The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-21
Body of Girl In Trunk Is Still Surrounded In Deep Mystery
 That May Not Be Solved
MRS. SIEGEL'S WORK
 AMONG THE CHINESE
Leon Ling, Who Is Thought to Have Murdered the Girl, Has Dlsap- peared Entirely and May
 Never Be Found.

1 New York. June 20.--Leon Ling. with his | string of English and Chinese aliases and his American clothes, may not ever be <, found. but the mutilated body of the 1 New York girl left in a trunk in his room here will not be buried in Potter's field Paul Slegel the father, claimed and posi- lively identified the body at the morgue tonight, admitting for the first time that l the victim was his daughter Elsie. The girls mother. now in a sanitarium. had previously identified the jewery; an- other woman had identified the under clothing, and relatives had said that the murdered girl was Elsie Siegel, grand daughter of Gen. Franz segel
 This afternoon Paul Siegel visited the morgue, accompanied by Franz Siegel, a brother, and Reginald, a son, and by Mabel Siegel, a cousin of the victim. It ;, was almost dark when the little party reached the silent house of the city's unclaimed dead.
 There were no tears. but their faces were strained and pale as they entered the gloomy morgue. First the clothing on the body was examined by Mabel ] Siegel.
 1 "Elsie," said the girl as she exam ined it. used to wear a peculiar white headed pin
 Pin Is Found.
 detective ran his fingers through the clothing on the body and in a moment held up white-headed pin. Mabel siegel nodded.
 "Elsie wore that" she said.
 After a moment she was sure that the clothing was that worn by her cousin. The party pass4d into the dead room, where the body lay in long coffin-like drawer. Amid silence the compartment was drawn out. The face was first un- covered and the teeth examined The father was silent, but Mabel siegel was quick to note the teeth
 "Those are Elsies teeth" she said. aand her hands. too."
 Paul Siegel nodded his head affrma- lively as each new feature was brought out to strengthen the Identification.
 Are you satisfied in every way of the accuracy of the identification?" the father was asked.
 T satisfied" he said in broken voice, as he was led away l Franz Siegel made arrangements for the immediate removal of the body and for l the funeral
 Will Examine Stomach. l Elsie Siegels stomach, however. is in 1 the hands of the Columbia university professor who will make chemical anal l ysis of its contents. Although the mur- l der Is supposed to have been committed l on June g, the exact cause of her death l has never been ascertained Whether i she was choked, smothered under a pill low or drugged, or bound with ropes and left to die horribly in the trunk Is as much mystery as is the whereabouts of Ling and his pal, Chung Sing. Gnu Gan, manager of the Port Arthur 1 restaurant, in Chinatown, has admitted l that he knew Elsie Siegel well and had l incurred the enmity of Ling and that both he (Chu Gam and the girl had been threatened with death. i A New Theory.
 A Mrs F. Smith, who says she knew the Segels well, suggested that the vic- tim Is not Elsie SIegel, but a mysterious Nellie. who has figured in Leon Ling's love affairs She holds it possible that Elsie and the Chinaman were preparing to elope when Nellie" appeared, created a scene and disappeared. Today two Chinamen called at the Siegel home, ignorant of Mrs. Siegars removal to a sanatorium, and asked to see Our Mother Angel" a name which Mrs. Siegel earned because of her mis- sion work among the Chinese. One of the men said he was Gnu Sam, brother of Cuh Gan who Is under ar rest Gnu Sam said that Chung Sin who disappeared simultaneously with Leon, borrowed S250 from his brother Gnu Gan, the Tuesday night before the murder and on the following date wrote that he would be out of town for some time. Gnu Gan is president of Chinese loan association.
 Loved Army Man.
 Mabel Siegel said today that Elsie had been in love with an army man in Wyoming. She read extracts from letters which she said had been writ ten by this man to Elsie. all of which were corched In affectonate words and were signed Your Old Sweetheart. Howard"
 Mrs. Todd, the mission worker who has known all along of Leon Lings infatuation for Elsie does not care to talk of the efficacy of Chinese conver- sions to Christianity, and Captain Carey of the bureau of homicides will not per init the mass of letters found jumbled with Bibles and pictures of ballet girls in that stronge room, with gorgeous embroidered drapery to be s published or even their contents ind- cated. The mission in Chinatown where Elsie Siegel taught, has been closed.
 More Letters Found
 Letters which may have an i'm portant bearing on the case, particular ly with reference to Gnu Gan, now un- der arrest, have been found in the Port Arthur restaurant by detectives, 1t became known tonight. There were nearly 200 of them, all written by Elsie Siegel to Gnu Gan. They show that the girl bestowed terms of endearment upon at least one other Chinaman be- sides Leon Ling. The letters were taken to police headquarters, but their text was not given out
 The finding of the letters from Elsie to Gnu Gan simplifies the case In the minds of the police so far as motive