Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-06-29

* Dark on May g. 1t had been driven slowly
through the village by a boy whom the
beside him sat a. eountryman who Mr..
Gates, after considerable difficulty, ascer-
tained was one Gilbert Jester a farmer
living IN he vicinity. Here the trail dis,
appeared. -.--
Jester Suspected.
Gates became convinced that the mys-
Serious Jester was the murderer of his son
and Immediately set about to apprehend
him He had not been seen since the night
of May 2. although, as he was in the hal bit
OF doing business in the river towns. there
was nothing especially suspicious in his
absence: He was small trader, the deni-
zens said, and would be gone for weeks at
a time. His farm did not amount to much,
ana was run on shares by a neighbor.
Mr.. Gates went over to take look at the
Jester farm and satisfied himself from the
gsheral ar OF dilapidation that the man
who owned It would be just the person to
Waylay and murder helpless youth. He
conferred with the local authorities, but
the sheriff refused to take action on what
he deemed such slender suspicious. Mr..
Gates set out upon the search alone, deter
mined to seize the man wherever found.
He traced him to Bloomington, ILL.,, where
ne had tried to sell the very gold watch
Mr.. Gates had given his son the Christmas
before. Here the trail was again lost Mr..
Gates was about to try the iDnumerable lit
tie towns on and near the river when a
bloomington gentleman, who knew some
1h1ng OF Jester, suggested trying a sister
COA3ItlIsb otiCCls WIN N-S A4f A4S Al
Wichita, Kas.
Trapped the Murderer.
Mr.. Gates acted on this suggestion and
went TO Wichita, where he called Sheriff
Walker TO assist him. The two formed a
plan to capture Jester. Mr.. Gates went to
the Jester homestead and looked at it with
the ostensible view of buying II. He began
negotiations with Mrs. Jester and offered a
good price. One of the children was seri-
duced her to write TO her husband. urging
him to hasten home She notified Mr..
g.. Gates of the day on which he would arrive,
In the meantime Mr.. Gates had employed
Pinkerton detectives to trace the move
ments Of Jester from the time he left
Bennington, Ill, until he reached Kansas.
They followed him step by step until they
located him on his homestead near Sedg-
wick. At that time Colonel 2. s. Ownby
now claim agent for the Missouri Pacific
with headquarters in this city, was dep
uty sheriff of Monroe county, Mo-, and,
after the Pinkertons had filed their report
the task of arresting Jester was assigned
10 him. On May /, 1911, he went to JEFF
ferson City and obtained a requisition from
Governor Brown on the governor of Kan
sas. Armed with the requisition and var
rant he went 10 Kansas and arrested Jes-
ter As he was fishing at night in the Ar
Kansas river and shortly after his return
Mr.. Gates and Sheriff Walker saw him
return, driving over the hill with two
drove into his corral, jumped out of the
Of his sick child Mr. Gates, ii Is now said
st once recognized one of the teams as the
property Of his son and when Ownby arrived
everything was in readiness and he effected
the arrest stated. When Jester was
searched Gilbert Gates watch was found
on him and the gun, clothes and other
property were found in the wagon.
Escaped From Jail.
Colonel Ownby returned to Missouri with
Jester and lodged him in the jail at Paris
Mo. A lynching party of several hundred
men was organized along the road taker
by the officers, who, getting wind of it
hurried their prisoner to Mexico. There
he lay IN Jail for months and is alleged te
have made a confession, the story of Ii
being that he admitted the murder and tina
he carried the body to a creek near Middle
Grove, in Audrain county, and, cutting q
hole in the ice, had placed the body II
the water.
Gilbert Gates body was neyer found. Al
creeks in the neighborhood of the deed were
carefully dragged: every possible wood anc
hill was searched; but although a large re
ward was offered nothing came to light
The hunt was finally given up. ..
Mute Witness In Marble.
But the deed was not allowed to die ou
from the memory of men, for there ros'
up to the sky in Oakwood cemetery a mut'
reminder of the wrong that had been done
George and Laura Gilbert, brother and sis
ter of the murdered boy, lay together be
meath beautiful shaft of covered marble
On granite base was inscribed thei
names and those of a grandmother, ant
then below, in letters SO big that any pass
erby might read was this inscription, OF
the four sides of the block: