The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-08-23
COMFY MYSTERY May
Be HOAX OR SUICIDE
Broker Mayo Says Mother
in-Law, Mrs. Cheatham,
Vanished Once Before.
THEN FOUND IN PRISON
Wife, Divorce Defendant,
Is Sure Missing Parent
Ended Life in Sea.
DENIES HUSBANDS TALK
Arrests, Kidnapping, Phone
Listening and Alimony Fig
ure Anew in Broil.
THEN FOUND IN PRISON
DENIES HUSBANDS TALK

The mystery of the disappearance.
OF Mrs. e. S. Cheatham, whose cloth
ing was found in a Coney Island
bathhouse, was deepened yesterday
when her son-in-law. Roy A. Mayo
who is suing Mrs. Charlotte Catherine
Mayo for divorce. cast doubt upon
1t by calling 1t a hoax. Mr.. Mayo
made the charge, in an answer to Mrs.
Mayo's plea for alimony and counsel
fees, that his wife and her mother
were engaged in illegal practices in
the West eight years ago and that
Mrs. Cheatham disappeared once be-
fore. On that occasion, the broker
said, Mrs. Cheatham was found in an
Illinois prison, where she was serving
term for shoplifting.
Mr.. Mayo's startling accusations
followed swiftly upon the identifica-
ton by his wife Of the clothing found
in the bathhouse. Mrs. Mayo made
the trip to the Coney Island police
station with a reporter for THE New
York HERALD. where she recognized the
blue tricotine dress trimmed with gray
silk and other garments Mrs. Cheat
ham had worn when she last saw her.
Mrs. Mayo said the dress was hers
and that her mother had taken a
fancy to it. The elder woman had
put it on supposedly to make a trip
to Long Beach with a friend living in
Breton Hall.
The only explanation Mrs. Mayo could
give of her mothers disappearance was
that she might possibly have committed
suicide over the loss of her grand
daughter, Charlotte Mayo. rs months
old. who, she charges. was kidnapped
by Mr.. Mayo recently. Mrs. Mayo said
her mother was greatly attached to the
child and was grief stricken when the
little girl was taken away. Mime. Pierre
Tartoue, a close friend of Mrs. Mayo.
also expressed that belief.
Calls Wife "Adventurer.''
But Mr.. Mayo. In the answer he has
filed in court and In statements to re-
porters in the presence Of his lawyers,
referred to his wife and Mrs. Cheatham
as "a pair Of adventures" He said that
they married him instead of his having
married Mrs. Mayo. The broker adj
mitted great affection for the young
woman and said his suspicious first
were aroused by his son and daughter
by a former marriage. Rutledge and
Miss Mercedes Mayo. At his suggestion,
he eaid, they listened in on Mrs. Mayos
telephone conversations. What they
heard Is part of the evidence upon which
Mr. Mayo asks a divorce and the Gus
tody OF his daughter. Charlotte. Rut-
ledge Mayo admitted he kidnapped Char
lotte under his fathers instructions.
Mrs. Mayo was so upset by the dis
appearance of her mother and the
charges her husband made against both
Mrs. Cheatham and herself that she
was urged by her physician to remain
indoors and not to see any one. Through
Mime. Tartoue. who occupied an apart
ment In the same house, at 131 River
side Drive, Mrs. Mayo denounced her
husbands charges as ridiculous and a
pack of lies, and said they would be dis
proven in due course. The shopliftlng
charge against her mother she character
lied as preposterous. and explained 1t
was another woman who had mania
for doing such things.
The charges of Mr., Mayo are sup
ported by twoscore voluminous afii-
davits. One OF those Is made by J. NJ.
4
other by J. j. williams, former Mayor
of Memphis. who is an uncle of Mrs.
Mayo. Chief Daily deposes that Mrs.
Cheatham and Mrs. Mayo were asso-
ciated with one N t. Neaher on or
about July 10, 1919. in an attempted
statutory offence The affidavit does not
say Mrs. Cheatham or her daughter was
arrested.
Previous Report of Suicide.
Regarding the former disappearance
\ Of Mrs. Cheatham. her son-in-law
swears that In the spring of 1917 she
dropped out OF sight In Chicago. Mrs.
! Chea tham the affidavit states, then was
/ known as Mrs. w. II. Golden and she
was living with her daughter and Mr..
Mayo at the Fernwood apartments in
| Sheridan road. One day. Mr.. Mayo
states somebody called Mrs. Mayo on
the telephone and said her mother had
attempted suicide by jumping into Lake
Michigan and that she was In hos
pital. Soon afterward a detective for a
department store called UP and said
Mrs. Cheatham, or Mrs. Golden, was in
\ trouble.
Mr.. Mayo swears that he and Mrs
Mayo made an investigation and found
Mrs. Cheatham had been sent TO tho
/ Rridnne q lncnl nrisnn IN a CHI trc Of