The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-05-06
MONSTROUS
MURDERESS
May Have Substituted Body Of
Female Victim and Be
Alive Herself.

LAPoRTE, Ind, May 6-From out
the mass OF tangled and sensational
evidence which indicates that Mrs.
Bella Guinness was one OF the most
monstrous murderesses of the CEN
tury and that her farm mile north
east OF Laporte was clearing house
Of assassination and crime, there de-
yeloped today the startling theory
that the woman did not die in the
fire which destroyed her home =
night OF t.,.il Ss and that she is
still alive and hiding probably in
Chicago,
This theory is strengthened by the
fact that the head of the body of a
woman found in the ruins of the
Guinness home after the fire is still
missing.
The officers are not sure whether
the woman herself was killed In the
fire or had substituted the remains
OF one of her female victims for her
self and then set fire to the house in
order to cover up the crime.
II the case is proved that Mrs.
Guinness did substitute the body of
another woman fof her own, 1t Is
very likely she was also guilty Of
the murder of her three children.
With five bodies already unearth-
ed, a force of men resumed their
search today in hopes of finding 9th
er victims. Four bodies were dug
up near where the body OF Helgelein
was found. Lying on a mattress was
the body of Jennie olesen Guinness.
and under a mattress were three oth-
. or skeletons.
Eleven deaths constituted the to-
tai this morning for which an ex-
PLANTATION is being sought. Five
bodies were unearthed in the barn
yard yesterday and four others we're
recovered from tho ruins OF the burn
ed Guinness ho9se today. 1t is be-
lieved two of the husbands of the
woman were also killed and buried
about the house,
Dlggers today came upon and dis
tnrbed spot within six feet OF the
place where yesterday four bodies
were unearthed. and about three feet
down they struck a wooden box in
which they found the skeleton OF a
man lying face downward. Con
tinuing digging at the same place the
men came upon the skeletons of two
more persons but as there was no
clothing or anything attached it was
impossible to tell whether they were
male or female.
An autopsy on the bodies of two
men, girl and two children unearth-
ed yesterday showed all We're mur-
dered.
Following the autopsy Sheriff
smutzer notified the Chicago police
to be on the lookout for a gang in
that city believed to be in the whole
sale murder business for the purpose
OF collecting insurance. The gang is
believed to have shipped the bodies
Of the murdered people to Mrs.
Guinss, and she disposed of them.
The bodies OF the men found are
believed to be those of matrimonial
dupes of the woman, while others
are believed to have been shipped In.
The search by which the bodies
were found yesterday was instlgated
by John Hegelein, the brother of An
drew. who has always believed that
his brother was murdered and that
he had never gone to Norway, as
claimed by Mrs. Guinness and LAM
phere.
He noticed some recently upturned
earth In the yard and suggested to
Sheriff Smutzer that an examination
be made to see II his brothers body
. could not be found. IT was dug up
after a brief search.
While questioning Joseph Maxon, a
hired hand on the Guness affair,
John HelgeleIn learned of the mys-
teriou digging of holes by him, all Of
them being filed at a later date by
Mrs. Guinness. The remains were
only four feet under the ground and
were enclosed in a gunny sack.
The discovery of the bodies led ex-
pressmen tell OF the delivery Of five
trunks to the Guinness farm during
the last six months and this fact has
caused theauthorities to work on the
theory that the place was n clearing
houe for murderers. They suspect
that wealthy persons, after being lur-
ed to Chicago and killed, were pack
ed in these trunks and sent to La
porte, and disposed Of.