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Show jGI8L DES TPACT ?j tllrewsoiiie Life Story f Unfolded. . : 'Tragedies, Broken Hearts, i Ruined Lives Painted in j 1 Scarlet Colors. 1 -.4 'ptath of Charles A- Parker Brings to : i Light an Unusual Intrigue in ! j' All Its Nakedness. ; 'J Aghast nt tho revelations unfolded In a ) ' pewTome life story of tragedies, broken '1 I hearts and ruined lives. Denver friends of I'M ? Charles A. Parker refuso, to credit the ) tarrovdng picture which death, somber f ' j mill unrelenting, has painted In sscarlet 4 ' 1 colors, says tho Denver News. : i The sulcldo of a son. the broken heart "5 5 of a mother, the mysterious death of a ,4 ' lather aro followed by the suicide of a ' : ) Koaian-and the tragedy of an Intrigue i stands out In all Its nakedness. 1 i And jet villi every thread In a fabric J' 1 of 'final circumstances seemingly fully M ' ! -woven, the fi U-nds of Mr. Parker, who I ' jfe i under mysterious circumstances In Mi Cincinnati o few days ago. and the friends vU'iOf Misa Elsa Gesterllng. the beautiful iVVDtnvcr girl, who stilled her grief In a cup H fl'Jlot noison at tl-c moment tlie earth cov-Tl cov-Tl I pred the body ct the man sho loved but '4 coJlil ii t wo I declare there Is some hor-' hor-' 4 ( ribli- mtotake and that the chain of clr- J ' cjmstincrs must break. ' I i Briefly. so tin- awful story goes. Charles i S A. Pnrkfr. surrounded by a loving wife 1 ' sr.d a doting poii. fell In love with Miss i En Got 'ling, his pretty stenographer f , Tno raonll-e later she left his employ, ' 1 ! and, witn hr mther. moved Into expen- HVw apartments and dressed as stylishly ; is arv woman In Denver. j Wife Learns Awful Secret. --1 I And then Parker's wlfo learned the facts WHt ) told her eighteen-year-old son. Un-'w Un-'w i able to face his mother's grief of his fath-J, fath-J, j ers sh.imf. the lad drank prusslc acid. v jU wrote a note to his mother, and her toband must have known tho facts, but Ii : la never faltered. Mrs. Parker gave up x i tcr haiidsoine homo in St. Louis and came - j lo Denver to live with her husband, f 1 The Gcsterllngs moved, but Parker y V raade frequent trips to the East and visit vis-it j Itttl the girl In Chicago Later ho left ; Denver and located In Cincinnati, the girl ;j remaining in Chicago. ij Drowns Life in Poison. .rj As his body was being lowered Into the t crave beside that of his son In St. Louis, 'it 5 the girl In Chicago heard tho hour strike, M I r.d with Us passing went her life, - ? drowned out In a cup of poison. -,j i- Charles A. Parker Is dead. His son Is n k dd Tho woman Is dead. But Mrs. ji i Charles A, Parker lives and grieves. And i : i the dead girl's mother, who watched her ' j daughter start on a path of sin to live In m eaEf and comfort, weeps over the lifeless ' 1 lorm of her own Walrab Gestcrllng. her 3 I dkorced husband, predicts that she will ,.v ' bll heraelf In a fortnight and then the lip i tragedy which startled the country will . i bs ended, j j Well Known in Denver. j ' v Hiss Gcsterllng. who was 23 years of w-. T ire, was well known in Denver where 1 ; ! she was a stenographer and had many rrlends and uceiualntancos, none of whom over suspected the astonishing facts wnich her death revealed. The young woman wo-man entered the Central Business college. k,n ,nt JLlxtC0lUh- n1 Stout streets In March, 1002. studying there for six months and leaving early In the fall to work with the Field and Farm, an agricultural Journal Jour-nal published in thlu city. s..Do Soll.ir. who was In charge of tho college when MI3S GeBterllng was there, remembers her well. "She was In every way nn exemplary young woman," to said last night, "studied hard and behaved be-haved herself." Those who knew Miss Gesterllng at tho business college describe de-scribe her as frank and energetic, always ready to make friends. Sho was not In the habit of going out with any particular particu-lar man, jalthough she had manv male yfrlends who seemed to take great delight In her society. Meets Parker. She was at the Farm and Field office for nearly a year when, through a girl friend she met Mr. Parker. He at once seemed to Inkc great Interest In her and showered her with attentions. At that time Mr. Parker was trafllc manager of the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, and soon afterward employed her as a stenographer sten-ographer In his office. Sho worked thoro for about a month, when she suddenly left, moving Into handsome apartments at 21 West Eleventh avenue, with her mother. moth-er. It was then that Walrab Gestcrlln;, who married tho girl's mother about nine years ago, left her and commenced suit for a divorce. Friends Remonstrated, With Girl. Friends who suspected that all was not Platonic between the railroad man and the girl remonstrated with her. but without with-out avail. During the summer oX 1903. while. Mrs. Gesterllng was abroad, tho girl roomed with Mrs. S. Wostfall, 41 West Twelfth avenue. She lived there for about six months. Mr. Parker began calling when she lived there. At first his attentions were not remarked, re-marked, but later they became so pronounced pro-nounced that Mrs. Westfall pleaded with the girl to refuse to see him. Finding hor efforts useless, she forbnde the man the house. Last February Mrs. Parker, wlio lived In a beautiful home In St. Louis. It Is eald. heard that hor husband was attached at-tached to another woman and gave up her ho;ne and came to Denver, living with him at tho Metropolc hotel. Shortly afterward Mrs. Gcaterllng and her daughter left Denver and went to Chicago, living at Hotel Vendomc. Pitiful Part cf Story. And la3t July the most pitiful part o' the wnolo story. John W. Parker, the lS-year-oId son, was living In St. Louis. It "is believed that Mro. Parker wrote him. telling him of her dlfllcultles and seeking his advice. Whether this Is true or not. young Parker took prusslc acid. No explanation of his death was over offered, but It was known that he wrote to his mother, the contents of which let-. let-. tcr were never made public, and It la believed be-lieved that, broken-hearted over his fath-. er's actions, he took his own life. Girl Attempted Suicide Before. It Is known that Miss Gcsterllng had tried suicide once before. Shortly after becoming acquainted with Mr Parker she tried to drink poison during the summer of 103. Friends, however. Interposed and saved her life. This was shortly before she went to work In Parker's office. Since the facts In the matter have been learned, many of her friends .are declaring that It is strange the entire story did not come out before. Parker's Splendid Record. Friends of Charles A. Parker who knew him in Denver refuse to believe the story which circumstances have painted. Without With-out exception they declare that he was a man above reproach and of exemplary character. Mr. Parker came to Colorado In October, 1003, succeeding C. L. Wellington Wel-lington as heail of the local Terminal Lines association. Ho remained In that capacity until he accepted the traffic management man-agement of the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, where ho remained until ho went to" Cincinnati with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. Walrab Gesterling Talks. Particular light wns thrown on the frightful family tragedy when Walrab Gcsterllng yesterday mndo a statement to the News detailing the mother's cognizance cogni-zance of her daughter's course as the causo for his securing a divorce Mr. Gcsterllng, Gcs-terllng, when seen nt his home. 1107 Twenty-fourth street, yesterday,, by a Kews( reporter, made tho following statement: "This Is the llrst statement that I have mado for publication, and I saw no re porters Saturday night or Sunday morning. morn-ing. One purported Interview published I never gnve out, and it must have been taken from evidence In my divorce case. Fears Woman Will Take Life. "Now that my daughter has committed suicide and the man who ruined her Is dead, I am firmly convinced that her mother, my divorced wife, will kill her-.elf her-.elf within a fortnight. 1 secured a divorce di-vorce from my who about two months ago, after seeking It for eighteen months. The cause of the long-drawn-out slego wns because of my Inability to locate her. She had visited the old country with the money we raised from the sale of all our household furniture She finally returned to Denver ,and took up hor abode with her daughter, Elsa, at 21 West Eleventh avenue Step-Father's Conclusions. "I nm qullo certain thnt the apartments were furnished by Charles A. Parker, for whom iny stepdaughter had worked as stenographer. Shortly after Elsa went to work for Parker I noticed she was wearing better clothing than her small salary would warrant, and I told my wtt so. J was told at the time that It wns none of my affair, as the girl wan not my own child, and wns nlso requested to mind my own business. From this time forward there was trouble between us. which finally resulted In the divorce which I secured a short time ago. Mode Trips Together. "Parker and Elsa. to my knowledge, visited vis-ited several cities In each other's company. com-pany. For the mutual welfare of both she and Parker, I endeavored to break up the unlawful attachment of the couple. That my effor;s were In vain Is now evident from the news wo get from Chicago. Chi-cago. I am greatly pained nt learning the truth, of the termination of tho love affair, and doubly so bccnusG my wife took no steps to Interfere In the matter before the Inevitable came." MY. Gcsterllng stated that the report that his former wlfo and stepdaughter were possessed of much money In untrue and seemed greatly surprised to learn that they had been slopping at a fashionable fash-ionable hostelry in Chicago, for the reason rea-son that Mrs. Gesterllng Is practically-penniless. practically-penniless. Gesterllng Is a bartender by occupation, occupa-tion, but has not worked since lie secured his divorce. He claims to havo suffered Brcatly In his business relations because of the unseemly actions of his wife and stendaughter while they v. ere making the'lr home In this city. |