Holy cow! History: The body in the trunk; who killed Elsie Sigel?
J. Mark Powell InsideSources.com
FacebookTwitterEmail
3of3
“Will be home soon,” it said. “Don’t worry.” It was signed EJS.
But the parents did worry. They hadn’t seen 19-year-old Elsie J. Sigel for days.
The Sigels were socially prominent New Yorkers. Grandfather Franz Sigel was a famous Civil War general. A German immigrant, he inspired adoring German Americans to sing, “I goes to fight mit Sigel.” When his statue was unveiled in 1907, 100,000 New Yorkers showed up. The Big Apple’s Franz Sigel Park still memorializes him.
Sigel’s son Paul was wealthy. Like many society women of that era, his wife Anne taught Sunday School at genteel St. Andrew’s Church on Fifth Avenue. But it wasn’t a typical Sunday School class. It specifically welcomed Chinese immigrants.