Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-05-11
SURE MRS. GUINNESS is DEAD
Statement from Doctors Contrdicts
the Theory That She is
Alive,

/ interested in the SOWING OF the GUINNESS
mystery broke out Saturday. 1t is openly
charged that the political affiliations of
some Of the men concerned had much to
do with their attitude toward the labors
Of the sheriff and the prosecuting attorney
and a factional fight in the party to which
the latter belongs is blamed also
The widespread reports that evidence had
been found tending to prove that the corpse
supposed to be that OF Mrs. Bella Guinness
is ir reality the body of another woman
are said to have had their origin in the
camp of the defense, the members of which
are Of opposite political faith to the sheriff
and of the faction opposing the prosecutor.
These reports had their origin in a state
ment said to have been gwen out oy DR..
II. p. Long a former coroner of the county
and one Of the four physicians who per-
formed the autopsies on the bodies found
in the ruirs of the Guinness home. Dr.
Long, however said today that he had not
issued such a statement but had merely
expressed a personal opinion that he was
not satisfied as to the Identity Of the corpse
in question.
DR.. J. l.. Gray and DR.. r. T. Wilcox, two
other members of the board, refused to be
drawn into the controversy. but DR.. J. II.
William Meyer, the fourth member of the
board, said he had no doubt but that the
corpse was that of Mrs. Guinness. He, too,
however, refused to reveal the findings Of
the ply siciaus. The attitude of the coroner
as between the two factions has not been
manifest. At the prosecuting attorneys
office, however. 1t was asserted that Dr.
Mack the coroner, had changed the first
report as to the identity of the Guinness
body, and an inspection of the documents
showed this to be the case
All four doctors were unanimous as to
the facts and conditions surrounding the
bodies taken from the Guinness home.
There was absolutely no differences
among u.s." said one of the doctors. and
this was confirmed by other members of
the board.
There is absolutely no indication that the
skull of any of the bodies Of the three
children bore penetrating wounds. 1t had
been asserted that fractures by some blunt
instrument had been found on these skulls
Neither was there any kind of brain
hemmhorages and the heart and lungs of
at least two of the children revealed the
same conditions found in these organs in
the body of their mother The hearts were
all dilated and full of cots and the lungs
had collapsed. This condition is found in
the cases of persons who have died from
lSNAAofdAiOh anu lHt NItuInbNdnCG Is taken
as another evidence that the theory re-
garding Mrs. Guinness having killed the
children, substituted another woman's
body for her own and then escaped after
setting fire to the house is not tenable
One of the alleged circumstances upon
which that theory is based is the fact
that the body of the woman is much
smaller than Mrs. Guinness was. The in
tense heat to which the corpses were sub
teeted. according to DR.. AZ er. would how
ever, fully account for this circumstance
Mrs. Guinness was an abnormally large
woman in every particular. When the
corpse cut open layer of fat two
inches thick still existed over the abdomen
The upper part of the body was lying in a
bed of Goals when discovered and shows
evidence of having gone through the hottest
part of the fire. An arm was crooked
about the body of the youngest child, and
it, too. was particularly badly burned. All
the corpses were almost incinerated so far
as the backs were concerned, the spines be-
} ing exposed and the shoulder blades partly
) consumed The front of the bodies, how
ever, were in better state of preservation,
and It was argued from these facts that
the heat must have been all around them
and was sufficient to have caused the ut
ter destruction of Mrs. Guinness head. On
this latter point It is also pointed out that
the shovels of the investigators had been
driven into the spot where Mrs Guinness
head must have laid only a moment before
I her body was uncovered. The destruction
of the head, it is said, was perhaps ac-
compllshed in this manner.
Still further evidence that the body was
that of Mrs. Guinness was found in the
fact that the remains of a finger ring
which she Is known to have worn were
found in the ashes several days later. The
buckle OF money belt. such the woman
, is known to have used. was also picked up
7 and later still a key which corresponds to
the lock on her safety deposit box was dis
r covered in the basement
e For the first time since Sheriff Shutter
z began work on the farm he failed today to
. discover at least one additional body,
Excavations were made at several parts OF
1 the barnysrd hut in none of them was
e there indications of human homes or flesh
The search for bodies is to be abandoned
for a few days at least the sheriff an
nouncing that he will endeavor to secure
: additional evidence regarding the identity
q Of the corpses found in the basement
{ with this object in view he has employed
: Louis Schultz who was formerly a miner
9 TO sluice the ashes in the cellar in the hope
. that additional metallic relics OF Mrs GUM
ness will he found. The gold filling which
she is said to have had in several OF her
teeth is TO be an especial object of this
: search.
The sheriff is not convinced that ne hai
found all of the bodies which have beer
, buried but he has not fully deter;nine5
q the methods by which he will conduct
further explorations. One plan which hS
is said 20 be considering is TO have the tor
layer of earth removed from the barnyart
i in order that furrOws may be run through
the ground in all directions.
The sheriff received today several in
! quiries from outside points regarding miss
= ing persons who may have been among tht
' victims OF Mrs Guinness. None Of these
was connected directly with the farm, thC
p fears OF their relatives being based upor
circumstantial evidence.
p New witnesses regarding Lampheres al
. legged connection with the deaths at the
l. farm were also discovered. The more i'm
. por'snt Of these were William Slater and
John Rye. The latter asserts that on ths
day when Helgelein IS supposed 10 have
been killed he and Lanphere drove &c