Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-07-06
MISSION WORKERS
BODY FOUND IN TRUNK
Elsie Sigel, Granddaughter of FAM
Gus General, Murdered by Chris
TANNED Chinaman.
GIRL VICTIM OF YELLOW PERIL
Chung Sin Tells of witnessing Crime
and Fastens Guilt on
Leon Ling.

Miss Elizabeth Sigel, mission work
er in New York slums, and grand
daughter of Gen. Franz Sigel of Civil
WSr fame, was the victim of one of
the most atrocious murders which has
been committed in New York in years.
Her body was found damned into
a trunk in a Chinamans lodging
house at 1872 Sth avenue. The young
woman had been missing from her
home since June 8. The police say
the body probably had been in the
trunk nearly that long.
The ChiLaman who had lived in the
room where the body was found was
Leong Loo Lin, known among his Eng
fish friends as William L. Leon. He
was known to have been closely con-
nected with mission work among his
countrymen, and was educated. He
also was well acquainted with Miss
Sigel and letters found in the room
Of the murderer even point to the sup
position the girl cared for him An
other letter, addressed to a Chinaman,
by Leon, threatened trouble if the
former did not cease his attentions to
Miss Sigel. Leon had been missing
from the rooms for more than week.
Wrote Love Letters to Chinese.
Numerous letters signed Elsie, ad-
dressed to Leon and breathing the
spirit of love, were found in the room.
There were also found various articles
of jewelry, later identified as those
worn by Elsie Sigel, and to render
the clew to the identity of the victim
more complete the latter had been
missing from her home since June 8.
She had gone out that day with the
intention of paying a visit to her
grandmother in the Bronx. Two days
later her parents received what pur-
ported to be a dispatch from her at
Washington, saying that she was well
and would return home in a couple
of days. 1t seems to be fairly we'll
established that the dispatch was a
decoy and that when it was sent from
Washington Elsie Sigel was dead and
her body crammed into the trunk
Elsie's affection for Leon was recip-
rocated; and in view OF this the
question arises, why should he have
murdered her, assuming that he is
the murderer? And here comes in
the fckleness of Elsie. While writ
ing to Leon and protesting her love
for him she was also deeply in love
with another Chinaman, Chu Gain,
the proprietor of the Port Arthur, a
restaurant on Mott street just OPP
lions. Elsie's profession of love for
Gain, who is now under arrest and
held as a witness, was as strong if
not stronger than that for Leon.
Scores of letters written by her to
Gain have been found in which she
not only addressed him in the most
endearing terms, but discussed with
him matters which woman usually
considers her most intimate and secret
affairs.
What Chung Sin Saw.
Chung Sin, whose room adjoined that
of Leon Ling and between which was
an unlocked door, was arrested a few
hours after the discovery of the MUIR
der. Chung is 80 years old and ma
tive of Canton. He was captured at
West Galway, ~ Y, a small hamlet
near Amsterdam, and was taken to
New York without delay.
Baited and inundated by detec-
tives, threatened with prosecution and
confused with rapid-fire questions,
Chung Sin told of Elsie Sigers muir
der. Under the terrific pressure of
the third degree" the little China
man admitted that he had seen the
body in Leon Ling's room; that he
had touched it while it was still
warm; that he had smelled drugs and
had watched Leon Ling's preparations
for placing the body in the trunk,
where it was found, horribly decom-
posed.
Chung Sin, in fact, if what was
learned at the Criminal Courts Build
ing is correct, described almost every
thing concerning the murder of Maj
Gen. Franz Sigers granddaughter ex
cept the actual commission of the
crime. He denied any implication in
it and protested stoutly that he was
ignorant of the whereabouts of Leon
Ling. the supposed murderer. After
the inquisition he was taken before
Coroner Hamburger and held in S10-
900 bail in the House of Detention to
await the inquest.
Miss Sigel was buried in Woodlawn
cemetery. Washington, without serv-
ice or ceremony, only her father and
two brothers witnessing the interment.