The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1907-12-31
REV JERE K. COOKE.
AND WHALEY GIRL
ARE TRACED
They Have Been Living in San
Francisco
GAVE UP CHURCH FOR Low
Cooke Was WORKING az Painter and
Decorator to SUPPORT cIn and
Their Infant Son.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 31.-In
pelting rain and before daybreak the
Rev. Jere Knode Cooke, formerly pas
tor of the fashionable st. George's
church at Hampstead, N. T., and Flo
retta Whaley, the seventeen-year-old
helress with whom he eloped eight
months ago, DESERVING a wife to whom
he had been married nine years and
creating sensation In church and 30
ciety circles, stole away from the little
fat which they had occupied at 118e
Green street in this city and where .
they were discovered living under the
name of Mr.. and Mrs. Gerald Balloon
They took with them their baby boy
born two months ago.
They left behind all they had man
aged through rigid economy to save
for their worldly comfort during the
eight months that search for them had
been made throughout the count-v
Whittier they went has not yet been
ascertained. The police say that no
request has been made to them to ar
rest the pair and that no effort Is be-
ing made to find them.
The discovery Of Cooke and the girl
was made through the fact that Cap
tain Cleary of the Morse Patrol agen.
cy, who had met them as Mr.. and
Mrs. Balloon when they arrived hero
last June from Los Angeles. rscog-
nized the girls picture when It was
published last week In connection with
dispatch from Louisiana stating that
Cooke had deserted Floretta Whaley
and had "given her away to q family
there who were educating her."
The only notice ever taken Of the
couple by neighbors and those who
lived in the same building was to COM
ment upon the apparent happiness and
the devotion Of Balloon to the giriish
mother and the baby boy.
When reporter called, Balcom, or
Cooke, admitted his identity, but sent
the young mother and the baby int
another room, asking the reporter to
lever his tone that she might not learn
of the discovery Of their Identity.
The couple have had hard strug-
gle for even the bare necessities Of
life. Cooke disclosed this after admit
ting his identity when he was oen-
fronted by the police. He has bssn
working as q painter and decorator
when he could fnd that kind Of work.
but there have been times when he
had to descend to the hardest kind Of
manual labor to obtain food for his
household.
Most Of the time since their disap-
pearance the couple have spent In San
Francisco and Los Angeles. Part Of
the time he could gSt work as . paint
er and decorator, which he learned In
his youth, but much Of the time he
has been only day laborer. He want
ed to continue that sort Of life and de-
clared be never was happier than dur
ing the last eight months Of his life.
1T was because learned what love
is that I threw over everything I had
gained in years Of struggle" he said.
1T was love for Floretta Whaley that
changed the whole course Of my life,
and all that now desire II that I
shall be permitted to live in peace and
support her and our child by hard
work. We have suffered, but all we
ask is to be let alone.
my first wife, three days after she
married me-" Cooke continued, told
me that she had married me only for
the position and advantages she could
give me. Then followed years Of an
earthly hell. When I met Floretta
Whaley and learned what love was I
decided to give up my life as Il was
then for life Of happiness with the
companionship of the one woman in
the world who could give me happi-
ness"
my God! What an awakening from
our nappinessp' exclaimed Cooke. "All
| I want is chance to get away. I
don't mind Sing Sing or hell, but 1t is
she. The child was born two months
| ago, and discovery and apprehension
| would kill the mother"
Pacing back and forth, Cooke told
the reporter the story Of his life and Of
his elopement with Miss Whaley.
'The inexorable law must be main
tained," he said. II have preached 1t
so often l ought to know. There is
nothing that will paint black sheep
white. But have my reasons. For
ten years I have kept silent. For the
last eight months have borne without
a murmur all the abuse, the vilest lies
that newspapers could concoct."
Cookies father died when Cooke was
FIVE years old. He was adopted by an
uncle and learned the trade Of paper.
hanging and decorating. He worked
his way through Yale and finally en-
tered the ministry. Cooke told Of his
marriage and Of his unhappy married
life. He declared that his wife ad-
mitted to him that she had married
him for no other reason than that It
would prove a convenient stepping
stone for her social ambitions. He
| oddad TINT n vvotIlh ma "caddiah to