Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1910 — LAMPHERE DIES IN PENITENTIARY [ARTICLE]

LAMPHERE DIES IN PENITENTIARY

Was Convicted of Arson In the Famous Gunness Case. REFUSED TO MAKE STATEMENT Had Been 111 Since His Incarceration. With His Death All Hope of Solving Mystery of Murder Appears to End. Relatives Were Notified But Fall to Reach Him Before His Demise. Michigan City, Ind., Dec. 31.—Ray Lamphere, convilcted of arson in the famous Gunness case, is dead in prison here, death being due to consume tion.

He refused to make an ante-mortem statement and with his death it seems that lall hope of clearing up tho mystery of the “murder farm” is gone. When death appeared Imminent, tho warden sent word to his relatives, but none was able to reach him before his death occurred. On the night of April 28, 1908, fire destroyed the farm house occupied by Mrs. Belle Gunness and her three children near Laporte. Their bodies were fond in the ruins the next day, and suspicion attached to Ray Lamphere, who had been employed as a fram hand by the woman. A week after the fire the discovery was made that four bodies were buried in the farm yard adjoining the house, and during the next three days six more bodies were discovered. Evidence indicated that Mrs. Gunness had lured men to the farm and slain them. Lamphere was charged with murder, through the medium of arson, and the jury rendered a compromise verdict of arson. A recent application for a pardon was denied on the ground that Lamphere’s illness was not considered of a serious character.