It was the summer of 1909 in New York City, and twenty-year-old Elsie Sigel left her family’s apartment to visit her grandmother not far away. Elsie, who was the granddaughter of famed Civil War general Franz Sigel, was herself a missionary who worked in Chinatown, helping young women who had become involved in drugs and prostitution. Elsie’s mother worked along the same lines, teaching a Chinese Sunday school class at St. Andrew’s Church on Fifth Avenue.
In 1905, during the course of their missionary work, Elsie and her mother had met a man named “William” Leon Ling, who worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Chinatown. It seemed, at least according to later investigation, that Elsie and Leon developed something akin to a romance, for Elsie sent Leon numerous love letters over the ensuing years. It should be noted, however, that Leon was found to be in possession of many love letters from many different women, and Elsie likewise had written similar letters to a second man named Chu Gain, the manager of another nearby restaurant.
On June 9th, 1909, Elsie went out to visit her grandmother and never returned to her parents’ home. Her fate remained unknown for nine long days, at which point her strangled body was discovered stuffed inside a trunk in Leon Ling’s apartment. Of Leon himself, however, there was no sign.
Chu Gain told authorities that someone had recently sent him a letter threatening to kill Elsie if he (Chu) and she did not discontinue their relationship. Police assumed that Leon Ling had written this letter, but could never prove it definitively.
The case was a media sensation, not only because Elsie was related to a famous general, but also due to the interracial relationships at the heart of the drama. Unsurprisingly, the murder stirred up vehement anti-Chinese sentiment in the area, as well as some disturbingly victim-blaming attitudes. The crime became so well-known that it was even the subject of a play, The Chinatown Trunk Mystery.
Although it seems clear that Leon Ling was the most likely culprit, he was never apprehended for the murder, and the case stands as officially unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 