The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-31
Minister and Young Girl Dis- covered In San Francisco
DISAPPEARED IN THE RAIN
The Man, Recognized as the Rev. Jere Rhode Cook Admits His Identity, But He and Girl and Child
 Again Get Away.

San Francisco, December So.-In pelt- ing rain before daybreak today the Rev. Jere Rhode Cooke, formerly pastor of the fashionable St. Georges church at Hampstead, L. l., and Floretta Whaley, the 17-year-old heiress with whom he eloped about eight months ago, deserting a wife to whom he had been married for nine years, and creating sensation in church and society circles stole away from the little flat which they had oc- cupied at 1199 Green street in this city, where they were discovered yesterday. living under the name of MT. and Mrs. Gerald Balcomb. taking with them their baby boy, born two months ago. They drew the blinds, bolted the rear entrance and locked the front door, leaving be- hind all they had managed through rigid economy to save for their worldly comfort during the eight months that search has been made throughout the country. Whither they went has not yet been as certained.
 The police declare that no request has been made to them to apprehend the couple and that no effort is being made to locate or detain them.
 The Discovery.
 The discovery of Cooke and the girl with whom he had eloped was made through Captain Cleary of the Morse Pa trol Agency who met the couple when they arrived here last June from Los Angeles.
 When the girls picture was published last week in connection with dispatch from Louisiana stating that Cooke had r,serted Flpretta whaley ana given her away to family there who were edu- eating her, Cleary immediately recognized the picture as that of the young woman whom he had met as Mrs. Balcomb. Yes terday afternoon a reporter from local newspaper called at the home of the un- frocl1ed minister and his companion, where they had lived quietly under their assumed names. Cooke. a Yale gradu- ate, worked at painting and decorating and when pinched for money did any manual work 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 the apparent happiness and the devotion of Balcomb to the girlish mother and the DdDy boy. w ncn the interviewer called yesterday it was like lightning out of a clear sky.
 Identity Admitted. Balcomb or Cooke admitted his identity but sent the fragile mother and the baby Into another room, asking the reporter to lower his tone so that she might not learn of the discovery of their identity.
 My God. what an awakening from our happiness" exclaimed Cooke. All I want is chance to get away. I don't mind Sing Sing or hell but it is she. The child was born two months ago and dis covery and apprehension would kill the mother.''
 Pacing back and forth Cooke told the reporter the story of his life and of his elopment with Miss Whaley.
 "The memorable law must be main tained," he said q have preached it so often I ought to know. There is noth- ing that will paint black sheep white But l have my reasons. For 10 years I have kept silent. For the last eight months I have borne without murmer all the abuse, the vilest lies that newspapers could conceive"
 Cooke's father died when he was years old. He was adopted by an uncle and learned the trade of paper hanger and decorator. He worked his Jay through Yale and finally entered the ministry. Since his disappearance he has been working at painting and any other jobs he could get.
 Verge of Collapse.
 Cooke told of his marriage and of his unhappiness after that time. He declared that his wife admitted to him that she had married him for no other reason than that it would prove con yenient stepping stone for her social ambitions. He added that 1t would be "caddish to dilate on my marriage troubles"
 "Then awoke to love and everything else was worthless" he continued You know the end. On the one Hand was loveless life of horror, position and wealth, and on the other love and pow erty. I chose this.'
 He pointed to the scantily furnisbed rooms. q don't praise myself for the step I took. It was weakness, it was unmanliness. But I am only human and as am to be judged by human be- ings, it is but right that they shall know that I gave up all that l had fought for and won. Now all 1 ask is to be let alone.
 q am doing mans work. l have sinned but I have suffered Now I beg the world to let me alone with my wife and child. I can live the life of good citizen. They say I am good decorator. I was kept at work long after the other men were let go during the financial stringency I ask the world to let me be a painter, nothing more; to do mans work and enjoy the average society and happiness of the average man.
 The only Identification established so far of Gerald Balcomb as the Rev Jere Rhode Cooke is his own admission Cooke said he was affected with heart failure and several times he was on the verge of collapse during the interview. On the promise that Mrs. Balcomb' would not be apprised of the fact that their identity had been discovered, Cooke accompanied the reporter to a newspaper office
 On the way down to town, Cooke faint ed on the street cdr.
 Cookes neighbors speak in the high est terms of the pair and of Cooke's de- votion to his supposed wife.
 Mrs. s. M. Miles, who lives in an ad- joining apartment said that she saw