Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1908-05-07
MOST F|[NDISH
/. WOMAN OF CENTURY
Five Bodies OF Slain Victims
Found on Farm of Woman
Who Perished in Fire.
SEARCH FOR OTHER VICTIMS
South Dakota Man i'm Search OF Missing
Brother Unearths Awful Record
of Crime.

Laporte, Ind, May 6. = With i've
bodies already unearthed, sheriff
Sautzer and Coroner Mack will con-
tinue their search to-day for other al
legged victims of Mrs. Belle Guinness,
who, according to all indications, was
one of the most fiendiSh murderesses
of the century and who was recently
killed with her three children through
the burning of her country home one
mile east Of Laporte.
Of the bodies so far unearthed, two
have been identified. They are those
of Andrew Heleglein, a wealthy bach
eior of Mansfield, S. D., and MISS
Jennie Olson, eleven years old, step
daughter of Mrs. Guinness. The other
three bodies are SO badly decomposed
as to make Identification impossible.
In Search of Brother.
The discovery of the bodies was
brought about by the appearance OF
A. K. Helgelein Of Aberdeen, S. D., a
brother of Andrew Helgelein, in La
porte in search of the missing man,
with information that his brother An
drew had come to Laporte to wed
Mrs. Guinness and that he had turned
over his property to her, he became
convinced that he had been the vic
tim of foul play.
While questioning Joseph Maxson,
a hired hand on the Guinness farm,
he learned of the mysterious digging
of holes by him, all of them beng
filed at a later date by Mrs. GUM
ness.
Find Five Victims.
He led Helgelein and the officers to
the spot where the holes had been
dug, and after digging for Jew
minutes there was uncovered the
body of Helgelein. About th1rty-hVe
feet further on the remains OF the
four other bodies were found.
It is recalled that the two husbands
of Mrs. Guinness died under suspl-
cious circumstances, both meeting
violent deaths. The first, Edward
Sorrenson, was insured for $500
and the second, Guinness, for $4,000.
The insurance was paid over to Mrs.
Guinness by the companies.
Hired Man Accused.
Raw Lamphere, the former hired
man of Mrs. Guinness, who was ar
rested after the Woman's house mad
been destroyed by fire and the bodies
of Mrs. Guinness and her three chill
dren had been found in the ruins,
was charged with numbering the fam
ilv. He will now be accused OF being
an accomplice of Mrs. Guinness IN the
numbering of alleged victims OF the
Laporte woman.
That Lamphere knew that Hedge
lein had been slain now is believed 10
a certainty. During the time he was
prosecuted by her for trespass he told
the police he knew something that
Mrs. Guinness wanted him to forget.
Planning Another Marriage.
That Mrs. Guinness was evidently
contemplating still another marriage
is believed by the authorities. A let
ter was received Wednesday by Ex-
ecutor Fogler, addressed to Mrs.
Guinness. The letter is written in
Norwegian and is from Carl Peterson
of Waupaca. Wis He writes that he
is sorry he cannot meet her require
ments as to his financial conditions,
hY.t he is respectable and worthy IN
every way. He says he hopes she Will
be able to find the right kind OF a
man. one who will make a good and
true husband and one who will be a
father to her children.