Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-27
EASY FOR LAMPHERE
Guilty of Arson, Not Murder, Is
Jury's Verdict.
SENTENCED TO PRISON
Indeterminate Term of From Two to
Twenty-0ne Years.
JURYMEN EXPLAIN FINDING
Satisfied Body in Ruins Was That of
Widow Guinness, But Decided Case
on Different Proposition.

LAPORTE. Ind, November o7.-Ray
Lamphere. charged with arson and the
murder of Mrs. Belle Guinness and her
three children by setting fire to the Gum
ness house April %, was last evening
found guilty of arson by the jury which
had the case under consideration for
twenty-four hours.
Within five minutes after the verdict
was reported Judge Richter sentenced the
defendant to the state peniteniary at
Michigan City for an indeterminate term
from two to twenty-one years. He will be
taken to Michigan City today to begin
his sentence.
Word that an agreement had been
reached was conveyed to Bailiff Matz at
dusk, and he telephoned Judge Richter
and the attorneys in the case. The lights
In the big courtroom were turned on, and
within fifteen minutes the court was
packed. Lamphere was brought over from
the jail and the jury filed into the court
room.
Jury Returns Verdict.
Foreman Henry Mill announced that the
jury had agreed, and he passed piece
of white paper to Judge Richter. who.
after making the entry on his docket,
read the verdict
I'VE, the jury. find the defendant guilty
of arson. and that he is thirty eight years
Old
Attorney Worden, for the defense, last
night said that a motion for new trial
would he made. and. should it be refused.
an appeal to the Indiana supreme court
would follow. MIR. Worden declared the
verdict to be ridiculous. IF he was
guilty at ALL" said the attorney ''he was
guilty of murder. He should have been
acquitted"
The motion for a new trial Will be based
on the courts instruction telling the
Jurors that they could find Lamphere
guilty of arson under the indictment.
Iamphere in a statement says he is
confident that the dead body IN the fire
was that Of Mrs Guinness although his
counsel had tried to prove otherwise He
reiterated his innocence of setting fire to
the house, though admitting he was on
the road and saw the fire that night He
| also. declares he did not see Mrs. Gun
ness kill Andrew Helgelein.
Might Have Been Worse.
II have no complaint to make about
the verdict said Lamphere. Things
looked pretty blue, but the verdict might
have been worse
Last night all the members of the jury
made the following sighed statement:
1--WE. the undersigned jurors. impaneled
and sworn in the case of the state of In
diana versus Ray Lamphere, hereby say
that it was our judgment in the considera-
ton of this case that the adult body found
in the ruins of the fire was that of Belle
Guinness. and that the case was decided
by us On an entirely different PROPOSE
ton.
But for Jurors Nelson and Travis the
jury would have sentenced I4amphere to
life Imprisonment. and after the verdict
had been returned one of the jurors said
that they would have found Lamphere
guilty of manslaughter had they remem-
bered that the sentence for that could be
made the same for arson.
The Indiana law stipulates that all pr s.
oners, excepting those found guilty of
murder, shall go to the state reformatory
if they are under thirty years of age.
This explains the last clause of the jury 5
verdict, and amounts to a prison SEN
tence.
Story of Crime.