Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1901-05-09
ing telegram from Kemmerer, Wyo.
EXPLAINS itself

ing telegram from Kemmerer, Wyo.,
explains itself:
"Chief of Police, Kansas City, Mo-:
How have the remains of d. B. Dona-
gan been disposed of and by whom?
Answer at my expense.-Mrs. G. A.
Donagan."
1t is suppofed that Mrs. G. A. Dona-
gan is the mother Of the murdered
man. Donagan's body was buried
Tuesday at Amoret at the exaense of
the county.
KANSAS CITY TIMES EDITORIAL.
The Kansas City Times referring to
the murder editorially says;
The murder committed by DIR. G. l..
Gartrell in Bates county, in the latter
part of March, to which he has con-
fessed, and for which he is now held,
presents circumstances of peculiar
atrocity-not to say fiendishness.
The murderer and his son, who was
with him when the crime was per-
petrated, had fallen into company
with Donagan, the Colorado miner
subsequently assassinated, at hotel.
The Gartrells were practically pen
niless and Donagan, with big-hearted
generosity, invited them to become
his companions to Oklahoma, whittier
he was proceeding to make an entry
of Indian lands, offering to furnish
them with wagon and team and
supply them with the expenses of the
journey.
The elder Gartrell waited an OPP
portunity when his host and benefac-
tor was sound asleep at midnight, in
cabin by the roadside, and crushed
bis skull with an axe, afterward TAX
ing the money found on the murdered
mans body and his horses and wagon
and, with assistance of the younger
man, threw the corpse into a creek.
So cold-blooded and cowardly muir
der has seldom been recorded in the
criminal annals of this or any other
state, and, when it is remembered that
the man done to death had freely
given of his abundance TO feed, clothe
and transport the monster who foully
assassinated him while he slept, the
crime appears doubly intensified.
What gives an added tinge of horror
to the deed is that the person who
committed it is nearly seventy years
of age.
There seems to be not one extenuat-
ing circumstance to mitigate the
blackness of the murder. The courts
of Bates county should visit sure and
swift retribution upon the hoary as
sassin.
BUTLER, May 3.-Dr. Gartrell and
sou, the confessed murderers of ID. b.
Donagan, the Colorado miner, we're
taken to the Circuit Court to-day.
Only one officer accompanied them.
Not half a dozen people were in the
court as spectators and lynching
was not thought Of.
GARTRELL BLAMEs POLITICS.
DR.. ]. L. Gartrell, the confessed
murderer of d. B. Donagan near Nj
hart, this county, on the night OF
March 10, covers and shudders in the
Jail here In fear of being lynched for
the crime. Gartrell's natural bent
for distorting the truth is as strong in
IAN now as ever. He claims that he
is nearly 10 years Of age, when it isl
known that he is but So. He says
politics was the cause Of bis taking to
drink-and to drink he attaches the
blame for all his evil deeds.
The old man proudly shows his
many letters from prominent people
all over the United States. Among
them is letter from t. J. Burton, of
Kansas recommending him for the
position Of chairman of the board of
regents Of the state agricultural col
lege.
The old man is unable to converse
with any meaning when not Stimu-
lated by whisky. hereporters of the
st. Louis papers who came here to in
terview himsupplied him TO his hearts
content and he gave them all kinds of
fairy tales in return. He clings to
the story that Donagan attacked him
and exonerates his son from all blame.
eARTRELL WAS NOT AN INNATE.
HIGGINsvILLE, May 3.-The records
of the Confederate Home here do not
show that DIR. j. L. Gartrell was ever
an inmate of that institution. While
the home was the property of the Con-
federate Association of Missouri and
was supported by private subscription,
Gartrell tried to gain admission. At
that time he spent one day and night
at the home but failed TO get in.