Maude Gilbert

Girl's Body Found At 5.30
White Held In County Jail
Conflicting Stories Told

The body of Miss Gilbert was found near the spot where the automobile went into the water, according to a message to Deputy Sheriff Jack Adams received from the scene at 6 o'clock.

Mystery surrounding the disappearance of Miss Maude Gilbert, a former order clerk at the Southern Utilities corporation, whose body was declared to the authorities today to be in the Tamiami canal, deepened this afternoon when the Essex touring car in which she was said to have been plunged into the canal when it left the trail was dragged from the water and no body was found in or underneath it. Neither was any body raised to the surface of the water after seven charges of dynamite had been exploded by the authorities engaged in making a search for the body.

Declaration that Miss Gilbert was drowned in the canal was made to the authorities this morning by E. F. White, in charge of the ice cream department at the Southern Utilities Corporation, who stated that the girl was his companion in the machine when it plunged into the canal late last night and that he did not see or hear her after the machine struck the water but saved himself by swimming.

White is being held in the county jail without bond.

White Made First Report to Authorities, Police Try to Check Up on His Movements

White told the authorities that he swam around for some time in the vicinity of the spot where the machine entered the water and then being unable to locate her believed her to be dead and pinioned underneath the machine so he swam to the opposite side of the canal and made his way on foot through the saw grass and semi-wilderness to a farm house near the old Curtiss aviation camp. There, he said, he secured the services of a farmer and a truck to bring him to Miami, reaching this city about daylight and after changing his clothes at his home, 622 S. W. Fourteenth avenue, went to the sheriff's office to report the accident.

Failing to bring the body to the surface with dynamite after the touring car had been removed from the water by Frank's automobile wrecking outfit, deputy sheriff's and police at 3 o'clock, this afternoon made their way to the opposite side of the canal by way of a dredge boat several hundred feet west of the point where the automobile went into the canal for the purposes of checking up on White's story by seeing if they could find his footprints.

White conducted the officers to the place where the car left the highway and plunged into the canal, and remained with them during the long hours it took get the machine out of the water. When the removal of the car failed to disclose the body of the girl, White was brought back to town and lodged in jail.

Most of the articles of under clothing identified as having been worn by the girl were found earlier in the day by the police in the canal.

Miss Gilbert had Engagement With White Reports Confidant of the Missing Girl

It was learned this afternoon from Mrs. E. D. Dusinbury, of 27 N. W. Third street (Ninth street), who lives in the cottage in the rear of where Miss Gilbert has been rooming, that Miss Gilbert apparently had an engagement with White last night and that the last time she saw the young woman alive was about 7:30 last night, when she remarked that she was late and hurried from the house.

"Miss Gilbert came in shortly before that time," said Mrs. Dusinbury, "with Louis Larson, cashier of the Southern Utilities Corporation, with whom she had been out to supper. She ran over to my house and asked me what time it was and when I told her about 7:30 she remarked: My, I didn't know it was that late. - I must hurry. Then she hurried from the house."

White's story as told to the authorities was that he was driving down West Flagler street shortly before 11 o'clock last night from his home to get something to eat when he saw Miss Gilbert, whom he knew, standing on a corner near old Avenue P or O waiting for a jitney and drove up to her, with an invitation to ride with him. He said that after driving a block, she remarked that she was learning to drive a car and asked to be allowed to take the wheel, to which he acceded. She then drove out the Tamiami Trail way, he said.

Was Exemplary Young Woman

Both Mrs. Dusinbury and Mrs. E. B. Trexler, with whom Miss Gilbert roomed, declared that Miss Gilbert was an exemplary young woman and was always home early in the evening, which led Mrs. Trexler to worry when she did not return to her room last night.

Mr. Larson admitted that he had been interested in the welfare of the young woman and that he was instrumental in securing her a position as relief order clerk during the absence of the regular order clerk at the Southern Utilities plant, a position which ended last June, since which time she had not been working, he said. Mr. Larson said that Miss Gilbert came to Miami last October from her home in Bridgeport, Conn., and for a time she was employed in waiting on table[s] at the Biscayne cafeteria on East Flagler street. During that time she fell and sustained a fracture of the arm which made it impossible to continue at her employment, so he secured the temporary position for her.

Finding of Underclothing Worn by Girl Adds to Mystery of the Canal Mystery.

Finding of various articles of underclothing in the car by Detectives Harry Norris and R. H. Starling, who dived into the water to search the car this morning before it was removed from the water, adds to the mystery of the affair. No outer garments or shoes and stockings were found, but the searchers brought up loose from the machine a corset, teddies, camisole, brassier and a dress belt that was supposed to be of the same material as the dress worn by the young woman. They also found a velvet handbag which was apparently that of Miss Gilbert, as it contained a diary bearing her name. Inside the bag were $28 in bills and a number of pictures, groups taken at the bathing beach, also some postage stamps books.

None of the garments bore any blood stains and their appearance was such as to indicate that they had not been torn from the young woman in a struggle. What puzzled the officers was the question of what had become of the o[t]her garments.

Killed in the Everglades

After failing to find the body, the authorities stated their belief that the woman may have been killed somewhere else and the machine containing the garments driven into the canal to give the impression that she had met her death as the result of an accident.

Deputy Sheriff James Flood went out to the house of White to ascertain if the garments which White claimed to have removed because they were wet were there as he had stated. The deputy found a pair of Palm Beach trousers and a shirt which looked as though they might have been in the water. One of the beds in the house was in a disheveled condition and looked as though it had been occupied.

Deputy Sheriff Jack Adams, acting jailer, said that White came to the jail about 6 o'clock this morning and told a story about the drowning which the officer did not believe at first, but locked him up. The man came to the jail with Motorcycle Policeman F. E. Beavers, who was deputized by the deputy, who is also county detective, to investigate it. Chief Deputy Jack Gay was then notified, as was George M. Okell, justice of the peace, as coroner ex-officio. Mrs. White and children it was learned this afternoon, did not leave for South Carolina, where they were going on a visit, until 4:40 Wednesday afternoon. Before entering the employ of the Southern Utilities Corporation, White had been employed as an ice cream maker at Seybold's for five years.