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Belle Gunness, Part 1: The Men Who Never Came Home · Kat Has Questions: True Crime and Unsolved Mysteries

0:07
Speaker 1: Welcome to Kat Has Questions. Curiosity, stories, and the strange
0:12
Speaker 1: corners of everyday life. Hello, hello. I'm Kat, and today
0:19
Speaker 1: we're talking about Belle Gunness. When we think about serial killers,
0:25
Speaker 1: the names that come to mind are often men. But
0:29
Speaker 1: women appear in that history much earlier than you might expect.
0:34
Speaker 1: In England, Mary Ann Cotton was executed in 1873 after
0:39
Speaker 1: a series of suspected poisonings. Here in the U.S., a
0:43
Speaker 1: nurse named Jane Topin was arrested in 1901 and later
0:47
Speaker 1: confessed to killing dozens of people. So Belle wasn't the first,
0:53
Speaker 1: but her story would become one of the most notorious
0:57
Speaker 1: and one of the hardest to untangle. It takes us
1:00
Speaker 1: to a farm outside La Porte, Indiana, where a widow
1:04
Speaker 1: was offering something that sounded promising. Work, companionship, and the
1:09
Speaker 1: possibility of a home. To understand why people went there,
1:13
Speaker 1: we need to start before anyone had a reason to
1:16
Speaker 1: be afraid of it. We're going to also spend two
1:19
Speaker 1: episodes with this story so it's a two-parter, because there
1:22
Speaker 1: are a lot of people involved, and understanding what happened
1:26
Speaker 1: means getting to know them before they become names in
1:29
Speaker 1: an investigation. There are men looking for work, people hoping
1:34
Speaker 1: to get married, children growing up in a household that
1:38
Speaker 1: from the outside might look like any other busy farm.
1:42
Speaker 1: And there are relatives back home waiting for letters. For
1:46
Speaker 1: this series, I actually have the coroner's inquisition from the
1:52
Speaker 1: LaPorte County Historical Society Museum, and those records include testimony
1:57
Speaker 1: from family members, neighbors, bankers, and the people who responded
2:01
Speaker 1: when something went terribly wrong on the farm. I corresponded
2:05
Speaker 1: by email with the LaPorte County historian Bruce Johnson, who
2:09
Speaker 1: generously answered questions about this case for me. You'll hear
2:12
Speaker 1: his perspective as we reach the parts of the story
2:15
Speaker 1: that he clarified for me. A content warning before we begin.
2:19
Speaker 1: This story includes the deaths of children, suspected murder, and
2:24
Speaker 1: a fatal house fire. And we're starting with Belle herself,
2:27
Speaker 1: before she became Belle Gunness. And if you don't know
2:30
Speaker 1: this story... Just wait. There are twists and turns in
2:34
Speaker 1: this that you will not see coming. Just wait until
2:37
Speaker 1: the end of part one. She was born Brintil Palsdatter
2:42
Speaker 1: Storseth in Selbu, Norway, in November 1859. Her family lived
2:47
Speaker 1: on a small tenant farm. In 1881, at 21 years old,
2:52
Speaker 1: she immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago. There,
2:55
Speaker 1: she used the name Bella Peterson and worked as a
2:59
Speaker 1: domestic servant. Three years later, she married Mads Sorensen, another
3:04
Speaker 1: Norwegian immigrant. The couple operated a confectionery at Grand Avenue
3:09
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Street. They also built a household that included
3:13
Speaker 1: several children. One was Jenny Olsen. Jenny's mother had died
3:18
Speaker 1: when she was a baby, and Belle and Mads took
3:20
Speaker 1: her in. She grew up in their care alongside the
3:23
Speaker 1: other children in that household. You'll hear Jenny's name again,
3:27
Speaker 1: so just keep that relationship in mind. She wasn't a
3:30
Speaker 1: visitor in Belle's home or someone who arrived there as
3:33
Speaker 1: a teenager. Belle had been raising her since infancy. During
3:37
Speaker 1: the Chicago years, the family experienced repeated losses. Their confectionery burned,
3:44
Speaker 1: and there was an insurance payout. Later, their home in
3:47
Speaker 1: Austin burned as well. Two young children died, Caroline in
3:52
Speaker 1: 1896 and Alex in 1898. Their reported illness was colitis.
3:58
Speaker 1: Poisoning would later be suspected, but those suspicions are not
4:02
Speaker 1: the same as a confirmed cause of death. Then Mads
4:06
Speaker 1: became ill. Accounts of his death describe questions about medicine
4:10
Speaker 1: Bell had given him and suspicions among his family members.
4:15
Speaker 1: So maybe people were a little suspicious of her back then.
4:18
Speaker 1: But he died on July 30th, 1900. According to historical accounts,
4:23
Speaker 1: his death fell on the day that, just so happens,
4:26
Speaker 1: two life insurance policies overlapped. So there was literally one
4:29
Speaker 1: day that these two policies overlapped, and he happened to
4:31
Speaker 1: die that day. Bell collected the proceeds. So she was
4:36
Speaker 1: now a widow, and within the next year, she made
4:38
Speaker 1: plans to leave Chicago. In November 1901, Bell moved to
4:43
Speaker 1: a farm outside La Porte, Indiana, bringing Jenny and two
4:47
Speaker 1: younger girls named Myrtle and Lucy with her. The property
4:50
Speaker 1: was on McClung Road, roughly a mile from the town.
4:54
Speaker 1: The house had a substantial brick section and an attached
4:58
Speaker 1: frame section. There were fruit trees, outbuildings, livestock, and fields
5:03
Speaker 1: that needed working. It was a place where Belle could
5:06
Speaker 1: employ someone as well as offer them a room. And
5:09
Speaker 1: before long, she had a new husband. In April 1902,
5:14
Speaker 1: Belle married Peter Gunness. Peter was also a widower with
5:18
Speaker 1: two young daughters. Within a week of the marriage, his
5:22
Speaker 1: younger daughter died. And later that year, Peter died as well.
5:27
Speaker 1: Bell claimed a sausage grinder had fallen and struck him
5:31
Speaker 1: in the head. And there was an inquiry into his death,
5:34
Speaker 1: but it did not result in a prosecution. And Bell
5:38
Speaker 1: also happened to receive another insurance payout. Peter's older daughter
5:43
Speaker 1: luckily went into the care of his brother and survived.
5:46
Speaker 1: A little boy named Philip became part of Belle's household.
5:50
Speaker 1: So as the years went on, there were now the
5:52
Speaker 1: three younger children living with her. Myrtle, Lucy, and Philip now.
5:57
Speaker 1: Belle was once again running the farm without a husband.
6:01
Speaker 1: She needed help with work, and she was open to
6:03
Speaker 1: finding another partner. Advertisements appeared in Norwegian-language newspapers reaching men
6:10
Speaker 1: who might see the combination of a home, a farm,
6:13
Speaker 1: and a possible marriage as an opportunity. These weren't necessarily
6:17
Speaker 1: men abandoning an established life on a whim. Some had
6:21
Speaker 1: a farming experience. Some owned property. Some had savings they
6:24
Speaker 1: could contribute. The arrangement could make practical sense. A widow
6:29
Speaker 1: had land and a household. A man could bring labor, money,
6:32
Speaker 1: and companionship. But there is one distinction Bruce Johnson specifically
6:37
Speaker 1: asked me to get right. Belle did not marry all
6:40
Speaker 1: of the men associated with her. She married twice. Mad
6:44
Speaker 1: Sorenson and Peter Gunness. The men who came after had
6:48
Speaker 1: different reasons for being there. Some were discussing marriage, others
6:52
Speaker 1: came for work. To the neighbors, they were people who
6:54
Speaker 1: appeared at the farm, helped with the chores, and sometimes
6:57
Speaker 1: accompanied Bell on visits. One neighbor who got to know
7:01
Speaker 1: several of them was Chris Christophson. Chris and his wife
7:06
Speaker 1: called at Bell's home. Bell visited their house. He occasionally
7:10
Speaker 1: helped with work on the property. Through him, we get
7:13
Speaker 1: our first sustained look at how the farm operated. and
7:17
Speaker 1: what happened when someone was suddenly no longer there. Around 1904,
7:23
Speaker 1: Chris met a hired man the museum transcription identified as
7:27
Speaker 1: Olaf Limbo. He saw Olaf three or four times. On
7:31
Speaker 1: one visit, Olaf was moving an outdoor privy. On another occasion,
7:35
Speaker 1: Olaf came to Chris's house with Belle. Then, around late
7:40
Speaker 1: May or early June... Chris went out to the farm
7:43
Speaker 1: and found Belle on a riding plow, working the corn herself.
7:47
Speaker 1: And he was surprised. Where was the hired man? Belle
7:51
Speaker 1: said that Olaf had left. According to Chris, she explained
7:55
Speaker 1: that Olaf had received a letter about a land opportunity.
7:58
Speaker 1: He could get a free ride to St. Louis, visit
8:00
Speaker 1: the World's Fair, and buy some land. Chris was questioning
8:03
Speaker 1: the timing. Why would Olaf leave right in the middle
8:06
Speaker 1: of plowing season? And obviously farms are like cyclical, that
8:09
Speaker 1: there are times when there's a lot more work. But
8:11
Speaker 1: Bell said he had been in a hurry, and that's
8:13
Speaker 1: why he hadn't stopped to say goodbye to them. Chris
8:15
Speaker 1: had met Olaf only a handful of times. He knew
8:18
Speaker 1: him as Bell's employee, not as a close relative whose
8:21
Speaker 1: habits he could confidently explain. But it just definitely seemed
8:25
Speaker 1: abrupt to him. So Bell continued with the work on
8:29
Speaker 1: the farm, and Chris had not heard from Olaf again.
8:34
Speaker 1: The following spring, there was another hired man at the house.
8:37
Speaker 1: This one was Henry Gerholdt. Henry came from Scandinavia, Wisconsin.
8:43
Speaker 1: He had learned about the job through an acquaintance who
8:46
Speaker 1: said a woman in La Porte was needing someone competent
8:48
Speaker 1: to work on her farm. Around April 12, 1905, he
8:53
Speaker 1: left Wisconsin for Indiana. Not long after, Chris and his
8:56
Speaker 1: wife came to Bell's house and met him. Henry had
9:00
Speaker 1: brought a heavy trunk with him. Chris actually helped carry
9:04
Speaker 1: it upstairs into a room in the brick section of
9:07
Speaker 1: the house. It was right above the sitting room. After
9:11
Speaker 1: they brought it up, Henry commented on how nice the
9:13
Speaker 1: room was. Belle had really given him a nice place
9:16
Speaker 1: to stay. Chris remembered her replying that she liked to
9:19
Speaker 1: keep things neat and nice for someone who worked for her.
9:22
Speaker 1: And he and his wife ended up staying for dinner
9:24
Speaker 1: that night. Henry was being welcomed into a household where
9:28
Speaker 1: people visited, shared meals, and helped one another with practical tasks.
9:33
Speaker 1: A few days later, he was describing the place to
9:35
Speaker 1: his family in letters. In a letter dated April 20th,
9:39
Speaker 1: Henry said he was in good health and liked the farm.
9:42
Speaker 1: There were apple trees, pear trees, and peach trees that
9:45
Speaker 1: were beginning to blossom. Green trees surrounded the house, which
9:49
Speaker 1: he described as brick with 13 rooms. He thought it
9:53
Speaker 1: was one of the nicest places in the neighborhood. And
9:56
Speaker 1: he said he was basically being treated like a family member.
9:59
Speaker 1: Henry also wrote about La Porte. It seemed to him
10:02
Speaker 1: like a prosperous town. He mentioned factories, including the Roomly Works,
10:07
Speaker 1: which was a threshing machine company, which so threshing machines
10:10
Speaker 1: are like, I had to look this up, a machine
10:12
Speaker 1: that helps like shake the corn and seeds and stuff
10:16
Speaker 1: off of a husk. But he asked his family for
10:19
Speaker 1: something that he needed for the farm. Seed potatoes. 10
10:22
Speaker 1: or 15 bushels packed in new coffee sacks. He wanted
10:26
Speaker 1: them addressed to him because he was looking after those arrangements.
10:30
Speaker 1: He would pay for the potatoes, the sacks, and how
10:33
Speaker 1: much it cost to send them. The request went home
10:36
Speaker 1: and the potatoes went out. On May 2nd, Henry wrote again.
10:39
Speaker 1: They had arrived that day. He enclosed a money order
10:42
Speaker 1: for $ 2. 80 and the freight had cost $ 3. 62. and they
10:48
Speaker 1: were very happy with the shipment. This was an ongoing
10:51
Speaker 1: conversation with his family. He wasn't just sending, like, a
10:54
Speaker 1: single letter that he had arrived safely. They were having
10:57
Speaker 1: back-and-forth conversations through letters. On May 16th, he observed that
11:02
Speaker 1: there were very few Norwegians around La Porte, although there
11:05
Speaker 1: were some Swedes, and the family also kept letters dated
11:08
Speaker 1: June 1st and July 4th. Three were addressed to his mother.
11:13
Speaker 1: Two went to his brother, Christ. Kris Kristofsson, so the neighbor...
11:18
Speaker 1: continued seeing Henry during those months. About a month after
11:22
Speaker 1: their first meeting, Henry did come to Chris's home with Belle.
11:25
Speaker 1: He was a familiar person in this small circle around
11:28
Speaker 1: the farm. And then came the oat harvest. Around August,
11:34
Speaker 1: Belle asked Chris to help with stacking oats. Henry had
11:38
Speaker 1: already cut them, but he wasn't there to finish it.
11:41
Speaker 1: Belle said Henry had complained of being sick and unable
11:43
Speaker 1: to do the stacking, and then she said he'd left
11:45
Speaker 1: for Chicago. Chris questioned this. Why would Henry just leave
11:51
Speaker 1: after cutting the crops when the work was unfinished? But
11:56
Speaker 1: Belle said he had. Chris asked about the trunk, the
11:59
Speaker 1: one he had to help carry upstairs because it was
12:01
Speaker 1: too heavy. He had not taken it with him, Belle said.
12:05
Speaker 1: Belle said he had only taken some clothes in a satchel.
12:09
Speaker 1: And that the trunk remained in the house. Chris helped
12:12
Speaker 1: with the work that needed doing. And he had no
12:15
Speaker 1: explanation from Henry himself. But back in Wisconsin, Henry's family
12:19
Speaker 1: had stopped receiving letters. By the fall, or perhaps as
12:23
Speaker 1: late as December, they contacted Bell. Henry's brother, Martin Gerholt,
12:28
Speaker 1: wrote on the family's behalf. He actually signed the letter
12:31
Speaker 1: in the name of their brother, Christ, who had received
12:34
Speaker 1: some of Henry's earlier correspondence. So Martin's another brother of Henry,
12:38
Speaker 1: and for some reason he signed the letter saying he
12:40
Speaker 1: was Christ, who was like this other brother of them.
12:43
Speaker 1: They wanted to know what had become of him. Belle
12:46
Speaker 1: sent a sympathetic reply. She said she was sorry that
12:49
Speaker 1: they had lost track of Henry, but he had left
12:52
Speaker 1: her farm and gone to Chicago with horse traders. If
12:55
Speaker 1: she heard anything from them, she would let the family
12:57
Speaker 1: know immediately. The letter gave a destination, but not an address.
13:01
Speaker 1: There was no employer they could write to. No way to...
13:04
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the 1800s also. The people waiting in
13:07
Speaker 1: Wisconsin were left with Chicago, a large city, and Belle's
13:11
Speaker 1: assurance that she would pass any news along. But news
13:14
Speaker 1: did not come. So while Henry's family waited for a letter,
13:18
Speaker 1: another absence developed inside Belle's household. Jenny Olsen was growing up.
13:23
Speaker 1: She was the infant from the very beginning of the story.
13:26
Speaker 1: She had been part of the family in Chicago, made
13:29
Speaker 1: the move to Indiana with the younger girls, and the
13:32
Speaker 1: farm was her home in a way it had never
13:34
Speaker 1: been Henry's. Jenny spent her childhood with the woman running it. Then,
13:40
Speaker 1: in 1906, she was no longer there. Bell said that
13:44
Speaker 1: Jenny had gone to school in California, so it explained
13:47
Speaker 1: why neighbors weren't seeing her around. It also made the
13:50
Speaker 1: absence sound like something a family might welcome, a young
13:52
Speaker 1: person leaving home to get an education. For anyone asking
13:56
Speaker 1: where Jenny was, Bell had an answer. Meanwhile, she continued
14:00
Speaker 1: corresponding with men interested in joining her farm. One of
14:04
Speaker 1: them lived in South Dakota. And another was a farmer
14:08
Speaker 1: from Wisconsin. So the farmer was Ole Budsberg. Unlike Henry,
14:14
Speaker 1: Ole was considered an arrangement that could involve more than employment.
14:18
Speaker 1: His family understood that he might run the farm and
14:21
Speaker 1: marry Belle. Ole lived near Iola, Wisconsin. He owned a
14:25
Speaker 1: farm of his own and had sons in the area.
14:27
Speaker 1: He spoke limited English and read Norwegian-language newspapers, including Scandinavian and... Dekorposten?
14:36
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is. By March 1907, he
14:39
Speaker 1: had traveled to La Porte and was making financial arrangements there.
14:42
Speaker 1: On March 23rd, he went with Bell to La Porte
14:45
Speaker 1: Savings Bank. They brought a mortgage note for $ 1, 000, which
14:49
Speaker 1: needed to be sent to Iola for collection. The bank
14:53
Speaker 1: sent the note to Wisconsin, and Ohl returned there himself
14:55
Speaker 1: before making another trip to Indiana. During that time at home,
15:00
Speaker 1: he spoke with Martin Gerholt, Henry's brother. So this new
15:04
Speaker 1: guy from Wisconsin... talked to Henry's brother. Remember, Henry's the
15:10
Speaker 1: one who disappeared, who was from Wisconsin, who is now
15:13
Speaker 1: supposedly in Chicago. Martin knew Ole had been to La Porte,
15:18
Speaker 1: so he was asking if he had heard anything about Henry.
15:23
Speaker 1: Ole said that when he registered at a hotel, there
15:25
Speaker 1: was a clerk asking whether he knew Henry Gerholt from Wisconsin,
15:28
Speaker 1: and he did. Martin asked Ole to let him know
15:31
Speaker 1: if he found any trace of his brother, and Ole
15:33
Speaker 1: said he would. It was a chance for the family
15:36
Speaker 1: to have someone familiar ask questions in the town where
15:39
Speaker 1: Henry had last worked, and Ole was going back. Around
15:43
Speaker 1: April 4th, he visited the hardware store where Edwin Chapin worked.
15:47
Speaker 1: Chapin had known him for about 15 years. Ole shook
15:50
Speaker 1: his hand and said goodbye. He explained that he was
15:53
Speaker 1: going to La Porte to take charge of the farm.
15:56
Speaker 1: He bought a small piece of rope to bind his trunk.
15:59
Speaker 1: His family expected to hear from him after he had arrived.
16:02
Speaker 1: And there were practical preparations for life at Bell's place,
16:05
Speaker 1: including seed potatoes sent to the farm. On April 6th,
16:09
Speaker 1: Ole returned to LaPorte Savings Bank with Bell, and Buck
16:13
Speaker 1: paid him the $ 1, 000. He remembered the visit because Ole's
16:17
Speaker 1: appearance made more of an impression on him that day
16:19
Speaker 1: than it had in the earlier transactions. Back in Wisconsin,
16:24
Speaker 1: his sons waited for the letter that he had promised.
16:27
Speaker 1: About a week passed without word, and Ole's families began
16:31
Speaker 1: trying to reach him. His son Matt wrote, and so
16:33
Speaker 1: did his other son Louis. There were insurance papers that
16:37
Speaker 1: needed Ole's signature. His life in Wisconsin still required his attention,
16:42
Speaker 1: even if he intended on spending his time somewhere else.
16:46
Speaker 1: One of Matt's letters eventually came back through the dead
16:48
Speaker 1: letter system, which that's a funny way to put it.
16:51
Speaker 1: Then Belle sent a letter, but she did not address
16:54
Speaker 1: it to the sons asking about their father. She addressed
16:56
Speaker 1: it to Ole, so the family opened it. According to
16:59
Speaker 1: Matt's later account, so Ole's son, Bell referred to the
17:02
Speaker 1: correspondence or papers that had arrived for him. She also
17:05
Speaker 1: mentioned the marriage. She hoped he hadn't been offended because
17:09
Speaker 1: she would not marry him, she said. She maintained that
17:12
Speaker 1: she had not encouraged his expectations. Perhaps he had gone
17:16
Speaker 1: west to get a homestead. Perhaps he returned to Norway.
17:19
Speaker 1: The sons had been trying to contact a father they
17:22
Speaker 1: believed were settling on Bell's farm. But now this letter
17:25
Speaker 1: was suggesting that the arrangement had fallen apart and that
17:28
Speaker 1: she thought he was back home in Wisconsin. Matt said
17:31
Speaker 1: that the family came to believe their father had gone west,
17:33
Speaker 1: so they stopped looking for him. There were other people, though,
17:36
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin who remained uneasy. Chapin, the man who had
17:40
Speaker 1: sold all the rope, would remember discussing the possibility of
17:44
Speaker 1: foul play that fall. The family's own account was more hesitant.
17:48
Speaker 1: They did not yet suspect Bell of harming him. Then
17:52
Speaker 1: another inquiry reached Laporte. This one came from a bank. So,
17:57
Speaker 1: there was a loan at this bank that needed attention.
18:00
Speaker 1: On October 14th, a bank in Iola wrote to LaPorte
18:04
Speaker 1: Savings Bank asking whether anyone had seen Ole recently. Buck,
18:09
Speaker 1: the assistant cashier who had handed him the money, went
18:12
Speaker 1: out to Bell's farm. She spoke with him at the door.
18:15
Speaker 1: He asked if Ole was there, and she said no.
18:18
Speaker 1: When did she last see him? She didn't know. She
18:20
Speaker 1: didn't keep track of dates. Simple. Bell said he had
18:23
Speaker 1: left her house in time to catch the 2 o'clock train.
18:26
Speaker 1: He had talked about going to Oregon to look into
18:28
Speaker 1: buying land. So then Buck did return to LaPorte Savings
18:32
Speaker 1: Bank and reported the conversation. The information went back to
18:36
Speaker 1: the bank in Wisconsin. The family also received another explanation, though,
18:41
Speaker 1: through the bank inquiries. In that account, Ole had been
18:44
Speaker 1: robbed in Chicago, losing most of his money and some clothing.
18:48
Speaker 1: In this account, he had decided to go west and
18:50
Speaker 1: recover the loss before his relatives learned what had happened.
18:55
Speaker 1: His trunk and a few clothes were still at Bell's house.
18:58
Speaker 1: and that he would send for them when he was settled.
19:01
Speaker 1: Months had passed since anyone had seen Ole, and Martin
19:06
Speaker 1: Gerholt had also not heard of anything in relation to Henry.
19:11
Speaker 1: But wouldn't you know it, during that same year, Bell
19:15
Speaker 1: hired a man named Ray Lamphere. Ray worked on the property,
19:20
Speaker 1: and accounts also describe a romantic relationship between them. He
19:24
Speaker 1: occupied a different place in Bell's life from the men
19:28
Speaker 1: writing from other states. He was already there. He knew
19:31
Speaker 1: the household and worked around the farm, but this relationship
19:34
Speaker 1: would deteriorate. Meanwhile, this is going on, Bell was still
19:39
Speaker 1: writing with a man from South Dakota. His name was
19:42
Speaker 1: Andrew Halgelian. Their correspondence had begun in August 1906. By
19:46
Speaker 1: the end of 1907, they had exchanged letters for more
19:51
Speaker 1: than a year. And Andrew was considering a future with her.
19:54
Speaker 1: Belle had a farm, a house, children. She was offering
19:58
Speaker 1: the possibility of joining that life. But her letters also
20:01
Speaker 1: gave him instructions about money. Researcher Ted Hartzell later examined
20:06
Speaker 1: original correspondence and translations and prepared around the time of
20:10
Speaker 1: the investigation. The letters show Bell urging Andrew to turn
20:14
Speaker 1: property into cash and bring large bills with him. She
20:18
Speaker 1: wanted to keep all these arrangements private. That included not
20:21
Speaker 1: telling close relatives. She even suggested sewing the money into
20:26
Speaker 1: his underwear. And the financial instructions were part of a
20:29
Speaker 1: longer exchange about companionship and coming to Indiana. Andrew kept corresponding,
20:35
Speaker 1: and the visit was becoming real. Before we follow him there,
20:40
Speaker 1: I want you to have the household clearly in your mind.
20:43
Speaker 1: So at this point, Belle was living with the three
20:46
Speaker 1: younger children. So Myrtle, Lucy, and Phillip. Jenny was supposedly
20:50
Speaker 1: away at school. And Ray was working for Belle. But
20:55
Speaker 1: the relationship with them extended beyond employment. So Ray's also
20:59
Speaker 1: in the mix, but like they're dating, but he's also
21:01
Speaker 1: just like her employee. And neighbors knew Belle and came
21:05
Speaker 1: to the property. And then Chris, the neighbor, had seen
21:09
Speaker 1: hired men arrive and leave. He had helped carry Henry's
21:12
Speaker 1: trunk and later helped finish the oats Henry had cut.
21:15
Speaker 1: And as recently as the winter before the fire, which
21:18
Speaker 1: we haven't gotten to yet, Chris remembered seeing Belle in
21:22
Speaker 1: Henry's fur coat. When he asked about Henry, she still
21:26
Speaker 1: hadn't heard from him. Farther away, little sons were living
21:28
Speaker 1: without explanation about their father's trip west. And now, Andrew
21:33
Speaker 1: was preparing to come from South Dakota. He arrived in
21:36
Speaker 1: La Porte in January 1908. Despite Bell's instructions, his plans
21:40
Speaker 1: and money were not entirely beyond other people's knowledge. Her
21:44
Speaker 1: letters survived outside the farm. And instead of arriving with
21:47
Speaker 1: all his funds hidden in his clothes like she suggested
21:49
Speaker 1: pinned to his underwear, Andrew used a bank. Very 21st
21:53
Speaker 1: century of him. He and Bell went to the First
21:57
Speaker 1: National Bank with three certificates of deposit issued in Aberdeen,
22:01
Speaker 1: South Dakota. There were employees who saw him with Bell
22:04
Speaker 1: and records connecting the money in South Dakota to his
22:07
Speaker 1: visit in Indiana. So Andrew did spend time at the farm.
22:11
Speaker 1: But then, once again, the pattern, people back home stopped
22:15
Speaker 1: hearing from him. Andrew's brother, Assel Helgelen, I can't be
22:21
Speaker 1: saying any of that right, but the brother knew that
22:23
Speaker 1: Andrew had been corresponding with Bell and he had access
22:26
Speaker 1: to letters connecting his brother to hers. So once again,
22:30
Speaker 1: the brother started asking questions when Andrew failed to return.
22:33
Speaker 1: He contacted the bank so he could confirm the financial dealings.
22:38
Speaker 1: But once again, Bell had said that Andrew left. But
22:41
Speaker 1: he wanted more information about the statement that his brother
22:44
Speaker 1: had gone away. Where had he gone? Why wasn't he writing?
22:47
Speaker 1: How could he be reached? And Asail continued pressing. And
22:52
Speaker 1: he had a destination he could investigate. Laporte. He had
22:56
Speaker 1: the name of the woman his brother had visited. and
22:59
Speaker 1: he had evidence that Andrew had conducted business there. At
23:03
Speaker 1: the farm, Bell was also dealing with a conflict much
23:06
Speaker 1: closer to home. Ray was no longer working for her,
23:10
Speaker 1: and Joseph Maxson had taken his place as the hired man.
23:14
Speaker 1: And Bell's complaints about Ray were reaching local authorities. Bell
23:18
Speaker 1: had accused Ray of returning to the property after he
23:21
Speaker 1: was supposedly gone, looking through windows and damaging fencing. Contemporary
23:25
Speaker 1: local reporting describes two convictions for trespassing. She also sought
23:29
Speaker 1: to have him declared insane. The doctors examining him did
23:33
Speaker 1: not find him an appropriate candidate for commitment. So they
23:37
Speaker 1: basically said no. Another proceeding intended to provide protection from
23:41
Speaker 1: him failed after witnesses supported his account of where he
23:45
Speaker 1: had been. This was a dispute that people in the
23:48
Speaker 1: port could see. Bell was saying that a former employee
23:51
Speaker 1: was frightening her. Ray had been ordered to account for
23:54
Speaker 1: his conduct. Some of her accusations resulted in findings against him,
23:58
Speaker 1: but others did not. And at the same time, Asile
24:02
Speaker 1: was asking about Andrew. The two matters were unfolding around
24:06
Speaker 1: the same woman, but they were just very different kinds
24:09
Speaker 1: of situations. As April progressed, Belle continued living at the
24:13
Speaker 1: farm with the children and Joe Maxon. So remember, Joe's
24:16
Speaker 1: the new guy. Hard to keep them all straight. Joe
24:19
Speaker 1: slept upstairs over the kitchen in the frame section of
24:21
Speaker 1: the house. From his room, a connecting door led into
24:25
Speaker 1: the brick part. Belle's bedroom was upstairs on the west side.
24:29
Speaker 1: The children used another upstairs room toward the front. There
24:34
Speaker 1: was also a room being prepared for a visitor. Joe
24:37
Speaker 1: understood that Belle's foster daughter was coming home, Jenny. He
24:41
Speaker 1: had not been there when she left. He knew basically
24:44
Speaker 1: just what Belle had told him. As far as Joe understood,
24:48
Speaker 1: Jenny was alive elsewhere and expected to return home. On
24:52
Speaker 1: April 27th, Belle went into La Porte and made a will.
24:56
Speaker 1: her children were to inherit everything she had. And if
25:00
Speaker 1: they died without descendants, a Norwegian orphanage association in Chicago
25:04
Speaker 1: would ultimately benefit. She also expressed fear for her safety
25:08
Speaker 1: and her property. Bruce Johnson told me that Bell bought
25:12
Speaker 1: kerosene at a store on her way home after making
25:16
Speaker 1: the will. He considers that purchase significant in the light
25:21
Speaker 1: of what follows. By the evening, Joe was at the
25:24
Speaker 1: house with Bell and the three children. He went to
25:27
Speaker 1: bed about 8.30. As far as he knew, there was
25:30
Speaker 1: no one else staying there. He soon fell asleep. What
25:33
Speaker 1: happened in the rest of the house after that was
25:36
Speaker 1: outside his sight. Joe woke to smoke. He could hear
25:40
Speaker 1: fire crackling. His clock showed quarter past four, but he
25:45
Speaker 1: knew it was running about 15 minutes fast. So he
25:48
Speaker 1: placed the time approximately four in the morning. It was
25:51
Speaker 1: April 28th. His bedroom window faced east. Looking out, he
25:56
Speaker 1: could see a fire on the eastern side of the
25:59
Speaker 1: brick section of the house. The frame section where he
26:02
Speaker 1: slept was burning on that side as well. So he
26:06
Speaker 1: went to the connecting door, and he tried to kick
26:08
Speaker 1: it open, but it wouldn't give. Joe was trying to
26:11
Speaker 1: call out that there was a fire. Then he went
26:13
Speaker 1: downstairs and outside and was shouting. Belle and the children
26:16
Speaker 1: were supposed to be sleeping in the other part of
26:18
Speaker 1: the house, but he had not reached them. He tried
26:21
Speaker 1: to go back to his own room, but the smoke
26:23
Speaker 1: stopped him at the head of the stairs. He retreated
26:26
Speaker 1: outside and went around to the front door. He also
26:29
Speaker 1: tried to kick that in. When that failed, he took
26:32
Speaker 1: an axe and chopped a panel out of it. By then,
26:37
Speaker 1: neighbors were arriving. The Clifford family had become aware of
26:41
Speaker 1: the blaze from the nearby Russell farm. William Clifford's mother
26:44
Speaker 1: woke him, and he came toward the house on a bicycle.
26:48
Speaker 1: Michael Clifford arrived as well, along with William Humphrey. Humphrey
26:52
Speaker 1: also tried the front door and could not break it down.
26:54
Speaker 1: Joel told him where the family slept, the middle room
26:57
Speaker 1: upstairs on the west side. Humphrey threw bricks through the
27:01
Speaker 1: window of those rooms, trying to wake anyone inside. The
27:04
Speaker 1: glass broke, but no one appeared. He asked for a ladder.
27:09
Speaker 1: Joe brought one, and the others placed it against the
27:11
Speaker 1: window of the room, and Humphrey climbed in. Inside, he
27:14
Speaker 1: could see a bed with a mattress and nothing else
27:17
Speaker 1: on it that he could make out. Fire was beginning
27:20
Speaker 1: to come through the floor, so he came back down.
27:24
Speaker 1: They moved the ladder a little bit more to the west,
27:27
Speaker 1: and Humphrey tried to climb up again. In that room,
27:31
Speaker 1: he saw a bed with something lying on the mattress,
27:33
Speaker 1: but he couldn't identify what it was. So fire started
27:36
Speaker 1: coming through the floor there too, so he couldn't enter.
27:40
Speaker 1: The people outside knew where to look, but the openings
27:42
Speaker 1: they could reach led into rooms that they couldn't go
27:45
Speaker 1: into because the fire wasn't safe. He also approached the
27:48
Speaker 1: opening Joe had chopped into the front door, but the
27:51
Speaker 1: smoke was too thick for him to remain there. So
27:53
Speaker 1: all these neighbors are trying to basically get inside and
27:57
Speaker 1: help save anybody if there was anybody left in there.
28:01
Speaker 1: So they were trying doors, breaking windows, and calling into
28:04
Speaker 1: the house. No one brought Myrtle, Lucy, or Phillip to
28:06
Speaker 1: an opening. No one saw Belle come out either. Michael
28:11
Speaker 1: Clifford went to get another neighbor, Daniel Marion Hudson. Hudson
28:15
Speaker 1: looked out his window and saw the fire, so he
28:17
Speaker 1: dressed and hurried to come over. By the time he
28:20
Speaker 1: reached the house, the roof was ablaze and looked ready
28:23
Speaker 1: to collapse. Through an opening where part of the building
28:26
Speaker 1: had given way, he could see a solid mass of fire.
28:31
Speaker 1: And he said they needed to notify the sheriff right away.
28:34
Speaker 1: Which I'm like, no one did that yet? The men
28:36
Speaker 1: hitched a horse to a buggy, and Joe drove into
28:39
Speaker 1: La Porte. At the jail, he told Deputy Sheriff Anstis
28:42
Speaker 1: what had happened. When Joe returned to the farm, Sheriff
28:46
Speaker 1: Albert Smutzer and the deputy were already there. They had
28:49
Speaker 1: come by automobile. Much of the house was already collapsing
28:52
Speaker 1: and the walls were falling. So now they had to search.
28:57
Speaker 1: This part of the story is often reduced to a sentence.
29:01
Speaker 1: Four bodies were found in the cellar. But the recovery
29:04
Speaker 1: actually took most of the day. The men were working
29:07
Speaker 1: through brick, ash, and collapsed sections of the house that
29:10
Speaker 1: had only recently been standing around them. Parts were still
29:13
Speaker 1: dangerously hot. Hudson remembered a wall that remained upright but
29:17
Speaker 1: did not seem safe to approach. When the sheriff directed
29:20
Speaker 1: him to move bricks, they burned his hands. Joe fed
29:23
Speaker 1: the livestock, then helped clear the wreckage. The neighbors left
29:27
Speaker 1: for breakfast and returned. Humphrey said the sheriff put him
29:31
Speaker 1: to work digging in the cellar. He continued until lunchtime
29:34
Speaker 1: and came back. They all kept going back for their
29:36
Speaker 1: meals and coming back to help. They'd all been awake
29:39
Speaker 1: since before dark. So Joe could explain who had been
29:31
Speaker 1: home that night, that everybody went to sleep as usual.
29:52
Speaker 1: But no one had brought a person out of the building.
29:55
Speaker 1: And for hours, the search did not produce the people
29:57
Speaker 1: they expected to find. All of the bedrooms upstairs were gone.
30:00
Speaker 1: The floors had burned and collapsed. And the familiar arrangement
30:04
Speaker 1: of bedrooms, doors, and stairs was just wreckage in the cellar.
30:09
Speaker 1: And in the bricks and ashes from digging and digging,
30:12
Speaker 1: they uncovered human remains. Four bodies. An adult woman and
30:16
Speaker 1: three children. Joe described the children lying above the woman
30:20
Speaker 1: with a bed frame associated with the remains. The bodies
30:24
Speaker 1: were badly burned. The children were understood to be Myrtle, Lucy,
30:27
Speaker 1: and Phillip. The woman was presumed to be Belle. Hudson
30:32
Speaker 1: helped carry the remains to the undertaker's wagon. The people
30:35
Speaker 1: who had thrown bricks through the windows and climbed the
30:37
Speaker 1: ladder had spent the day to find this household. They
30:40
Speaker 1: had found four people. But when the adult woman's remains
30:45
Speaker 1: were examined, there was one huge problem. Her head was missing.
30:51
Speaker 1: The fire had left investigators with questions that the wreckage
30:54
Speaker 1: could not immediately answer. How had it started? Why had
30:59
Speaker 1: the family not responded to the shouting and the breaking glass?
31:02
Speaker 1: And was the woman found with the children actually Belle Gunness? Elsewhere,
31:08
Speaker 1: Assile Helgelen, Andrew's brother, Still had a different question. Where
31:12
Speaker 1: was Andrew? His brother had disappeared months before the fire.
31:16
Speaker 1: He had not been one of the people Joe said
31:18
Speaker 1: was in the house when he went to bed. Belle
31:21
Speaker 1: had said Andrew left. Now she was presumed dead, and
31:26
Speaker 1: the house where Andrew had stayed was gone. Asael's next
31:30
Speaker 1: step was to go to Laporte himself. And this is
31:34
Speaker 1: where I'm going to pick up with part two for
31:37
Speaker 1: the Belle Gunness story. Thank you so much to the
31:40
Speaker 1: LaPorte County Historical Society Museum for preserving and providing the
31:44
Speaker 1: coroner's inquisition and to Bruce Johnson for sharing his knowledge
31:49
Speaker 1: of this case. And please, if you're not already following
31:53
Speaker 1: the show, please give it a rating, subscribe. That's the
31:57
Speaker 1: best thing you can do to support the show. And
32:00
Speaker 1: I'm Kat. Until next time, stay curious. Thanks for listening
32:07
Speaker 1: to Cat Has Questions. If you liked this episode, follow
32:11
Speaker 1: the show and share it with someone who loves a
32:12
Speaker 1: good spiral. See you next week.