Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher Of Men by Harold Schechter

3.5 Stars

I read this book on a Kindle Paperwhite which does not support the Kindle In Motion additional content so I cannot comment if this adds anything to the experience or not.  What I can say is that the formatting for a standard Kindle is a little "off" and chapter titles in particular are in a startlingly large type.

The first thing I feel I should mention is that only 65% of the book is actually devoted to the mystery of Belle Gunness, for a mystery it is.  The remainder of the book is devoted to a startlingly thorough research appendix and the index.  Also, no conclusions are drawn by the author and no truths as to the events in that long ago La Porte are revealed; what we do get is a timeline of events that give some pointed clues but no firm answers.

The facts are that a Norwegian immigrant, one Belle Gunness, moved to La Porte following the death of her husband and having received a substantial payment from his life insurance.  It is known that she advertised for a partner in Norwegian newspapers in the United States and through this corresponded with and met several men.  It is known that those men who made the journey to the farm frequently went missing.  It is known that the farmhouse burnt to the ground under suspicious circumstances and the bodies of three children and one woman were recovered from the smoking rubble of the property.  It is known that several decomposed corpses were found dismembered and buried in gunny sacks on the property.  It is known that at least one of the corpses was identified as belonging to a gentleman (Mr Helgelian) who had corresponded with and then visited Belle Gunness at her farm.

What is not known is how the fire happened - did Belle set it herself? was it set by her former farmhand Ray?  What is not known is the identity of the female corpse found in the smoking remains - was it Belle herself? had Belle escaped and left the body of a similar build as a decoy?  What is not known (but is presumed to be Belle) was who dismembered and buried the corpses in the hog lot of the farm.  What is not known is how Belle came to have 3 children when she never appeared to have been pregnant - was she a baby farmer?

In all honesty the case of the "La Porte Murder Farm" raises far more questions than it answers.  The presumption is there that Belle Gunness was responsible for the bodies found buried in the farm grounds, but the proof is circumstantial.  Admittedly, compelling, but still no undeniable proof is available.  This would explain why this was a series of murders that I had never heard of before - and I will confess to having something of a penchant for True Crime programming and books.

The writing itself is well constructed with a clear timeline narrative emerging.  The author also does well describing the social mores prevalent at the time and you do get a feel for what it was like to inhabit the late Victorian Era in rural America.  The research is exhaustive and every document is listed in the appendix and includes not only contemporary newspaper reports but also official court and police records.