The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-10-13
MYSTERY OF NELMS
SISTERS is REVIVED
DISAPPEARED FROM ALLAN
TIA ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO.
INNES SEEKS PAROLE.

ATLANTA, Ga.-The mystery OF
the disappearance Of the two helms
sisters ten years ago has been revived
nv the parole petition OF Victor +. In
mes indicted Tor their murder and la
fer sentenced 10 the Atlanta federal
penitentiarv for using the mails to de-
iraud Mrs. Eloise Nelms Dennis, one
OF the sisters.
Innes IS eligible for parole as far
as time served at the prison and good
conduct are concerned, but the depart
ment OF Justice has just announced
that his petition will be refused.
Fate is logging lines steps despite
the queer twist OF the law which threw
out of court the murder proceedings
brought against him ten years ago
No trace of the helms sisters was
ever found after the evening they
we're last seen on the porch OF the In
mes home in San Antonio, Texas. The
prosecution claimed that their bodies
were hacked to pieces, ground up IN a
sausage mill, and then burned. A mass
of evidence was collected to prove this
terrible charge. But the case against
lines failed because the corpus delect
provision OF the law requiring the
BODY of the victim to be produced is
strictly enforced in Texas.
Acquitted in Texas, Convicted
In Georgia.
After the acquittal of lines he and
his wife were indicted in the Georgia
courts for larceny in connection with
property of Mrs. Eloise helms Dennis.
Both were convicted and lines was
sentenced to seven years in prison and
his wife to three years.
After completing this sentence In
mes was arrested and sentenced in the
United States court to five years for
misuse of the mails. His wife con-
tracted tuberculosis while in the state
prison and now is in Oregon.
The tragedy OF the helms sisters,
Eloise and Beatrice, daughters OF the
late sheriff OF Fulton county, began
when Eloise went to Nevada to secure
quick divorce from her husband.
There she met Fnnes at one time as
sistant district attorney of Nevada. He
was posing as single man, and Eloise
fell in love with him. Later charges
against him OF larceny and misuse OF
the mails proved that he induced her
to turn over to him large sums OF
money, presumably to invest in Salt
Lake City and in Montana.
After securing her divorce Eloise
helms announced to her family in At
lanta that she was going to marry In
mes and later she went to San Antonio
for this purpose She was accompa-
MED by her sister, Beatrice, who was
suspicious of lines and wanted show
down regarding money that had been
turned over to him by Eloise. Innes
was then living in a small cottage on
the outskirts OF San Antonio with his
wife who posed as his aunt.
No Trace Has Been Found.
Witnesses testified that they saw
the helms sisters on the train going
from New Orleans to San Antonio and
others claimed to have seen them on
the porch OF the cottage the night OF
their arrival Since that time no trace
of them has ever been found,
At the trial of lines a knife was
produced with which it was alleged
the bodies of the girls were dismem-
bered, a sausage mill in which it was
said the bodies were ground UP and
a big copper tank with a smoked bot
tom in which it was alleged the bodies
were dissolved in acids.
The prosecution suggested as a mo-
tive the alleged desire Of Times and
his wife to conceal the fact that they
had defrauded Eloise of large sums of
money. But one necessary thing was
rnissinp-sOme trace of the bodies of
the two girls.
The theory that the helms girls are
still alive is held to this day by many
Atlanta people.