Gaston B. Means, one time secret agent of the Imperial German Government and later central figure in the mystery surrounding the death of Mrs. Maude A. King, rich Chicago widow, for whose killing he was tried and acquitted, has bobbed up again. This time the Concord man is sleuthing for Uncle Sam. He is on the payroll as assistant to William J. Burns and recently has been running around the country lending a hand in the Federal investigation into war contracts.
This is the first time since Means has been heard from since his suit against the American Railway Express Company for the alleged loss of a registered package containing $35,000 fizzled, and was dropped as suddenly as it was instituted.
The New York World discovers that Means is drawing $3,000 per year from the Government and also that his activities form one of the mysteries of the war contracts’ investigation.
The World goes to work and reminds its readers that, ack in 1914, before he became chief ot he Government’s secret service machine, Burns operated a private detective agency in New York and Means was one of his operatives.
Probably this explains, says The World, why Attorney General Daugherty appointed Means to his present post on the personal recommendation of Chief Burns.
It was while working for Burns that Means first met Mrs. Maude Robinson King, widow of a rich Chicago manufacturer and soon became her confidential agent and adviser. He was often entrusted with large sums of money by his employer and advised her in many of her investments. In fact, Means was one of the high lights around the King household.
It was Means who took the leading role in the attempt to have King’s second will declared valid. This will was discovered by none other than Means. It was declared spurious by a Chicago judge in 1919 and the efforts of Means and Mrs. Mary C. Melvin, Mrs. King’s sister, were denounced by the court as a fraud. Means’ story of the finding of the will was pronounced a fabrication.
The fight on this will, which bequeathed the bulk of King’s estate to his widow, who, in turn, left it to Mrs. Melvin, her sister, began in the Chicago courts after Mrs. King was killed in August 1917 on a lonely road near Concord, Means’ home. Means, who was with the woman at the time, declared she shot herself, accidentally, and the coroner returned such a verdict. But some of the Concord people were not satisfied. An anonymous person wrote a letter to the chief of the Chicago police, expressing the belief that Mrs. King had been slain. The police chief passed the letter on to a detective sergeant, who, in turn, showed it to Harry M. (Pussyfoot) Friend, a reporter on the Chicago Tribune.
Friend interested some of the experts at Northwestern University in the matter and in the dead of night, Mrs. King’s body was exhumed, and a second autopsy performed which resulted in the arrest of Means who was tried and acquitted of the woman’s murder.
The state of New York, as well as one or two of the big financial institutions of Chicago took a hand in the trial and District Attorney Swann, of New York, sent John T. Dooling, his assistant, to Concord to help prosecute Means.
A raid on Means’ New York apartment, ordered by Mr. Swann, brought to light a number of papers relating to Means’ connection with the German government early in the world war. Means sued for $100,000 damages in 1920. The case is still in the New York courts.
From The Charlotte News, Sunday, Feb. 19, 1922
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