History
Jonathan Ware was a librarian who in 1946 decided to take up a life of crime, developing the costumed identity of Mother Goose. With his assistant King Cole they robbed the very library he worked at, taking Emerson first editions and leaving behind a clue to his next crime in a nursery rhyme. The Human Torch and Toro were called in to help solve the case.
However, Mother Goose managed to best them when stealing the "Goose Woman" painting from the Fine Arts Museum. His next crime was to steal the three "Pepper Rubies" from Mrs. Kronite. However the Torch and Toro interfered with this theft as well, and Mother Goose only made off with two of the rubies. In order to get the third one, Mother Goose kidnapped Mrs. Kronite's son and held him for ransom, demanding the Torch deliver the ruby at a nearby preservation forest. After the exchange, Mother Goose managed to lose the Torch in the woods thanks to a photograph set up with an imitation of Toro crying for help.
Changing back into his civilian identity, Ware showed up with Toro to offer his assistance, dropping the next clue in on of his own foot prints. When the Torch realized the clue was no dirty he correctly deduced that Ware was Mother Goose, but Ware fled the scene. When the two heroes tracked him down to his home, Ware unleashed his trained cats on them forcing the heroes to fall through a trap floor and knocked them out. He then put the two heroes in air tight asbestos suits and suspended them in the room that was rigged to an explosive set off by electronic beams. The villain then left the Torch and Toro to die while he and King Cole robbed the Watch Palace. However, the Torch and Toro escaped from the death trap and easily rounded up Mother Goose and King Cole, turning them over to the police.[1]
Ware's subsequent fate is unknown.