Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-08-22
JESTER SHOT GATES
Dying Confession of Murder
Thirty-three Years Ago.
.EICTll A BROTHER OF J. ". GATES

Near W~arrcnsburg, Mo-, While on
Hunting Trip by Jester, Who
Was Arrested and Escaped.
CARBONDALE, ILL.,, Aug. 22.-Thir-
Y minutes before the death dew broke
nut on his paliid forehead Alexander
lester confessed yesterday that he
murdered Gilbert Gates, brother Of
John w. Gates, thirty-thrce YEATS ago
N the Missouri trail near Wichita,
Kan, and that his acquittal ut u trial
wenty-nine years after the commits
| sion of the crime was u~ndeserved. Jes-
Ter was nearly e~lghty-six years old.
Not until he was assured beyond the
possibility of Il doubt that recovery
| was absolutely impossible did he con-
sent to lay bare the terrible secret
| which he had carried for Il generation,
| Ills death absolvcs John w. Gates
from the vow he took twenty-eight
| years ago to follow the murderer of
| his brother to the grave.
The confession jrstiies the inscrip-
| ton on the shaft of marble in Oak
| long before Jester was tried for the
| rhine and Kept in its place after u jury
,ad declared him guiltless: Gilbert
| w, son OF A.. A. and Mary Gates, was
murdered III Missouri by Alexander
lester Jan. %, 1871. aged 10 years and
70 days"
Alexander Jester was betrayed to the
authorities Il quarter of a century after
he killed and robbed Gilbert Gates by
his own sister. Mrs. Cornclia Street,
Who accused him not only of that
rrime, but of the murder of her own
;weetheart many years before. He
has been i'll hiding twenty-five years
and had buried himself far out in
Oklahoma territory. where under the
name Of w. II. Hill he hoped to be for
gotten. Converted to Methodism by an
itinerant preacher, his con fcicnce
smote him, and he longed for tie ON
panionship OF the only relative he had
in the world. He wrote to her AMI
asked if he could be forgiven.
Tho sister communicated Immediate
ly with the sheriff of Sc Igwic& county,
Kan, Informing him OF her BROTHERS.
whereabout and his alias and praying
that he he taken into custody ana pun
ishcd. He was arrested and made a
stout fight against extradition, but
was brought back finally to the juris-
liction Of the Kan sas courts an | placed
on trial. Most of the witnesses on
whom the prosecution relied for Il con
~viction were dead, and the jury after
taking three ballots brought in !, vcr-
dict of Not guilty" testers plea was
that of mistaken Identity.
In the summer of 1870 Gilbert Gates,
brother of the New York millionaire
turman, started on Il hunting trip
through Missouri and Kansas. lie fell
in with Alexander Jester and Travelled
in his company. killing buffalo and
trading with the Indians. After he
had been away from homo a year. and
no letter had come from him, his fam
lily became alarmed, and his father
started out on a search. He learned
that the last place where his son and
Jester had been seen together was
W~arrensburg. Mo. Here all trace was
lost of Gilbert, but Mr.. Gates traced
lester to Bloomington, Ill. There he
found Jester had sold some Of Gilbert's
buffalo skins and had turned his team
of horses out for a. week before leav-
ing for a return trip to Missouri.
Mr.. Gates then set Il trap to catch
Jester, who he believed had murdered
his boy. He visited TESTERS farm,
near Wichita. Kan, and pretended
that we wanted to buy it, finally offer
ing Mrs. Jester n good price FOR it.
She replied thnt she would write to
her husband about it. One Of the Jes-
ter children fell i'll about that time. SO
there was a double reason for his re-
turn. s.
A. A. Gates, the father of the miss
ing boy, with officers, watched for
testers appearance. He came driving
up II day leading a team behind his
wagon. Mr.. Gates Immediately iden-
titled one of tile teams and Il good
deal of the property as havfng be-
longed to Ills son. Vstiat nHeu y ~
Jester was nrrested.s and eounder
threat of lyncling. made a confession
in which he said that he had shot
Gates. robbed him and had thrown
the body Ia a creek near Warrensburg,
Mo. Gatos' body was never foi:nd.
Before his case came to trial Jester
escaped from jail, and all trace of him
vas lost for nearly thirty years.
Testers sister died soon after sIie
delivered her brother up to Justice.
After his trial and aeGaittal lie went
to Indian Territory and was prosper
ems and respected up 70 The time Of lbs
Tenth. ~