The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-16
GATES HAS A RECORD
BATH HOUSE THIEF SAID TO HAVE
BEEN BAD SINCE CHILDHOOD.
HE MAY BE A KLEPTOMANIAC.
SAYS HE is OUT OF HIS HEAD AT
TIMES.

Gates Comes From There and Has
a Bad History-Robbed Drug
Store and Stole Pistol and Watch.
Gates Admits the Charge, but Says
the Matter Was flushed Up-Says
He Did Not Steal Boris Watch.
A letter from Anthony Fla, to the
Morning News says that ]. L. o. Gates,
who is in Jail here for robbing bath
ing houses at Tybee, and who has
claimed to come from Ocala, is we'll
known in Anthony, where his home is,
and that he has been committing all
sorts of depredations there ever since
his childhood. The letter also says
that Gates had to leave Anthony in
1885, as a warrant was issued in De-
cember of that year charging him with
burglarizing the drug store of DR.. D.
A. Smith, and stealing a gold watch.
Gates is in Jail awaiting trial for
stealing two watches from bathing
houses at Tybee. He entered the bath
| house of Mr.. Frank C. Battey and
stole a watch and a sum of money,
and also a bathing house occupied by
Mr.. Percy Sugden, where he took a
watch and 1920.
A Morning News reporter saw Gates
at the Jail yesterday. The young man,
in a rather contradictory manner, de-
MED some of the accusations of the
| letter, but admitted that he had got
ten into trouble several times when
l was young and didn't have any bet
| ter sense"
Was there a warrant issued for you
I l.
! Smiths drug store at Anthony" the
| prisoner was asked.
NO." he answered. Il have been
| home several times since then, and L
| have done nothing wrong for the last
! seven years, except the trouble 1 have
| gotten into here"
Admitted RObbing Drug store.
Gates admitted that he had robbed
Smiths drug store, however, but says
| that it was done when he was very
| young and that the only thing ne Sc
cured in the robbery was an old pistol.
When asked if he had not stolen a
watch when he entered the drug store
he answered, well, if 1 did take a
| watch l do not remember anything
about it." He admitted, however, that
it was possible that he had taken a
watch.
Il don't know what was the matter
with me, but 1 think 1 must have. been
out of my head or something" he add
| ed.
| When asked if he thought he was a
kleptomaniac, Gates did not know the
| meaning of the word, but when it was
explained to him he said that he might
be-he didn't know.
From Gates statements, although he
| tried to convey the impression that he
| had merely been a victim to tempta-
| ton upon several occasions. it is ev-
ident that his criminal career did net
have it's inception in Savannah. His
! statement that he had gotten into
| trouble many times when he was
young and didn't have tllN, better sense
was ambiguous, and close questioning
| did not bring satisfactory answers.
a Study In CriminoIOgy.
The young man is a very interesting
| study in criminology At times he APP
pears to be rather dull, Intellectually,
and at other times his eyes, which are
| set close together, sparkle with a
crafty light, and it is quite evident
that he is highly interested with the
! impression he is conveying. Withal,
however, he appears to be frank and
rather innocent. He openly admits that
| he stole Mr.. Battey's and Mr.. Sug-
denis watches and money but he seems
to think that he should be pitied for
| these offenses rather than condemned.
| He does not seem to realize in any
! way that he is in custody charged with
| two serious crimes and that perhaps
several other charges will probably
materialiZe before he regains his lib
erty.
AS to the watch which was found in
| his possession which he said belonged
to his sister, and which has been iden-
titled by I. d. Boris of Macon, he vir-
tually admitted the theft but tried to
| extenuate matters by saying that his
intentions were alright.
Gates at first stoutly denied stealing
Boris watch, but said that he had
found it. When questioned further he
said:
His story of the Train Theft.
'The man who claims the watch got
| awful sick and was lying all over his
seat When I entered the car saw the
watch slide off the seat. 1 put it back
| but he cursed me and called me bad
names. Then the watch fell to the floor
again and tried to give it back to the
man, but he would not take it. I
couldn't do anything with him, so 1
kept the watch, intending to give it to
him later on. That was on the train
coming from Macon on the Elk's ex
cursion to Tybee. Later l lost track of
| the man who lost the watch. so I kent
| -, Hii S|Chi H. LOOK the
other stuff alright, but never stole
Boris watch"
When asked why he had not told the
| truth when he was first arrested, about
| Mr.. Battey's and Mr. Sugden's prop
erty, Gates said:
Wen they had me right about the
stuff | got from Battey. and I knew it.
To tell you the truth Twas clean
scared to death so 1 lied about the
other watches, because 1 was afraid to
tell the truth. If 1 hadn't been so
irlghtened | would have owned up. 1
had never been in any courts before
and l didn't know what to do
Gates said that he has Written to his
father in Anthony and expects him
here in few days