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Homicidal Exploits of the Bender Family, Holmes, Hoch and Others May Have Been Eclipsed By This Strange Woman. TROERER HOLMES, who dealt out death as a druggist does an ordinary prescription. Luet Of sausage fame, who put this '@ wider the lives In all factory destroyed her body in a vat at Hol; Knte tender, who inveigled men her sheet curtainea Frontier team, pee they were knocked in the head her quveuline rélatives; Johaan ch, i Whom bigamy became a séssion and illing a pastime; wii Hillik, whose allegee victuus high in numbers—the homicidal chievements of these past master’ crimp and their prototypes pale for insignificance. when, compared to the apparently -proved accom phients of Mrs. Belle Guiness, the orte, Tad., widow whose murder career. has startled the world in disclosure during the past. wrest. Underlying the couree of the trage “s laid bare by police investion a of $1 these crimes are, of course, iuvestions of Tust and avarice. The incentives are literminglet. But de frm these common (presump ng there are presented in the fal : discovered case of wholesale mur * the indisputable. fuuts tuthis Worn Lucretia Botgla—ronrsg mid iicious as she undoubtedly waa— thoroughly conimtingled the faent 3 Of Intelligence end etrengtt that ywaa bin, not omy mentay our rsically, of herself to perform the ke af a monster, . Holes Case Eclipsed, AResdidourury of dhe bowled of .al st_@ ecore of presumable victime this “fiendish Woman on the winds of her suburban home at lar ‘te and the developments that in tBledly will come with firthar In ‘tigation already intieate that hts ies of crimes will eclipse ayen’ tha lesale murders of H. H. Holmes, jose operations extended from Clut to to Phiadelphia and from T ‘napolis to Canada. ‘The accrent lanes’ victims, as near as tt has Se beer fnced, ran well Intohe ‘Wea. His operations extended over considerable period of ‘years, and unraveling of the blick stefn of criminal eareer consumed the at jun ul tie polite of the eutha inisty for many months. The history of the Bender family, igh added another blatch to the Ix, history of Kansas, indicates of which have made the world stand agae, the propotherahue of evidence so far uncovered indicates that the supreme master of criminology was women, who superficialy was goarse, almost vulgar, and that ac credited, even by those who knew her best, with even average intelli gence. Yet this woman, it now appears, has been able to outwit for many years her neighbors and the police of several communities. In her subur ban home dear Laporte there is no question put that she did to death at lgnet 11 ° people, dismembered their bndies and disposed of their ramafus in various parts of the sGaxre farm adjoining the home. There is yet a grave question whether or not Mrs. Gimness had ace complices. Opinion is divided, but the preponderance of evidence lent color to the belief that the “horror horse,” from which the bodies of an as yet untold nmber of viciimg were Liber and Without ceremony dumped into horns In the barn yard or thrown Into vaulta, was the clearing house for a hand of murderers whose principal scene of operation was Chicago and other of the larger ailies, and with whoo Mrs. Gunners, herself formerly a Ghiecags woman, Was closely qun aeceed. But another theory which has Taany , supporters “Would dashieute that the worthy, harself committed all the crimes, dleused of the bodies of her victims by her own and and proftead sent their nenoy and private effects, Mystery In Tale. Except for the Increasing number of grewsome exhibits, the latter theory would probably have the greilust weleh. But in the Weht of discoveries already mide and Indfen- Many of those yet to come IS seenin scarcely credible that any perean, however, astute, capable, and blooded and raised In the arts of murder, would be able to vo iuyay with as Nhiny victims as tL now appears Wye been buvied on the Guoness farm doing the Glen years or so of Mrs. Anness' occupancy. In any event, whether she waren had accomplices or whether she did not, tha messe with which she worked Indicates that even Holmes, the archaturdetcer of modern times, was a “selling plater compared with its worman of Nogyozian extraction. Mystery warge confounded has been ejected Into thia latest horror tue through We presumably tragic death a the Woman and fer three children. The salire family is supposed to have, been wiped out in a mysterious fire which razed the two-story brick rest through a matrimonial advertisement ingested in one of the numerous “soul mating” cubleations which the United States authorities recently have been so assiduously prosecuting He was a bachelor and had come to a stata of competency wherein the westion of Mahriage became a desira ble consideration. Living along ail his section of lang near Aberdeen, 3 D, his thoughts naturally turned to at home wherein a wife any familly Would enable him to enjoy the Eita of his industry. Like many Another man who has lived long alone, espe cially in the desolate expanses of the west, the solution of the problem of securing a helpieet, came throug the amatrimonial advertsasmerits ap pearing in A paper printed in hils own language, with which he and its hired Man were accustomed to which awar their lonesome hows, Mrs. Gunness, it appeas in the, ight of disclosures following her sup posed deal, was a geopiltron of matrimonial agencies on a steady ad vertizer in the cas. of papers, especially those spirited in the Nor wegian language which carried matri monial advertisements. Through this Tneane it Japan believed she inveigled many men into her net From the experince of THeigelein and from 3% part of the bodies discovered on the farm, the identification of which is complete or partially ap, i appeatts that this modern nrehffend was In the habit of enticing mpatrimonintly inclined mien of means ty her home, pigturesque spot, and with the um of her vapated wealth tidielng tent to tira chur property Into cash and carry it on their persons to her home of death, Woman Thrice Married. After an or two weeks of Jove mar ing these men wsumly disappeared. Until the Usappearance of Wedgelet but My suspicion appears to have been directed against “the worn She had been twice married and at the time of the death of her second husband cuors were current to ie effort that he had met with font play nd theUperious investigation was made by the focal authorities. Philip §. Gunness, the second his hand of Mie alleged wholesely nue deress, died about ten years ago. His death was said’ to have been due to the falling of a heavy meat gender from a shelf over a table at which ho oballest of between 2 and 20 eat, ineffensive and well-to-do as Who lost thedy even through a miun's wiles uul because they the possessory of money, chama BM embarked on the onli. seine the quickest $0 to the goal of easy. living. already han. paid the penalty of prosumiption againat the estab Qiawes of The commonwealth and unnsty. Anew comes, In a geareddin com nty, flaviosadros, which attilkce the es of Hie Benger family, Hommes, ert and their lie appear ins tar, a Woman Master of Crime, the present case, the diadomies fence, one of the most notorious pauses In northern Indiana, formerly the home of Mattle AIK, a monber of ho denfinunge, whose exploits made her potorious throwsh me country. eo The deatruction of te Gunnear ‘house occurred on the night at April 2 Theuine as a etlmx to a Btrenuous Investigation Inausurated by 1 brother as to the whereabouts of Albert Tel golain, 2 South Dakota rancher, who is gnamoged to have been one of the last victims of the wilns of the Nor wegian widow, Matrimonial “Ad” Lures. Helgeloin, the probary Sdvera others at Ue Ganness Cari ylotinia, was tnred to the spate of A, viper was sitting upon his head. At the bhas there were many tutlors to ieer feet that the ‘cat grinder had been Wropelled by 1 Iman hand, instead of falling accidentally willough fatal reality. However, the superflolat ine vestigation filled to uncover anything of a criminal nature, and although Ihaoy welutbars of the Ginnosa’ and other prepte of Laporte who were fa mUtar willy thy casa had their sus picions as to the honalidences of Mo ReGOUL theory Ho action was taken, Mere, Grins, WHO wan it litt, Mischar woman, welehinia over 201 pounds, wy held in fear ane Msteric by the majority of the people With who she came to contact, Fond of Children. It was her habit to eve from her home, a mille norla of Laporte, on a pad long known by the residents of the Tadiana city ag the “red light Giairiet, in a curtained bugay, cleawe ey a piebald pony with a dacked tail Winter or aumnor she wore over her sheepskin robe and a reader .. Usually she wore a shawl over her head, and when addressed would answer necessary inquiries in a very gruff votes. Superficially she was a religious woman and, protested au ardent belle! in the Methodist treed. Another peculiarity, noted not in Laporte but during her tong ente in Chicago, Was her fond for children, she had tits for adopting youths, and one of her Veta Was a girl, the daughter of a relative, Whont she had taken at a tener age, and feared to almose woe manhood, Thy bodies uncovered in the bi zard of the Gunnese fara, judleate the victims to have winged in years tryin mery hifaney o fall grown and me lure manhood and Wolianhood. Ab mastel of the bodies wee itencente bered with a peculiar sill, which leids to thy bolle that the wouran harness pitst have had 4 good kugwe louge of surgery or Nat she nad w Professional ~accomplica, Thin pis culiarity also nccmmts for tha belted Indulund div by many people that, her farm Witt a clearing howra Cor a mpyes gerouy gang in Chicago, ‘The bady of Jonnie Olean, a Ligonfreld ele, who until te tine of hop ale appearancy two years ago had been a member of the Guurnoss household, was dismem bered, the bed being separated from Herunt,nd the limbs cut off at toating. At the time, of this ap pearance of the Olsen girl Mia, Gun has told neighbors. and Orlenis Shatt she had been sent to California to at tend college. The girs sweetheart wil others who knew how intimately fave fatty detisted one of the hadlex disin terred Gwin the burn yard graveyard 5 Uh of the pissedig girl. The body of Andrew Holgeiola, sup posedly the list vielka of this Human Wurder machine, was eal, up to Thon insane manner. Unlike nurst of to other bodies, this one had not een put in quick time, it have been buried probably not longer than two tenths, and its condition was such that dentification was easy, and the featuiion were readily diathysutsted. The particular articulations of this body wiledt the surgeons identi fed with the case to the belief that the mordererg had tmowledms of sur gery Woehdleatad in the severance of the arms from the trunk. The nor Mend quanusedes cunnveling those portions of the human body are so couishitated that such an operation by one of the Most difficult In surgery. The bodies afd the victims were dissected in the suing wily, and U ot Helglein, being the forest, into the arts of the Iantte. The Cleaying was practically as dead as Would have been accomplished by an expert surgeon. Another peculiarity in the discre tion of the bogies wag that the legs of the victims had been cut off bro or three Inches, above the knee, the bones Nelwe sawed off. This was red as every body so far uncovered. Is Mrs. Guinness Dead? To add to the mysterious circume ulances surrounding the case, there comes the considerable doubt as to whether or not Mrs. Gunness, whose body was at first supposed to have ‘been fond With ter thee chiliren te he hills, of Wer buried house, Je dead or not. The heady of the p@ult femate found in the tins wad beardless. The searchery found the body of shit be issued to be the S-year oll con of hy woman lying on her breast, in casadoa Manket, which had been burned, but covered with a night gown, which was scarcely scorched. The bodies of the other two children lay on either side of the handless corpse, and all rested in such mathematical precision xa to lend color to the Sne wielon Uncle thay Iaid been placed there before the house had been yet an Ura. Sheriff Smulver, who had been most industrious in investigating the t blu mystery, advocises to thear the woman herself met feath dn the flames which consumed her house. Me was one of thea party which discov ered thy rémding, and he expresses the belief haat, Trot the poattional the terror with relytion to tha hontest fire, the Keay of Mrs. Conndss innyy Mayehey Warned entirely frm his body, ‘Opposed to “this belief, which ns Jennie Olsen.
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Light
San Antonio, Texas, US
Sun, May 17, 1908
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Rebecca A.
