Great American Crime Stories

by Bill Bowers

  Individual contempt of the law, or personal doubt of its binding force, does not, of course, exempt a responsible agent from its provisions. But if the doubt be reasonably well founded, if it cannot be removed, the conscience of man is not held to the binding force of a doubtful law. This is sound reasoning, but sound reasoning, like wholesome food or medicine, may often be erroneously applied. This was the leading difficulty with Harry Hayward. He had not properly digested certain elements of truth, and carefully avoided to mingle correctly sound elements together. He had caught up the phrase that a man’s conscience is his guide. A man makes no mistake in following the direction of his conscience. His conscience, he asserted, accused him of no crime, gave him no unrest, for he had always held that it was no more of a crime, in itself, to kill a human being than to kill an animal. The human being had no more right to life, he claimed, than had the brute. If man has no soul and there be no God and no future life, and all is ended when the body is cold in death, can anyone claim that Hayward was wrong? “It all depends on how you look at it,” he claimed.

  His maxim was, that pleasure was the highest good in life, and pain the only evil. The reason of man, as well as his selfish inclinations, suggests to him to strive for the highest, greatest good. Money could purchase pleasure, money could soothe pain, hence Hayward longed for money, with which to gratify pleasure. He claimed it had always given him pleasure to inflict pain upon others, or deceive or mislead them, by his cunning arts. Hence he gratified his desire for pleasure to the extent of satiety and “had his day.” The clutches of the civil law he alone feared, as the power of the civil law was the only power he knew, but he had eluded this so long that he had become foolhardy and reckless concerning it.

  The poison of false principles had entered Hayward’s brain. The blight of irreligion had withered the good impulses that had once taken root in his heart, and the callous, unrepentant, defiant destroyer of human life was the result. He was abnormal, in the sense that every man is abnormal who surrenders his will to the dominion of passion, and resigns the liberty with which God endowed him, to the caprice of pleasure.

  His abnormal conduct could in no way have excused him from the full consequences of his criminal career, for he voluntarily “took his chances,” as he termed it, in this life, and for the life to come. The wholesome food of sound principles is the only saving antidote for such insidious poison dimmed the light of Hayward’s reason. Elevating, religious influences can alone counteract the immoral tendencies, the irreligion fostered in the heart of man. Every man’s mind, therefore, should be well nourished with the strengthening food of true principles, and his heart fortified by salutary environment, that he may be safely guarded against the influences that led Hayward to the scaffold, when he fancied that he had “fooled the world.”

  REV. J. M. CLEARY.

  17

  Belle Sorenson Gunness, Serial Killer (declared dead, 1908)

  Belle Sorenson Gunness, born in Norway, is thought to have murdered between twenty-five and forty people in the United States, including her husbands, several children, and most of the men who showed a romantic interest in her. To a large extent, she was apparently interested in collecting on a series of life insurance policies. She was also suspected of burning several structures for the insurance money. Her ultimate fate is unknown.

  Mrs. Belle Gunness, the Archfiend Who Required a Private Graveyard for Her Numerous Victims, but Who was Subsequently Murdered and Cremated with Her Three Children.

  Belle Paulsen was born in the little town of Christiania, Norway. Her father, Peter Paulsen, was a traveling conjurer and magician, and when Belle was a mere child she participated in the exhibitions by dancing on the tight-rope.

  They prospered and through their frugality they were enabled to retire when Belle was still in her teens, and the father purchased a little farm in their native land.

  Belle then came to the United States, and about two years later she married a Swede named Albert Sorenson. They resided in Chicago, and in 1900 Sorenson died under most suspicious circumstances. While it was said that he died from heart failure, his relatives were positive that he was poisoned, and as a motive for the deed, pointed to the fact that the widow collected the life insurance of $8,500 as soon as possible after his death. It is stated that an inquest was ordered, but for some reason the body was never exhumed.

  Mrs. Sorenson then moved to Austin, Ill., and a short time afterward her home there was burned. A question arose as to the origin of the fire, but in the absence of proof of fraud the insurance companies were forced to pay the insurance.

  She then returned to Chicago, where she conducted a confectionery store at Grand avenue and Elizabeth street, which was subsequently gutted by fire. This mysterious fire resulted in another investigation by the insurance officials, but they were forced to pay her claim.

  Shortly afterward she purchased a farm about six miles from La Porte, Indiana, and married Peter Gunness a few months later.

  In 1904, a meat chopper is said to have fallen off a shelf and split his head open, thus ending his existence. The weeping widow described to the coroner’s jury how it fell from a shelf and struck her “poor husband’s head,” and in the absence of proof to the contrary, the statement was accepted as true.

  At the time of the death of Gunness, she had three small children, named Philip, Myrtle and Lucy. She also had an adopted daughter named Jennie Olsen, who was fourteen years of age.

  In September, 1906, this girl disappeared, and Mrs. Gunness accounted for her absence by stating that she had sent her to Los Angeles to complete her education.

  The woman then employed a man named Ray Lamphere to do the chores about the place. In 1906 she inserted an advertisement in the matrimonial columns of the leading papers of Chicago and other large cities, which read as follows:

  Personal—Comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. No replies by letter considered un-less sender is willing to follow answer with personal visit.

  In May, 1907, Ole B. Budsburg, a rather elderly widower residing in Iolo, Wisconsin, saw the advertisement, and as it looked good to him he decided to make a nice, quiet investigation without telling his grown up sons, Oscar and Mathew, a word about it.

  The poor old gentleman left his home but never returned, and the last seen of him was when he negotiated the sale of a mortgage at the La Porte Savings Bank and drew the money on April 6, 1907.

  In December, 1907, Andrew Hegelein, a thrifty batchelor from Aberdeen, South Dakota, also corresponded with Mrs. Gunness. She replied that it would be advisable for him to come to the farm, and she suggested that he might sell out his business interests in South Dakota, as she was very favorably impressed with his letters.

  As far as was convenient to do so, Hegelein, delighted with the headway he was making, complied with her request and repaired to her farm, arriving in January, 1908. He had been at Mrs. Gunness’ place about two weeks when he accompanied her to the Savings Bank in La Porte and presented a check for $2,900, but as he was unknown there and as the bankers would not accept the endorsement of Mrs. Gunness for this amount, they left the check there for collection. In a few days the draft came and the money was delivered to him, which she must have obtained, for almost immediately afterward she deposited $500 in that bank, $700 in the State Bank, and also paid numerous large bills.

  A few days later Hegelein disappeared, and Mrs. Gunness stated that he had drawn the money for the purpose of going to Norway. He had a brother named A. K. Hegelein in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and as the weeks rolled by and he heard nothing from his brother, he became alarmed and wrote to Mrs. Gunness regarding his whereabouts.

  In her reply she stated that all the information she could impart was the missing man’s own statement to the effect that he drew his mo
ney with the intention of going to Norway, but she expressed some apprehension over his failure to confide his plans to his brother, and she suggested in her letter that he sell out the remainder of his brother’s stock along with his own, and come to her farm, so that she might join him in an extensive search.

  At 3:30 a. m. on April 28, 1908, Mrs. Gunness’ home was burned to the ground and in the ruins the charred remains of a woman and three children were found. The bodies of the little ones were at once identified as the remains of Mrs. Gunness’ children, but as the woman’s head was burned or cut off, there was some question as to whose remains they were.

  Ray Lamphere, the farm hand, left her employ on February 3, 1908, because of a quarrel with Mrs. Gunness, and procured employment on a farm owned by John Wheatbrook, a short distance from the Gunness place.

  After Lamphere left Mrs. Gunness, he frequently intimated that he could make it interesting for her if he wanted to talk, but her only response to this was that Lamphere was “crazy.”

  As it was proven conclusively that he was on the ground at the time the fire started, he was taken into custody by Sheriff Smutzer.

  The mysterious remarks made by Lamphere in regard to making trouble for Mrs. Gunness were recalled, and a most thorough investigation was instituted, with the result that five more mutilated and decomposed bodies were found buried in the back yard on May 5.

  One was identified as the body of Jennie Olsen Gunness, the sixteen-year-old adopted daughter of Mrs. Gunness, who was supposed to be in Los Angeles completing her education. It is presumed that she was murdered because she knew too much regarding the death of Peter Gunness in 1904.

  The second body was that of Andrew Hegelein from South Dakota. The third was the unidentified body of a man, and the fourth and fifth were the bodies of two eight-year-old girls. On May 6, four additional bodies of men were unearthed in the back yard.

  In most instances the limbs were removed from the bodies in such a manner as to indicate that the amputations were performed by some one familiar with anatomy. The theory is that some of the bodies were too heavy for the woman to handle as a whole.

  On May 9, two more bundles of bones, decayed flesh and clothing were found in the private graveyard, but the ravages of decomposition made identification impossible. On May 14, a few bones of one more victim were found in the ashes in the cellar.

  In view of these discoveries a serious doubt arose as to the actual fate of Mrs. Gunness. It was suspected that in addition to murdering her children and several others, she had enveigled some unsuspecting woman into her home, and after killing her, disfigured her remains in such a manner that they could not be recognized, and after setting fire to the house, escaped; believing it would be taken for granted that the charred remains of the woman were those of herself and that no further search would be made for her. This theory proved incorrect, for on May 16 a lower jawbone was found in the ashes and was taken to Dr. Morton, a dentist in La Porte, for examination. Some dentistry work was plainly visible on the teeth which still adhered to the jawbone, which he positively identified as work done for Mrs. Gunness a year previously. Rings found on the fingers of the dead woman were also identified as the property of Mrs. Gunness.

  There was a difference of opinion as to how Mrs. Gunness met her death. The theory of the prosecution was that she was burned to death, but Dr. J. Meyers gave it as his opinion that death was caused by contraction of the heart, probably due to strychnine poisoning, which was the poison used in killing Hegelein and several other victims.

  Shortly after Mrs. Gunness’ private graveyard was discovered, Oscar and Mathew Budsburg came to La Porte, as they suspected that their aged father, who had mysteriously disappeared from his home in Iolo, Wis., in May, 1907, might have fallen into this woman’s trap. Their suspicions proved to be well founded, for they identified one of the bodies as that of their missing father.

  Olof Lindboe of Chicago stated that his brother, Thomas, had worked for Mrs. Gunness three years previously, and the last letter he had received from him contained the information that Thomas intended to marry his employer. As Olof heard nothing more from his brother he wrote to Mrs. Gunness, who replied that Thomas had gone to St. Louis, but Olof never heard from him again.

  On May 12, the surgical instruments with which the bodies were probably dismembered, were found in the ashes.

  On May 19, Miss Jennie Graham of Waukesha, Wis., arrived in La Porte to inquire regarding her brother, who had left home to marry a rich widow in La Porte, but who was never heard from after that. As most of the bodies were badly mutilated and decomposed, it was impossible to ascertain if her brother’s remains were among them.

  Henry Gurholdt of Scandinavia, Wis., corresponded with Mrs. Gunness, and then took $1,500 with him to La Porte and was never seen again, but a watch found with one of the bodies was exactly the same in appearance as the one he wore.

  Mrs. Marie Svenherud of Christiania, Norway, made inquiry through Acting Consul Faye of Chicago for her son Olof, who had written her that he was about to leave Chicago for La Porte to marry a rich Norwegian widow with whom he had become acquainted through the agency of the matrimonial advertisement column of a newspaper. The mother added that she never heard from her son again.

  After the disappearance of Hegelein, Lamphere was seen wearing an overcoat which belonged to the former, and on May 18 a watch which was in the possession of Lamphere at the time of his arrest was identified by J. G. Ramden of Manfred, N. D., as the property of his half brother, John Moe of Elbow Lake, Minn., who left his home in 1907, ostensibly to marry a widow in La Porte, but was never heard from afterward. Lamphere stated that Mrs. Gunness had presented him with the watch.

  When first interrogated as to his whereabouts on the night of the fire, Lamphere claimed that he was in the company of a negress named Mrs. Elizabeth Smith until 4 a. m., or one-half hour after the fire started, but he subsequently confessed that he burned the Gunness home but denied that he had committed murder.

  Lamphere and a neighbor named Fred Brickman stated that they dug trenches for Mrs. Gunness at different times, but that they had no knowledge as to for what purpose they were used.

  On May 22, 1908, Lamphere was indicted for the murder of the Gunness family by means of arson, and also on the charge of accessory in the murder of Hegelein. He pleaded guilty of arson and was sentenced to imprisonment for an indeterminate period of from two to twenty years. Immediately after his conviction Lamphere’s health failed rapidly and he died from consumption on December 30, 1909.

  On January 14, 1910, Rev. E. A. Schell made public a confession made by Lamphere shortly after his arrest, in which he admitted that he helped Mrs. Gunness to bury one of the victims and saw her chloroform another after felling him with a hatchet. He also confessed that he chloroformed the Gunness family, but claimed that Mrs. Smith, a negress with whom he had spent a portion of the night, assisted him, and that it was she who set the house on fire.

  As there was no evidence to substantiate the charge against the negress she was never prosecuted. It is the opinion of Attorney Ralph Smith that the negress did not accompany Lamphere on this night.

  *****

  Scenes at the Indiana Murder Farm

  A coarse, fat, heavy-featured woman forty-eight years of age, with a big head covered with a mop of mud-colored hair, small eyes, huge hands and arms, and a gross body with difficulty supported on feet grotesquely small—such is the description of Mrs. Belle Gunness, the extraordinary creature who ran the “murder farm” near Laporte. Ind.

  Murder for money was Bello [sic] Gunness’s trade. She was a Scandinavian, came to this country when a girl, and married a fellow countryman. Max Sorenson, in Chicago, in 1883. He died mysteriously in 1890. Poison was hinted at, and exhumation suggested; but nothing was done. The woman collected $500 insurance money, and two years later married Gunness. In 1902 he moved to Laporte.

 
Before three months had passed she had become feared and hated among the neighbors. ‘‘She was more a devil than a woman,” said one of them, whose farm adjoined her own. When Gunness was found dead in 1902, with the back of his head crushed in, every one believed that she had murdered him. Mrs. Gunness alleged that a sausage grinder had fallen from a shelf and struck him. Her statement could not be disproved. She collected $3,000 insurance, and began her systematic trade in murder. Everybody knew that she was advertising for a husband. Strange men met her at the railroad depot from time to time, drove back to the farm with her, and disappeared. But nobody cared to discover the mystery. Belle Gunness and her three children were left severely alone. There was only one companion, the hired man, Ray Lamphere, now under arrest, who worked on the farm, and he bore none too reputable a character. There had been another, Jennie Ilsen, an adopted daughter; but she was sent “to school in California” in September 1906. At any rate she disappeared from view.

  It was the disappearance of Andrew Helgelean that opened up the mystery. Helgelean had read Mrs. Gunness’s advertisement, drew $3,000 from his bank in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and told his brother Asle that he was going to Laporte to marry. After two weeks Asle wrote to Mrs. Gunness to learn his brother’s whereabouts.

  Dear good brother of the best friend I have in the world,” the murdress [sic] wrote back, “it is with tears flooding in my eyes and my heart overburdened with grief that I write you about your dear brother. He is gone from me, I know not where. As I think of him my heart bleeds. May God bless him wherever he may be.

  Sell off everything that he owns, get together as much of your own money as you can, and come here during the first part of May. We will then go and seek him. Bring the money all in cash. It will be easier to handle in this way. . . . I will fly to his arms and never, oh, never be separated from him again.” Do not neglect to bring the money in cash.