The Secret of Teal's Pond

9/29/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
An old postcard that has survived the years, turns up in a Vermont antique shop. It's a tidbit with a personal message from a person long forgotten, but in the message is a reference to a murder that has never been solved.

The murder of Hazel Drew at Teal Pond, N.Y. made headlines across the country c.1908

The front of the card was a colorized picture with canoes on a lakeshore. Printed along the bottom was: "Boat Landing, Crystal Lake, Averill Park, N.Y." However the cursive print on the other side was more surprising. It was postmarked July 15, 1908, 10 a.m., and addressed to Miss Alice Snell in Nelliston, Montgomery County, New York. The message was: "Papa & I are out here, the Drew murder happened only a little way from here last Sat. This is a dandy place." It was signed H.D. Cameron.

Obviously the Drew murder was a well known and notorious event. It all started a little over a week earlier on July 3, 1908, when Mrs. Cary asked her governess Hazel Drew to do the laundry. In a world where even the servants had a hierarchy, the governess packed her bags and moved out of the family's mansion on Pawling Avenue the same day. Perhaps she was already unhappy with her position, because leaving a job without notice or references, would make securing a new post very difficult. It was a strange move on the governess' part, but perhaps she had different plans for her future.

Eventually many came under suspicion in the murder of Hazel Drew

In recent months Hazel had taken frequent trips to New York City, Boston and other cities. Her wardrobe became more lavish, beyond what the salary of a governess would allow. Did her source of income come through her travels? Had she met someone who provided her with these indulgences? Those were questions bound to stay unanswered.

In those days, losing a job even by choice was a serious situation, however Hazel left the Cary home in good spirits. Afterward she spent Saturday, July 4 with her aunt, Minnie Taylor in Schenectady. She then left to her parent's home in Troy. That afternoon she borrowed two dollars from her mother, she also had $4.50 pay from Mrs. Cary. She checked a suitcase packed with lingerie that indicated a short trip, into storage at Troy's Union Station. Inside was also a notice that said Edward LaVoie had departed for Chattanooga, Tennessee. She then boarded a train to Albany. She returned 90 minutes later and was seen twice in Troy on July 7 between noon and 1:49 p.m., and twice on Taborton Road in Sand Lake between 7 and 7:30 p.m.

A few days later, Gilbert Miller who trudged by the shore of Teal's Pond on his way to deliver milk at Carpe's hotel saw something floating on the surface for a few days. But it wasn't until July 13, 1908 that Edward Bruner and George White, two teenage boys camping by the pond, pulled what turned out to be a body to the shore.

This was two days before the postcard was sent.

It was difficult to assess the identity of the woman, since her skin was shriveled and "black as midnight". Two black crescent-shaped hair combs with rhinestones held up her hair. Her gloves and hat were neatly folded 20 feet from the shore, and nearby was her high-crowned black straw hat adorned with large black ostrich plumes. The condition of her hat indicated the body had been dragged head down through the brush to the water.

Teal Pond near Sand Lake, is in the wildest section of Rensselaer County. It was surrounded by thick brush and was seldom visited, and perhaps this was the reason for leaving the girl's body there.

Due to her rate of decomposition the coroner estimated the woman had been killed a few days before, possibly on July 4, the last time Hazel was seen.

John Drew was able to identify the body as belonging to his daughter Hazel, by inspecting a gold badge with the initials HJD, which were pinned to her dress.

The 20-year-old's skull was fractured in the back by blunt force trauma, and she had no water in her lungs, which led to the conclusion she was dead when she went into the water. This ruled out the possibility of suicide. She had also been raped.

Teal Pond is said to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate Hazel Drew

There was no dearth of strangers who passed through Sand Lake, since it was considered the Coney Island of the north, with the nearby Crystal Lake Amusement Park and four or five hotels.

Without immediate answers as to who the murderer was, a list was soon assembled. There was Frank Smith, a farm hand and Rudolph Gunderman, a coal peddler—both men had seen Hazel on July 7 picking berries along the roadside. There was a "dark complexioned" man seen on the trolley with a girl who looked like Hazel; a dentist from Troy who had supposedly proposed to her even though he was married; Professor Edward Cary her one-time employer; William Taylor a depressed, suicidal uncle who lived near the pond and had helped to pull her body from the water; a "stout man with a florid face" who was seen near Teal's Pond about the time the girl was murdered; an anonymous stranger, who according to Hazel's mother, was a resident of Troy and had exerted a mysterious power over her daughter; the "half-witted son" of a Sand Lake widow who was rumored to torture farm animals, and a dozen other suspects who remained unidentified.

One of the most uncooperative person in the investigation was Hazel's aunt Julia Taylor. Both women were rumored to be seen taking rides with various, unknown men, inferring they were involved in prostitution, which could account for Hazel's luxurious clothes and jewelry. During the investigation her aunt refused to gave the name of the men they were seen with. When she finally provided two names, they were omitted from the police report, indicating they were men who would have been damaged by the association.

It was not difficult to suspect that Hazel Drew was leading a double life.

Averill Park Hotel, which became a well-known summer resort located near a large grove with boats and fishing on Sand Lake. Daily stagecoach service was available from Troy to the Hotel.

There was also a question of what she had been doing near Teal's Lake. Was she looking for another job since there were several luxurious residences nearby? Even though she was known not to have a "sweetheart", the newspapers reported she had "an engagement with a real estate dealer and insurance man."

Near to Teal's Pond, wealthy businessman Henry Kramroth owned a camp. Neighbors said that orgies took place there, and women were held against their will. Another story described where a woman "clad only in a rubber overcoat" was seen, and neighbors heard screams coming from the camp near the time of the murder. If this was not enough to raise suspicions against Kamroth, his glasses were said to be have been found near the pond. Kamroth of course denied all the allegations.

Hazel's older brother Joseph said, "Hazel was a pretty girl, and had many admirers. I am inclined to think she cared more for girls than for men."

Minnie Taylor, her maternal aunt was described this way: "She is of medium height and build, thirty-three years old, has blond hair and light blue eyes shaded by glasses. Her features are strong—almost hard. She speaks quickly and to the point." Her true age was about 39 years old.

It was difficult to understand why Hazel would seek the company of her aunt so closely.

The district attorney said of Minnie Taylor:

She has not told everything. To my mind she is shielding someone. She's of a determined, cold puritanical disposition and a peculiar woman. She has refused to tell who Hazel's male friends are saying they had nothing to do with the crime. She and her niece were companions of two strange men on a carriage drive to Averill Park, June 21, but she won't tell who they were.

The lapse between Monday, when she boarded a Watervliet car at her aunt's place and Tuesday when Smith and Gundrum met her, is a deep mystery. No one comes forward to say they saw her. None of her friends in Watervliet saw her, and she did not visit her parents or relatives here or in Schenectady Monday. We learn that she spent a month at Bly's summer cottage at Tarborton last year, but the place is nine miles up the mountains from the street car terminus, and she was hardly walking there when murdered. We will go over the ground again and search her uncle's house and farm. Every inch of the Taylor farm has been currycombed but we'll do it again.

The murderer will be caught when this extraordinary silence is broken.

Sand Lake c.early 1900s

She spent Monday, July 6 with Mrs. E.V. Huntley a friend who lived at 383 No. Third Ave. She left without saying where she was going. By August, 1908 at the inquest for Hazel Drew's murder it was established that since she left the Cary home on July 6 until her body was found in Teal's Pond on July 11, little was known of her movement.

During the inquest, Hazel's mother confirmed the clothing belonged to her daughter, and her father told that he knew little of his daughter's habits and associates. It seemed that since she was 14 years old she had worked as a domestic servant in some capacity, and had spent a good deal of her time with friends and relatives. Her parents were not well off, which probably necessitated her supporting herself this way.

Minnie Taylor was asked whether her niece had ever been followed in the streets by men. She replied that she could not remember any such incident. She added, however that she herself had been annoyed by men following her at night in the street.

Henry E. Kramroth also testified, in where he denied any grounds for accusations of improper conduct at his camp. He also told of his whereabouts on July 6 and 7, and that he had never known Hazel Drew.

A friend of Hazel, named Carrie Weaver did not arrive in time to give testimony. Strangely she left for Ohio to visit relatives the same day Hazel quit her job, so perhaps her late arrival was more intentional than coincidental. Three months before Hazel was murdered the pair took a trip to New York where they attended the theater, ate lavish meals and stayed at a boarding house. Carrie said they had never met any men, but Hazel did come to the city earlier in the month by herself. On the way home Hazel told Carrie she planned to stay at Lake George for the July 4th holiday, presumably with a man, however instead she quit her job, and at the last moment stayed with her aunt.

Dr. Boyce corroborated that he had found a corset string tied around the girl's neck, and that he had cut the string.

Among Hazel's belongings, detectives found postcards and letters from friends. There were six letters from a man with the initials C.E.S. None of her family or friends knew who this was and he was never identified. In one letter he wrote:

You’re [sic] merry smile and twinkling eyes torture me. Your face haunts me. Why can’t I be contented again? You have stolen my liberty, please don’t forget a promise to write. When I reach Albany again, I will meet you at the tavern. I must see you soon, or I’ll die of starvation.

Hazel Drew's tomb, Brookside Cemetery

Mina Jones was a friend of Carrie, her husband told police that supposedly a dentist living in Troy had asked her to marry him. The police then investigated about 40 dentists practicing in the town. Mina Jones also stated that Hazel had been the victim of two attempted assaults in Troy some time ago. It had been the same assailant each time. She described him as "Armenian or Italian" and on both occasions he was beaten off by Hazel.

For every clue provided by some party, the mystery deepened since they were all dead ends.

The inquest described as tedious, was then closed, which concluded that she had been killed by a blow to the head.

New York's yellow tabloids charged that the autopsy had been lacking and demanded that Hazel's body be exhumed. One of their claims was that Hazel had been a prostitute killed by a client. They also criticized the district attorney. The Evening Star reported: "his office will now draw a veil over the tragedy, and unless by some magic chance the murderer delivers himself up, allow it to remain forever a mystery." This turned out to be quite prophetic since Hazel's murderer was never identified.

The murder of Caroline Gorgen in 1909, like Hazel Drew's death remained unsolved

The death of another Troy girl in November, 1909 revived the rumors of Hazel Drew's murder. The victim was named Caroline Gorgen, and she was killed a few blocks from her home.

Caroline Gorgen's body had no trace of poison, and she had marks on her neck and was raped. Her murder remained unsolved. The only clue was a pair of men's gloves left beside the body, presumably by the murderer. It was determined she was killed for her money, since her empty pocketbook was found nearby, however police believed someone came across the body and took the purse with the money, and then discarded it. Her death was caused by an overdose of some anesthetic.

Previous to Hazel's murder, Mamie Killian's body was found in the Hudson River in 1901, and Anna Mitchell was strangled to death in 1902.

Mamie Killian worked in a collar factory and was found floating in the Hudson River.

Anna Mitchell, like Hazel was 19 years old and employed as a domestic. On her way home she was taken, raped and killed by repeated blows on the head. Her face was battered beyond recognition with some pointed instrument.

Like Hazel Drew all these cases went cold, and their murderers were never identified.

Mark Frost co-creator of the Twin Peaks television series, said he drew inspiration for the story from the murder of Hazel Drew.

Hazel's aunt, Minnie Taylor married the year after Hazel's death to Edward Filieau, a widower with several children. Why she decided to quit her spinsterish ways at the age of 40 remains as much a mystery as the identity of her niece's murderer. Perhaps this was the only way to repair the damage done to her reputation by the scandal. Minnie Taylor Filieau died in 1954.

Henry M. Kramroth, the man who it was whispered held orgies at his camp was another mystery. There is no reference to him in any census, newspapers or records of the day before or after the stories printed about Hazel Drew's murder. There is only a reference to Grace Bing Kramroth, married to an Alexander Kramroth (born 1874 and 1875 respectively) residents of Albany, in the 1900 census, and they both dropped off all records as well. This seems very strange for a real estate millionaire as he was described in the newspapers.