The Washington times., 1931-09-03
TWO SIMILAR
'BLUEBEARDS'
RECALLED
George W. Perry and Belle
Guinness Crimes Cited; Greed
and Sex Dominant Passions

and Sex Dominant Passions
While the news columns relate
with grueSome detail the heinouS
career of Harry F. Powers, the
West Virginia "Bluebeard," Scien-
fists sit back and wonder what
strange combination Of heredity
and circumstance makes possible
creatures of his stamp.
DR.. Percy Hickling, noted Wash
ington psychoanalyst, believes
there is a great similarity in
criminals of the Powers type. He
illustrates his theory with the
almost indentical cases Of George
w. Perry, Wisconsin wife-mur-
derer and Belle Guinness, arch
murdereSs of the early part Of
the century. The crimes of the
three show a strange similarity
and, what is more remarkable.
the three bear strange facial
resemblance.
All Three Similar
Perry was convicted in Wis
cOnSin recently for the murder
of his third wife, Cora Belle
Hackett. Mrs. Guinness slew, as
far as the police could discover,
some Is men with the additional
murder of a woman or two and
several children. Powers un-
fortunate victims, Asia Eicher
and her children, and Dorothy
Lemke, were lured to their doom
with the bait that he was to
marry the women and be a
daddy" to the children.
All three, Powers, Perry and
Mrs. Guinness, were masters of
the art of letter writing, their
tender missives burning with love
and promises of happiness in the
bonds of welded love, Turing the
victims from the safety Of their
own fireSide to the death which
awaited them.
The matrimonial bait was one,
according to DR.. Hickling, that
would first occur to the trio, all
three of whom show abnormal
sexuality. Sex and greed were
their ruling passions and the mat
rimonial agencies offered an easy
opportunity to satisfy both.
Each made certain that his in
tended victims had money and
that their deaths would be of
financial benefit. In appealing
to their victims they represented
fhoVeo colvac nc norcooe of Toconc
(Which in Mrs. Guinness case was
true) in search of life partner
with. bank account.
Mrs. Guinness collected large
sums from her husbands" Powers
and Perry were equally successful
but not on the same scale.
The three children Mrs. Gun
ness had adopted were slain, and
the big brick mansion at La
Porte, Ind. (the bait in many
of her letters) burned to the
ground. At first the authorities
accepted disfigured burned
corpse of a woman as that of
Mrs. Guinness. She was believed
to have committed suicide. Then
a new theory was developed that
Mrs. Gunnes had used the corpse
of another, never identified. She
was never found.
Mrs. Guinness had an accom-
plice, w. r. Lamphere, her hired
man, who prOfessed to have so
deeply loved the middle-aged
woman that he kept secret her
deeds. Lamphere was convicted
as an accessory and died in
prison in 1909.
Powers and Perry, however,
were lone wolves. They did their
slayings alone Possibly, accord
ing to DR.. Hickling, because of
a superiority complex indicated
by the heavy jawS) which made
them sufficient unto themselves.
The striking similarity of the
criminal history of these three
arch-fiends is no less remarkable
according to DR.. Hickling than
their strong facial resemblance.
Examining photographs of the
trio. DR.. Hickling says:
"They might have been
brothers and sister,"
Were OverSexed
Powers. DR.. Hickling believes,
is a typical case of abnormal
Sexuality "a trait the three
shared developed into sadism.
Perry was equally oversexed, but
at the time of his arrest had
not developed his Sadistic i'm
pulses to Powers degree. Mrs.
Guinness more closely resembled
Powers in that respect. Perry'S
victim was slain on a lonely
Indian reservation and the body
abandoned. Powers and Mrs.
Guinness buried their kill" on
their own land. Says DR..
Hickling:
Apparently they took a saw
age delight in the proximity of
the slain. They enjoyed their
private little graveyardS in a
way Perry would never have
understood. Perhaps the ex-
PLANTATION of this slight differ
ence can be found in the
greater width of Perry's mouth
showing a less beStial nature"
All three were endowed with
unusual intellectual force. Says
DR.. Hickling:
Taking the upper portion of
the faces of the three you have
superior persons. The fOreheadS
ara hrnaH onA hiuh inlino f;~r