LONDON MYSTERY

Hokitika Guardian, 3 April 1925, Page 2

LONDON MYSTERY

LONDON, April 1. A trades man calling to collect an amount at Cooke’s Old School ot Anat,)inv at King’s Cross, where hundreds r of doctors have done part of their ycourse, found a room there filled with gas, and therein were two men dead. One lias been identified as Mntiviiie Cooke, the soil of the founder, who dropped dead years ago. while lecturing to a class, in heart disease. Manville Cooke, who was 45, lived in a cottage, leading a strange existence for fourteen montlis. He was generally believed to Iso an inventor, and lie regularly burned the midnight oil. . He bad not been seen since Sunday. Scotland Yard turned on thirty detectives to unravel the mystery. . Jt soon became evident that the victims bad been poisoned by gas. The voungor man was later identified as Selwyn Foster, aged 20, ami a resident of Bailey. A mass of letters and documents were found in bis clothing. »o •" nothing has been revealed to explain the men’s A post-mortem examination on the bodies of Cooke and Foster took p ace to-day. H is stated that last night the police inclined to theory that on one man died of gas poisoning, and that the other was also the victim of rr poison, but the uetails are not >et available. The police are reticent as to the nature of the document* found, m as to the object of their digging a “ vicinity of the cottage, which diggKG u”is proceeding t a lute hour. ‘it has been discovered that neit.iei of the men were of good cliaraetei. Both bad been gaoled. Cooke was a man of considerable attainments, and despite occasional successes. be generally was short of mm - OY. and embarked on schemes vlncii twice landed him in prison. ■osier came of well-to-do parentage, but be left a comfortable home, ami lie J frequented racecourses. He was, m pn■on in 19°3 for fraud. He duftml to London, and became acquainted tuth Cooke. It is ascertained that the P' u Iml entered upon some financial airnngeinents and frequently they quatrelled violently.

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