But the giant blossom of this plant of hell is not bigamy, not
swindling, not desertion; it is murder, wholesale, ghastly murder.
For it is the matrimonial agency, nothing else, which is directly
responsible for the unbelievable horrors of the Gunness Murder Farm,
at Laporte, Ind., the revelation of the existence of which shocked the
entire civilized world as it has not been shocked since the time of
the Borgias.
This wholesale murderess invariably lured her victims to their fate
through advertisements in a "matrimonial paper," or through an agency.
She would insert the usual stereotyped "ad." of the wealthy widow lady
who desired a mate, but always a mate with money.
Always being able to produce proof that she was well-to-do, it was
an easy matter for her to persuade her victims to visit her at the
Laporte farm. She invariably stipulated that they should bring a
substantial sum with them.
Arriving at the Gunness farm, the prospective suitors were invariably
impressed with the evidences of wealth and luxury. After a stay of a
few days, during which time the cunning murderess would find out how
much money her victim had, and whether he could immediately procure
more in the form of cash, the victim would be invited to supper and
his food drugged.
He would then be escorted to his room, where he would soon become
unconscious. Chloroform was then administered, the body hurled through
a chute to the basement, where it would be dismembered and placed in a
gunnysack.
The sack would then be taken out and buried in a convenient spot on
the farm. It was an inquiry from the brother of one of the victims,
Andrew Helgelein, which revealed the whole horrible affair.
[Illustration: THE DEATH HARVESTER.