Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1908-07-23
MYSTERIOUS DEATH.
POLICE OFFICERS AT TROY. n
!, ", ARE BAFFLED.
Efforts to Find Slayer OF Nineteen.
fear-old Girl, Whose Body Was
Found Sunday, Unrewarded.

hear-on Girl. Whose Body Wa
Found Sunday, Unrewarded.
A dispatch from Troy. n. Ys saw,
out of n maze of the theories wb,c,
confront the authorities who arr,
trying to lift the cloud OF myster,
surrounding the death of 10 wear.
ora Hazei l. Drew, whose body was
FOUND in an cid mill pond near Ave.
rett Park last Sunday, nothing tanei.
oie developed so far that points to
'ne murderer the motive for the
crime NO arrests have been made
diIhouSh the police have CLOSELY
puestloned several persons whom II
was thought might throw some light
on the case.
Ihat the girl was assaulted before
she was murdered and thrown into
the pond, is the generally accented
'heory' Dut the body was in such n
state OF decomposition when found
as to make it practically impossible
Tor the physicians to determine that
fact.
theories multiply as TO the motive
ior the murder. The girl was not
known TO have an enemy or sweet
heart, and the bafIled authorities were
even willing to take up the possibili-
" OF suicide. The physcian's state
ment. however. to the effect that
there was no water in the lung was
given AS proof that the girl was dead
before her brdy was thrown into the
pond.
AL the church yard at Poestenkill.
where Hazel's life began. her body
was laid to rest. A bunch of roses
adorned the casket. while the Rev
w. III. h. 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 s.
until the body was found. remains
untold. Rhody Gunderman and
Frank Smits tell of having seen
Hazel on Tuesday night on the road
leading from Averill Park to Taber-
ton. They met her, they say. at
point In the road cailed THE Hol-
low 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 NAV
nave been her uncle's home. Accord
ing TO Gun6erman's story the girl
wes carrying her hat i'm her hand
one OF the numerous theories that
developed suggested that young
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 whom 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 pond led the authorities
to open the gate of the dam for the
purpose Of draining. After about
two feet of water had been let out
heavy thunder storm came up and
further operations were postponed
until Thursday. The girls hat,
gloves and eyeglasses were found on
the bank, and there was no indica-
tion of a struggle. although sufn-
cient time had elapsed since the girl
met her death to have permitted the
trampled grass to revive.
The theory that the girl died from
strangulation az the result of n 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 1t brake when the BODY became
swollen by being in the water go
long.
The authorities do not place much
credcnce in the story that the girl
was taken to the lonely pond by a
party in an automobile.