The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-06-25
STORY OF THE CRIME.
CHUNG SIN DESCRIBES MURDER
OF ELSIE -SIGEL.
Brutal in Bluntness; Tale of Tragedy
as Told By Celestial Who Wit
messed 1t From Adjoining Room
Hearers Horrified at Narrative of
Man Who Saw Girl Slain Without
Attempting to Save Her.

Johnstown, Pa, June 2S.-An Ameri-
cani2ed Chinaman who alighted in
Johnstown from a westbound Pennsyl-
vania railroad passenger train is be-
heved by local officers to be Leon
Ling, the alleged murderer of Elsie
Sigel. The Chinaman cannot be found.
New York. June 23.-Baited and in
Inundated by detectives, threatened
with prosecution and confused with
rapid-fire questions, Chung Sin, one
time roommate of Leon Ling, told OF
Elsie Sigers murder. Under the ter
rife pressure of the third degree"
the little Chinaman admitted that he
had seen the body in Leon Ling's
room, that he had touched it while 1t
was still warm, that he had smelled
drugs and had watched Leon Ling's
preparations for placing the body in
the trunk where 1t was found horri-
bly, deoomposed last Friday night.
Chung Sin, in fact, if what was
learned at the criminal courts build
ing is correct, described almost every
thing concerning the murder CT Ma
jor General Franz SigePs grand
daughter. He denied any i'm.
plication In it and protested stoutly
that he was ignorant of the where
abouts of Ling, the supposed murder
er. After the inquisition he was taken
before Coroner Hamburger and held in
$4,000 bail in the house of detention
to await the inquest.
Tells Story of Girls Death.
Chung Sin is thirty-five years old
and a native Of Canton. He was ar
rested Monday morning at West Gal
way, n. Y, small hamlet near Ans.
terdam, and was brought to New York.
Immediately after his arrest upstate
and all during the trip by train to
this city, he was piled with questions,
bullied, persuaded and entangled in
a mass of significant questions. 1t
was not until his arriving here, how
ever, that his spirit was sufficiently
broken or sufficient inducements were
offered, as the case may be, for him
to cast aside his air of stolidness and
tell of the death of the young mis-
sionary. Then, smoking cigarette
after cigarette to quiet his nerves, the
Chinaman told brokenly, but with
brutal bluntness. of the girls death.
He was surrounded at the time in
the office of Assistant District Attor-
ney Ward by detectives from police
headquarters, who previously had put
him through a grilling. Mr. Ward
and District Attorney Jerome also
were present and from what can be
learned it was Mr.. Jerome himself
who finally drew the story from
Chung Sins lips. He was told that
Leon Ling had been captured and had
laid the blame upon his (Chung Sin's)
shoulders. This, together with the
persistent hammering at the prisoner,
brought the confession. 1t was made
partly in English and partly in Chi
nese, for there was an interpreter
present, and was. taken down by
stenographers. No statement of the
gist of his remarks was made public,
but the more salient points Of the
confession soon became known about
the building.
Dragged and Then Clicked to Death.
From the mans story it is apparent
that Elsie Sigel was first drugged
with chlorofcrm and then choked to
death. She was killed apparently on
the night of June 8. although Chung
Sin appeared little mixed in his
dates. But he says that early in the
morning of June 10 he heard strange
noise in Icons room, adjoining his,
and, looking over the transom, saw
the girl lying on the bed with bloody
towel over her mouth. He passed
through the room, he said, to go out
to wash his hands and as he did so
felt of the body, which was still
warm. Afterward he went down to
the chop suey restaurant below and
then returned to the room. Leon, in
the meantime, had covered the body
with blanket up to the chin and
had pulled a trunk to the middle of
the floor. The trunk Leon was calmly
emptying, preparatory to placing the
body therein. The rope with which
the body was bound was lying on
the floor at the time, according to
Chung Sin. Once again he went down
stairs, said Chung Sin, where he re-
manned until Leon called him. When
he entered the room the body was
not visible, having been bound with
the rope and placed IN the trunk.
At this point of the story the China
man was asked savagely if he had not
assisted in putting the body in the
trunk Chung Sin started perceptibly,
but said that he had had no hand in it.
Il didn't see her no more" said
Chung Sin, land when l asked Leon
how she died, he said she had bitten