The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-07-17
MYSTERIOUS DEATH.
POLICE OFFICERS AT TROY, n.
Y, ARE BAFFLED.

Efforts to Find Slayer of Nineteen.
Year-0ld Girl, Whose Body Was
Found Sunday, Un-ewarded.
A dispatch from Troy, n. Y, says
out Of maze of the theories which
confront the authorities who ARE
trying to lift the cloud OF mystery
surrounding the death of 19 year.
old Hazel /. Drew, whose body was
found in an old mill rord near Ave
rett Park last Sunday, nothing tangi-
BILE developed so far that points to
the murderer the motive for the
crime. No arrests have been made;
although the police have closely
questioned several persons whom it
was thought might throw some light
on the case.
That the girl was assaulted before
she was murdered and thrown into
the pond, is the generally accepted
theory, but the body was in such a
state Of decomposition when found
as to make it practically impossible
for the physicians to determine that
, fact.
Theories multiply as to the motive
for the: murder. The girl was not
I known to have an enemy or sweet
heart, and the baffied authorities were
even willing to take up the possibili-
ty of suicide. The physicians state
mert, however, to the effect that
there was no water in the lung was
given as proof that the girl was dead
before her body was thrown into the
pond.
At the church yard at Poestenkill,
where Hazels life began, her body
was laid to rest A bunch of roses
adorned the caSket, while the Rev.
W. H. E. Richards, of the Methodist
Church, offered prayer. Only few
friends and relatives were present.
What the girl did from the time
she left her aunt on Monday, july 6,
until the body was found, remains
untold. Rhody Gunderman and
Frank Smits tell CT having seen
Hazel on Tuesday night on the road
leading from Averill Park to Taber-
ton. They met her. they say, at a
point in the read called The Hol-
iow." A little father along another
road branches off to the'left and leads
to the home of VIM. Taylor, an un-
Gle of the girl. She may have been
on her way to visit some friends IN
Taberton or her destination may
have been her uncle's home. Accord
ing to Gunderman's story the girl
was carrying her hat in her hand.:
One of the numerous theories that
developed suggested that youns
woman living at Taberton closely re-
sembles the murdered girl and that
Gunderman and Smith might have
been mistaken in thinking that she
was Hazel The girl, however, when
questioned. said she was not on the
road on Tuesday night although
she had been that way on foot on
other nights.
The authorities are endeavoring
to find the suit case and handbag
which the girl carried when she left
Troy. The fact that she did not
have them when she met Gunderman
and Smith is taken to indicate that
she may have left them where she
has spent the preceding night.
The possibility that the bag and
suit case may have been thrown
into the mill pondled the authorities
to open the gate of the dam for the
purpose of draining. After about
two feet Of water had been let out
a heavy thunder storm came up and
further operations We're postponed
until Thursday The girls hat
gloves and eyeglasses were found on
the bank, and there was no lndlca-
ton of struggle, although a sum
cient time had elapsed since the giri
met her death to have permitted the
IramDled grass to revive.
The theory that the girl died from
strangulation as the result of corset
string tied about her neck, and
which Is said to have been cut at
the time of the autopsy, is not given
much credence by the authorities.
The string apparently was one
that the girl wore about her neck
and it brake when the body became
swollen by being in the water SO
long.
The authorities do not place much
.credence in the story that the girl
was taken to the lonely pond by a
party in an automobile.