Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-13
Admits Details of Bloody
Work of Woman and
y Himself.
HELPED KILL Three
Small Pay Led to Attempt to
Rob, Which Ended in the
Final Tragedy.

st. Louis, jan 13.-Ray Lamphere,
who died recently in the Indiana peni-
tentiary at Michigan City while serv-
ing term for setting fire to the home
/ of Mrs Belle Guinness of Laporte,
Ind, made confession of the secrets
of the Guinness charnal farm, accord
ing to a copyrighted story In the Post
Dispatch today.
Confessed to a Pastor.
A confession was made to Rev. DR..
E. A Schell, formerly pastor of the La
porte Methodist church and now presi-
dent of the Iowa Wesleyan university
Iat Mount Pleasant. Iowa, and held by
Thin inviolate as a secret of the confes-
sional. The Post Dispatch says ScheH
would verify it if he would consent to
break silence concerning the confes-
sion published
Considered Reliable.
The Post, however, says the confes-
sion, it publishes was made to man
of unassailable character Lamphere,
according to the confession, has guilty
knowledge of the murder of three men
in the Guinness home while he lived
there during eight months in 1907. and
he assisted Mrs. Guinness in disposing
of the bodies.
Went to Home to hob.
He said he thought he had not re-
ceived as much of the profits of the
transaction as he considered himself
entitled to and he went to the farm
!. house at night with a woman. chloro-
!. formed Mrs. Guinness and three chill
ldren and Jennie Olsen. He and the
woman took between 500 and $70.
The light they used was a candle
and they left the house without know
ing they had left behind spark that
would soon burst into flames.
First Used ChIoroform.
Mrs. Guinness method of killing her
victims, Lamphere said, was to chloro-
form them as they slept and then, if
the drug did not kill to sever their
,heads with an ak. Lamphere said he
saw one Of the men killed and aided
in burying all three. These were An
drew Helgelein and probably Ole Buds
berg and Tonness Petersen Lien. Lien
Lamphere thought, was the third nus
band of Mrs Guinness. Lamphere de-
tails how Mrs. Guinness secreted Jen-
ME Olson in the house after she re-
turned from a visit and she was chloTo-
formed by Lamphere and his accom-
plice the night the house burned. The
confession says Mrs. Guinness informed
Lamphere of the coming of her cousins.
Never Awoke from sleep.
The first man to be killed was from
Minnesota. He never awoke from his
steep in the Guinness house. In the
hU
Mrs. Guinness to dump a gunny sack
and its contents in hole made by an
other farm hand for rubbish. Mrs.
Guinness never told him what became
of the man but Lamphere received
money from Mrs Guinness.
Next Has to BE Married.
Within a month another man ar
rived and demanded to know his
rights before paying off the mortgage
on the Guinness farm. Mrs Guinness
took him to St Joseph, Mich, Lam
phere thought. where they were mar
ried When they came back there was
snother burying. Lamphere received
more money from Mrs. Guinness ana
he became her trusted ally.
CasI,eS His Check.
South Dakota with a check for
s2,S93 This was cashed. Lam
phere went on an errand to Michi-
gan City and wnen he returned he
heard Helgelein groan in distress and
beg Mrs Guinness to send for doc
tor 1t was the chloroform she had
given HelgeIein. according TO Lam
phere. Presently Heigelein fell to
the floor and Lampnere said he saw
Mrs. Guinness end the mans life. He
assisted Mrs. Guness to bury the
body.
QuarreIeI Over Money.
Shortly after Mrs. Guinness and
Lamphere quarreled over money and |
he was ordered off the farm. She
put her money in the bank the af-
ternoon before Lamphere, seeking !
money, chloroformed all in the house
robbed and set fire to the place. Lam
phere said he was drunk the night
he visited the place and expected to
find $1,000.
Wanted to Spare Children.
Ray Lamphere did not desire the
death of the Guinness children and |