Researched by Sharon M. Kouns
Gallipolis Journal, 3 June 1875
Dr. A. V. Gates has left for Proctorsville, where he will remain as a physician during the summer. May our best wishes go with him.
Cincinnati Daily Gazette 30 Apr 1879
A few days since Mrs. Dr. A. V. Gates of Proctorsville, Ohio, died and was buried. Dr. Gates reported death from the effects of a miscarriage. Now it appears that the lady, previous to her marriage was a very wealthy widow; the Doctor twelve years her junior. Today her brothers appeared claiming that the Doctor married her only to secure her fortune and demanding of him the exhibition of the child, which he indignantly refused. Thereupon they, with a constable attempted to arrest him for murder.
Gates drew a revolver and fired several shots at his accusers, completely routing them. More anon.
According to College and Clinical Records, there was a Dr. A. V. Gates, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, practicing in Ono, California in 1870. The following Dr. Gates was born in 1853. Gallipolis Journal 29 April 1875 – Dr. A. V. Gates, of this county, and a recent graduate of Jefferson Medical.
A Desperate Doctor
Peculiar Actions of a Proctorsville (Ohio) Physician
Cincinnati Enquirer 30 Apr 1879
Ironton, Ohio, April 29. – Last Thursday night the wife of Dr. A. N. Gates died in puerperal convulsions at their home in Proctorsville, a thriving village in the eastern part of this county. About a year ago, Dr. Gates who was one of the most successful practitioners in the county, married a wealthy widow of Gallia County. She was about forty years old, and he twenty-five.
This morning, at an early hour, two of her brothers came here after the Coroner to go up to Proctorsville and hold a post-mortem on the body. Coroner Mathews, Constable Hornbuckle, together with Drs. Linsey Mosley and Moore of this place went up on the Scioto this morning. Upon their arrival, the Coroner filed the proper information before the Mayor who immediately issued a warrant for Gates’ arrest. Dr. Stone, the brother-in-law of Gates, was left to guard him in an open barouche on the river bank, and the crowd which had assembled went back into the town.
As soon as they had dispersed Gates drew a revolver and jumped out, firing at Stone who had escaped from the other side. The Doctor after firing a few shots, some of which took effect, broke for the ferry landing. He drew another revolver on the ferryman and made him head for Virginia [now WV)]shore. Carter, a brother of the deceased, attempted to follow him in a skiff, when he ordered the pilot to steer for him, and began firing at Carter who dropped his oars and laid down in the skiff. Gates followed him closer, and he was obliged to jump into the water and swim ashore to save his life.
The testimony before the Coroner, so far as it has proceeded, of two ladies who were present during her illness, gives to show that she died from natural causes, while the testimony of the physicians goes to show that the deceased had never been pregnant.
At this writing, Gates is at large. He is a very determined, and daring fellow, and will be hard to arrest if he should be found guilty. Public opinion is with him.
MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING THE DEATH OF A PATIENT
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 30 Apr 1879
Ironton, O., April 20 – Coroner Mathews, Constable Hornbuckle, and Drs. Moore, Livsay, and Moxley, went to Proctorville, twenty miles above here this morning, to hold a post-mortem examination on the body of Mrs. Dr. A. V. Gates, who was buried there Saturday. It was supposed she died in childbirth, but two of her brothers, who arrived on the scene last night, asked to see the child, or its grave, which was refused. They immediately informed the Coroner, who has been holding the examination today.
Upon the arrival of the party in Proctorville, the Constable attempted to arrest Gates, who at once commenced firing, but luckily hit no one. He bolted for the river and compelled the ferryman to put him across, at the __ of a revolver. His brother-in-law, Mr. Carter, attempted to follow him in a skiff, when he began firing at him and drove him ashore with his bullets. Gates made his escape and has not been arrested yet.
The testimony, so far as in, is conflicting but the public sentiment is that Gates is innocent though he runs like a guilty man.
Daily Milwaukee News, WI 30 Apr 1879
Cincinnati, April 29 – The Gazette’s Ironton, O., special says: Mrs. Gates, supposed to have died in childbirth was buried at Proctorville, twenty miles above Ironton on Saturday.
The Trouble in the Gates Family
PROCTORSVILLE, OHIO
Cincinnati Enquirer 1 May 1879 p1
Ironton, April 0 – At an early hour this morning Marshal Munshower with his Deputy Joseph Fisher, left for Proctorsville, where they arrested Dr. A. V. Gates on a warrant for shooting with intent to kill. Learning that Gates had been arrested and given bond for his appearance for examination next Friday, they surrendered their prisoner. Meanwhile, the Marshal of Gallipolis and the Sheriff of Gallia County arrived with a warrant for Gates. The physicians have returned, bringing with them the stomach of the deceased, which they are analyzing, and will give results tomorrow. Dr. Gates declares that his wife delivered an eight months child, while the physician’s examination shows that the wife had not been pregnant. Gates declared his intention today to kill Dr. Stone his brother-in-law, and two other parties.
Surrender of an Alleged Wife Poisoner
Cincinnati Gazette, 1 May 1879
Huntington, W. Va. April 30. – Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorsville, Lawrence County, Ohio, who has been charged with poisoning his wife, as mentioned in a dispatch from here yesterday, and who had escaped to the side of the river when the Coroner had put in an appearance, returned to Proctorsville today and surrendered himself to the officers, giving bail for his appearance. The developments in the matter seem to be favorable to him.
Additional information found: His wife was Luticia H. (nee’ Carter) McDaniel. They first lived in Gallia Co. An advertisement for partition of real estate was found in the papers of June 1876 …legal court Robert T. Carter (her brother perhaps -wanted partition of real estate) Robert T. Carter vs. John Chick, and Lucinda W. Chick, his wife, of Marion county, State of Illinois, William B. Carter of Chickasaw County Iowa, Oliver S. Carter of Douglas County IL, Lorenzo D. Carter of Coles County, Illinois, Augustus J. Carter, John H. Carter, Luticia H. McDaniel, John B. Stone and Cassandra Stone his wife, and Alice H. Carter, widow of Isaac Carter, dec’d of Gallia take notice that on 26 days of May 1876 in Gallia Co. Robert T. Carter demands partition (lists descript of RE) (Robert T. Carter was appointed administrator over the estate of Isaac Carter dec’d 25 May 1876 Judge Kent Gallia Probate Court) In the obituary of Isaac Carter Gallipolis Journal 27 April 1876 – He was b. Gallia County, Ohio on 4 Oct 1805 and died at his home in Patriot April 16, 1876, peaceable citizen, a good neighbor, and a kind husband and father.
The trouble of Dr. Gates.
Proctorville, Ohio
Cincinnati Enquirer 3 May 1879 p1
Ironton, May 2 – At Proctorville today Dr. Albert Gates had a hearing and was bound over to await trial at the next term of the Common Pleas Court, on a charge of shooting with intent to wound his brother-in-law, Dr. J. B. Stone. He gave bail in the sum of $500 and was immediately rearrested by Deputy Sheriff Jones and the Deputy United States Marshal Merrill on a warrant for shooting with intent to kill another brother-in-law, John H. Carter. He was brought to Ironton and a preliminary examination was held before Esquire Craig this afternoon when he was required to give bond in the sum of $2,500 for his appearance at Court, which he did. R. W. Magee, one of the wealthiest citizens of the county, went on his bond.
Warlike Doctor in Trouble
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, 3 May 1879
Ironton, O., May 2 – Dr. A. V. Gates, who shot at some of his deceased wife’s relatives and scared one or two constables from the State on last Tuesday, at Proctorville, was arrested and had a hearing before Mayor Smith, of that place, this morning. The charge was that of shooting with intent to wound Dr. J. B. Stone. Dr. Gates was bound over to Court in the sum of $500, which he immediately gave. In less than five minutes afterward, he was re-arrested by Deputy Sheriff Jones, charged with shooting with intent to kill John Carter, and brought to Ironton today. He had a hearing before James Craig, Esq., this evening, and furnished a $2,500 bail bond for his appearance at the next term of Court, which was given by R. W. Magee and Mr. Wilgus, two of the substantial citizens of the county.
Jackson Standard, Jackson, OH 8 May 1879 p2
Dr. Gates, of Lawrence county, is a young man 24 or 25 years of age. About a year ago he married a widow some 20 years older than he was. She had some property. She was the daughter of the late Isaac Carter, of Patriot, Gallia county. Mrs. Gates died recently, and her husband gave out word that she had been delivered of a dead child. Her brothers were suspicious and took the Coroner and some doctors out to investigate. The grave where the dead child had been buried could not be found, and the body of the woman was taken up, and the doctors declared that she had not had a child. Gates commenced shooting at his wife’s brother, and at the officer who attempted to arrest him, and he made his escape across the Ohio river. He has since then been captured and bound over to the court.
The arrest of Dr. Gates of Proctorsville
Ironton, Ohio
Cincinnati Enquirer 9 May 1879 p1
Ironton, May 8 – Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorsville, accused of administering poison to his wife and thereby causing her death, was arrested today by Chief of Police Munshower and Deputy Joe Fisher and brought to our city upon the report of Dr. Beggs, a chemist of this city, who analyzed part of the stomach and found traces of strychnine. Dr. Wayne, of Cincinnati, to whom part of the stomach was sent for analysis, had not yet been heard from, but the preliminary examination will begin tomorrow at the courthouse, before “Squire Craig. Several witnesses are here from Proctorsville, and some interesting testimony is expected. Colonel O. F. Moore, of Portsmouth; General W. H. Enochs of this city, and four other attorneys have been retained as counsel for the defense, and a phonographic report of the case will be taken.
Cincinnati Daily Star 9 May 1879
Dr. A. V. Gates, the alleged wife-poisoner is on trial at Ironton, O., today.
The Proctorville Sensation
Presumptive Evidence Against Dr. A. V. Gates.
Cincinnati Daily Gazette 9 May 1879
Ironton, May 8. – Dr. A. V. Gates, whose name has been published in the Gazette as the principal actor in the Proctorville sensation, was brought to our city today under arrest. His trial will be had before ‘Squire Craig at the Court House tomorrow. Dr. Beggs, the Ironton chemist, who made an analysis of part of the deceased Mrs. Gates’ stomach, found that strychnine had been taken into it. Dr. Wayne, of Cincinnati, to whom the other part was sent for analysis, has not yet reported. [Note from smk – Dr. Beggs ends up murdered in 1881]
Fort Wayne Daily Gazette 12 May 1879 p3
Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorsville, accused of administering poison to his wife and thereby causing her death, was arrested upon the report of Dr. Beggs, a chemist, who analyzed part of the stomach and found traces of strychnine.
Portsmouth Daily Times 17 May 1879 p4
Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorsville, has been re-arrested for the murder of his wife, it is alleged that traces of strychnine were found in an analysis of her stomach.
Geo. Butcher, an Ironton ruffian, was sent to jail for an aggravated assault upon a little girl of 7 years. The cries of the little child attracted attention and he was arrested.
The Gates Trouble
Ironton, Ohio
Cincinnati Enquirer 19 May 1879 p1
Ironton, May 18 – Professor Wayne, of Cincinnati, has analyzed a portion of the stomach of Mrs. Dr. Gates, who died in convulsions at Proctorville some three weeks ago, the particulars of which appeared in these columns. Professor Wayne finds strychnine, the same as Dr. Beggs, of this city. Dr. Gates is still in jail here. The Common Pleas Court will convene on June 3d, at which time he will be called for trial. The prosecution will be ably represented by Hons. C. H. Grosvenor, W. A. Hutchins, W. W. Johnson, Thomas Cherrington, and John Hamilton. The defense was by Colonel O. F. Moore, W. S. McCune, Ira McGinnis, and Generals Enoch and Gibson.
Dr. Gates Indicted
Cincinnati Enquirer 7 June 1879 p1 Ironton, Ohio.
Ironton, June 6. – The grand Jury rose today, reporting two indictments against Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorsville, one for murder, the other for shooting with intent to kill. The case will be called for trial in a few days. On account of the high standing of all parties concerned great interest is being manifested.
Ironton, Ohio Court Notes
Cincinnati Daily Gazette 14 June 1879
The trial of Dr. A. V. Gates, for the murder of his wife by administering two grains of strychnine, as it is charged in the indictment returned by the Grand Jury, and upon another charge of shooting with intent to kill, has been set for Monday, July 7. Jackson Paige, colored, was found guilty of burglarizing the drug store of Ball Bros., this city, in February last, for $80. Seventeen indictments for crimes and misdemeanors were found by the Grand Jury, making this by far the longest criminal docket the Prosecutor has had on his hands for many a term.
Portsmouth Daily Times 14 June 1879 p2
Dr. A. V. Gates was arraigned at Ironton last Saturday for murder in the first degree on the charge of poisoning his wife.
Wife Murder
Cincinnati Daily Gazette 8 July 1879
Trial of Dr. Gates, at Ironton, Charged with the Murder of His Wife.
Ironton, O., July 7 – At an early hour this morning, witnesses and others began pouring into our city to attend the trial of Dr. A. V. Gates, indicted at the May term of our Common Pleas Court for murder in the first degree. The indictment charges that he caused the death of his wife on April 24 by giving her strychnine. A full account of the affair has already appeared in the Gazette.
The steamer Fannie Dugan brought a large number of witnesses and friends of the defendant from Proctorville, O., where the appalling tragedy was enacted. It is the all-absorbing topic of conversation, and our spacious courtroom was densely packed long before the hour of convening at 1 p.m., Hon. J. J. Harper, presiding. Nothing was accomplished until 1:30 when the work of impaneling a jury out of a special venue of thirty-six men was commenced.
At 6:30, when the court adjourned, eight out of twenty-two sworn and examined had been chosen, five of whom are from Elizabeth Township.
The accused appeared in his usual calm and indifferent manner, save a little careworn expression about his eyes.
Counsel for the defense is Col. O. F. Moore, of Portsmouth; W. L. McCune, and W. H. Enochs, of this city, and S. A. Nash, of Gallipolis.
The prosecution will be conducted by Hon. W. W. Johnson, of Ironton, candidate for Supreme Judge; Hon. Wells Hutchins, of Portsmouth; Prosecutor John Hamilton and Major Cherrington, of our city.
October 1867 – General William H. Enochs, late of Ceredo, West Virginia, removed to Ironton, O., and entered into the practice of law, in partnership with Col. C. G. Hawley.
Examination of Witnesses in a Sensational Murder Trial at Ironton, Ohio
The Gates Trial [day two]
Cincinnati Enquirer 9 Jul 1879 p5
Ironton, July 8 – The second day of the Gates murder trial has developed nothing particularly new or startling. It was generally expected that the entire day would be spent in impaneling a jury, but one was got together by ten o’clock, when after brief remarks by Major Cherrington, who presented the case for the prosecution, and by Colonel Moore, who led for the defense, the examination of witnesses was immediately gone into. The only witnesses examined were those who had been present at one of the two post-mortems held on the body of Gates’ wife. Among them were Coroner Matthews, who held the inquest and ordered the post-mortem; his assistant Joseph Fisher; George Wilson, the sexton who disinterred the body, and Drs. Moxley and Livesay, who assisted in the post-mortem.
The prosecution proved by those witnesses that the body of the deceased bore no appearance of having been tampered with after death; that the grave had not been disturbed, prior to the time of the disinterment of the body for the first examination, two days after the burial, nor after that until the second disinterment for the post-mortem, held twenty-one days after the first. The medical gentlemen examined testified to making the post-mortem examinations and to finding nothing abnormal or diseased about the organs; also, that at the first post-mortem of the stomach, womb and a portion of the liver had been removed for examination, one-half of each portion being sent to Professor Wayne, in your city [Cincinnati], for analysis. At the second post-mortem, which was held because of some carelessness in the first, the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, and spleen had been removed, and, as on the former occasion, one-half of each was sent to Cincinnati to Professor Wayne.
On cross-examination, the defense proved that at the first post-mortem great carelessness existed in the removal and care of the portions of the body desired for examination. Their line of examination was to prove that even if traces of poison had been found in the examination there had been plenty of opportunities for it to have been placed in the organs after death and during or after the post-mortem. They also proved that other parties besides those who had the right was present at, and took part in, the post-mortem, among them certain physicians, who, they claim were personal enemies of Dr. Gates. It is thought that they will endeavor to put a reasonable doubt into the minds of the jury as to whether it was not possible for some of these parties to have with evil intent toward the Doctor placed in poison if any is found in those portions of the body examined and removed.
The interest in the trial is not abating, but rather on the increase. The whole county is excited over it, and in general, feeling runs pretty high against the prisoner, though there are a great many who believe him not guilty, the victim of persecution inaugurated by his wife’s relatives.
The defendant, who is only twenty-six years of age, was married in Cincinnati last July, his wife being in her forty-second year. She was a widow named Daniels and was possessed of about fifteen or twenty thousand dollars in cash and real estate, and since her death, her brothers, who are prominent farmers in this neighborhood, have had themselves appointed administrators of her estate, and are pushing this case against the Doctor. The latter takes things rather coolly. He sits between his counsel in the courtroom, and, though he rarely takes his eyes off the witness, looks to all appearance as little concerned as the merest spectator.
Progress of the Lawrence County Murder Trial – Brother-in-Law Stone on the Witness Stand
Going for Gates [day three]
Cincinnati Enquirer 10 July 1879 p5
Ironton, Ohio, July 9. – In the Gates murder trial today only one important witness was heard, his examination occupying most of the time of the Court. This witness, Dr. J. B. Stone, is married to the sister of the woman whom Dr. Gates is accused of murder, and, is at the bottom of the prosecution. He was who instigated the holding of a post-mortem upon the body, and it was at him that Dr. Gates shot on the day of the inquest. He is known to be on unfriendly terms with the defendant in the case and was considered the principal witness to handle cross-examination, having a very convenient memory that allowed him to forget and remember things at his pleasure.
On his direct examination, he testified to having instigated the post-mortem as a consequence of rumors he had heard concerning the death of his sister-in-law. He also testified to Dr. Gates having attempted to shoot him on the day the post-mortem was held and swore that on that occasion the defendant threatened to shoot him (the witness), Jack and Gus Carter, brothers of the dead woman, and himself saying that he was not going to be tried here on the charge of murder, but would take them and himself to a higher tribunal.
On cross-examination, as stated, the witness was anything but satisfactory. He remembered but what he pleased, and no more; the matters he remembered being invariably derogatory to the defendant. The examination, however, brought out that he had consulted with the Prosecuting Attorney and fixed up things for the post-mortem before he broached the subject to the defendant. The latter expressed a willingness to have a post-mortem made, but wanted it made by other parties besides those selected by a witness, and also wanted the stomach and contents sent to New York for analysis, he (the defendant) not considering Professor Wayne competent to make the analysis.
It was apparent from this witness’ cross-examination that Dr. Gates told him his wife had died from puerperal convulsions, brought on by a miscarriage caused by a fall, she had been prematurely delivered a three months fetus. The cross-examination also showed that the post-mortem had been very carelessly conducted and that the measurements of the uterus taken on that occasion for the purpose of determining whether there had been pregnancy were not regularly made, but only approximated.
Being recalled, the witness swore that in a conversation with Dr. Gates, the latter had said that Professor Wayne would be unable to detect strychnine, adding, “You must remember that these vegetable poisons are hard to detect.” The prosecution made a point of his, the witness testifying that nothing had been said to Dr. Gates prior to the conversation about poisoning.
On cross-examination, he contradicted himself and certified that he had been talking to Dr. Gates about the rumors in regard to the poisoning of his wife before the conversation was had. He also acknowledged that he had employed counsel to prosecute the case. Altogether his testimony with the contradictions seems to have been rather favorable to the defendant.
The only other witnesses examined were in reference to the post-mortem and were merely corroborative of what was testified to yesterday. It is expected that the medical experts will be placed on the stand tomorrow.
Examining Experts [day four]
In the Gates Murder Trial at Ironton
Important Testimony Elicited Yesterday.
Cincinnati Enquirer 11 Jul 1879 p2
Ironton, Ohio, July 10. – The testimony elicited in the Gates murder trial today, while important has yet been on the whole very unsatisfactory. It was confined entirely to the chemical experts who made the analysis of the stomach, and to that of some of the women who were present with the deceased during her last hours.
The chemical experts were positive in their testimony. Professor Wayne, of your city, was the first one examined, and he swore positively that his analysis showed marked indications of the presence of strychnine in the stomach and other parts of the body examined.
Mr. J. H. Beggs, the chemist of this city, who examined duplicate portions of the organs sent to Wayne for examination, testified. The result obtained by him were identical to those obtained by the latter. Also, the results obtained in the second examination were substantially the same as the first. The cross-examination failed to shake this testimony.
The next witnesses examined were some of the women, neighbors of the deceased, who had attended to her in her last illness. The principal of these was Mary Reynolds, who was called in as a nurse by Dr. Gates on the Tuesday preceding the day on which Mrs. Gates died, and who testified substantially as follows:
“That when she was called in she found Mrs. Gates very weak and flooding; that the flooding continued two days but that Mrs. Gates was averse to having this become known and told the witness if she was asked what ailed her (Mrs. Gates) to say she had some sort of fever. The deceased had neither acknowledged nor denied having a miscarriage but had told the witness the night before she had fainted twice, something she never had occur during her lifetime before. Tuesday and Wednesday the deceased had sinking spells, and on Thursday morning witness was called up and found her suffering from cramps. The witness administered all the deceased’s medicines to her. On Thursday at noon, the deceased ate some dinner and shortly afterward fell into spasms, and then went into a convulsion, in which her limbs became rigid, and she frothed slightly at the mouth. Dr. Gates, who had been very attentive to her throughout, immediately called on another physician, Dr. Dabney, though this was against the wish of the deceased, who thought there was no use in it and had perfect confidence in her husband’s skill.
After Dr. Dabney came the deceased had another convulsion, and Dr. Dabney gave her a hypodermic injection of morphine. About this time the deceased had what the witness described as bearing down pains, or, as she further expressed it acted like a woman in childbirth. These lasted until an hour and a half after her death. In the meantime, Dr. Levezay (sic) had been sent for and came, and the three doctors had a consultation together. Shortly after this Mrs. Gates died.
On cross-examination, this witness testified that the deceased had first called the witnesses’ attention to the flooding which was profuse. The deceased was annoyed. The supposition of the neighbors was that she had had a miscarriage. She was very weak before she had any convulsions and expressed her opinion that she would not get well. On Thursday morning Dr. Gates made up two powders for his wife, one of which the witness gave her in the morning and the other after dinner. The latter was on the dressing table after it was made up in the morning until the afternoon; the witness tasted the powders and found them to taste like quinine. The deceased kept gradually growing worse and had spasms until the bearing down pains began.
The other females examined testified to almost a similar condition of affairs, and one gave evidence as to the flooding.
Dr. Levezay [sic] was then placed on the stand and corroborated this testimony except as to the bearing down pains of Mrs. Gates, on which point he had not been examined up to adjournment of Court.
The prosecution will endeavor to prove by the testimony that the symptoms exhibited before death were those of strychnine poisoning. Thus far the trial has dragged wearily along, and at present, no one can give an idea as to when it will end. Until now only twelve witnesses have been examined, and of these five will be recalled by the prosecution for the purpose of giving expert testimony and two others by the defense as witnesses for their side of the case. At this rate, with 116 witnesses to examine, the end does not seem very near.
Additional Medical Testimony Given for the Prosecution – What the Attending Physician Says Under Oath.
The Gates Trial [day five]
Cincinnati Enquirer July 12, 1879 p2
Ironton, Ohio, July 11. – The testimony today in the Gates’ case was devoted to medical testimony. Drs. Livesay and Dabney, attending physicians, and a number of experts were on the stand.
Dr. Dabney, of Guyandotte, just opposite Proctorsville, was sent for about one o’clock on Thursday, some four hours before the lady died. Shortly after his arrival Dr. Livesay, who resides here, reached the town. Both doctors agree substantially as to the explanation Dr. Gates gave them respecting the character of his wife’s illness and as to her symptoms as observed by themselves. Gates stated that his wife had been prematurely delivered of an eight months child on the Saturday previous – a miscarriage caused, he supposed by a fall from the buggy – and that she was then suffering from puerperal convulsions. In reply to an inquiry as to his mode of treatment, he stated that he had given his wife some Dover powders, some ether, and some quinine.
Drs. Dabney and Livesay, proceeding to examine with puerperal convulsions in mind, were thoroughly nonplussed by the patient’s condition. She was rational both between and during the convulsions, which lasted from one to five minutes. The convulsion proper was preceded by sharp tonic contractions and relaxations. Then followed a steady contraction of all the voluntary muscles; the lower limbs were straightened, the feet arched, the head thrown back and to one side, the eyes were closed and the countenance livid. Just before death the eyes opened wide, showing dilated pupils. All at once, the livid appearance disappeared in a death-like pallor, and the lady in a few gasps died of asphyxia. During all this time she manifested extreme sensibility. She objected to the doctors examining her for fear, as she would exclaim, that it would bring on another spell.
One important bit of testimony elicited from Dr. Dabney, was that after examining Mrs. Gates’ abdomen and placing his hand over her womb, about which he found no bloating, he asked her if he had hurt her. She replied: “No, no; there’s nothing the matter with me there; the trouble is here,” placing her hand on the upper part of the stomach just below the chest. The two doctors, confused by the anomalous symptoms, were unable to obtain a diagnosis, and so administered no active remedies.
Both physicians were examined as medical experts. Dr. Livesay, in view of the symptoms, as he observed them, the normal conditions of the womb as found in the post-mortem, and the subsequent discovery of strychnine in the parts analyzed, was firm in his belief that Mrs. Gates died of strychnine poisoning.
Dr. Dabney thought it pointed that way.
The afternoon was occupied with taking the opinion of medical experts as to whether a womb of the measurements of Mrs. Gates, could have been recently impregnated, and ascertaining their opinion on the hypothetical case above stated as to what was the cause of Mrs. Gates’ death. To the first question, the universal answer was that she could not have been pregnant from one to two months previous. To the second, the answer, more or less strongly expressed was that she died from poisoning by nux vomica or some of its preparations.
Altogether, rapid strides have been made today by the prosecution in the way of lessening the imposing list of witnesses yet to be examined. It yet remains for them, supposing they have proved that
Mrs. Gates died from the effects of strychnine, to show the doctor’s motives. Some racy developments are expected when this line is taken up and Gates’ antecedents are disclosed.
Jackson Standard, July 17, 1879
The trial of Dr. A. V. Gates, for poisoning his wife, is in progress at Ironton. It is said he is a nephew of Dr. Samuel E. Gates, who came to Oak Hill in the year 1843 and remained there for some seven years. [Note: Dr. Sam Gates is mentioned in a story in 1868.]
The Gates’ Trial for Wife Murder
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, 21 July 1879
Ironton, O., July 20 – Since the beginning, on the 20th inst., of the trial of Dr. A. V. Gates, of Proctorville, this county, charged with causing the death of his wife by administering a poisonous dose of strychnine, very little of the truly sensational has been developed by the examination of some of the witnesses for the prosecution, excepting, perhaps, the witnesses Minnie Gillett, Mr. John Sampson, and his daughter Emily, the substance of whose testimony was given in the Gazette on the 15th. No matter how the case terminates, it is certain that there will be a war to the knife between the Gates and Carters, and the citizens of Proctorville, most of whom have taken sides. It is sad to think of all the mischief this unfortunate occurrence has wrought in that peaceful little town, where the accused and his now-dead wife once dwelt in prosperity and happiness.
Mrs. Gates, when married to the Doctor a year ago this July, was a widow in her forty-second year, and possessed some $15,000 to $20,000 in cash, notes, securities, and real estate. Her former husband, John McDaniels, died in Illinois some eight or nine years since, where they were then living. Dr. Gates at the time of his marriage to Mrs. McDaniel, was about twenty-five years of age, rather an attractive young physician, but of no financial standing. Prior to his marriage he had been paying attention and was at one time engaged to Miss Minnie Gillett, a daughter of a well-to-do farmer, Theodore Gillett, who resides about two miles above Proctorville.
Last December hardly five months after his marriage, Dr. Gates wrote a letter from Huntington, W. Va., to his old flame, Miss Gillett, who was then boarding with Mrs. Allen and taking music lessons in Ironton. Regarding the letter Miss Gillett, said when placed upon the stand: “I read the letter once and then burned it, because I had no use for it, coming, as it did, from a married man. In it, he said, “Your present company is all OK, but don’t think of loving or marrying him.’ He requested me to write to him under a fictitious name saying, ‘All would be right sometime.’ I saw him after receiving this letter and he nodded to me as politely as possible, but I paid no attention to him, and did not respond.”
These facts and circumstances will undoubtedly furnish food for argument on the part of the State, as going to show the motive of Dr. Gates in poisoning his wife.
At the present writing, nothing definite as to what the line of defense will be can be ascertained. Col. O. F. Moore, leading counsel for the prisoner, stated in his remarks to the jury when the case opened that he expected to be able to show that the woman died from natural causes; failing in that, he hoped to prove that the accused was innocent of causing the death. Another probable defense is the fact that the first post-mortem was not conducted with all due care, the specimens taken from the body were deposited in the office of the hotel at Proctorsville and remained there out of sight of all the examining physicians for a considerable time, as was also the case on the steamer transporting them to Ironton. The state of affairs was the cause of the second post-mortem being made at the instance of the Prosecuting Attorney and friends of the deceased, which has probably caused counsel to abandon that as an element of the defense.
It is stated that the defense will attempt to show – though in direct opposition to the opinion of every physician who has so far testified – that the symptoms manifested by Mrs. Gates before death were not necessarily those of strychnine poisoning, endeavoring to prove that she died, as Dr. Dabney first thought, from puerperal convulsions, caused by premature childbirth, and that a woman of her age who had never had any children, supposing herself about to become a mother and then finding that a change of life had taken place, would have a tendency to despondency. Thus, they may develop the theory that she committed suicide, in her own hands and not those of the accused administering strychnine. But against this is the evidence of every doctor who has testified, that Mrs. Gates could not have been in the family way for at least one to two months before her death, and some were emphatic in declaring that she was never so.
What the array of 114 witnesses, summoned upon the side of the defense, will have to say in favor of Dr. Gates is only a conjecture in the minds of the multitudes who daily attend the trial, while all sorts of opinions are advanced in regard to the jury. It is estimated that the trial will cost the county in the neighborhood $5,000.
The testimony yesterday has been simply in the line of that given-on Friday, relative to Mrs. Gate’s belief that she was to become a mother, having in fact, purchased material for clothes for the expected stranger. The ladies to whom she confided her condition, under the usual seal of secrecy, believed that such was her condition.
The Gates Murder Trial
Important Testimony for the Defense. [trial resumes]
Cincinnati Enquirer 23 Jul 1879
Ironton, Ohio, July 22. – Mrs. Mary Reynolds the nurse who was with Mrs. Gates during her last illness, was again on the stand this morning and repeated what has before been given to your readers. The only new thing she related was a conversation with Mrs. Gates on the afternoon before her death, in which that lady asked who were the girls the Doctor used to go with and remarked that she supposed that they would be glad to hear of her death.
Mrs. Ferguson, another of the many ladies who were present during the final convulsion, gave another account of them and surprised everybody by saying that she saw Mrs. Darling, the woman who was the only other one besides Gates that witnessed the miscarriage of his wife, give her some medicine.
The two attending physicians were out of the room at the time as was Dr. Gates.
There was not a little excitement in the Courtroom when Dr. Reuben Vance, of your city, the leading expert on the side of the defense, was called. His testimony was listened to with intense interest, some thirty physicians being present, and possibly on it the result of the trial may depend. The Doctor is a thoroughly-read physician and a man of marked attainments. His testimony threw a bombshell into the camp of the State. The case so far has been conducted by them on the theory that the lady was not pregnant, and numerous local physicians have, from the measurements of the womb, testified to that fact. Unfortunately for the State, the womb has been preserved, and Dr. Vance was today given the opportunity of examining it.
What the examining physicians at the post-mortem took to be a tumor he discovered to be one of the ovaries, which had been partially cut off in extracting the womb. Moreover, in that, he discovered the presence of the corpus luteum, an infallible indication that the woman had been pregnant. What the State will do, now that this startling fact is thrust upon them, and what the doctors of this vicinity, who have been amusingly positive of the impossibility of a womb of the dimensions of Mrs. Gates’, as found at the post-mortem, having been recently impregnated, it behooves not your reporter to say.
The doctor thought that accepting Mrs. Darling’s statement of the miscarriage as true, Mrs. Gates was suffering from molar pregnancy, a false conception of membranous dysmenorrhea.
Tomorrow the State will have an opportunity to brining the doctor’s professional knowledge to bear on their view of the case, with what result it will be time enough to tell. Today’s developments have renewed and intensified the interest in the case and afforded an excellent illustration of the important part medical science plays in investigations of this kind.
GATES MURDER TRIAL
Starling and Unexpected Testimony by the Defense – Intense Interest in the Case.
Cincinnati Enquirer 25 Jul 1879 p2
Ironton, Ohio July 24 – The testimony today introduced by the defense has been of a startling and unexpected character, though the end for which it is brought forth has been foreseen. The medical experts of the defense have dwelt upon the incompatibility of some of the symptoms manifested by Mrs. Gates during the final hours of her life with those attendants upon strychnine poisoning. In this way, a great deal of confusion as to the true cause of the lady’s death has been occasioned, and it was the purpose of the defense to contend for death by natural causes. Today, however, the whole line was dropped. Drs. Vance and Walton, of your city, were put on the stand to explain how the injection of morphine made by Dr. Dabney might retard the final convulsion of the strychnine poisoning and modify its character. This was to harmonize the statements of the attendant physicians of the lady present at the deathbed and make them both accord with the effects of the strychnine as modified in Mrs. Gates by the puerperal condition and the morphine administered.
Next, an array of witnesses was introduced to prove the direct act of suicide. There were ladies to whom Mrs. Gates had expressed her belief that she would not live long. People residing near Gates’ office, who had seen Mrs. Gates go to it in the doctor’s absence, testified to the presence of four or five bottles of strychnine among the other drugs in the doctor’s office, and produced one of them, half empty, in the caveat-room. Finally, and most important of all, the person who saw Mrs. Gates take the presumable fatal dose was Mrs. Darling, also the sole person besides Gates who saw the alleged miscarriage. The following is substantially her testimony: “I went to Dr. Gates’ Thursday morning about nine or ten o’clock; Mrs. Gates was feeling poorly; I saw the powder lying on the dressing-case.
[It was one of those that the State have urged caused the lady’s death.] Saw nurse Reynolds give her one; after staying a while I told Mrs. Gates I had a headache and was going home; she advised me to take one of the powders, as it might help me, so I did so.”
The cross-examination brought out the fact that Dr. Gates, Mrs. Darling’s physician, was in the room at the time, but was not consulted at all. “I went home for dinner and came immediately back.
After my return, Mrs. Gates ate some dinner and took another powder.” [It was this powder the prosecution claimed contained the poisonous dose.]
“The nurse then left, and the Doctor and I were left alone with Mrs. Gates; she was resting easily, apart from suffering occasionally from bearing down pains; presently the Doctor left for the Post Office; about two minutes after he left Mrs. Gates asked me to hand her a brown dress that was in the closet, I did so; she took from it a brown paper, asked me for some water, which I gave her, poured a white powder in it and drank it, making a wry face at the time. Some five minutes after she began to jump and jerk. I was frightened and ran and called the Doctor. He came and called out, “Oh, what’s the matter?” and then sent for Mrs. Reynolds. I stayed from then on to Mrs. Gates’ death.”
Cross-examination developed the astounding fact that the witness did not mention Mrs. Gates having taken this fatal dose either to the Doctor or to the physicians who afterward arrived and were nonplussed over the case or to anyone until after the unfortunate was in her coffin.
“Mrs. Gates just before dinner said to me that she could not live; that she had parents, brothers, and sisters, but that she wanted the Doctor to have all her property.” The witness went on and described the convulsions, which were strychnine in character, and also described the lady as suffering from bearing-down pains. She continued, “About four o’clock, while Drs. Dabney and Livesay were out of the room, and Mrs. Gates asked me if it was time for one of those easing powders. I went to the dressing-case, got one of the powders, took it to the dining room, fixed it, and gave it to her.”
Former testimony has shown that after Doctors Dabney and Livesay had arrived the case had been given over into their hands and that they, for want of a diagnosis had given nothing but bromide of potash. Now the cross-examination draws from this witness the facts that they knew nothing of her giving this powder; that she prepared it in the dining room along with Dr. Gates and administered it unknown to all but one lady, Mrs. Ferguson. This lady summoned by the defense as one of those present at Mrs. Gates’ death, deposed the day before yesterday to the startling fact that she had seen Mrs. Darling administer medicine while the physicians were absent, and this explanation of Mrs. Darling follows in the course. Mrs. Gates died in convulsions at about five o’clock.
The testimony of today has awakened the most intense interest in this case. All along there has been a mystery surrounding it, but now the people think they have the clue, and the one theme of the conversation is the aspect of the affair viewed in this new light. If public opinion is a criterion, today’s course of action has had anything but a beneficent effect on the case of the accused. Yesterday evening it would have been hard to find a man who had an opinion to give, and the State looked despondent. Now everyone has an opinion, and they all agree, while from the moment the tactics of the defense became apparent its exultant smile wreathed the faces of the State’s lawyers.
Mrs. Darling who was present at so many critical junctures is the proprietress of a saloon in Proctorville. She was not a friend of Mrs. Gates, though intimated with the Doctor. In appearance, she is a woman in her thirties, with hard features, a grating voice, and a general effect that is anything but pleasing. She has a ready tongue, but it was pretty thoroughly tamed today by the time the adjournment interrupted Major Cherrington’s merciless cross-examination. The present turn of affairs opens new vistas, as it is difficult to set a time when the defense will close.
The Cincinnati Daily Star, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2 Aug 1879 p8
The Gates murder trial at Ironton, O., is with the jury.
Cincinnati Enquirer, 13 Oct. 1879
Dr. A. V. Gates who was recently tried and acquitted in Lawrence County, Ohio, on the charge of poisoning his wife, and rearrested on the charge of shooting with intent to kill and his bond placed at $3,000, has, it is said, jumped bail and gone to Europe.
Gates’ Good-By
Stark County Democrat, Canton, Ohio, 16 Oct. 1879 p7
Ironton, O. Oct. 11. – Your readers doubtless remember the famous Gates murder trial that occurred here some months ago, in which Dr. A. V. Gates was charged with poisoning his wife. The doctor was acquitted but rearrested on a charge of shooting with intent to kill, and his bond was placed at $3,000. A few days since Gates purchased about $4,000 worth of cattle from McGee & Wilgus, his bondsmen, took them to Baltimore, exchanged them for cash, bought a ticket for Liverpool, sent back a photograph upon which was written, ‘Farewell to America,’ boarded a vessel, and has forever gone from the sight of his bondsmen, who are now pining to the tune of $3,000, while many others join the chorus to numerous sums unpaid.
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