The Bismarck tribune., 1934-12-24
MRS, GIBSON Being
HELD IN bURLE|GH
JAIL BY REQUES' |
Mckirdy, Confessed Slayer Of
Wife IN Second Intrigue,
Returned to Dickinson

Mrs. Gladys Gibson, Stark county
woman accused Of the first-degree
murder Of her husband, was an Tn.
mate Of the Burleigh county Jail
Monday, having been moved here
from Mandan at her own request.
Theodore Kellogg, blond and YOUTH
full states attorney Of Stark county,
talked with her there Sunday as did
John Keohane of Beach, her attor-
ney. Kellogg was accompanied by
H. A. Mackoff, bald-headed and not
so-youthful assistant prosecutor.
Following his conversation with
Mrs. Gibson, Kellogg moved to re-
fute charges by Mrs. Belle r. Web
ster, mother 81 Mrs. Gibson, that the
two daughters of the accused woman
had been spirited away from Dickin-
son. In q habeas corpus action filed
Saturday, Mrs. Webster asserted her
daughter was being held incommun-
icado and that her granddaughters
were being held In the custody OF
Mrs. Amy Martinson, sister-in-law
of John Lish, Stark county sheriff.
Two Girls Visit Mother
The fact Of the matter. Kellogg
said, was that the two girls. Edith,
l6, and Pearl, IA, were In Bismarck
visiting their mother, having been
brought here at her request by Mack
off. They have been here since Fri
day.
The reason Mrs. Gibson is not be.
Ing held In Stark county, Kellogg
said, Is that the jail at Dickinson has
no provision for women prisoners and
she would be forced to share jail &C.
commodationS with men prisoners,
among them Joe Donis, Is, branded
by the officials as paramour Of Mrs.
Gibson and vioIator of her 16-year-
old daughter.
Herbert McKirdy, confessed slayer
Of his wife in the second murder nys-
terry cleared up by Kellogg. was held
in Bismarck Saturday night and re.
turned to Dickinson Sunday. He
faces second-degree murder charge
as the result of turning q shotgun
upon his wife during family QUAR-
rel. Officials agree that he was in
toxicated at the time.
Meanwhile, Kellogg revealed that
the prosecution will seek to unfold at
Mrs Gibson's trial story of marital
intrigue and OF persistent detective
work which finally wrung q confess
sion from the accused woman.
Donis Branded 'Gigolo'
The leading actors In the bloody
drama were Mrs. Gibson, her hus-
band, Nathaniel Gibson, q rural mail
carrier, Joe Donis, branded by Mack
off as "gigolo" and the Qibson's
eldest daughter. !:
In conversations Sunday, Kellogg
said, Mrs. Gibson asserted that Donis,
then sleek-haired and well dressed in
the approved manner of the drug
store cowboy. had become her lover
before her husbands death.
Then came Gibson's murder, declar-
ed by coroner's jury TO be sui
eide on the basis of evidence present.
ed to 1t. County officials had no
faith in the suicide theory but could
not prove otherwise, so they set
about the task Of investigating the
case, hiring a special investigator
whose identity still remained un-
revealed.
Three days after Gibson's death
Donis moved into the Gibson home
and remained there, creating minor
scandal In Dickinson.
During this time. Kellogg said Mrs.
Gibson confessed Sunday. he was on
intimate terms with her and also
became intimate with her oldest
daughter. It is because Of the latter
fact that Donis faces charge Of
first-degree rape. Kellogg said, how
ever, that Mrs. Gibson apparently did
not know Of Donis' affair with the
girl.
Witnesses Change Stories
While all of this was going on tho
investigation continued with the re-
suit that four Of the five witnesses
who testified at the coroner's inquest
now have changed their stories. Kel- |
logg said. The one whose story is un.
changed Is Mrs. Gibson's brother. |
who refused to talk upon the advice
Of his attorney.
Kellogg also disclosed tho reasons
why officials were convinced Gibson's
death was not suicide.
Mrs. Gibson had said that her hus-
band came home intoxicated and abu-
sive, that he had undergone bank
ruptcy some time before and was
despondent and that, in this condi-
ton, he had shot himself.
But Gibson was q right handed |
man and, If he shot himself. he held
the pistol in his left hand while he
did so. The bed upon which he lay
was pushed against the wall. so that
anyone using the pistol except himself
would have had to shoot him In the
left side Of the head as he lay In it.
In addition, there was no disarrange-
nent Of the bed. the well-pressed
sheets teing folded neatly around the |
body.
N