"What terrific criminals would children be if they had strong passions, muscular strength and sufficient intelligence; and if, moreover, their evil tendencies were exasperated by a morbid intellectual activity! And women are big children; their evil tendencies are much more numerous and more varied than men's, but generally remain latent. When they are awakened and excited they produce results proportionately greater."
List of the Victims.
Below is given a partial list of the victims of this inhuman monster, as it appeared in the Chicago American, Sunday, April 26, 1908:
Partial Catalogue of Mrs. Gunness' 180 Victims.
- 1. Max Sorenson, Mrs. Gunness' first husband—whom she poisoned.
- 2. Peter S. Gunness, second husband, whom she killed with a meat axe.
- 3. Her infant child, whom she strangled to death.
- 4. Miss Justina Loeffler, of Elkhart, Ind., believed to have been married to Johann Hoch and sent by him to Mrs. Gunness to be murdered and buried.
- 5. Olaf Limbo, Norwegian farm hand.
- 6. Ole Budsberg, a hired man, from Iola, Wis.
- 7-9. Three well-known men of Fort Wayne, Ind., who have disappeared in the last two years.
- 10. A horse trader from Montana.
- 11. Jennie Olsen, eighteen years old, adopted daughter of Mrs. Gunness.
- 12. Henry Gurholt, left Scandinavia, Wis., on March 12, 1906, saying he was going to marry Mrs. Gunness.
- 13. George Bradley, forty years old, of Tuscola, Ill., went to La Porte, Ind., October 20 of last year.
- 14. Olaf Lindboe, farm laborer, of Chicago, employed by Mrs. Gunness.
- 15. Lee Porter, of Bartonville, Okla., quarreled with his wife and answered one of Mrs. Gunness' matrimonial "ads."
- 17. Crippled man from Medina, N. D.
- 18-20. Three children of Mrs. Gunness killed or burned in house—Myrtle, aged 11; Lucy, 9; Philip, 5.
- 21. Body of unidentified woman found in ruins of burned house.
- 22. Strange baby left last fall by man and woman, as told by Ray Lamphere, arrested as accomplice of Mrs. Gunness.
- 23. John O. Moe went to La Porte from Elbow Lake, Minn., day before Christmas, 1906, with $1,000.
- 24. Armat Hartoonan, wealthy Armenian rug merchant of Binghamton, N. Y., who went to La Porte in 1906 in answer to a matrimonial "ad."
- 25. Charles Neuberg, of Philadelphia, took $500 and went to visit Mrs. Gunness in June, 1906.
- 26. George Berry, of Tuscola, Ill., went to work for Mrs. Gunness July, 1905. He took $1,500, expecting to marry the widow.
- 27. John A. Lefgren, aged forty-eight, disappeared from the Chicago Club, and is believed to have gone to Mrs. Gunness' farm.
- 28. E. J. Tiefland, retired railroad man, of Minneapolis.
- 29-30. A Los Angeles college professor and wife—names not yet ascertained.
- 31. Andrew K. Helgelein, Aberdeen, S. D., ranchman, the last victim, whose fate led to the discovery of Mrs. Gunness' crimes.
- 32. Charles Edman, farm laborer, from New Carlisle, Ind. Took $3,000 in savings to Mrs. Gunness' home.
- 33. Frank Riedinger, young German farmer, of Delafield, Wis., went to La Porte in February, 1907.
- 34. Babe seen by a neighbor, Mrs. William Diesslen, which afterward disappeared.
- 35. Unknown young woman visitor, seen to go to Gunness house; never accounted for afterward.
- 36. Unknown man, a widower, and his young son, went to Mrs. Gunness' house a year ago—never seen again. One of the bodies found on farm was that of a small boy.
- 37-57. Twenty-one babies entrusted to Mrs. Gunness' care while she was running a "baby farm" on the outskirts of Chicago all disappeared mysteriously.
- 57-180. Other unknown men, women and babies, who went to Chicago and La Porte homes of Mrs. Gunness, and were never seen again, are estimated to bring the grand total of victims up to 180.
This, then, is the crowning work of the matrimonial agency; this horrid burying ground of dismembered bodies, this ghastly charnel pit on an Indiana hillside. By their fruits ye shall know them. In the dread Gunness Farm behold the ripened fruit of the matrimonial agency.
RIDES OUT OF THE CLUTCHES OF MATRIMONY