ELEMENTS OF MYSTERY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 April 1925, Page 5

ELEMENTS OF MYSTERY.

DEATH OF TAVO MEN

CURIOUS POLICE MOVEMENTS. lIV CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. LONDON, April 1. A tradesman calling to collect an account at Cooke’s Old School of Anatomy at King’s Cross, where hundreds of doctors have done part of their course, found the room filled with gas and two men dead. One man has been identified as Manvilje Cooke, son of the founder. The latter dropped dead years ago while lecturing to a class on heart disease. Manville, who was 45 years of age, has lived in a cottage, leading a strange existence for 14 months. He was generally believed to .be an inventor, and regularly- burned the midnight oil. He had not been seen since Sunday. Scotland Yard thrned on 30 detectives to unravel the mystery. It was soon evident that the victims had been poisoned by gas. The younger man was later identified as Selwvn Foster, aged 25, and a resident of Batley. A mass of letters and documents were found in his clothing. So far nothing has been revealed, to explain the men’s relationship. A post mortem examination on, the bodies-later took place. It was stated that the police incline to the th f eory that only one man died of gas poisoning. The other was also a victim of poison, but details are not yet available.

The police are reticent as 1 to the nat lire of the documents found or the object of their digging in the vicinity of the cottage, which was still proceeding at a late hour. It was disclosed that neither of the men were of good character, and both had been in gaol. Cooke was a man of considerable attainments, but despite occasional successes he was generally short of money and embarked on schemes which twice larded him in prison. Foster came of a well-to-do parentage, hut left a comfortable home and frequented racecourses. He was in prison in 1923 for fraud. He drifted to London, where he became acquainted with Cooke. It was-ascertained that the pair had entered unon some financial arrangements, and frequently quarrelled violently.