Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

by Harold Schechter

But hogs were just a sideline She indulged in now and then; Her favorite occupation Was a-butchering of men.

“his advice was not followed; and the county received the beautiful name ‘La Porte,’ instead of being forever known to the world as Gateville or Doorburg.”[4]

Shortly after arriving in Chicago and moving in with the Larsons, Brynhild, like Nellie and countless other immigrants, adopted a new American name: Bella Peterson.

That she had so little trouble attracting men, even one as handsome as Peter Gunness, says much about the seductive appeal of her forty-eight-acre Indiana farmstead.

We’re having lively times, just now, Dear Bess, in old La Porte, For that mysterious “Gunness case” Is going through the court. They found a jury for the case, Most fit in every way: For what they thought about it all They really could not say. We don’t know whether she’s alive, Or whether she is dead, Or whether, when she went away, She took along her head. But this we know—she left her teeth: They’re mostly made of gold, And every time we go to court We hear the story told. One preacher scolds us dreadfully Who go. Perhaps he’s right. But where a preacher goes ’twould seem That women surely might. And so I’ll go again and see What curious things they do, To find out whether teeth will burn And come out good as new. And then, when I get home, Dear Bess, I’ll write it all to you.[5]