Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-24
POLICE EXPECT
SOON TO TRACE
GIRLS SLAYER
MYSTERY OF ELSIE SlGEL'S
DEATH ILLUMINATED
LEON LINe's ROOMMATE AGAIN
CROSS EXAMINED
Officers Suddenly Decline to Discuss
Progress, but Quick Developments
Are nticipated-Details of
Crime Rapidly Linked
fBy Aggoelated Press.)

"A EW YORK, June 23.-A1ter uay
of conflicting statements, the dis
~ trict attorneys office, acting un-
der instructions from Mr.. Jerome and
Police Commissioner Bingham, refused
tonight to discuss further what prog
ress had been made in the search Ior
Leon Ling, alias William Leon, the
Chinese wanted for the murder of Ell
sic Sigel.
Neither would they discuss the re-
suits of the examination of Chung Sin,
Leon Lings former roommate, who
had been variously reported to have
witnessed the crime, to have aided in
roping the trunk and finally merely TO
have seen the girls body.
There have been hourly reports or
clews from all parts of the country,
but it is believed the police expect
soon to effect the capture of the ac-
cused Chinese.
What progress has been made with
Chung Sin, who underwent this after
noon another four hours of cross
questioning. was due to Quon YiclS
Nam. a Chinese merchant, who acted
as interpreter
1t is said he told Chung Sin that no
Chinese society would aid him in sup
pressing the facts or in concealing
Leon Ling; that every Chinese of in
huence in the country felt that the
case was bringing disrepute on their
race, and they all were unitetd in eff
forts to run down the murderer.
Chinese Talks Freely
With more to gain than to lose by
the truth, Shung Sin then talked freely
if not frankly.
That he has not been actually i'm
plicated in the crime itself, however, is
Indicated by the fact that tonight he
was held in the house of detention for
witnesses and not in the Tombs
Whatever be the whole truth of the
information yielded by Chung. Sin, it
contains the only clew on which the
police can work, as Chu Gain, admirer
of the girl of whom Leon Ling was
Jealous; Sun Leung, proprietor Of the
restaurant over which the murder was
committed, and the other Chinese ar
rested. are out on bail, pumped dry"
To all questions Chung sin reiterated
he occupied the room next to that of
Leon, and that on the afternoon of
June 3. the day of the murder, he
| awakened early after a natural sleep
to find Leon standing beside him.
Leon was in trouble, and wanted help.
Chung Sin soon understood why when
he saw the body of the young woman
lying across the bed.
Girl Was Gagged
There was blood on the mouth and
stained handkerchief was stuffed be-
tween the lips. Leon explained to him
that the girl bit her tongue and bled to
death.
Asked if that seemed plausible to him,
Chung Sin admitted he felt terrified,
and that his first impulse was to get
out of the house as soon as he could.
| Before he left, however, Leon bor-
rowed 5000 from him. he said. They
| belonged to the same secret society,
and he felt bound by his oath to do
that much for fellow member
Then he had hurried to the rooms Of
his cousin with the intention of passing
the night, but his curiosity got the bet
ter of him, and after two uneasy hours
he snealSed back to the house, climbed
the stairs, lifted himself to where he
could peer through the transom and
saw the room empty save for the trunk.
That was enough for him. He hurried
back to his cousins and slept there
that night.
Next day he left for Amsterdam. N.
Y, and near there has was arrested.
Denies "Third Degrees
This version of what Chung Sin saw
and did is as given out by Assistant
District Attorney Ward, who was en-
phatic in denyingfi that Chung Sin had
been put under the screws" or that
he had been in any way threatened or
intimidated.
Those who know Elsie Slgel best be-
lieve she was sincere in her mission
work Mrs. Florence Todd of the Bow
erv settlement for girls, has never
varied from her assertion of that be-
lief.
Chu Gain, who lived in terror of his
Jealous rival, Leon Ling, and had
known both the girl and her mother
for years, is of the same belief.
nj - A .r.l t.
inclined to the theory of Quon YiclS
Nam, the Interpreter. who thinks that
the girl was lured to Leon's room by a
report of his feigned illness and there
chloroformed after Leon had been en-
ragged by her coidness and her refusal
to see no more of Chu Gain, his
wealthy rival
worked too well, and when Leon found
he could not revive Elsie he bound
her with a cord and wedged the body
into the trunk.
Prayer Proves Vrtue7
In support of this theory is the pa
thetic and moving prayer written on
a mission letter head, which the girl
left for her mother on the day she
went to her death. It seems impossi-
BILE, II is argued, that a girl going on
any but a righteous mission could have
written such note.
The discovery that Leon was bred
an actor and the knowledge that all
Chinese actors are trained to take fe-
male parts did not, on second thought.
impress the police greatly with the
idea that he would so disguise him
self.
Chinese women in this country are
noticeably scarce and the very fact
that one had been seen travelling would
excite curiosity.
1t is much more probable, the po-
lice believe, that their man either took
ship as a sailor or cook. or has worked
his way south into some of the OBJ
scure colonies on the outskirts of New
orleans. Baltimore or Galveston.
Seen at Schenectady
It became known at Schenectady to-
day that Chinese answering the gem
eral description of Leon Ling went to
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