Smyrna times., 1910-02-16
MYSTERY IN
GIRLS DEATH
Frozen Body Found on Beach
at Atlantic City.
MARRIED MAN IS GONE
Police Say He Was the Last Person
Seen With Jane Adams-Body Was
DisfIaured and Clothing Torn and
Stained With Blood.

Stained With Blood.
Atlantic City, Feb. 14.-The police
of this city are trying to solve the
mysterious death of Jane Adams, the
eighteen-year-old daughter OF Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles Adams. The girls body,
still clothed in the gown and trinkets
she donned to attend ball the even
ing of Feb. 4 on Youngs Pier with her
sister Alice, and two brothers, William
and Arvis Siler, frozen, disfigured and
the clothing torn and blood stained,
was found on the beach by the crew
of a trolley car, near Harrisburg ave-
nue..
The mother of the girl, who has been
I'll since the day that her daughter
disappeared, insists that her daughter
met with foul play. The police have
sent out orders to arrest William Siler,
a young married man, who was last
seen in the company of the girl, and
his brother, Arvis. Both have disap-
peared. A warrant was sworn out for
the arrest Of William Siler, but the
police could not find him. He has left
a wife and two small children here in
destitute circumstances.
Surgeons, who examined the wound
in the girls head, declare that it must
have been inflicted before the body
entered the water. There was little
water found in the lungs. One theory
is advanced that the girl fell from the
pier, where she was last seen in the
company of Siler, and that in the de-
scent her head struck a sharp point.
The two sisters were employed in
Boardwalk stores. The younger, Alice,
sixteen years old. obtained permission
from her parents, who live at 10 North
Missouri avenue. to attend the pier en-
tertainment with Arvis Siler. The po-
lice have learned that they met out
side William Siler and Jane Adams.
The younger sister says that the
quartet went to the dance on the pier
and afterward walked to the end of
the structure, extending 1000 feet over
the breakers. Half an hour later Alice
started to return to the dancing pa
vilion and, William Siler, she says, in
duced her sister to remain with him.
The Adams family say that Alice
and her escort returned home and the
mother asked the whereabouts of the
elder daughter. Learning that she was
:, in company with the young married
man, she hastened to his home, where
she found both brothers.
81 was nearly frightened to death,
said the mother, 'and l told William
Siler that he had done something Il
my Jane. His face was white and
told him ne lied when he said tha
Jane had left him and started hom,
alone"
Later that night Mrs. Adams, still
alarmed, made a second visit to tn
Siler home, and says that she was re
fused admittance.
William Siler gains livelihood dc
ing odd jobs. Saturday he disappeared
This action led the mother to believ
that he and Jane had eloped. No sus
picion was entertained that the giI
had met death until the trolley GREY
discovered the body on the beach i
Ventnor.
The black coat and the skirt wor
by the girl when she left home wer
frozen fast to her body and limbs. an
1t was not until thawed out that th
body could be examined Both eye
were discolored. as though from
blow. and hole in the head satisfie
the surgeons that the girl had bee
dead or dying when she plunged int
the sea.
The underclothes were torn, ar
marks of blood were found on Il
skirts. Despite the condition of II
body. the father and mother of Il
dead girl made instant Identification
It when summoned to the morgue. tt
hysterical mother screamed her b
lief that her child had been murdere