THE CHINATOWN TRAGEDY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2578, 12 August 1909, Page 3

THE CHINATOWN TRAGEDY.

MISS SIGEL’S MURDER.

AWFUL REVELATIONS

In all the long list of ghastly crimes that have engaged the attention of the American police in the last two years none have produced the horror created by the terrible murder in New York of Elsie Sigel, the 20-year-old daughter of Mr. Paul Sigel, an official of the city health department. _ The feelings of horror were intensified by the revelations of Miss Sigel’s peculiar relationships with various members of the Chinese colony, amongst whom she went presumably on missionary work. The police discovered that Chu Gain, a Chinaman who owns the Port Arthur, a notorious Chinatown restaurant, was in love with the murdered girl. ' They, therefore, arrested him as a material witness, and were astonished to find in his room a number of love letters from the unfortunate Miss Sigel. Another letter was found from Leong Ling, in whose room the body' was discovered, and in this the writer threatened to kill Chu Gain if lie did not leave Miss Sigel alone. The discovery of the .murder of Miss Sigei was made in a strangely dramatic fashion. Miss Sigel, who was a grand-daughter of General Franz Sigel, a famous veteran of the Civil War, disappeared on June 9tli, jand since that date her parents had been searching all over the United States, with the aid of the! 1 police, for traces of her. The day before she disappeared, a Chinaman, whose real name is Leong Ling, ivlio lias adopted the name of William L. Leon for use in America, ! called at the Sigel 'homeland asked tP see Miss Sigel. Mr. Sigel happened to be at home, and when the Chinaman persisted in asking for his daughter, even after admission had been refused several times, lie went out and drove the Oriental away. It was this incident, and the fact' that Mrs. Sigel and her daughter devoted most of their mission work to Chinatown, that set the police on the track. Mrs. Sigel has for years been zealous in her efforts to stop 'the. traffic in white girls conducted by Chinese, and. thereby she incurred" the enmity of many of the Celestials, but in the case of Leong Ling there was less suspicion than usual, for he posed as a respectable citizen, converted to Christianty.

On Friday evening, June IS, the attention of the police was drawn to an ominous odor, traceable to a room over a Chinese restaurant in Eighth Avenue, kept by a man named Sun Leung. It was also mentioned that the tenant of the room was Leong Ling, that lie had disappeared, and alon" with him had gone a tenant of a neighboring room, named Chung Sin.

PITEOUS APPEAL. The room was promptly opened by force, and the police found in the corner of the room a large cabin trunk, bound with rope. This was unfastened, and on lifting the lid a body was found inside, badly disfigured, and - covered with bi-chloride of lime. From the appearance of the body it was clear that the girl had been smothered or choked to death.

An immense mass of correspondence was also seized, including 2000 letters from white girls all over the country. All these letters were in endearing terms, and proved that the Chinaman and his friends had run a huge bureau of love-making, that had been often profitable, for many girls sent money. An examination of'the letters revealed many to the Chinaman, apparently from Miss Sigel, indicating that she had been betrayed. One letter that is declared to be in her handwriting ran:— “You seem to he' growing verv cold to me. Think of the sacrifice I have made for you. I have sacrificed family and friends for yon. For God’s sake don’t forsake me.” Mr. Sigel was sent for and shown the body, the letters, and some small articles of jewellery that were found in the room, and had belonged to Miss Sigel. At first, from reasons of family pride, he refused to identifv the body, but afterwards admitted that it was that of his daughter. At the inquest Dr. O’Hanlon stated that death was due to suffocation. CHUNG SIN CAUGHT.

Directly the discovery of Miss Sigel’s body had been made the strictest orders were given to watch ail the- United States ports and to arrest any strange Chinamen who might aonear in them or in towns to which they did not belong. At the same., time full descriptions were telegraphed all over the country of Leong Ding and Chung Sin. Leong Ling is a man of come fortune gained in dabbling in stocks and by the proceeds of several small shops he owned in New York. He is'described as speaking English well, and as passing under the name of William L. Leon. In spite of his pretences of conversion, it is now known that he was a veritable Don Juan, and responsible for the ruin of many white girls. Chung Sin is an Oriental of a much lower type, and full of cunning. He apparently acted as a sort of friendly agent between Leong Ling and Chu Gain and carried £SO from the latter as a peace-offering to Ling a few days before the murder and the latter’s flight. The result of the police telegrams and descriptions was that two Chinamen, thought to be Leong Ling and Chung Sin, were arrested, the former .at Schenectady, and the latter near Amsterdam, both in the State, of New York, six hours’ railway journey from New York "city. The Schenectady police, acting on headquarters photograph and description of Leong Lihg, apprehended a Chinaman, who indignantly said his name was Chu Hop, and that he was entirely innocent of the murder, but the man resembled Ling in every detail, and the chief of the local police telegraphed thkt he was sure he had the right man, who arrived in Schenectady eight days previously. Almost at the same moment Clnmg Sin, Ling’s companion, was arrested. He asserted on—arrest that he knew nothing about Ling, and would not tell anything if he did know. Brought to New York Chung Sill was subjected. to the dreaded; police cross-examination known as the “third degree” for six hours. This did not extract much from the Chinaman, beyond the fact that he had witnessed n fight between Leong Ling and his rival Chu Gain over Miss Sigel.

' Therefore he was put through a still more rigorous questioning in the pro-'-sence of Mr. Jerome, the district attorney. : . . The examination is said to have been the ’ severest application of the ‘ ‘third degree” ever administered by the American police. The method consists .of alternate questioning and threatening, never allowing the prisoner a moment’s rest, and at the finish exhausted, physically and mentally, he generally tells all lie knows. In the end, Chung Sin said he had seen Elsie Sigel, and Ling wrestling on the bed, at first, he thought, playfully. Then the girl screamed, and Ling gave. her a heavy blow on the face, and then pushed a handkerchief down her throat. Blood was all over, her face. When she was quite still Ling fetched a trunk from the cup-, board, and Chung Sin saw a rope.lying on the floor. The terrified eye-witness ran downstairs, only, however, to return to the room when Ling called him. As he entered the room Ling said to him: “Elsie has bitten her tongue and killed herself.” Prisoner denied that he helped Ling to place the body in the box, but he did assist him to tie the cord round it. The idea of Ling was to ship the trunk to Europe, hut the two men became alarmed at certain police movements,' and fled from New York, leaving the box where it was found.