Hesterly Trial Now On At Forsyth

 State Springs Surprise By Introducing Confession Made In Miles City

To Assistant District Attorney Custer County -
Required 14 Hours To Secure a Jury

The trial of Arthur Hesterly, who is charged with the murder of Peter Jakobi and his niece, Matilda Latsch, at their home east of Forsyth, Jan. 8, was begun in district court at Forsyth before Judge J. G. Jeffries, Tuesday. The jury was secured after 14 hours of questioning.

The Billings Gazette says:
Three witnesses, C. B. Taber, county engineer; Mrs. George Kay, niece of Peter Jakobi, and Chick Patterson, who assisted in capturing Hesterly, were introduced by the state.

Mrs. Kay testified that she and her brother, Peter Jakobi, drove to the Jakobi ranch east of Forsyth on the afternoon of January 8, where she discovered Hesterly hiding behind the door in a bedroom but did not see her uncle and cousin. Failing to find a gun in the house or bunk house she stated they left for the Patterson ranch nearby where a phone call was sent to Forsyth for officers.

Patterson stated that he accompanied young Jakobi and Dan Donahue in a car to the Jakobi ranch, where they saw a man making his way up the river toward the railroad tracks. He stated that he drove the car as far as he could in the direction of the man while his companions started on foot to head him off. On reaching Hesterly, Patterson said that he spoke to him and asked him if he was the man at the Jakobi ranch house and Hesterly replied that he was. He asked him regarding Peter Jakobi and his niece and the stated that he had killed them and put their bodies in a nearby haystack. Hesterly did not resist when he asked him for the gun which he carried, Mr. Patterson stated.

The list of jurors are Glenn Kent, Sumatra; John Wangen, Forsyth; Gust Hellos, Arthur Lindgren, Roy Byerly and Ole Holland, all of Ingomar. G. M. Marvin, Sumatra; Edwin Holbert, Birney; G. R. Cramer, Finch; Fred Haughawont and W. H. Mitchell, Rock Springs, and Ward Stage, Forsyth.

State Springs Confession

Coming as a surprise was the reading of a confession Wednesday afternoon which was made by Hesterly to G. A. Herrick of Miles City, deputy county attorney of Custer county, and which has been in Mr. Herrick’s possession since that time.

Attorneys for the defense objected to the introduction of the statement on the ground that County Attorney F. F. Haynes had said that only one written statement was in existence. Mr. Herrick asserted that Haynes did not know there was such a statement until 1:30 o’clock Wednesday. The statement was written at the request of Hesterly, all taken in his own words, the man not having been questioned in any way, it was brought out by Mr. Herrick. It contains substantially the same story of the killing given Forsyth officials.

After giving his age and place of residence the confessions says, “I got on a train in North Dakota and came to Miles City Christmas day. I spent December 28 at Cartersville and went to the Jakobi ranch about three in the afternoon. I got something to eat. The man and woman came. I was looking for money and found about 20 cents. I put it in my pocket. When they came to the house I got ready to shoot them. Shot the man first, shot the woman, shot the man again. The woman got up on her knees. I clubbed her with a rifle, which I found in the smokehouse. I clubbed the woman and clubbed the man. I got the axe and chopped the woman’s throat and chopped the man. I then got supper. Next morning I got the wheelbarrow and took the man’s body and hid it in the straw. I then got the woman’s body and hid it. I planned to stay on the place and live.”

Of his discovery at the ranch by Mrs. George Kay and young Peter Jakobi and others on January 10, he said, “When the man and woman came and went away, I got an old suitcase and filled it with clothes. I had gone about 100 yards when two men came to the house. One man caught up with me. He said it was a nice day and wanted to know where I’d been. I told them where I’d killed them. I gave them a revolver. They took me to the house and tied my hands. The sheriff came, and I uncovered the bodies. They took me to town to the sheriff’s office where they asked me questions.” (May 27, 1926) Print this post