AMERICAN SEASIDE MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 161, 9 July 1910, Page 15

AMERICAN SEASIDE MURDER.

MXSTEBIOUS AFFAIR. . Atlantic City* ihe Brighton of the Eastern States of America, is greatly excited' by the trial of William Seyler for the murder of a. pretty'girl aainei "aaiie Adams, aged 18. Seyler is a mechanic, 30 years old, and has a wife and citildreii; says a correspondent of May 2Stli. -He met. Miss Adams in a department etore, whereshe •was an assistant Together .they went last' February on the iron promenade pier, where dances take place nightly. Seyler's younger brother, escorted Jane's sister, aged i 15, and all, ;according' to the evidence, seemed to have had a: good time together, dancing and skating in' the great pier pavflionysipplfcg intoalcatins liquors, and generally, as one witness Bald, conducting : tbemselyea "like real Sot sports." . Itfiwas A DARK, J3TOBMY FEBkuAJRY NIGH 4 ;; and the sotind <rf the Atlantic rollers break-; Ing against the pier-head.: almost drowiied the; strains' of the brass band.' After the ball was over. Seyler's young brother and . Jane's sister went home, leaving,the pri-* soner and Jane alone outside the-pavilion. Precisely what happened nobody yet knows; It is charged by the prosecution that Seyler lured Jane to the extreme seaward end of the pier, attacked iher brutally, and af- " terwards. . -THREW THEOtEOi INTO THE SfiAL Miss Adams was not seen alive. agamy but a week after the 'night on the pier her body, bruised and lascerated, Was Sung upon the. rocks by a high tide, feeyier told: •the girl's mother that he knew, nothing about her disappearance, but Mrs. Adams accused him of abducting her daughter* and, long before the mystery of :the giri'a disappearance had been solved, accused him of murdering tier-: Then Seyler ,and iiis. brother absconded, and were not arrested! ldntii , - ' THE GIBL'S BODY WAS FOTIND. When the brothers "were. brought baeSf to .Atlantic City in custody, the crowd , tried to lynch/the elder Seyler, but were nii3uccessfril. Jane Adams' father and mother 'aroused the sympathy 'of the entire jcity in their behalf, and ah attack , upon the local gaol seemed imminent The doctors deposed "that the girl died; not from drowning, but as the result of a heavy, blow struck by . some soft instrument, such as a man's fist, under her right ear. Seyier's defence is that the girl acfell over the iow railing of the pier and was .drowned, and that he ab> scohded berause'ihe was frightened by her: mother. The police say lihat Seyier : has confessed to the" crime, but this is denied t>y : .Seyier'B counsel, . who charges the police. witli conducting iheif... ..:..,.., .'..., "THIEB DE(SRHB" INQUISITION v ! with unexam'pied-ferbcitr;, alia,further, that anything Seyler may.have confessed while iii iis.cell is; worthless, becarise lie confessed under, the 'influence, of drugged cigarettes, supplied by -the police. -Mrs Adams was hysterical in cmirtj and shouted, "Seyier killed my daughter' fry cause She tried -to: defend tier honour.'' . ■ An incident which brought . TEARS TO tfHBEYES OF, JTHB spectators. crowding the courthouse -occurred: immediatelyraftei. Seyler;;tinder the guard of his keepers, took' his; jilac'e, lii the prisoner's Bessie, his thffee:year-&ld 'daughter, ran from .her motheT'e side iip tdtKe railing and greeted he? ■ fatten Seyler" .raised the , little hie arms and caressed her for several minute's; When the judge called the court to order, Seyler -let iittle" Bessie ■down alid'toldher to'retdfnto her mother." The child insisted on- remaining with her father; and Mra-Seyier-had-to go over' to the prisoner jtad lead her-little girl away..- •_'. '-. . : -V ■ : ■'" ASSiTSBf) MAN'S' STOBif.; ... .'..■ .Seyler entered the witness box and caim--iy told bis story, of the seaside tragedy., ■He eaid that after the ,fiance ifl the. pa-, viiion he Started ; and he insisted that when he teft the pier, he' believed the; girl had joined his brother and ier sister. Who had gone some' little way ahead. Before; quitting the pier fie thought , he heard Jane Adams callnig;; arid went batik" to; the end of the pier, but he; swore: that he did not. see the.-girl fall,ff6m the pier, afld contradicted the - statement that he' MA quarrelled iwlth her; THe idea of going to the dance originated with his younger brother, who was taklrig" Jane's sister out,: Seyler said-he .wanted to stay at, home with bis wife and family* tint Jane Adams " asked Mm to take nei to: the-pavilioiC. The idea- of Having a-gay old time with the; girl was ludicrous, because he oiily' . pos-' sessed a 'Shilling when he Btatrted, an£ that" he paid fdf entraace. ■ ; •'Seyler * '; "'■ - '. . . iJENIBp BESPONSiBiLiTY FOB , THU .:. _ confession- .... ■ .; : ; got from him .in .his cell by detectives ;under.ithe "third degree!': inquisition. ■He. .told the judge'that the offleere sweated him terribly,- and.thdt he signed tt statement prepared by. Detective Mllie's bfecaus'e Mlt ler said, if, he sighed -he wouid go - -."When they were sweating mej ,, said the witness! "Chief WoodfnfE: entered and told; the officers that they wefe too; harsh, sending them oiitj I told Mm 1 "did not wish te Say ttflythihg until 1 got Into court. Miller gave mc ft; cignrette, afld It •mc feel dizzy.and sick, as though t had; been; drlnklflg he&vilys I smok4d two-ol these and .threw another, away."