The sun., 1908-06-10
HITCHCOCK DEFENDS HIMSELF
PAINTS HIS YOUNG ACCUSERS AS
UNWORTHY or BELIEF.

hvoh hhcH W noueo !" FOFey'Wss oEUCs
to Lecture Them on Spreading stories
About Him-His Wife Testifies She Adj
yised Him to Sec Them and stop IL.
Raymond Hitchcock. the actor, was on
the witnes, stand yesterday and told tho
jury which is to decide whether or not he
attempted to assault Helen Won Hagen
that the reason he took Helen and another
young girl. Elsie Voecks, to the house In
West Forty-flrst street was to warn them
that they were circulating stories about
him and "a friend" that were scandalous,
that II they told the truth it would be plain
that he had never wronged either OF them
and that he feared an attempt would be
made to blackmail him. He had heard
these stories, he said, after a trip to the
West. but the girls denied that they had
ever accused him OF wrongdoing.
1t was the only time Helen Won Hagen
had been in the house. he said. She never
had been there WITH Flora Winston. 1t
was untrue that he ever had improper
relations with either Helen or Elsie Voecks.
He. had taken them for an auto ride to
his home at Great Neck. but he understood
that they had told their parents. who had
consented.
Hitchcock had crowded house. He
slid into the witness chair. crossed his legs
and in his best Yankee Consul manner
and voice told his story. He was nerv-
Gus at first. but soon lecame at ease.
At times he dropped his voice so low that
the stenographer had to ask him to repeat
the answer. His wife, who testified in his
behalf at the close Of the session, played a
better speaking part. Her testimony was
to the effect that Hitchcock couldn't have
been with the girls at times when they have
said he was
Hitchcock was callei after Elsie Voecks
had corroborate1 Helen Won Hagen as TO
Want hnppene1 in the Forty-tirst street
house. She became very tiret under
two hours cross-examination by Max
Steuer, Hitchcock 8 counsel, but she stuck
to her story. She says she is IA. but she
looks older.
Hitchcock said that he was born in Au-
burn. n. Y, and was shoe salesman until he
II
phia department store and then he joined
the Carleton Opera Company. Thar was in
1890, and he bought his house at Great Neck
l.. l., in 1904.
He first knew Helen Won Hagen and her
mother at Great Neck. In 1908 they were
living opposite the Garden Theatre, where
he was rehearsing He met Helen ven
Hagen and Elsie Voecks on the street. They
asked him TO take them for an automobile
ride He told them to see their mothers
and IL they consented TO bring along wraps.
The girls went away and came hack with
wraps As the automobile started they
turned and waved to Mrs. Won Hagen. he
thought.
He denied that he first took them to the
lambs, as they have said. In the auto were
Herman Rupke, his valet, and the driver
They went straight to Great Neck and got
there late in the afternoon. He took them
to his home and about O'Clock in the even
ing put them on train and started them
home
He did not invite the girls to return, he
said, nor did he give them the telephone
number OF the Lambs and ask them to call
nim up. He had never telephoned to either
o'clock in the evening. when he ha d
returned to Great Neck from a sail. he
found them on his lawn. They ran when
they saw him. and he chased them, but they
got away. He went to the house, and later
in the evening, about 1880 o'clock, he
thought, they came up to his porch. He
asked them what they were doing and told
them they ought to be home. They said
that their mothers knew where they were
that they were coming down to see him
and said it was all right.
Hitchcock said he was puzzled what to
do but Herman. the valet, said he would
have to put them up for the night. Hitch
cook sent them to a room in the upper
part Of the house and ~the girls barricaded
the doors and windows" he said, In the
morning he gave them enough money to
pay their railroad fare to New York.
On the following Thursday night he
saw Elsie in front of the Montauk Theatre
in Brooklyn. where he was then playing.
There was another girl with her, Belle
Mckenzie. Elsie told him that she had
had trouble with her mother. So had
Helen Their mothers we're going "to put
them away because they had stayed
dJ nlB nOube. ElitChCoCh oIli tOlu HtT
to 20 home and gave them so cents apiece.
He denied that he took them that night
to his home at Great Neck. That night
he had an engagement at Sherry's. In
every particular he insisted that the story
of Elsie Voecks Of what happened at his
house was untrue.
Then he got down to the night Of De-
cember II. 1905. when he is accused Of having
attempted to assault Helen Won Hagen
in the Forty first street house, He and his
wife had been living at the Gregorian
That day his wife went to DR.. Bulls hos
pital to have an operation performed,
He went to the Lambe Club to get room,
but they were all taken. So he sent the
valet, Herman, to the Forty-first street
house to get one. He had lived at the house
seven years before and knew about 1t.
Some time in the afternoon he saw Helen
Won Hagen and Elsie Voecks hanging around
the Lambs Club. Their cheeks were
roueed and their eyebrows pencilled, he
said. He told them to run away, which
they didn't do, and then he told them to
meet him that night at Forty-hrst street and
Sixth avenue. After he made this arrange
ment with the girls he sent the valet to the
Forty-frst street house and told him TO be