Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-01-21
MINISTER BARES
AMPHERE'S TALE
DIR. SCHELL, TO WHOM MRS. GUN
NESS HIRED MAN CONFESSED,
DIsCLOsES SECRETS.
NEGRESS Is IMPLICATED.
Accomplish of Charnel House Ogress
Slew Her and Her Children to
"Get Even.''
DENIED BURNING The HOUSE.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Ia, Jan. 10
Rev. DR.. E. A. Schell, president of Iowa
Wesleyan university, has broken his
long silence and given the Chicago Trib-
une the confession of Ray Lamphere,
made to him in the county jail at La
porte, Ind. in April. 1908.
The confession. which hitherto has
been held as a privileged communication
by the minister, was given with all the
detail of the three conversations IN
which Lamphere laid bare the secrets Of
the Guinness charnel house.
It describes the killing Of Mrs. Belle
Guinness and the three children who
persisted in the burning of the Guinness
house Lamphere admitted killing the
four persons, but denied setting fire to
the house.
| Lamphere's confession duplicates ne
gress as an accomplish. A description
is given of the killing of Andrew Hell
geein, WHICH Lamphere says he wit.
| messed. He assisted in the burning of
the bodies of two other men.
Minister Authorizes Publication.
DR.. Schell authorized the publication
| of the confession and described how it
was given to him. When seen in his Of
! fee at the Iowa Wesleyan university he
| dictated the following statement OF his
reasons for making public the confession:
In view of the conflicting reports
| which continue to keep alive interest III
the Guinness case and the interrogations
| which must continually arise in the
minds of sorrowing friends and recogniz-
/ ing that the principal facts already are
made public, | have concluded to relieve
myself of further responsibility by COM
municating to the public the details Of
my three conversations with the late Ray
Lamphere in the Jail at Laporte, the
statements he made to me, and the cir
cumstances under which they were
made"
Schelps Story of Confession.
! The following is DR.. Schell's state
ment of the confession, written several
months after his conversations with
! Lamphere:
| In April. 1908. it was reported to me on
| the next to the last Monday morning that
| the Guinness house had been burned and
| with it three children who had been at
tending my Sunday school, a bright win
! some lad years old and two girls, perhaps
| and 9. I had seen the children driving
around in a pony cart the previous fall and
several times noticed the boy in the infant
| class
| At the suggestion of J. z. Rupel, the Sun
! day school superintendent, we arranged
| brief memorial service for the Sunday
| school the following Sunday morning. About
! the middle of the week Ray Lamphere was
arrested, being accused of arson. and con-
fined in the Laporte jail. On Friday, at the
and understanding that it was Lampheres
| wish, l called at the Jail to counsel with
him and perhaps to receive his confession.
Lamphere Extremely Agitated
| I found him agitated in the extreme;
beads of perspiration were on his brow, his
| hands twitched, and his nervousness was
| plainly noticeable. l stated that had come
| to see him, feeling that a conversation with
! some one might relieve his feelings and help
| him to ca!mness. He said that he supposed
| they would hang him, but that he was limo
| cent of murder.
He denied that he had set the house on
| fire and related to me how he had slept at
| the house of a negress until a. M that
| morning, then had started for the home Of
| q re!atiYe IN the country, and in passing
! BY the GGnness home had seen that it was
burning, but being angry at Mrs Guinness
past He then Said he reached mis- relatives
| place in the country, some four miles
further, at about O'Clock. @"'ssn =. 49,,
Early after dinner of the same day /
| called again and told him l had learned he
had not reached his relative until after 6
o'clock that morning. He said that On
thinking it over he remembered that he
went back to bed after waking up, and that
! the negress co. his breakfast about clock
a. m and that he did not start AS early as
Lake Erie train went by just as he crossed
the track north of the lake.
He also said that instead Of going directly
| by the house, as he had said in the morn
| ing, he had taken the road farther east, and
on the other side of the lake. and only saw
| the house at a distance. l kindly accused
him of falsehood and advised him If he
| wanted my sympathy, prayers, and help, to
| remain silent or tell the exact truth
Helped to Bury Victim.
torney, and after some two hours of general
conversation about Mrs. Guinness. he told
me the story of the night as follows:
Il had been intimate with Mrs. Guinness
man Of all work l was around the house.
Three times at her request I purchased
chloroform, and once 1 dug a hole in the
hog lot for her and helped her put in the
| body of some one who she said had died
! suddenly about the house, and she thought
! the easiest way was, to cover him up and
/ say nothing about It,"
/ Lamphere went on to say that he had no
suspicious of Mrs Guinness having murdered
any one until one night when he returned
suddenly from Michigan City and, having
bored some holes through a wall, saw her
administer some chloroform to man and
hit him in the back Of the head with
quit working for her and returned to the
house only occasionally to get his wages
still due
I then told him that he had been known
to stay at the house after that and that l
did not believe his story and that it was
contradictory in too many particulars. He
! then said that he had taken money from
Mrs. Guinness several times, making her
"dig up" or he would tell on her Once
she gave him $50. At another time SO,
and again SIS. He would then go to the
saloons and when he was sober once more
he would find the money all gone.
Woman Had Him Arrested
She had him arrested once for trespass
and once for being insane, fearing he would
tell on her. He bought the chloroform she
used before she killed Helgelein, 1.-The