Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-28
BE LIEVE HIM G Utility
Baltimore Police satisf ID Cooking is tho
Murderer
The Charles County Suspect Safe in
the baltimore JaiI-Ee Re-
fuses tn Talk.

AS stated in yesterdays Star. Joseph
Cooking, the man accused of the murder of
his wife and sister-in-law near La Plata,
Charles county. Md, was safely lodged in
Jail at Baltimore yesterday. He preserves
the silence he has maintained since accused
of the crime States Attorney Posey has
denied that Cooking was removed to Balti
more for fear of lynching. He says the
prisoner was removed because the insecure
condition of the Jail at La Plata would
have made ii necessary to place number
of guards in charge of the man, and safety
and economy were best met by placing him
in the Jail at Baltimore. Marshal Frey Of
the Baltimore police force has made
efforts tC get Cooking to talk since his
rival at the Jail, but without success. He is
satisfied of the guilt of the man. and sum-
med up the matter to a Baltimore Sun
porter as follows:
Marshal Frey's Analysis.
After my interview with Cooking" said
Marshal Frey, during which 1 was closet
ed with him for some time, feel sure that
he is the murderer of his wife and his sis
ter-in-law. He mpresses me as being con-
sCious now that the story he told of the
murder was not one that would hold water
slip when it is too late. This is natural as
he must know that he is in a pretty tight
box.
Cooking killed those two women as sure
as the sun Is TO rise tomorrow. He was
weak and nervous when we were talking
to him, and came very near collapsinS. l
tried to make him tell what he really knew
about the matter, but all the reply we got
was. L want lawyer.
The fact that he held good reputation
up to the time this crime was committed is
very little in his favor. Lots of criminals
lead exemplary lives until a certain point
ana then go wrong. From what l can
learn Cooking was a of taciturn dis
position. with q stern exterior, and stub
born when stubbornness had chance to
show Itself. He is just the man to have
done deed like this, and there Is no doubt
in my mind that he did It.
The Motive.
CAS- for the motive for the crime con-
tirued the marshal, several theories have
been suggested and some of them may be
correct. States Attorney Posey gave me
minute description OF the positions of
the two bodies when they We're found, ard
this conviEces me that both of the women
were asleep when they We're killed. Taking
this into consideration, as well as other
facts which have already been made pub
hc, l may say that my theory of the mo-
tive is this:
Cooking and his wife had not been for
best of terms. The day preceding the MUIR
der they had quarrel more serious than
usual. 1t was so serious that on the night
OF the murder Mrs. Cooking repaired to
roc IN to sleep with her little son and Cock
ing sought a bed in another part of the
house. Miss Miller knew of the quarrel
Done In Il Frenzy.
That night after retiring, Cooking
broodei over the matter. He ina gined that
he had been wronged, and his disposition
was such as to have allowed this belief to
work him up into frenzy. He determined
to kill his wife
When he believed all in the house were
asleep he went quietly to the room which
his wife occupied and took the little boy
into the room he had left. He procured the
Ratchet from the store downstairs and kill
ed Mrs. Cooking while she slept. There
could have been no resistance on her part,
as the blow which killed her was evidently
the first inflicted.
The Sistcr-fn-Lnw.
% Il do not believe that at this time Cock
ing had thought of killing Miss Miller
That was. 1 think, an afterthought Had
he planned the double murder he could
have gone straight across the hall from
Mrs. Cockins's room to that of Mss Miller
Instead he went back through the large as
sembly room to the room where his little
from the Ratchet.
There, however, he realized that his
s!Ster-in-law knew of the quarrel and might
lie able to assign a motive for the deed 1t
Was then that ne determined to put her out
OF the way, too. She was asleep when her
murderer entered her room, but she may
have awakened and resisted sufficiently to
give Cooking the blow his head, which
is slight and amounts to nothing at all
She may also have scratched his forehead
/; may not have been the first blow that
killed her, but was probably the one back
OF and above the ear, inflicted with the
eye of the Ratchet, the tool crushing
through the skull. The marks and cuts on
COckng'S hands he inflicted himself, after
the murders had been committed. He also
fixed up the robbery story then and laid
his plans to place the suspicion upon
thieves.
He was not intelligent enough, however
TO weave a fawiess chain, and, as develop
ments have proved, his pretense was very
weak one. If he could not DO better than
he did, his best move would have been to
fee
From what / can understand" continued
the marshal, States Attorney Posey has
positive information from the physicians
who made the poSt-morten examination of
the bodies which would prevent any refiec-
tons being cast upon Miss Miller Cockng's
sistcr-in-law. This would do away with the
theory that Mrs. Cocking's jealousy of her
sister and consequent trouble with her hus-
band had anything to do with the MUIR
ders."