ELOPING RECTOR.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXX, Issue 2, 4 July 1913, Page 1

ELOPING RECTOR.

nuIN OF A J' It EACHEIt. In a workman's tiny llat in Brooklyn, wlio-c :i man an J a woman wero playing with two boautilul < liiklimi, was enacted on April 1< tlw closing sceno iti the matrimonial entanglement of Mr JernmiaJi Knodo Cooke, once famous as tJw roetor of the l'a.siii«tial»lo church of tft, George's at Hempstead, Lung Island. and his fascinating ward, Miss Floretta Whalley. Six years ago, when lie wag at the height ol his fame a.s a preacher, Mr Cooke deserted his wit<> and fled to California with the 17-vear-okl girl whose guardian lw was. ' Although a Into and cry was raised by tho en tiro preus ol the country, tho couple succeeded in concealing their identity for a jear, during which th o clergyman earned a precarious living as a liouscpaiuter in San Francisco. When tiioy woie discovered a child had been born to them, and they lied again and wtindei'td from place to place until they settled in Brooklyn, where Mr Cooke gained his bread as a working painter. Tiio deserted Mrs Cooke turned a deu'! ear to the pleas of her husband to divorce him in order to legitimise Iris tw( children. The grandmother of Miss Flo. ctta \\ halley, a very wealthy voina) , disowned her grand-daughter. O't April 1? the sheriff from Hartlor««. Connecticut, appeared unexpectat the home ol the unfrocked clei.,yinan and served him witli a notice oi . ivorce proceedings. As a warning to otli r couples inclined to yield" to ien jitation, Mr Cooke has lurnished the newspapers with a narrativo of his extraordinary adventurer since Lis elopement. lie declares that he ami Miss Whallev wero often on tho verge of starvation. Wheiever they sought to hide themselves thov wore overtaken by their story, "f could now preach, as the result of my intimate acquaintance with all sorts .and conditions of people, far more effectively than ever Wore, but I shall remain a homo-painter. 1 desire to say, however, that I would never have eloped if I liad known the fearful suffering mv sin would bring on Floretta, whom. I devotedly love." Miss Whalley fervently declared Hiat she would rather Live with Mr Cooke than aa the wife of any living man, but her advice to any girl who I loves asu&he doe« is: "Dont defy the conventions.'' Mr Cooke and she aro to bo married an soon as a divoroo is Wanted. Mrs Cooke states that she has beconio convinced that her religious scruples against divorce wero wrong. She intends to resume her maiden name and devote her life and wealth to tho service of religion.