The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-08
room Sobbing.

Stuckey was plainly affected but
controlled his emotions and turned his
attentions to his three children who
were attempting to pacify their moth
er, in the meantime neglecting his
sobbing, hyster1cal wife who has stood
by him in the face of the charges on
which he has been convicted. The
scene was sad one and the lawyers
and spectators hurried from the room.
All that Stuckey would say concern
ing his attitude in the case was that
he had refused to go into the details
as he believed that it was his duty to
protect Lorena Sutherland. Mrs.
Stuckey charged unfairness in the trial
of the case and said: "Many men are
at large. in this city who have done
much worse than my husband and yet
they are not prosecuted as he has
been"
David Sutherland. father of Lorena
Sutherland, the 16-year-old girl who
figured so conspicuously in the es-
capades of her pastor, Rev. Mr..
Stuckey, said: "The verdict is a just
one, though / am sorry for the sake
of his family that such a fate has be-
fallen him.
Stuckey's bond of $4,000, which was
signed by d number of the members
of his church who still stand by him.
was renewed and Stuckey will have
his liberty again until such a time as
a motion for a new trial is made or
the case carried to the higher court.
The punishment on each of the two
counts is from one to five years in the
penitentiary.
The conviction which was secured to-
day is the beginning Of the end of a.
case which has attracted wide attention
in this part of the state. Last July
Wallace Stuckey, who was the editor of
a Williamsburg newspaper and pastor
of one of the churches, suddenly drop
ped out of sight. He left behind him
a devoted wife and family of three
children, in destitute circumstances and
numerous debts scattered about the
town and county.
The newspaper was seized by the
former owner to whom it had been
mortgaged when it was purchased by
Stuckey. Nothing was heard of the
minister for some time and his friends
insisted that he had met with foul play
though there was nothing to justify
this prediction save the fact that he
could not be located.
A few weeks after his disappearance
Lorena Sutherland, a 16-year-old girl
and member of Rev. Mr.. Stuckeys
church. dropped out Of sight and the
tongues which had not wagged told of
their beliefs. and disbeliefs in their
former pastor. He had loyal friends
who stood by him then and some of
them yet maintain that he is more
sinned against than people suppose.
Following the disappearance of the
Sutherland girl the couple was located
in Chicago living together in poverty.
They were brought back to Ottawa, the
county seat of the county in which VIII
liamsburg is located, and the trial today
which resulted in a conviction on two
counts closes the first chapter of the
romance of Lorena Sutherland and her
pastor.
In the trial of the case the girl turned
against her preacher lover and told the
complete story of their elopement and
their life in Chicago, many of the de-
tails being too revolving for the public
At no time did she spare him and pro-
| duced notes laden with loving messages
which she says were written by
Stuckey. It is said that on the first
ballot taken one juryman voted for ac-
qufttaI but that on the second ballot
every member voted for conviction on
the two charges which were made by
the prosecution.
Closing of Case.
Stuckey's testimony yesterday was
disappointment to the hundreds
who crowded the little court room to
hear him speak in his own defense.
His direct tes1sxQQnz was given n less
than ten mfnuteA
During that time he did not refer
Il