The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-20
HOME OF MYSTERY
MRS. COOK, WEALTHY RECLUsE.
DIES, LEAVING NO CLUE TO
HER IDENTITY
WOMAN OF STRANGE FANcIEs
Full Length Portrait OF Her Found
That Is Like One n Noble
man Might Have Had
Painted.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 19.-When
the seals of the public administrator on
the door of the second room of the home
OF Mrs. Bennett Cook, the rich and myS-
ferrous recluSe who died recently, were
broken open, the same amazing condition
Of affairs was found as that which ex-
listed in the other rooms. The place was
packed to the ceilings with junk of all
known descriptions. some of it possibly
being of value, but the great bulh of it
being fit only for the scavenger's dump
cart. Boxes and tons of shells, bundles
OF newspaper clippings dating back for
thirty years, curious fancy work combi-
nations of seaweeds, shells and wax
flowers, Chinese ornaments of every
known variety, widowed photographs
and books, kindling wood tied up in pa
per odds and ends obviously purchased
at bankrupt sales, boxes of mysterious
compounds which smelled vilely, and O
few scattered letters-such things, for
the most part, were the contents of the
room. The only object of interest found
was life-size full-igure portrait in oil
OF the deceased eccentric who spent the
last twenty years of her life in the
rooms.
The portrait is one painted when Mrs.
Bennett Cook was a girl of perhaps
twenty years Of age, when she was
called by maiden name which no one
now seems to know. 1t shows a fresh
faced, bright-looklng girl in a rich cos
tune of the mode of half a century ago.
AS in the case of the smaller oil por-
trait found in the rooms, the name Of
the artist, if it ever had been placed on
the canvas, had disappeared. The PFC
ture in its furnished gilt frame remains
as the memory of a youth the secret
OF which seems destined to be a sealed
book
The discovery, of +bo ,,o,,.uo;A ..,
ems the current belief that the curious
old recluse had an early history of alb
sorblng interest. That she was an Eng
lsh woman is known and that she was
accustomed to the usages Of good So
clety has also been established, and the
portrait is one which only a wealthy
man, perhaps a nobleman, would have
mad executed to a favorite daughter.
Reference has been made to the marked
resemblance which in later years Mrs.
Bennett Cook bore to the late Queen
Victoria, but there Is no trace Of a like
ness in the big portrait to the exsant
pictures of Victoria as she appeared in
the early days of her reign.
For years the woman spent her time
IN attending to her dogs, cats and par
rots, IN making strange articles Of no
pecuniary value in teaching Chinese to
speak English and incidentally lending
tnem money which they never returned
She was eXtravagantly kind to animals
and any sick cat or lame dog which she
might find was sure Of a uomicile for
, the remainder of its miserable life. To
some Of these animals she took a weird
fancy, and their stuffed remains form a
considerable part of the property which
she, dying intestate, has left for the
enrichment OF the state Of California
John Farnham, the public administra-
tor, mas given up hope of finding out
anything about the old woman unless
David Heron, her friend of thirty-dve
years, can supply information Her
letters and papers have yielded nothing
one letter, found yesterday, is from a
MISS /. Mumby lin care Of O. Thorald
Weilham Hall, Retford, Nottingham
shlre' England" dated in 1888, and ask
ing information about brother, but It
rs obviously the letter of a stranger. A
DOCK contains an inscription saying that
II was presented to Mrs. Cook on Dec.
70 1866, by Col. WarreH Another letter,
written by herself, and which. though
Undated, Is plainly very old, was found
among the papers. 1t was superscribed
Dear Sister" but the sister. whose
name and address was not indicated
never received it, for the reason that IT
was never sent. The letter recited that
she had been crying all night because a.
chinese who owed her $1,000 had died.
IN Sucn shape the case rests at pres
ent. The employees of the public admin
lstrator are bringing order out of chaos
and In a few days there will be a sale
When other collectors Of rubbish will
nave chance to add to their stores.