The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-15
SUfFOCATI0N NOT
CAUSE OF DEATH
States Star Witness in Gun
ness Case Aids the De-
fenSe.
DEATH NOT ESTABLISHED.
STATE HAS NOT PROVEN THAT
MRS. GUINNESS DOES NOT LIVE
WHICH is ESSENTIAL TO sue.
cESSFUL PRoEcUTIoN.

SGSST SG hS1SS ~ WV
Laporte, Ind, Nov. 14.-Tho most
striking testimony in the trial of Ray
Lamphere for numbering Mrs. Gun
ness and her three children by burn
ing the Guinness house was given here
when DR. II. Fl. Long, states wit
ness, resumed the stand for cross-ex-
animation as to his. findings in the
participated with Drs. Wilcox and
Gray.
DR.. Long swore that the lungs and
other internal organs of the adult wo-
man found in the ruins. as Well as
those of the children were free from
indications that they had died of suf-
location.
He declared that in cases of suffo-
cation the lungs especially would be
filled with spots caused by the inhal-
alton of smoke and that there would
be other unmistakable signs of death
from such a cause.
I'm the cases of the four persons
whose bodies were found in the ruins
of the Guinness house." said DR.. Long,
Il was unable to discover, after a
careful examination, any evidence
that they had died of suffocation.
which, had such been the fact,
should have been prepared to find
smoke spots plainly evident in the
lungs"
Defense Scores Again.
Immediately upon this statement be-
ing made by the witness Attorney
Worden for the defenss>excused the
witness with a reservation for recross-
examination.
DIR. Longs statement, taken in con
nection with that of DIR. Walter S.
Haines of Chicago, who made the an
alysis of the stomach contests, is re-
garded as a triumph for the defense,
since DR.. Haines' poison testimony,
showing large quantities of strychnine
in the stomachs of the dead is furth-
er corroborated by DR.. Longs testi-
mony that the hands in each case
were clenched, as is invariably the
case in death from strychnine poison
ing.
1T is fact" said Dr. Long that
clenching of the hands is not char
acteristic of death by fire, there be-
ing quite as much likelihood that in
such cases the hands will be relaxed
In cases of death by strychnine, on
the contrary, clenching of the fingers
is avariable.''
The most apparent feature of the
proceedings so far is the failure OF
the state to establish its primary
fact, the death of Mrs. Belle Guinness
which is essential to the successful
prosecution of the charge against
Lamphere.
Courtroom Packed.
The resumption of DR.. Longs cross
examination occurred before a court
room crowded to the doors, the front
rows for several rows back being fill
ed with women. scores of farmers
wives and daughters having come in
uance of the famous case.
Among the witnesses to be called
today will be Bessie Wallace. the
lyoung woman to whom Lamphere
made his famous boast:
:, Il know enough about Mrs. Guinness
to send her to the penitentiary for life
or hang her, and if she doesn't come
over with the coin I'll burn the house
over her head
The strongest point of all for Lam
phere's side is that Joseph Maxson
while he was outside very soon after
the fire started, was unable to elicit
sign of life from those in the other
part of the house, whereas it is con
sidered unlikely that all the four in.
mates could by that time have been
SO overcome as to be unable to make
the slightest outcry.
The time elapsed before Humph,
rey, Maxson and the others in the ear.
ly morning rescue party managed to
get ladder up to the windows is evi
dence in the minds of the defense that
the house could not at that time have
been very badly burned. and it will
be pointed out that though they peer
ed into the windows some consider
able time before the floors fell they
were unable to distinguish a sign of
life.
Arguing on these known facts it will
be the effort of the defense to prove
that the bodies were lying in the Gel
lar on the old mattress, the adult al
ready decapitated and the others dead
from poison. before the fire was start.
ed, and that the person who fired the
Continued on Page Ten.)