Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-08-23
DEATH RECALLS
GATES MYSTERY,
Alexander Jester SuccumbS in Southwest
at the Age of 9o-Hid Identity
for Years

AURORA, Mo, Aug 19.-Intormation
has reached this city through Postmaster
/ J. ]. Burke of Norman. Ok. of the
/ death of Alexander Jester. alias William
! \. Hill, aged over 80 years who WAS
| tgIed 1T New London. Mo. i'll July, 1900,
! for the murder of Gilbert w. Gates,
| brother of John w. Gates, the New York
and Chicago steel king and multimi-
honaire, the crime having occurred i'll
/ February, 1871. The old man died on
| August 1 ut the home of his daughter,
| Alice Jester, and was buried at Shaw
/ nee. Ok.
! Jester in the winter of 1871 departed
! from Wichita. Kan, with Il prairie
/ schooner" in which was Il trained but
falo calf EN- route to his former home i'll
! Indiana. He left on his ranch Il family
consisting of wife and two children.
! On reaching the Missouri state line he
came up with Gilbert Gates and togcth-
er they travelled until reaching a small
/ town called Mulberry Grove in Audrain
/ county. At this point the young man
mysteriously disappeared and from there
on old man Jester was seen with both
his own and Gates outfit. Gates was
travelling to his home in St Charles.
/ ILL.,, and had written his parents that he
/ was en- route. Ills last letter 10 his par
ents was mailed only few hours be
! fore his sudden disappearance.
/ Through Illinois and ON into Indiana
Jester Travelled, exhibiting his buffalo
| calf, dlSpoSlng of some of the property
/ that was Gates, and reached Bedford,
/ Ind After resting few days he re
| stunned his journey back to Kansas, tax
/ ing with him his sister and family, tkcy
! driving the Gates outfit.
Begin Search for Missing Man
Azel y. Gates. the father of the hoy.
/ became alarmed nj his nouarrvdl. and
! fearing that some disaster had hetallCn
! him, left his home in search of his son.
! For days he failed to find amy trace of
| him, until at last ii was discovered that
he was travelling with Jester, and on
reaching Hannibal, Mo-. he found that
Jester had both wagons From that
point on to Indiana it was easy To trace
| the outfit. On arriving ut Bedford he
found that Jester had returned to Kau-
sas. and \. A. Gates reached Wichita be
fore Jester arrived. He had by this time
concluded that his boy was dead and
! that Jester was the murderer
Jester arrived at his home late in the
afternoon. and awaiting him was the
! sheriff and AZel 4. Gates. Jester was
Immediately put under arreSt-even be
! fore he was allowed To enter his home.
/ The Gates wagon was with him and So
were practically all the trinEcts that the
/ boy had taken with him. On the head
of one of the children was Gihert'S hat.
| and even Jester was wearing the Gates
boys vest. The team was taken to
| Wichita. Jester was given Il preliminary
hearing. at which he stated that he had
/ purchased all the things of the Gates
| boy and that Gates had gone 10 his
/ home.
Jester was taken to Mexico Mo-. and
| placed in the Audrain county jail T."
/ await trial y few months later he, with
several others. escaped Jail. He returned
/ 70 Wichita ana remained only one night,
when he left his family forever, never
seeing but one of them since. lie went
! to Texas changed his name to William
A. Hill, and took up life anew. He was
past 80 years of age. He was married
| three times while living twenty-five
years i'll Texas. He entered the minis
try and was noted for his fcrvid picty.
and it is a matter of record that lie
dedicated at least one church. But his
neighbOrs were always suspicious of him.
and many looked upon him as Il Grim
a.! inal.
testers Identity Discovered.
After TESTERS divorce from his fourth
wife his identity became known to his
sister, Mrs. Street, with whom he tray
| cIcd from Indiana, and as she was grow
| ing old and having quite sum of money
! she agreed that if he would not marry
again she would purchase Il home for
! both of them and they would spend tn"
remaining days of their lives in com
! agreed and the property was purchased.
/ When the deed was made, instead of be
ing made out to the rightful owner, Mrs.
! Street. Jester had ii made out to him
/ self Only 4 short time elapsed until
for the fifth time Jester began prepara
! tons for entering the matrimonial state,
. and when the fact became known to.
/ Mrs Street she insisted that their com
pact be carried out, but this Jester re
I fused EXaSpcrated at the thought that
! in her declining years she should be tn"
victim of her brothers duplcity she ad
| dressed a letter to John W. Gates tell
ing him of the rightfUI namc of the az
cuScd murderer of his brother and where
he lived This information was the first
that the authorities had received Of jos
ter since he had escaped from the MeNI-
co jail twenty-cght years before.
Mr.. Gates chartered special train,
| took with him the proper officers, and
succeeded in placing the old man under
arrest. At first he denied his identity,
but later admitted that he was AlcXHn-
| der Jester, and gave Il lurid account OF
his life since his escape from Jail
Faces Trial for Ancient Crime
A change of venue was taken from
! Audrain county and the case sent Tn
Rails and Jester confined in the jail at
! New London, where Ill July, 1900, over
| twenty mine years after the crime had
been committed, he was brought to trial.
John w. Gates secured as counsel To.
prosecute Jester Gov. Charles L. John
son of St. Louis. w. $. Forrest of Chi
CagO, and several others. Jester had as
! counsel F. II. Cullen of Mexico, Mo, j.
A. Allison of New London, and j. :. Nc
Intyre of St. Louis, and after five weeks
of trial was acquitted, the state being
unable to prove that Gilbert Gates was
dead, the corpus deficit being lacking.