The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-07
.STUCKEY DENIES.
Williamsburg Minister Testifies
in His Own Defense.
Makes General Denial of Stories
of His Accusers.
CASE NEAR ITS END.
Defense of Rev. MI. Stuckey
Suggests a Modern Adam.
Blames Sixteen-Year-Old LOrena
Sutherland for Downfall.

Ottawa, Kan. Jan. key w d.
lace NJ. Stuckey took the witness
stand shortly, before noon in his own
defense and endeavored to place his
case in the best light possible before
the jury which is listening to the evl-
dence He made a poor witness an
sWering questions asked him in low
tone of voice and was frequently re-
quested by the court to talk louder.
= He made~a general denial of the
stories told ON the witness stand by
Lorena Sutherland and claimed that
he not only never wrote notes to her'
but that he had at no time addressed
her in endearing terms. He claims
that when he talked to the girl over
the telephone that it was only when
she called him up and that such con-
versations could not we'll be aVoldeo
by him.
Mrs. Stuckey, wife of the reereant
minister. preceded him on the witness
stand and told of meeting Lorena
Sutherland shortly after she was
brought back from Chicago by the
sheriff and how the girl kissed her
and told her how sorry she was about
the affair. This story was told by
others who witnessed it, but was de-
MED by Miss Sutherland.
Lena Nelson. who was roommate
the time of her sensational elopement
with the Williamsburg minister. tes-
titled that Lcrena frequently called
| the minister up over the telephone
and held long talks with him.
An attempt will, in all probability,
be made to show that Lorena Suth-
erland's reputation for truth and We
racity is not untarnished and that she
| told many stories prior to thf
ment which could not be verified and
| cI,o a have
all the livery rigs that she wanted
free of charge.
1t was brought out at the trial of
| the case today that Lorena Suther-
home talent cast which was to pro-
| duce 1.-THE Deacon's Courtship" had
not the elopement interfered with her
plans. The case will probably go to
| the jury late this afternoon or the
| first thing in the morning.
| Ottawa, Kan, Jan. 1.-THE state
has closed its case against the Rev.
Wallace NJ. Stuckey, charged with the
abduction of Lorena Sutherland, the
! 16-year-old girl member of his for
noon Thursday when Lorena Suther-
land left the stand after a full day of
testimony which told strange story
| of the mingled good and bad ! in
fuences of the local minister
1t was through Stuckey's preach
! ing that she had been converted, the
| girl said. Her aged father told a
| similar story of having been led to
join the Williamsburg Christian
| church, and become one of its work
ers through Stuckey's evangelistic
work.
Throughout the cross examination
the girl held steadily to her story of
having been enticed away by persis-
| tent wooing on the minister's part, of
having met him by appointment in
Chicago and of the shattering of her
dream of happiness there when she
was compelled to hunt work and live
sometimes on two meals a day and
sometimes less. Stucxey, she said
had advised her of easy means of
making money, and she named speci-
| f1c instances of his efforts to persuade
her to further shame.
Through this recital Stuckey watch
ed the girl intently and occasionally
whispered to his wife, who sat by his
side.
At a recess of the court hearing
Mrs. Stuckey said:
ct know that man better than any
one else and no one can tell me any
thing about him. I have confidence
in him. That girl" she said, ''recites
some of her answers as though she
had been drilled in them
Denies Kissing Mrs. StucIxey.
Mrs. Stuckey was particularly wroth
at Lorena Sutherland's denial that she
had ever kissed Mrs. Stuckey and ex-
pressed sympathy for her. after her
husband had disappeared.
Lorena Sutherland told of Stuckey's
uneasiness while they were in Chicago
and Waukegan, lest they be discov-
cred, and when the arrest came he
sent her a note in Jail, she said. urg-
ing her to tell the story he had first
instructed her in, that she loved him,
and had beer driven from home by
the harshness of her parents.
The girls only indication of con-
fusion on the cross examination came
when she was closely questioned in
on the train between Ottawa and Kan
sas City, who bought the ticket to
Chicago for her.
Questioned as to how she would
have continued her trip to Chicago. in
accordance with her plans with
Stuckey, if she had not met this man,
she said she had not thought of that
81 Just supposed that where there
WasNa will there was a way" she said.
The girl said she had worked a lit
tie while as waitress, and was later
taken to a vaudeville house where she
wasNto learn TO be talented actress,
During all that time she and
n Stuckey had no more than two meals
a day, she said. She told with lively
description of their first visit 20 a beer
garden, and of the lights and coloring
and the drinking going on there. II
was a novel picture to the girl from
the farm.
Severe Questioning for Girl.
The defense made clear some of its
purpose to place Lorena Sutherland in
light other than that of an innocent
girl led astray by the minister's per-
suasion. when it questioned hel
| searchingly about other williamsburg
men. and her privileges of getting rigs
for nothing at the town livery stable
1 The defense will claim that the CIR
acted on her own will in following the
Hi minister away and that she did thi:
partly through disappointment in
other love affairs