Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-31
ELOPING
MINISTER
is FOUND
RECTOR AND HEiRESS IN SAN
FRANCISCO
PREFERS GIRL AND POVERTY TO
FORMER LIFE
Rev. J. X. Cooke, Who Left New York
with FIoretta Whaley, DESERVING
His Wife, Tells Of Struggle
to Make Living
BY Associated Press.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 3o.--In a
pouring rain before daybreak this
morning the Reverend Jere Knode
Cooke. formerly pastor of the fashion
able st. George church at Hampstead,
L. l., and Floretta Whaley, the IT.
year-old heiress, with whom he eloped
eight months ago, deserting wife to
whom he had been married for nine
years, and creating a. sensation IN
church and society, stole away from
the little fiat which they had occupied
| at 1199 Green street in this city, where
| they were discovered yesterday living
under the name of Mr.. and Mrs. Gerald
Balcom.
As they made their way in the cold.
driving rain in the gray dawn of the
| morning the girl clasped to her breast
a baby boy born to the couple two
months ago.
They drew the blinds, bolted the rear
entrance and locked the front door,
leaving behind in the snug but modest
| little fiat overlooking the hay and the
mountains beyond, which had been
their home for several months, all they
had managed through rigid economy to
| save for their worldly comfort during
tha eight months that search has been
made for them throughout the country.
| Whittier they went has not yet been
ascertained. The police declare that
| no request has been made to them to
apprehend the couple and that no ef-
| fort Is being made to- locate or detain
| them.
Had Lived In Los Angeles
The discovery of Cooke and the girl
with whom he had fled was made
through Captain Cleary of the Morse
patrol agency. who met the couple
when they arrived here last June from
Los Angeles. When the girls picture
was published last night in connec-
tion with dispatch from Louisiana
stating that Cooke had deserted Flor
eta Whaley and given her away" to
family there who We're educating her,
Cleary Immediately recognized the pic
ture as that of the young woman whom
he had met as Mrs. Balloon.
Yesterday afternoon a representative
from a local paper called at the house
of the unfrocked minister and his COM
panion, where they had lived quietly
under their assumed names. Cooke, a
Yale graduate. worked at painting and
decorating, and when hard pinched for
work did any manual labor that he
could get. The only notice ever taken
of the couple by neighbors and those
who lived in the same building was TO
comment upon their apparent happi-
ness and the devotion Of Balcom to
-
Balcom or Cooke admitted his iden-
tity, but sent the fragile mother and
the baby into another room. asking the
reporter to lower his tone that she
might not learn of the discovery of
their identity.
my God, what an awakening from
our happiness" exclaimed he, and then
burst out passionately Look here,
give me a chance to get away.
you are human. just as human as I
am don't mind Sing Sing or hell,
but it is she. The child was born two
months ago. and this will kill the
mother"
Pacing back and forth the unfrocked
minister poured forth the story of his
life and his e1opement with pretty
Floretta Wha1ey.
"Preached 1t HimseIr
whats the use?" he said "The in
exorable law will be-must be-main-
tained. have preached 1t myself so
often that I ought to know.
"Faith--there's nothing will paint a
black sheep white. But look here, lis
ten to my SIDE For ten years have
kept silent. For the last eight months
/ have borne without murInur all the
abuse the vilest lies that yellow jour
nalism could conjure, and now will
speak. Listen and then judge, judge
whether / am as big scoundrel as the
pubIic has been led to believe I am"
Cooke then told of the death of his
father when he was years old his adop-
tion by an uncle, the learning of the
trade of paper hanging and decorating,
which has enabled him to make his living
here: how he worked his way through
Yale and finally entered the ministry.
He touched upon his marriage and un-
happy married life, declared that his wife
~. clxA ha1 nan nYsVfA
him for no other reason than that 1t
would prove a convenient stepping stone
for her social ambitions. but added that
1t would be caddish to dilate upon my
marital troubles"
''Then / awoke to love and everything
else was worthless.
"You know the end. On the one hand
was a loveless life with honor and posi-
tion and wealth and on the other love
and poverty. chose the latter"
He pointed to the scantily furnished
room.
Chose Poverty
..T don't praise myself for the step I
took. It was weakness, 1t was unmanly,
but am only human, and as I am to be
Judged by humans 1t Is but right that
thev should know that I save up all, all,
that had sought for and won. And
now all that L ask is that this may con-
tinue. I am doing mans work; l have
sinned but 1 have suffered. Now l beg
the world to let me alone with my wife
and child can live the life Of a good
citizen. They say am good decorator.
| was kept at work long afterN the other
men were let go during the financial
stringency | ask tie world to let me
be painter. nothing more-to do mans
work and enjoy the average sorrows and
happiness of the average man"
Tife only identification established SO
far as Gerald Balloon as the Rev. Jere
Knode Cooke was his own admission.
Balcom or Cooke. pleaded hard to be
given three days grace in which to again
conceal himself and his young companion
and their baby. He said he was aftiict-
ed with heart failure and several times
was on the verge of collapsng during
the interview.
Falnts in Car
Upon promise that the girl would not
be apprised of the fact that their identity
had been discovered Cooke accompanied
the reporter to a newspaper, office to be