The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-05-06
W|D0WLUREDFOUR
Wife SEEKERS TO
HIDDEN GRAVES
Advertised for Husbands and
Murdered Her Victims
FIVE BODIES DISCOVERED
One That Of Young Girl Believed to
Have Been Put Away to Conceal
Other Crimes.

La Porte, Ind, May 6.-Acting un.
der the direction of John Heldgren OF
Aberdeen, s. d., who came here In
search of his brother, Andrew, the
sheriff of this county yesterday dug up
the dismembered body Of the missing
man In the yard of Mrs. Belle Guinness
whose home, six miles from here, was
mysteriously burned one week ago,
she and her three children perishing-
In the flames. As suspected they
were not murdered before the house
was set on fire.
Pursuing the search the sheriff dug
up the body Of young woman few
feet distant from the place where the
body OF Andrew Heldgren had been
buried. The young woman Is suppos-
ed to be Jennie Olsen, girl OF l6,
who was living with Mrs. Guinness.
and who disappeared In September.
1906. Mrs. Guinness accounted for the
girls absence by saying she had gone
TO Los Angeles, Cal, TO attend school.
Later in the day the horror of the
two discoveries was increased when
three more bodies were found buried
In the yard, one Of them being that OF
q woman and the other two being male
adults.
Ray Lamphere who was employed
on the farm of Mrs. Guinness, Is held
ON charge OF numbering her and her
children and setting fire to the house
TO conceal his crime. and since the dis
covery CT the many murders II Is be-
lieved that he was guilty OF all OF
them. and possibly Mrs. Guinness was
an accomplice In the murder OF Held
gren and the Olsen girl
1t appears that Andrew Heldgren be-
came acquainted with Mrs. Guinness
through a matrimonial agency. Early
In January she borrowed $500 from
him. Just before that Heldgren had
drawn from Aberdeen. through local
bank $4,000. When news of the burn.
ing of the Guinness home was received
by John Heldgren he started for this
city to investigate the disappearance
of his brother Heldgren's body was
found to be dismembered and the
arms. legs. trunk, and head put in diff
ferent sacks and buried.
The mnaner OF the burials shows
that they were made hastily, and II Is
believed that In each instance the
male victims were men who had come
to see her In answer to matrimonial
advertisements. Mrs. Guinness home
has been for five years house Of mys.
terry. She did not tell where she came
from, and when her husband died
shortly afterward. the circumstances
were such as to direct suspicion TO
her. She said that meat cleaver had
fallen from a shelf In the kitchen and
killed him. and deep cash In his
head corroborated the story, as far as
the cleaver was concerned. There
was no evidence to the contrary, and
| a verdict Of accidental death was re
turned by the coroner.
Then she began to advertise for q
husband, and from time to time men
were seen around her house. but the
coming and going attracted little at
tention. During nearly all Of the five
years OF her residence here Ray Lamp
here was hired hand on her farm
and is believed by the authorities t
have knowledge Of the crimes II h,
did not actually participate In them
The discovery OF the bodies led ex
pressmen to tell Of the delivery OF fiv,
trunks to the Guinness farm during tn,
last six months, and this fact ha'
caused the authorities to work on tn,
theory that the place was clearing
house for murderers. They suspec
that wealthy persons, after being lur
ed to Chicago and killed. were packe'
in these trunks and sent to Laport
and disposed Of.
That Mrs. Guinness was planning 70
another victim was developed toda
by the finding Of letters from Carl Pt
terson OF Waupaca, Wis, indicating
that marriage had been discussed bt
tween them. The tenor Of the lette
sent however. showed that Peterso
had been somewhat disappointed b
the discovery that Mrs. Guinness wan
ed more money than he was able I
command.