New-York tribune., 1915-03-14
Published April 80, 'O4, 1t
Announced Date, but Not
Church or Minister.
EVEN RELATIVES
CANNOT EXPLAIN
Father of Lillian Cook Talks
Case Over with Fed
eral Agent.

NCNdih INtulHS NcMS VI caNuiu uagi
April 80, 1904, is the only record yet
made known of any marriage between
Minna Meyer and Virginius J. Mayo,
the New Haven man who, TO his cost,
has become so well known OF late. Jul
ian" was said yesterday to be Mayo's
middle name.
1t will be noticed that no church is
mentioned and no clergyman is named.
The announcement was not printed
until four weeks after the ceremony
was supposed to have been performed.
A former friend of Mrs. Mayo said
yesterday: 81 saw that notice when 1t
was printed, and wondered sometimes
if Minna's grandmother did not have 1t
put in"
This friend could give no particulars
about a ceremony. Neither could the
Stengels, who are said to be Mrs.
Mayo's first cousins. A woman member
Of the Stengel family said: well, we
don't know who the minister was nor
where the ceremony was performed
ourselves"
Refuses to Explain.
Up to this time Mrs. Mayo has re-
fused to answer direct questions as to
her status in Mayo's New Haven house
hold. She has been asked fatty If she
was married or not, but has not
deigned to answer.
The same friend of hers, already
quoted, said yesterday: 81 should think
that if she was married she wouldn't
conceal it,"
The story of Minna Meyers life-her
meeting with Mayo, and their sudden
disappearance together-came gradu-
ally to light from those who knew the
Meyers in former days, when they
lived in the old Ironbound District,
Newark's 18th Ward. Briefly, it seems
that Minna. a pretty and spirited girl,
with a good education and well reared,
chafed so under the discipline OF her
she seized a chance for freedom.
"She was always held down. She
never had a chance to go anywhere;
and | suppose, when Mayo came along,
he fascinated her. And then he talked
her into his way of thinking" was the
way some of the old 18th Ward people
put it yesterday.
Minna, or Minnie" as they called
her sometimes, was, as one man said,
"a regular Lillian Russell, with big
eyes and wavy hair" Her mother died
when she was baby, and from the
time she was two years old she lived
with her grandmother, in the house at
Ferry and Magazine streets. Her
father went with his wife to Caldwell.
when she was not more than fifteen
years old.
She was typical tomboy when she
was ten. A man in Ferry Street says
she used to ride a bicycle likt a rae
ing profes ssional, with the handlebars
so low down her nose was on the
steel frame. Once she dashed into a
house and saved child from burning
to death and then ran, laughing, to
join a crowd of boys, her playmates.
Never Went to Theatre.
1t was about this time her grand
mother, with old-fashioned ideas of
how young girls should be brought up,
began to keep Minna in more and
nt with
men, she never went to the theatre.
She was allowed, however, to learn
to dance.
The very person in Newark who knew
most about Minna was estranged from
her by the girls fondness for Mayo.
This former friend, once as inseparable
from Mnna as two girls ever are, is
Miss Mary Gregory, who once lived IN
the old 18th Ward.
az was Mayo who broke up our
friendship" she said. 81 said to her:
'Minna, you remember the experience
you had with Peterson. You found
out he was a divorced man. How do
you know Mayo is not, too? She said
to me: 'Oh, he told me he was a
widower, and he told me how sorry
he was when his wife died. He has
daughter older than | am, Mamie, but
he's not but ten years older than J.
Then | said to her that he must be
twenty years older than she was. That
was in January, 1904, and she was
twenty-one then. She will be thirty
three in April. | think she was Of
Tended at what | said. never saw
her again, nor have | ever heard from
her.
"My mother saw her once, when she
came to her grandmother's funeral with
Mayo. II was at the st. Johns Lu-
theran Church, in Halsey Street, where
Minna used TO be q Sunday school
teacher. She turned to her husband
and pointed to my mother and said;
That's Mamie's mother.
Miss Gregory lives at 10 Camden
Street with her mother, Mrs. James
Gregory, and her two sisters, Grace
and Margaret. Her mother was stern
in her judgment OF Mayo. She said he
deserved punishment"
Not Impressed by Mayor.
81 never met Mayo personally" Miss
Gregory continued Il saw him once at
a distance, about eleven or twelve
years ago. couldn't see what any
young girl wanted him for. Minna
never knew him but short time be
fore she married him. He wasn't half
so natty as the newspapers make him
out. He looked shriyelled up, 10 me.
and Minna was such good-looking
girl. She was a grand girl, really. /
haven't got a picture OF her, for,
strangely enongh, she never had one
taken. Plenty of men would have
been willing TO marry her. She was
brought up we'll and the families had
money. Minna, though, had little