The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-06

mQntS
Yesterday are in excellent condltioii.
The whole body looks to me 10 pc as
in excellent condition as II tne iilSln
had died yesterday Furtnerh0re ~
dismemberment was not done oy any
carpenter. 1t was the work OF an eA-
pert anatomist."
day he would ross-examine Lampnere
in the effort to obtain a conlessloh
from him. He further said tnat W.,
man named Lizzie Smith, VINO klneu Is.
a prominent attorney of Laporte' ~
his oninion. knows something of the
That more bodies will be found is
the firm belief of the officers Iney
have the mystery OF hve trunks Sarp sn,I,,
to solve. These trunks all arrived IN
Laporte during the last four montns
and it is very probable that tney coii
tanned human bodies.
1t is the opinion of the autnoritiees e.s
that Mrs. Guinness had accompl1ces IN
Chicago and that after prospective
victims had been lured to that CITY 10
be robbed and murdered, their Dooles
were shipped to this city. in order 10
keep the Chicago police from gainlhs
Anton Olson of Highlands, lnd-'
father of Jennie Olson, who was
adopted by Mrs. Guinness today
identified the body found yesterday as
that of his daughter.
An autopsy of the bodies of the two
men one girl and two children un-
earthed yesterday showed that all hao
been murdered
The sheriff has notified the Chi
cago police to be on the lookout for
a gang in that city, believed to be in
the wholesale murder business Ior
purposes of collecting insurance.
The gang is believed to have dis
-nosed Of part of the bodies in
Laporte.
How Discovery Was Made.
Laporte, Ind, May 6.-Laporte today
is in the throes of a murder mystery
that takes rank with the notorious
crimes perpetrated by DR.. Holmes of
Chicago and the Bender family of KAN
SaS.
Five bodies, some of them dismem-
bered and the parts sewn in gunny
sacks, were unearthed yesterday in
soft spots in the barn yard OF the
burned Guinness house, one mile out OF
town. With the four imperfectly
identified bodies recovered from the
ruins of the house since the fire of
April %, which led to the arrest of
Ray Lamphere, a carpenter on sus-
picion of numbering Mrs. Belle Gun
ness, "A years of age and her daugh-
ters, Myrtle Sorenson, II years old;
Lucy Sorenson, years old, and their
nall DrOCner, D years
old, there are nine bodies to be iden-
titled.
Mrs. Guinness is believed to be the
murderer of the men and children.
One of the dead men was lured to the
Guinness home by a matrimonial ad-
vertisement. Lamphere was jealous OF
him, and in that there may be a pos
sible solution of at least one of the
crimes.
Twice in her career fire destroyed
property belonging to Mrs. Guinness
and in both cases she collected inSur-
ance from the fire underwriters. To-
day it is even intimated that the wo-
man herself is not dead, that she pro-
cured female corpse, set fire to hei
own house, and then fed. leaving the
world to believe she had perished in
the flames. The first body dug up was
that of Andrew Helgelein, a wealthy
bachelor of Aberdeen, S. D., who came
here in January and disappeared about
February 1.
The limbs and head had been sawed
off and placed in gunny sacks which
then had been sewn up. The body was
nude. In second excavation skele.
ton believed to be that of Jennie Olsen
an adopted daughter of Mrs. Gun.
ness, who disappeared in September
1906, was discovered.
The girl was nearly II years old al
the time and was reported by Mrs
Guinness to have gone to Los Angeles
Cal, to attend college
Continuous digging brought the
searchers to more sacks which contain
ed the dismembered body of a large
body to such a state that the only
features recognizable as such were {
dark mustache and dark hair.
Beneath this body was another layer
or earth, under which were found the
bodies of two children, apparently
q.hnnf Of
eral more suspected places in the
grounds about the ruins and the auth
critics resumed the search today will
the chance of finding more bodies.
The discovery of the bodies led ex.
pressmen to tell of the delivery of five
trunks to the Guinness farm during the
| last six months and this fact has
| caused the authorities to work on tho
! theory that the place was a clearins
house of murderers. They suspect thai
| Chicago and killed, were packed ir
these trunks and sent here to be bur.
| led.
Investigation of Mrs Guinness life
| developed that two of her husbands
died under suspicious circumstances
both meeting violent death. The first
] MAX SorenSon, was insured for $S 50t
and the second, Guinness, for So, 5OO This
insurance was paid in both cases tt
| the widow.
Sorenson died several years ago while
the family lived in Austin, Ill. His
death was said to have been due te
heart failure, but relatives claimed thai
he had been poisoned. An inquest was
ordered some time after the body haG
been buried, but for some reason the
body was never disinterred by the au.
| thorities.
Sorenson Home Burned.
While resident of Austin, the Soren
son home was burned and although
some question as to the origin of tn,
fire arose. the insurance was collected
With this insurance money Mrs
Sorenson Gas her name was at tina
tlme) bought a confectionery store il
Chicago, which was located at tn,
corner of Grand avenue and Elizabetl
street. A short time later the stor
was destroyed by fire, the origin O
which was SllSniciorc h,,f