The Penn's Grove record., 1908-05-15
capped; also Mrs, Guinness had caused
h{n nrnnnt nn.rnnSI 4IaA


hts arrest several times:
Theory No: .4-That duadrup1e
crime was committed by a. m%urdeTous
gang with headquarters I'M Chicago
fearing exposure by. Mrs. Guinnesssof
long series of murders and fires for
insurance and money of victims; she
being used as decoy through matri-
monial advertisements; supported by
shipping of mysterious trunks and
boxes to her farm from Chicago.
Mystery Of the Headless Body.
Is Mrs: Guinness alive?
The Lap6rte authorities are not
agreed upon their answers. There is,
first of all, the mystery Of the head
less body supposed to be that of the
woman. A careful search of the
ruins has failed to reveal a trace of
the head. How could the woman's
head have been totally i~heinerated
and the body left intact? Besides,
Mrs. Guinness had n strong means
of identification. Her upper set of
teeth were heavily plated with gold;
in fact, almost entirely covered, the
dentist using something like $500
worth of the precious metal.
Seven gold watches we're found in
the ruins little harmed by the flames,
and the authorities say that if they
did not suffer from the heat the gold
on the woman's teeth would also have
been unframed. In order to be GER
tain that the gold is not in the ruins,
Sheriff Shutter ordered the searchers
to get sleeves and sift all of the ashes
in the ruins.
The Prosecutor says that certain
trunks have already been traced in
that way, and he is now convinced
that all the bodies are victims of the
woman. The Prosecutor also believes
that the headless body now at the
morgue and which was found in the
ruins of the Guinness home is that of
Mrs. Guinness. The size corresponds
well with hers, and the fact that the
head is missing is not regarded as
very strange, for the body lay in such
a position that the head would have
been covered by the falling walls and
thus would have been exposed to a
more intense heat than any other part
of her person.
A large glass bowl, which was
found against the left shoulder, was
half melted away, showing that the
heat had been greater there than at
any other place in the debris.
A strong chain of evidence is being
owe around Ray Lamphere, the
hired hand on the Guinness farm.
Lamphere and John Maxon, who
had worked for Mrs. Guinness, were
examined about the house, and the
suspicious of the Sheriff on two i'm
portant points were confirmed. One
was that the murders were done in a
guests room" on the second floor,
and that the bodies were hacked to
pieces in a dark ROOM in the cellar.
Lamphere said that the guests
room" always was locked, and that
he never was permitted to enter it.
He said that two padlocks were kept
ON the dark ROOM" which was built
of solid masonry on three sides and
with the only opening a narrow door
of oak. 1t is thought that the woman
kept bodies in the cellar until she
had several for burial. This much is
indicated by the fact that of two bod
les found together n was in a more
advanced state. of decomposition than
the other.
Mahogany in Guests Room.
The guests room, it has been
found, was 1uxuriously furnished.
Mrs. Guinness ordered the furniture
herself in a Laporte store. A set of
bird 's-eye maple was obtained from a
wholesale house in Chicago, but the
woman rejected it with the remark,
It's too light in color and too hard
to keep clean" She finally accepted
a set of mahogany, and it is believed
the bill was paid with money from
one of her victims. She bought the
finest imported curtains for the room,
the item of sale being found in the
books of a merchant here.
At the time she selected the cur
tains Mrs. Guinness took pride in tell
ing of the care she was taking with
the room. She said she always liked
to have friends around, and that they
must have the best she could afford.
There is no doubt that the murders
were done in the dead of night when
the victims slept. In each skull holes
show there was a change in
attack, and in this the Coroner sees
evidence of the cunning of the wom-
an. He said that the method of kill
ing was such that little or no blood
would be spilled, and that the instru-
ment used had a projection or thick
needle only long enough to cause
death by slightly puncturing the
brain. Repeated blows were struck,
and with each one the skull was
pierced. The Coroner said the first
blow undoubtedly caused death in
each case.
The scene where the bodies have
been dug up is attractive. A pretty