
she used to carry all the time. ! was afraid
of her.
The Sheriff would not allow any pointed
questions to be asked Lamphere, but 1t is
clear that he was infatuated with the strange
woman. Last autumn he went TO the house
10 do some carpentering and he was there
ON and of all winter-in fact until after
Helgelein disappeared. 1t seems clear that
until this unfortunate man came from
Aberdeen the murderer was the mistress
of Lamphere. They quarreled repeatedly
about the newcomer and not long after
HelRelein went away Lamphere was
driven from the house and ordered never
TO come back.
He came over, however not once, but
repeatedly Several times in the course
of the spring Belle Guinness had her German
lover arrested on a technical charge OF
trespass. The first time commission
incurred into his sanity. The commission
reported that Lampheres main trouble
was booze, and he was discharged. Every
time the woman had him arrested he went
about breathing threats against her and
told one person that he could send her
10 the pen
Sheriff Shutter is uncommunicative re-
garding Lamphere, but he has said on one
occasion that he had enough evidence TO
hang the man. And, indeed, il is not i'm
possible that the man did set the Guinness
house on fire. He had admitted that he
passed the night before the fire at the house
OF Niger Liz low resort not far from
the Guinness place. He declared that no
walked early and started for farm where
he had some work to do. He even admits
that as he passed the Guinness house he
saw it was ahre, but did not give an alarm
because he was afraid he'd be accused Of
having something to do with it.
THE BODY IN THE RUINS.
All this, however, has little bearing on
the deaths Of Belle Gunness's many victims,
for Lamphere did not know her until the
fall Of last year 1t has, however, distinct
bearing upon the fascinating question 'ls
Belle Guinness still alivel'
No expert opinion has been obtained re-
garding the identity Of the womans body
found in the ruins Of the house. Coroner
Mack thinks the remains quite large enough
for Mrs. Guinness. Another physician
thinks not. Neither opinion is anything
more than a medical guess. The head,
which might have aided Identification, was
charred of and entirely consumed in the
Pmbers.