The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-17

the jury.
ut was the young men who stoned tn,
frogs" says Attorney Forrest of tl+
prosecution. Youth is cruel; ;old age
merciful.''
We are certain the jurors know moth
ing about the case" says a defense at
torneyn They are too young"
The selection of Rails county for the
trial has aided the defense in another
way. Within the last twenty-five years
there have been three mysterious disap-
pearances in the county. In all Of them
the missing person reappeared after al
absence of two decades or more In one
Of these cases, Silas Carter. a painter
disappeared just after he had received his
money for painting a school house. Foul
play was suspected, and Mansfield King,
a man with a criminal record, to save
himself from prosecution for horse steal
ing in st. Louis county, confessed that
he had killed Silas Carter and put his
body in Lick creek The publicity attend
ing the confession resulted in the dis
covery that Carter was alive in Califor-
MIA.
These cases are well known in Rails
county," says Attorney Allison, one of
the defense lawyers.
THE jurors know Of them and they
will not readily accept the disappearance
Of Gilbert Gates, and his absence for
twenty-eight years. as evidence of his
death"
The presence in New London Of three
children of Alexander Jester will also aid
the defense, even though two Of the chill
dren go by the name of Hill and one by
the name of Jester William Hill, aged
%, and Alice Hill aged 49, are the off,
| spring Of TESTERS second marriage con-
| tracted under the alias Of William A Hill
after his escape from the Mexico Jail
and the death Of his first wife. They sit
beside the old man in the court room all
day long, the girl tanning her father, the
young man looking and listening half
anxiously to the testimony The eldest
| son, Harvey Jester, aged 4s, is to be used
as witness by the defense, and for this
reason is excluded from the court room.
J The presence of these young persons
beside their gray-haired father and their
devoted attention to his wants cannot
fail to influence the jury in favor of Jes-
ter, even though the jury is composed of
/ young men.
Did your father or HIS attorneys send
for your I asked William Hill.
mo; we saw father was In trouble and
we believed We ought to stand by him."
was the answer
The state attorneys feel their handicap
we intend to put our case before the
| jury in the best light says Attorney
Forrest. IT'S a complete case, despite
the lapse Of time. We have done an in
credible amount of work to get it to-
gether, and the evidence shows that
Alexander Jester killed Gilbert Gates in
Gates wagon January 25, 1871, by shoot
ing or beating him and then cutting his
throat, and that he pushed his body IN
der the ice of Aliens Creek We have
the evidence to show this. and it's UP to
the state Of Missouri. That state can
make what disposition it likes of the
case. Our duty will have been done"
Those who read the testimony given by
Alexander Jester just after his first ar
rest in 1871 in Sedgwick county, Kansas,
wonder why he should have declared
that ne bought in Richmond, Ind, a
wine-colored vest, which was identified
as part Of the effects he secured Of Gil /
bert Gates
Regarding all the other property he Sc
cured of Gates, Jester told a straight
story. He had bought it of Gilbert Gates
for SS25, he said. just before the boy left
him never to reappear. The vest he said
he had bought in Richmond, Ind 1t was
too small for him. A A. Gates. the miss
ing boys father. readily identified the /
vest as part of Gilbert Gates Sunday suit /!
and he dumfounded Jester by reaching I
into the lower right pocket of the vest, |
where Gilbert Gates was wont to carry a. /
little powder flask, and producing a pinch /
OF gunpowder, which was there loose
Jester could not explain the presence of i
the powder, but an hour later, after court
reconvened from a recess, he explained |
that while in Indiana he had gone out
to shoot squirrel for his sick sister and |
had bought little powder, which he
carried in a paper in that pocket. Some |
of it had leaked out, he said.
Why, when Jester told his story. could
he not have included the vest among the
articles he had bought of Gilbert Gates. !
An assertion which Jester made while
in the jail here throws light on his char
acter which may explain how the dis
crepancy stole into his story.
Jester has to himself the second floor
OF the jail here, the women's quarters
For a Jail it is an agreeable place. much
better than that at Paris. Its entrance
is through a grated door at the top Of a
broad fight OF stairs which runs through
the lving-rooms of the sheriff. These Nv
ins-rooms are occupied by Sheriff and
Mrs. Richard Jones and their family.
Mrs. Jones and her help cook the meals
Of h., mi
sides Jester-and Jester receives very
good treatment The women Of the Jones
household invariably address Jester as
Grandpa"
One day Jester handed Mrs. Jones
poem he declared he had composed for
her. The poem Is as follows:
THE HAPPY FAMILY.
There was a little family who lived in
Bethany
Two sisters and one brother composed
this family.
In singing and IN praying like angels in
the sky
Both morning and at evening they raised
their voices high.
They lived in peace and pleasure for
many lonely years
And laid away their treasure beyond this
vale Of tears.
Though poor and without money, their
Kindness makes amends.
Their house was always open 10 Jesus
and His friends
And while they lived so happy. so poor.
50 kind and good,
The brother was afflicted, confined unto
his 1as