The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-05-04
ON TRAIL
OF ELOPERS
-
Belmont and Other Church
Members Send Detectives
.AFTERPREACHER AND GIRL
Another Letter From Him--He Consult.
ed the Penal Code Before He Fled
Couple, It Is Believed, Are HID
ing in New York.
AFTER PREACHER AND GIRL

New York, May Rather than 10
back to Hampstead, n. Il, to face charge
Of abduction for clipping with Loretta
Whaley, the seventeen ear-old heiress
he hred from her home, Jere Knode
Cooke. the former pastor Of the aristo-
cratic st. Georges church, is said to have.
threatened to end his life. The threat,
it was reported yesterday, was made in
the letter Cooke wrote to Bishop Bur
CESS offering his resignation.
Detectives put on the former minister's
trail BY the Queens county officials and
those employed BY August Belmont. are
still on the Hunt for Cooke.
There ii vigorous demand, too, On
the part ~ the people generally about
Hampstead that the effort to punish
Cooke shall not be abandoned. They do
not believe hq viii ever harm Miss
Whaley, and intimate that If he il driven
to suicide they do not think the fate
would be too bad.
A letter written BY Miss whaley to
one Of her former chums, announcing
her intention to elope with Cooke, was
made public yesterday 1t was sent to
Miss Audrey Townsend and read:
Dear Audrey--I suppose you win be
surprised when You receive this and hear
that Jere and ! have eloped. love my
grandmother, my sister, my aunt, and
you, but Hampstead Is tao slow town
for me love Jere more than all and
viii abide BY the consequences.
As we have been such good friends, |
hope you will not think i'll Of me for my
act. We are going out OF the country
never to return. So goodbye
Loretta
Despite the girls assertion that they
intended to leave the country, the detee-
tiyes are confident Cooke and the girl
are near New York and expecteto locate
them within a few days.
District Attorney Franklin Coles of
Nassau county, who has charge Of the
prosecution, said yesterday;
AT present | have nothing on which
can base the issuance Of a warrant
for the Rev. DR.. Cookies arrest. ! am
still probing into the case. OF course,
should the evidence permit, I could ap.
prehend the minister. liz he has mar.
ried Miss Whaley, then he win have to
face the charge Of bigamy. II il hap
pens that the girl has been hred away
then there win be more serious charge
set forth.
4 expect to get clue to their where.
abouts soon. Mr.. Belmont has given the
Pinkertons orders 70 spare no expense in
their search and through them l hope
to learn Of the clipping couples where
abauts.1
In startling defense yesterday Of her
clipping husband, Mrs. Cooke, the deserted
wife. blamed bis heiress ward for the
minister's fall from grace.
Although Frustrated by the shock Of
the disgrace. Mrs. Cooke vigorously ex-
pressed a strong confidence in her re-
creant husband, with a belief that he
was not mentally responsible and that
he would return 10 her.
AS senior warden Of the church. August
Belmont yesterday had many private
detectives searching for the minister. It
Is believed that he Is in New York city
with the girl
After consulting with many OF the mil
lionaire members Of st. Georges church,
Mr.. Belmont made the vow that he would
get Cooke, and 10 the missing pgirI's
grandmother, Mrs. James p. Nhaley, he
promised that the minister would be
severely punished. That Cooke and the
girl are in New York was indicated by
the receipt Of letter by Bishop Burgess,
postmarked IL Manhattan Thursday, ask.
ing that he be unfrocked
The bishop complied with the request
Immediately, and now Cooke Is not only
barred from preaching in Episcopal
churches, but he il also barred from the
communion