Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-07-17
BULL DOG TENDENCIES OF JOHN w.
GATES.
NOW POSES AS AN AVENGER
DEMANDS THE LIFE OF THE AGED
ALEX JESTER.
Is a Man of Many Ambitions, but His
Greatest Is to See the Murderer
of His Brother Expiate HIS
Crime on the
Gallows.

GaIlows.
CHICAGO. July 16-According to the
Inter Ocean John w. Gates, of Chicago,
has many ambitions. One of these is to be
United States senator from Illinois. An
other is to control the steel and barbed-
wire production of America. The third,
and strongest of all, is to convict Alexan-
der Jester of the murder of Gilbert W.
Gates. To accomplish this last ambition
John w. Gates is willing to relinquish for
the present his efforts in other lines.
For twenty-eight years a vengeance on
the murderer of his brother has been one
of his aims in life, and he is the implaca-
BILE prosecutor of Jester, who. he charges,
is his brothers slayer. Mr.. Gates is man
who seldom relents. If Alexander Jester
escapes from John W. Gates when Gates
is fired by the desire for vengeance for
brothers murder-well, he'll do more than
anyone who knows Gates believes.
When the news of TESTERS arrest was
published a month ago, John w. Gates
dropped his political ambitions, his enor-
nous business interests, everything, and
went to the Oklahoma jail, where Jester
was confined. He identified the man at
once-and Jester knew that he did. And
it is generally believed that to the infiexi-
ible determination of John w. Gates is
due the virtual spiriting away of Jester by
the Missouri officers, when Oklahoma
courts seemed likely to interfere.
This is the man whom Jester has as
prosecutor-not in law, but in fact. Dur
ing the twenty-eight years since Gilbert
Gates disappeared John, his brother, has
never failed to keep track of every detail
connected with the case. He confronted
Jester in the Shawnee, o. T., jail and
said:
Don't you remember me? I took you
out Of Jail at Paris, Mo, and read the pa
pers to you"
And for the first time Jester broke down
and cried like a baby, saying. between his
sobs:
God. forgive me! God. forgive me!'
John w. Gates was born in Illinois and
is 81 years old. His brother Gilbert was
81 when he disappeared. John was at the
family home in West Chicago when Gil
bert left on the fatal Western trip. John
remained there when their father, alarmed
by his mothers dream, started out on
Gilbert's trail; he joined his father when
Jester was caught, and saw him in jail;
he was filled with wrath and the desire
for pursuit when Jester escaped.
Mr.. Gates really began his business ca
reer in st. Louis. as the representative of
the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company, and
sold iron and steel goods for that cor
poration, making a success of it from the
start.
As q Barb Wire "MOonshiner."
Just at that time the barbed wire bus!-
ness was in its infancy, and the patents
were all controlled by the Washburn &
Moen Manufacturing Company, of Worces-
ter, Mass. All other manufacturers were
their licensees. Gates, seeing the enormous
profits enjoyed by this company, and be-
lieving that the patents would not hold in
law, conceived the idea of doing little
manufacturing Of his own-becoming, in
fact, the st. Louis Post-Dtspatch says,
what was termed 'moonshiner"-in an
obscure factory. So he hired a building in
Soulard street, bought or made a few ma
chimes, and started to turning out barbed
wire; The high prices, upheld by the heavy
demanded, made the business extremely
profitable, and in it Gates laid the founda-
ton Of his present great fortune.
growth of Gates factory and its increased
product attracted the attention of the
WashbTrn Moen p g3e9Pi who
and, claiming to own everything pertaining
to barbed wire and its making, even to the
ces the FEDERAL Ise Court e against Gates and his is
shop. Gates was enjoying his prosperity:
he refused to lay down" and fought back
Characteristic of him. For years he and
his factory were the storm center of one of
the most vigorous and persistent series OF
At one time he was nearly wiped out by
the immense corporation, as 1t secured an
Injunction against him: prev preventing him him
barbed wire, but Gates again showed the
characteristics of the bulldog fighter that
| he is
His Factory on Wagons.
During the night he placed his entire fac.
| tory on wagons, moved out of the district
into Illinois, and defied the injunction and
the company that obtained it. There he
continued to make barbed wire and to
| worry his prosecutors,
In the fall of 1886 a decision was rendered
| by Judge Treat, then sitting as circuit
| Judge in this federal court district, which
declared the patents on barbed wire in
valid.
Gates at once organized strong COM
| pany. using his former factory as a nu;
cleus, and another in Pittsburg, Pa, a -; and nd
| successfully that. In 1889, he began the alb.
| sorption Of all the barb wire plants in the
adding ' one at a time to his parent factory
and by 1898 he was the president of the
| Consolidated Steel and Wire Company and
| tion to dictate to his old enemy. This he
did, and the Washburn g. Moen company
troIIed absolutely the barb wire industry
of the state.
When Mr.. Gates becams factor in thu
| business world he naturally moved out OF
| St Louis and settled in Chicago, where he
| could be in touch with men of large capital
| and ideas. This was about ten years ago
| He has been a resident of this city ever
| since. He is one of the best correspondents
4 in the country, is a true sportsman, and
| was at one time conceded to be the best
| wing and trap shot (amateur) in the West
|, He Is a lover of fine horses and Is a famil
| lar figure at the race course. He Is of i'll.
domitable energy: he can work twenty-five
| hours and sleep two, and he never admits
| that he is beaten in anything he under
This being true, it looks bad for Mr.. Jes'