ELSIE SIEGEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 171, 12 August 1909, Page 4

ELSIE SIEGEL.

LADY MISSIONARY MURDERED IN NEW YORK. CHINESE -COX VERT." HUE AND CRY FOR A BLUEBEARD. STRANGE TRAGEDY OF INFATUATION. New York, June 20, A new trunk murder mystery of an unusual and atrocious character has stifred New York more deeply than any other- crime committed here in recent years.

The victim is Elsie Siegel, the twenty-two-year-old granddaughter of the late General Eranz Siegel. the Civil War hero. She was a missionary among the Chinese in the slums of New York. Her body, which had been nearly stripped of clothing and partially covered with quicklime, was ifound in a ioeked and rope-bound trunk in the apartment of a Chinese "convert/' named Leong Lee J Jin, in Eighth Avenue on Friday night. She had been dead more than a week. Leong Lec Lim, who was on terms of the closest intimacy with Miss Siegel, is missing, and a national man-hunt lias been organised by the authorities in the hope that be will be arrested before lie succeeds in sailing for China. Photographs and letters discovered at Leong Lee Lim's. rooms by the police show him torsive a veritable Blue-, beard. Ilis "conversion'' to Christianity was apparently a blind to conceal his intrigues with white women. The reve--1 lations of depravity arising out of the well-meaning attempts of young women to convert Chinese in the slums have caused ei tempest of horror and anger throughout the countrv. IX CHINATOWN.

Miss ftiegel was one of the most prominent workers in the district known as "Chinatown." ft he and her mother—who hay lost her reason since hearing of El&ic's terrible death organised classes for Chinese coolies. Her father, Paul Siegel, who is an cmpjpyee in the comptrollers office, did not sympathise with this form of religious work, although he was' unable to influence his wife and daughter. Among Miss Siegel's pupils was Leong Lee Lim, a Chinaman who claimed to be thoroughly Americanised. . He cut oil' his pigtail when he became "converted," and adopted European clothes. He was interested in several business ventures, and at the time of his disappearance iiad an interest in a native restaurant. Leong Lee Lim even dropped his Chinese naini», and asked his friends at the mission school to call him "Mr. Leon." lie was a_ regular attendant at Miss oiegel's mission classes, and the friendship which sprang up between them began through Leong Lee Lim's apparent • desire to educate himself according to European standards. Letter# discovered at the Chinamaivs 100 ms show that Miss (Siegel was deeply devoted to him, but this attachment was concealed .from her parents for more than two years. About a fortnight ago Leong Lee Lim went to the Siegel residence and demanded Lo see Elsie. According to another Chinatown missionary who relates this incident. .Leong .was intoxicated, and threatened to create a disturbance in front of the house unless admitted, whereupon Mr. Siegel reluctantly permitted him to enter. FOUGHT FOR HER LIFE.

When two constables broke open the door of l.eong's Hat, the first thing they saw was a large trunk standing in the middle of the room. It was tied with stout r oj)es and locked. The ropes were cut ami tlio lock broken, whereuiioii the lid sprung up slightly. When thrown back the police found the semi-nude body of a young woman -with 'the resting against the chin. It had been jammed so "tightly into the trunk that great difficulty was experienced in removing it. The murderer must have had considerable tiouble in forcing down and locking the lid.

It was evident that the girl had made a desperate light for life. Her body was covered .with bruises, and the livid marks anmnd her throat showed that she had been strangled. The knees had been drawn up to the chin with a rope. A clumsy attempt had been made by the murderer to make identification 'of the body impossible by sprinkling it with quicklime, "out the face was un-

tom-hi'd.. A soaivli oi the Chinaman's room tvcaled a remarkable collection of photographs of women, niostlv in very decollete costume, and hundreds' of ail'cction■ite letters signed by American women iiving in various parts of the country. LOVE-LETTERS.

'there were thirty-five letters signed "Elsie," supposedly from Miss Siegel, addressing the Chinaman ill the most i iKU'ci) inji terms, uud extending over <\ period of two years, A statement made oy the polity regarding llic.se letters : s :is follows:

'iliere is no mention .fir marriage, but ill] breathe tilt' purest love. Tlii'V were ingenuous love notes |>,> m who w;its inadly in love to a man whom evidently considered her cfjuAl. Elsie loved tile Chinaman with all her heart. Tic either retiinied her aH'ccUon or fooled her completely. U e are satislied that liilsieV parents knew their daughter's relations with ihe Chinaman. The father disapproved, and threatened to leave his family unless the visits to Chinatown ceased. ".Many of the photograph* found in the Chinaman's rooms 'Were of good'ooliing, well-dressed women, with loriii" messages inscribed on them. The China" man apparently did -a remarkable business in gaining women's all'ections." One lettrr written by .\|j ss Sicol a few weeks ago from her parents'"home contained the following passage:— Vou srem to 'be growing cold to me. Jiut think of the saeriliee I made for vou-niy family and my friends, l.' or (■od s sake don't forsake me. Other loiters were • signed "Your Jieartbrokeii Helen," and others signed . , requested money as the writer wa* in trouble.

Ihc poliM rufust! to give the names of writers, hut admit that their ac* flUJiiiitiUK'i! with Leon<; arose*out of the interest tal;en I>v white women in CJihiPay mission work.

UOS'll A LADIES' PET. U*sg ww the pet of the Chiuesc iiii.-siiin ~ | ()ll „ iwomen regarding Aim as the model convert. .Several we,ago he went to Pittsburg an J lectuieil to Chinamen on the evil Ot llu-jr ways.

[ INTKXSE INDIGNATION. 11'idic indignation at the character of the Clime , a intense. ]t has long been owing to numerous minor scandals arising out of the mission work I erlorined oy white girls among Chinaiiien and several recent marriage, s of Chinamen and their religious teachers 10 <l|.'rgc is now made that' ciiiiia...ol. profess .Christianity solely because • an lancinated by American worn™. Iho Rev. .1. x. J,aek, of fliica go, ho tonductßd a mission Chinatowa th two daughters, announces thai ,7 *'"*"> .HHsioi, liecnuse of tilt hoinblc revelations -in the Neiwl case, "

(icueral |,Vai|Z Scigel, the .rrand lather ot tile murdered girl, ,|ied sevi years ago, |le scaped from tiermam nfter the of 1848. and after war,N Ijeriiinc a distinguished ollicer ir Mlion, ,)f l| l« K°'

Ait h les-j* ok pKroEivs ALLEIED AllltDEliEK,

A n ■ Jlllll! 21. A Uiinaman who is believed to "be of C Tlf fu » Uiv " it v ' l li,s arr e«fccd at ,V luiettady, >e\v \ork, and will 'be bi ought here Jor identilieation. Hie tragedy Uaa caused almost illill nud ""If l - l»roug]iout ! b\- Th r,?„- fCeli " S i 9 < ! lave leun '"'ensified S.i.rel' , I ' ov . l ' l i' t "" ls lvjrar«linjr Km Ik'S ,r.i ' , l"f' nt,,lK ' u wilh olllcr mem- ■ ol llie { lnile.se colony in Xew York 'n . hl | v '' (li^'oV! 'i - t'd that (Jahi. J- <■ nil], Milan, who owns the Port Arthur fan I -8 ". 1 ' "«l»vious "Chinatown rej .was in love with (he murdered girl. of' love rr* 1 a '" l a "limlier of line letters wiitteu l, v Elsie were found ill Ins roo m . ' "ii-| h '!i, < ,) i ' il vr' ill, 'r , ' S " I,U Ul,! Ihi p i J'■> t,,,,< »-'l>"nr.v statement made V P»n| Scigri, the girl's father, to-day I 'Ms out the belief that the man cxerVfr s,i"el ™ S< noyer her, two days after lis I.in,'hlei disappeared Mrs. Seio-ol at' 1 e'houf t f , | jC ° 1 ' ? L ° e Lim 11,1(1 eall " ed He ° k ' n '« ht bef( " ,<! slie left. '. * dniiil; and very unary. His! rwr** 4 " ht ' u Eißi ® Mtus ° d i ° i

Z; loir" M ''" J .«' & J.ii'i' 1 ' fcntii.?'' {"^' r01 " 1 ' 1 ' 011 ? •'"in" t» Mll"ti i » >in ' s rnonl ' tllre ntIfave Elsi/tilon,!' '' lf h ° lli ' l ,10t kll,lMl II jealous <marret the t&"tTT li 'lf tta ■< sl * S "'° ! c-liokV.l, P " l0W lnstcad «' Wag The enormou# pilt> of love letters vviUeii''hv L t 0,1 )' l " Lpe Lim '' fro " m WCTe •ii u ' twelve women, all of whom will be questioned bv the nolta ■ ' Many sromlaeuti New sy ork 0 rk derro'

men, including the Rev. R. S. MacArthur, the Rev. A. I). Blackburn, and the Rev. 1. M. llaldeman, eeverely condemn the employment of women mission teachers in Chinatown. The Rev. Mr. Blackburn said to-day:—

"If ii list were compiled of the awful tragedies resulting from the system of white women .teaching Chinese coolies, it appall the country. Something ■should be done to awaken the people to the realisation of what this' system means.

*1 sympathise with any measure, no matter how drastic, which will save our young women from this degradation."

THE "THIRD DEGREE." June 23. Under the pressure of the dreaded "third degree" inquisition by New York detectives, Chong Sing, a Chinaman, today contested mat he sa'w Leong Lee Lim murder Miss Elsie Sigel, the mission worker, on June

lie peeped through the keyhole, in the door leading to U'ong Lee Lim's looms in the Chinese lodging-house in /Sight Avenue, and saw Leong Lec Lim strangle Elsie with a handkerchief and afterward* place her body in the trunk in which it was found on Friday. Chong Sing was arrested in a suburban tow.l yesterday and brought to New York last night. He was immediately subjected to six hours' examination by the "third degree*' at poliiv quarters. The "third degree'' is the relentless cross-examination of a suspected person, which rout nines until the suspect is ready it* collapse from fatigue. H<; is literally worn out with questions, and in the end, if guilty, he usually confesses.

.Mr. Jerome, the District Attorney, was not satisfied with the results of the six hours' c;»dmination. All that Chong Sing divulged was' the description of a light which took place in Chinatown between Leong Lee Lim and Chu Gain, his rival for the affections of Miss tiegel.

•Air. Jerome thereupon ordered the examination of Chong Sing to be renewed, and his confession was the result. Leong Lee Lim is still at large, although a number of Chinamen answering hie description have been arrested in various parts of the country.