The Washington times., 1935-02-07
WALK SMILING
SIDE BY SIDE
FROM COURT

smiling.
Greta Henckel is the young
woman who served Bruno Richard
Hauptmann that famous second
breakfast to which Mr.. Wilentz
has referred so often. The young
woman Bruno met while his wife
was away in Germany. The
young woman Mr.. Wilentz none
too delicately implies was the
cause Of quarels between Bruno
and his wife.
Perhaps Mr.. Wilentz hasn't
gone quite so far as to name
Greta Henckel as the "other
woman" in tlle Hauptmann case,
but he has certainly and beyond
any possible question implied it.
Yet Anna Hauptmann and
Greta Henckel walked out yester-
day afternoon, side by side, smil.
ing.
Greta Henckel was an amazing
witness.
Chewed Gum
Suddenly into the mad merry
go-round Of the defense testimony,
Greta Henckel, the belle of the
Hunter Island German colony,
came tripping onto the stand.
She wore a very pert green
feather well on the back Of her
head and she never stopped chew
ing gum. Now, that is something,
because most of US in this court
room have seen a lot of witnesses,
but never before had we beheld
one who chewed gum all the time.
Once when Mr.. Wilentz was get
ting very belligerent with her, she
actually snapped it at him.
Greta said "gosh'' and she said
"gee." She insisted that her rela-
tionS with Mr.. Hauptmann were
innocent, that her husband was
there usually when Hauptmann
dropped in for the second break
fast, that Mrs. Hauptmann gave
her q Christmas present and not
Bruno.
Used to Attention
Greta has enormous brown
eyes, very beautiful eyes, and
there is no question that she
knows how to use them. She
used them on the entire court
room and while she said she |
was nervous somehow you didn't |
believe she was quite as nervous |
aS all that. She struck you as an
actress on first night-aS a very |
cute gal with very beautiful big |
brown eyes who was used to hav. |
ing a lot of attention and expect |
ed to smile her way right through
any situation as she has undoubt- |
0dly done in the past.
Whether her friendship with |
Bruno was entirely innocent, as
she Indignantly protested; whether |
it was bit of a filtration while |
Anna was away on a trip to |
Germany we don't know. But |
we do know that Greta has one
great thing in her favor. She
was up there battling for Bruno
to the very best of hel' ability. |
There was something appealing
about little Greta with her green
feather perched on the back of
her curls and her big eyes and
her funny little way Of saying
''gee" and gosh
Smiles ut Everybody
You can imagine very well why
the boys of the Hunter Island
crowd got in the habit of dropping
in at the Henckel home for a cup
OF coffee or to play an innocent
game of cards.
But it was rather beautiful to
see Anna Hauptmann, the very
plain German wife, the woman
who saved and labored and accord
ing to Bruno's own testimony sup.
ported the household out of her
earnings as waitress, Anna who
is marked and marred by tragedy,
walking out side by side after that
testimony in the court room with
the voluble, vivid, big-eyed Greta.
AS she walked out of the court
room Greta was still talking. A
German "Kiki"-a girl who seems
much more French than she does
German, her hands and eyes were
still going, she was explaining to
somebody what she had said and
why. She was smiling at the State
troopers and at the crowd that
milled about her.
Mutual Emotion
And beside her walked Anna
Hauptmann. Her black dress was
very quiet and somber beside
Greta's green ensemble with it's
Sportive little white collar and
cuffs. Her hair was a little out
OF order, as it always is after the
days in court, beside the frivolous
fly-away dark cur1S of Greta
Henkle. Her face was white be-
side Greta's very pretty and artis-
tie makeup.
Whether there was jealousy.
hatred, bitterness in the women's
hearts, no one knows. Whether
they are great friends suffering
together under attack that is
unjuStified no one can tell. All
we know is that two women
walked out of there yesterday
bound together by some mutual
emotion, smiling, hand in hand
and shoulder to shoulder. in de.
fAnSA Of Rr1Inn uo11yo&Vooo~o