The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-31
HE SCORES JESTER
Johnson for the State Arraigns
Prisoner
VERDICT ON THURSDAY
Case Will be in Jury's Hands
Wednesday Night.
VERDICT ON THURSDAY

The Jester case will be in the hands
of the jury Wednesday night. The law
yers are now making their closing
speeches. johnson for the state. ar
raigned Jester terribly. Among other
things johnson said, while Jester look
ed up occasionally. and then down:
81 feel the weight Of the responsibility
that rests upon me IN this great case.
I desire to be absolutely fair TO this de-
PENDANT It is no small thing to represent
the state Of Missouri In the prosecution
of this case. Theevidence is peculiarly
cirumstantial,' and the state is required
To prove by this evidence that Alexander
Jester killed Gilbert Gates, and unless
we do this we cannot ask for a verdict
of guilty at your hands.
There were three boys in the Gates
home One lies sleeping under the sod
at Atlanta, q martyr of war, John W
Gates, a poor farmer boy, by virture Of
toll and ability under the possibilities Of
this great country, is millionaire. The
other boys poor body rests somewhere,
known only to God and Alexander Jes-
ter. But money and influence have not
changed the heart Of the only son yet
alive He loves the memory Of that
sweet boy who was murdered on a lonely
Missouri road He loves the old mother,
who for thirty years, has not slept at
night without asking Gods mercy on the
slain lad that she bore. Glory in such
characters. He is assisting the state CT
Missouri to bring to the bar of justice
the man who has wrought so much sor-
row in this once happy home.
'The Pinkertons have rendered valuable
aid In discovering evidence. That is all.
How else can the state of Missouri OBJ
tain evidence? And yet the money Of
Gates and the Pinkerton detectives seem
to be the chief arguments of the de-
tense The boy goes west, but the love
Of home and mother are so strong in his
bosom that he turns eastward. Somehow
he meets Jester, then 40 years old, a
man Of experience in the world, having
served in the infantry and also the artil-
lery in the army. He knew his relation
ship to this open-hearted, trusting boy.
IN Cooper county the boy positively re-
fused to part with one Of his horses,
declaring that he would not part with
either Of them for anything. What is
the motive here, for murder? Sordid
gain. Deliberate murder for a little
money is the most damnable crime a
man can commit. 1 have a son just the
ages of Gilbert Gates. The down is just
coming upon his cheek, and his face
bears the stamp Of his mother 1 would
follow the balance of my life the man
who would rob me Of that son without
giving me the privilege of kneeling beside
his grave.
Murder is already in TESTERS heart
He chokes the boy in the night. An as
- sault is made and to Dulaney the muir
derer practically confesses. The failure
that night postpones the murder until
Hulen's lane is reached. When the trav-
elers enter that lane the boy is alive,
but when they leave that road the lad Is
dead. After the deed is done Jester in
quires Of the first man he meets where
he could find a road turning south. There
are the telltale spots of blood. The body
IS covered and the form is seen by sew
eral witnesses. What viii he do with
the body?
Psychology tells US that there is a
similarity in the acts of men who are
confronted by a corpus delecu, or the
body representing their crime. Professor
Webster killed hartman in the laboratory
Of Howard. What will he do with the
body? Burn it in his furnace. Luet-
CERT killed his wife. What will he do
with the body? Dissolve it with chemi-
Gals in the vat. Maxwell killed Preller
What Of the body? Put IN a trunk and
shipped away. Jester kills the boy. How
will he get rid of the body?
1T is still in the wagon when he pas
ses the home of RutIedge, if he left Jes-
ter as the defendant claims he left him,
down in the woods. Jester received direc-
ton how to rech Paris but he turns and
goes exactly the other way, down deeper
into the woods and then returns, and
there is no body in the wagon now. Jes-
tetr alone is responsible for the disap-
'pearance Of the boys body as we'll az
his murder That day he tells Curt
wright he brought the two teams all the
way from the indian Territory and was
going to Illinois. The teams are nc
trouble except when hooking up and IN
hooking mornings and nights. The first
false statement
From that spot TO Indiana is one
continual string OF false and c6ntradie-
tory statements about that team Jes-
ter has all the property Of the dead boy
And yet this hypocrite breaches the gos-
pei Of Christ breaches from the Bible
which SAYS. Thou shalt do no murder.
on testers statement alone We could ash
for conviction. But old man Johnson ga y
blood on the hounds Of testers wagon
and so did another witness.
oh blood Will cry out against the
murderer. testers agitation and his re-
fusal TO show himself 10 the Kansas
sheriff are significant But he attempts