El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-29

Concerning this notorious case of q
generation ago special from Shaw
nee, 0. T., to the Kansas City Journal
says: Alexander Jester, alias w. n.
Hill, who is charged with the murder
of Gilbert Gates, of Valley Center,
Kas., near Warrensburg, Mo-, has
been arrested, and is being held to
await the arrival of extradition papers
from Missouri.
Mrs. Street is sorry she wrote the let
ter to Sheriff Simmons giving her
brother away. She says she knows
nothing of the guilt of her brother,
but knows he ia the man who escaped
from Jail in Missouri twenty-eight
years ago while awaiting trial for the
murder of young Gates.
Mrs. Street came to live with her
brother at Shawnee after the death of
her husband six years ago. They
bought house together, but soon
quarreled. Jester threatened to put
his sister out of the house and che wrote
the letter to the Sedgwick county,
Kas., sheriff giving him away.
Jester stoutly protests his in
nocence, out does not deny he is Jester
and that he was with young Gates
when be disappeared. In an interview
given to the city marshal of Shawnee
he said:
81 was young Gates best friend.
He asked to accompany me en- route
through Missouri. l did not invite
him, although he was quite welcome,
On that eventful night near Paris we
sat around the fire of the brushpile
and chatted about home. Then we
retired in our own wagons. The next
morning he was gone.
81 made thorough search for him
but without avail Then l went away.
not thinking people would suspect me
of the crime. But they did, and were
soon hunting for me with blOodhound-.
My wife wrote me, and 1 returned to
Valley Center to face my accusers,
Then they sought to lynch me, and at
the first opportunity escaped. Then
l resolved to change my name and live
q better life.
II would have died good old man
had not my sister insisted upon follow
ing me around and demanding money
for her silence. l gave her money for
awhile, because she needed it to live
upon. and then 1 resolved to quit. So
wei and my wife-went away, and l
thought she was lost from US. But now
comes this warrant, which l am not
afraid of.
'Once 1 was afraid of trial. Now 1
am not. There is no danger of lynch
ing me now, and my gray hairs and
past reputation will clear me. 1t is
true 1 have no witnesses to prove my
innocence, but they have none to pro-
'ecute me-"
The sheriff left Paris today, it is re-
ported, with requisition papers for
Shawnee. He will arrive here to-
A. A. Gates, the murdered mans
'ather, wired from ST. Charles. ILL.,,
last night that he will attend to sec
lriug evidence against Jester. He is
here tomorrow.
1t is said the reason Jester killed
Gates was because the latter was en-
gagged to his sister. who is now Mrs. |
Street. This story cannot be confirm |
ID, however, as Mrs. Street has refus- |
I'd to talk about it.
1t is believed by some that evidence
hat would have assuredly hanged Jes-
er twenty-eight years ago may be i'm
paired by time. On the other haud. 1t
8 claimed that the father of the MUIR
Tered man still holds we'll in hand the
Whole story, and will also be able to
produce various bits of evidence in the
hape of articles his son possessed
when he was murdered on the mission
rail