The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-11
GETTING THE JURY.
Progress of the Jester Trial
in Missouri.
SYMPATHY FOR JESTER
Is Widespread Among the
Village Folk.

The work In the Jester trial which Is
now in progress in New London, Mo-,
consists of securing a jury. On Monday,
tie first day of the trial, the names of
the witnesses for the state were called
ard thirty-fve answered present in the
court room. There are 80 witnesses pres
sent. The venire of the men was called
AMI the selecting of qualified jurymen
began, ]. ]. Rhodes and Governor Charles
P. Johnson questioning them on the part
of the state, and J. o. Allison for the
defense
A large number of the men selected as
jurors disqualified because they were OPP
posed to bringing in a verdict of guilty
on circumstantial evidence, and All the
! jurors stated that before they would con-
| Vict on circumstantial evidence it would
have to be very strong, cogent, consist
| ent and convincing William S. Forest Of
| Chicago, attorney for the state, Eys that
| the case as arranged and formulated on
| the part of the state is perfection in all
| it's details. Much new evidence will be
| introduced at the trial on the part of the
state but it's character is being kept in
the background The trial bids fair TO
| be lengthy and very interesting.
testers complexion is sallow and his
face tells a story of sadness and dfsap-
pointment Imagine an old man, bald
headed, low forehead, deep set blue eyes,
| iron gray hair, white beard, heavy jaw,
prominent hooked nose, tremendous ear,
solemn countenance, and you have a pic
ture of the prisoner at the bar. Every
man is asking himself is this old union
soldier a villain and murdered wearing
a cloak of religion or is he a worn out,
pious, prosecuted preacher of the word
of God
The jury so far is composed mainly of
young farmers, ranging from % to 40
years of age, all intelligent, representa-
tive citizens. Every man called had
heard and read of the case, but very
few had formed or expressed an opinion.
Monday afternoon W. S. Forrest of Chi
cage arrived with a printed brief con-
tanning the order in which the state will
present its case, together with volumi-
nous citations of law which the STATE
deems applicable to its side of the case
He was accompanied by~J G. Hoffman,
detective agency of Chicago, who has
worked up the case and has frequently
been in Wichita Several oother detec-
tives are present in the interest of the
state The witnesses that congregate
about the corridors of the hotels and the
halls of the court house are quite
thrdng and present a study for the stud
ent of huma nature. Among them are
men and women, black and white, old
and young, rich and poor, intelligent and
otherwise, some of them have travelled
hundreds OF miles to give testimony
against the old man struggling in his
feetleness for hberty.
TIL county in which Jester is being
tried for his life is made up of a rugged,
honest class of farmers. It adjoins Mon
roe, the county in which the murder of
Gilbert aGtes is alleged 20 have occurred
number of years ago, on the east and
the people OF the two counties are SINH
lar both in taste an habit While tender
of heart they are firm in their ideas of
justice and the guilty hardly ever escape
at the hands of a Rails county jury
However guilt must be established be-
You'd doubt In the Jester case, so far
as known, the state has failed to estab-
lish the corpus deficit and hypothetical
cases are frequently quoted wherein con-
victions on the charge of murder have
been obtained when in fact no murder
had ever been committed
That deep sympathy exists in Rails
county for old man Jester is evidenced by
the treatment accorded him during the
past several weeks by Sheriff R. D.
Jones. He has been allowed to content
himself in a hammock under a tree in
the pretty court house square that fronts
the little jail building, without guard or
attendant. His devotion TO his Bible
and his gentlemanly department since
he has been incarcerated have incpired
in the officers a confidence IN him and
caused him TO be treated by the sheriff
with much consideration.
Much comment is heard anent Gates,
the steel trust king. The cry Of perse-
cution is heard and while the defense
must rely for acquittal upon the evidence
rather than public opinion, yet II must
be admitted that the talk of this kind
creates a sympathy for the accused
which It would be foolish to overlook
testers local attorney. J. o. Allison, is
one Of the strongest lawyers IN northeast
Missouri and the psopIe of Rails county
have implicit confidence in him.
The last murder trial that took place in
New London is still talked about great
deal here, inasmuch as the accused was
q woman. Virginia B. Todd. who is now
serving a sentence of twenty-five years
in the Missouri penitentiary. Mrs. Todd
murdered her daughter. Hester Bethel
She became iulbued with the idea that
her husband was too intimate with his
stepdaughter, and man and wife became
estranged. Miss Bethel lived away from
home but in the same city, Hannibal. |
Her mother sent for her TO come 10 her
place OF residence. Soon after she en-
tered pistol shots were heard, and neigh |
bors rushed in and found the girl dead /
upon the floor
The defense was made that the shoot |
ing was accidental, and D. A Ball ably |
defended the woman. taking her case !
from Marion county 10 Rails on change /
Of venue, but he was unable 10 meet the /
strong prosecution managed by Clay 1
ather, prosecuting attorney for Marion /
county. Under the excitement attending /
the Jester trial the Todd case is still dis |
cussed BY groups OF Rails countysns |
assembled on the streets OF the Missouri /
village.
AN IRISH ROVER