The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-11-01
MAY HAVE NET
WITH FOUL PLAY
FRIENDS or ACTOR HITCHCOCK
ARE ANXIOUS AS TO HIS
WHEREABOUTS
SOME THINK I SUICIDE
Has Overtaken Accused Man-Detec-
tiyes Fail to Get Any Clew---
Wife Tells When He
Left Her.

| New York. Oct 31.--The disappear
lance Of Raymond Hitchcock, follow
| iIr upon his Indictment by the grand
| Jury, which had heard the stories Of
three little girls. was the absorbing
| topic of today on Broadway, where
those who had known the star inti-
mately during his ten years on the
stage advanced half dozen theories
in explanation of his default. Many
Of his friends insisted today tha.,
driven desperate by the serious ac-
cusations, he had committed suicide,
Others were satisfied that he had
been spirited away and possibly muir
dc red by the men who had practicel
blackmail upon the comedian aud
who feared exposure if the case
against their victim came to trial
This theory was voiced by Herman
Fromme, the missing mans attorney,
and by Mrs. Hitchcock, who, before
her marriage. was Seabelle Mangasa-
rian of Chicago. While these theories
gained some credence the police did
not relax their efforts to locate Hitch
cock but were unsuccessful Some G
H;tchcocks acquaintances think it
likely that he has sought seclrsion
where, undisturbed for a few days,
he can think over his predicament
and decide upon course of action.
Hitchcock disappeared less than
three hours before the grand juryl
flied at / p. m. true bills containing
six indictments, on the strength Of ac-
cusations made against him by Ellen
Van Hagen, Elsie Voecks and Flora
Whiston--the young girls with wohse
stories his name had been linked dur
ing the past week.
They. with Agents Moore and Pes
sar OF the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children, gave testi-
nlony before the grand jury this morn
ing and had left the stand when the
grand jury returned the indictments.
If Hitchcock were convicted upon all
six counts, the cumulative sentence
that might be pronounced upon him
would aggregate sixty years In prison. |
The actors wife says that she last
saw him at $3.50 O'Clock this morning |
when he arose with haggard face in
his apartments in the Hotel Flanders
and went out saying he was going to |
nearby Turkish bath house and |
would return directly. But no report |
of his disappearance was made until
after | o'clock this afternoon aud
then neither the district attorney nor
Judge Grain before whom he was to
appear in the morning, knew it until
late tonight.
II was Mrs. Hitchcock who turned |
IN the alarm. over the telephone be-
tween the Hotel Flanders aud the |
Astor theatre she gave detailed ac-
count cf how her husband vanished.
The matinee in the Astor theatre |
went on without Hitchcock His wife, |
who is Flora Zabelle and plays the |
part of Grace Whitney literally |
staggered through her part. The |
missing comedians place was taken |
by Wallace Beery, understudy to the
star While the performance pro
cecded the theatre management tele-
ploned right and left--to al the
Turkish baths to the Lamhs' club. !
where Hitchcock rsed to lornge aud
even asked the detective bureau to
see 'f It corldn't hiring him on in time
foi the succeeding acts.
z Somehow the manager of tie
Heater got wcrd that Hitchcock had
determined TO. fee from the prospect
# punishment and was aboard the
White Star line steamship Majestic.
which sailed for England early in the
afternoon. Detectives they sent to
he pier. however. failed to find him
sither there or on the ship.