New Britain herald., 1915-03-05
GIRLS BODY FOUND
 IN CLUhP OF BUSHES
Miss Lillian Cook, of New HaVep,
 Shot Herself in Heart.

New Haven, March 5.-The body of Lillian May Cook, the pretty 1s- years-o1d Brooklyn stenographer for whom the police of three states have l been searching for week, was found l in clump of bushes in a lonely part l of West Rock Park, here, yesterday afternoon The young woman had shot herself to death with a revol- l yer she had taken from the office l of the Mayo Radiator company of i this city, where she was employed. 1 Medical Examiner Scarborough said Miss Cook apparently had been dead g. week
 The body was taken to a morgue attached to a local undertaking es- tablishment Coroner Eli Mix said that an autopsy would be performed upon the body today. i Mayo at Scene.
 Twenty minutes after the body had | been found Virginius J. Mayo arrived i upon the scene. Mayo is the man who brought Miss Cook here from Brooklyn to work in his office and who, according to the police, has ad- mitted that while he was living with i his. wife in this city, he maintained a home in Brooklyn for woman Lois Waterbury-Who formerly occu- pied a similar place Miss Cook held at the time of her disappearance. Half a hundred school children who had been attracted to the spot were standing in a circle around the body. Mayo looked into the center of the circle He then put his hands to his eyes and returned imm ediately in his automobile. Last night it was said at his home that he was not in and that it was not known where he had gone. ts,-.,
 Fell on Revolver.
 About the same time the police an- nounced that as the result of their investigation they had learned that Miss Cook was seen on her way to West Rock Park on the day she dis appeared An investigation of the ground disclosed, the police say, that Miss Cook fell to her knees. Then she opened her coat and her shirt waist and pointed the revolver she had taken at her breast One bullet was fired; it entered her heart. Miss Cook, it appeared, fell upon her face, the revolver under her. She died in- stantly.
 After the body had been taken to the morgue, detectives found that in the young Womans pocketbook there was a diamond shaped tablet marked
 pOlson. Then the detectives found friends of the dead girl who told them that she had threatened to kill herself many times. She was in poor health, -the5~said. One of her friends, Miss Helen Wilson, with whom she l ,<-st. tian association building, told the po- lice that about six months ago she came upon Miss Cook suddenly in her room and that she found her standing in front of mirror point ing a revolver at her breast.
 T am just looking for a good place to shoot,'' Miss Cook was quoted as having said.
 On Thursday last, when Miss Cook dropped from sight she went from her room in the r. W. c. A., ad- dressed note to Miss Wilson, asking her to see that her jewelry was turned over to her mother and then walked from the building, with package un- der her arm. In that package the police now assert was the revolver with which Miss Cook ended her life.
 Body Near Judges Cave.
 A strange feature of the case lies i'll the fact that Boy Scouts and scores of citizens seeking the reward offered by Mayo had searched all over the park for some trace of Miss Cook. One of the citizens, Raymond Phil- lips, who found the body, felt certain that if the girl had committed sui eide her body was somewhere in the park. So for the past three or four days he had been engaged in conduct ing a systematic hunt for the body. The place where he found it was about 200 feet away from the Judges Cave'-a spot in the park known to almost every sightseer who visits New Haven during the summer In the winter, however, the place is de- serted and desoate. Mayo had of fered reward of $500 for informa- ton concerning the whereabouts of the girl.
 Since Miss Cook dropped from sight, the police of this city, Brook lyn and Springfield, Mass, had been looking for her. Her father, Frank Cook, had asked the Brooklyn police to drag the lake in Prospect park in the hope of finding her body.
 Leading Double Life.
 Mayo, while admitting, according to the police, that he was the pos sessor of a dual personality and that Miss Cook had formerly been the en- ,ployee and companion of Miss Lois Waterbury who as Mrs. James Dud- ley'' was maintaining a handsome home owned by him in Brooklyn, de- nied emphatically that he knew any thing about the whereabouts of his stenogra pher. It was Miss Water bury, who, according to Mayo's story, 1 ic.t tl,-o borc nf h ic al