The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 15, 1895, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1895. 3 BLACKER GROWS THE CLOUD OVER EMMANEL BAPTIST CHURCH, Blanche Lamont’s Body wl choked her to death, as she was very weak, | said that he found it on a sidewalk on last Found in the Belfry. SHE WAS STRANGLED.| Durrant Believed to Have Killed Her and Minnie Williams. ARRESTED AT WALNUT CREEK. Minnie Williams’ Purse In His Pocket—He Declares He Is Innocent. In the presence of the crimes which have been committed under the roof of the B tist Emmanuel Church the hardiest nation recoils in dismay. Not most terrible forms of y, cruelty and lacking in them. the murder of two cc innocent and ble in hich the hand of ation seems to have been ¢ the most sa- cred things—love for a man, confidence in the loftiness and purity of Christian faith and, possibly on the skill and honor of a It was bad enough that these elemer em to have been act- ive in worse that the very sanct. d the ca nfi nd incredible that tortures of so ble cruelty should have been in the deeds. al guidance was , Blanche Lamont, girl of a strong, £ was attendin ideas and possibly ol, had romant entures. On the 3d of April she sud- dropped out of i second, Minnie Wi opposite type. liams, was of a e and have made her L There was no girlish romance in her comp: on. She had witnessed the miserable causes that had T paren a elf suffered which the had lover's du; had been fort to perior nial service for a liveli- she been made wise and elf-reliant. Yet belpless before this s the one of a weak, ng soul. ng, ten days after he Lamont, the was found in the h by some ladies ither to prepare the Easter e had been murdered with chtful atrocity. First she sked by hand, then cloth torn from ' her ents had been pushed down nto her chea with great violence, and a more v piece of cloth thrust into her mouth; ts were hacked with a dull effort to open the arte- tle silver-plated table- Then the disappearance of Blanche La- mont was remembered, and the police be- am ¢y they found the body of the , with deep and vicious finger- arks on the throat. Her clothing, torn places of the tower. There are cir- ances that lead to the belief that in case a double crime had been com- The story then began to unfold iteelf i rewd, prompt and highly in- nt work of the police. The girls oth members of Emmanuel Church nds; both belonged to the Sunday-school; both had re- lover's attention from Theo- rant, a medical student, liv- Miss Williams’ Purse, Found in Dur- rant’s Overcoat Pocket. ing with his parents in this city. The young man was the librarian of the church and assistant superintendent of chool. He was familiar with the house and carried one of the few keys to its private door. In person he is a strong, well-made young man, of a pleas- ing and cheerful address, and devoted to his religious duties. It was remembered that he was the last person seen in Blanche Lamont's company on the day of her dis- appearan The police put forth a hand to seize him, but he had gone into the country with the 8ignal Corps, for which trip he had been preparing for a day or two. Yesterday he was arrested. The circumstances which bear against him are these: He had a key to thechurch, was seen conducting Miss Williams into the private door of the church Friday even- ing, was late arriving at the Vogel recep- tion, and upon arriving there showed a nervous condition and disordered aitire. There is a rumor that there was blood on his hands. He asked to be permitted to wash him- self. On leaving the party he passed the church again and went within. In his overcoat pocket the girl’s missing purse, or a part of it, is said to have been found. He admits that he was in the church with his friend King Friday afternoon. The presumptions in his favor are these: If he had inveigled the girl into the church for some purpose in which her murder was a possibility, he would either have pro- vided himself with an adequate implement for that purpose, or would simply have - | Baptist of a foolish girl's longing for strange | She was of a very | as afflicted | covery of a | on her, and | n of com- | d withal her body but strong of | o shreds, was found hidden in the re- | and such an act would have been simple. That was the sole means resorted to in { the case of Blanche Lamont, with whom it | | must have been a much more difficult | task, as she was uncommonly strong for | | awoman. Again, as librarian he presum- | i ably had the key to the library, and yet | lock of the library door was| { forced. Even it she had been in the | inside and resisting its opening she was so | | slight that he could have pushed open the | | door in spite of her. Further, the knife | itself and the manner of its use would be | : altogether unexpected from a medical student. uming that he made an assault upon | | herin the rear part of the church and that | | she fled to the library, happened tofind the | spring catch set back, released it and thus { locked the door by closing it, she must | have known that as librarian he had a key | and that his superior strength would have | been sufficient to overwhelm her. | It might be wise to look further than | Durrant, and as a beginning in that task | | we have the assurance that the body of | Blanche Lamont could not have been carried by one man to the belfry. As to the pastor’s conduct in the matter, | | it is deserving of no attention. | W. C. Mozrow. i The horror of the murder of Minnie | Williams in the library of the Emmanuel | i Church was doubled yesterday | | morning by the discovery in the beliry of | the same place of worship of the remains | | of the missing girl Blanche Lamont. ! | She, too, had been the victim of a double { | i the Friday night, the night of Miss Williams’ murder. To the Chief of Police, to Detective Sey- mour and the reporters he has said va- riously that he happened to find it at Bart- lett and Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets. It issaid that his tory of the hour when he found it must be wrong. His whole story of finding the pocket-book is strange, to say the least. He stated last night that he had not seen Miss Williams for three weeks, but there is already testimony that he was seen with her within two or three days before the murder. When he got to Dr. Vogel's honse at 9:30 Friday evening he was perspiring, excited and dirty. Then ayoung man and a young woman of the description of Dur- rant and Miss Williams were seen on Fri- day night near the church and going into it alone. . These are some of the points that devel- oped yesterday in the most startling murder case that has ever horrified this c FINDING THE BODY. Deteotive Gibson Tells of the Discovery in the Belfry. The body of Miss Lamont was found about 10 o’clock yesterday morning. It was absolutely nude and lay upon the hard floor of the belfry in the tower, where the sunlight never enters and through which the wind howls and whistles con- tinuously. The belfry is immediately over the closet where Miss Williams’ body was l | | | | | | | 1 | | [From a ph BLANCHE LAMONT, ONE OF THE MURDERED GIRLS. otograph.] \(‘rime. and the circumstances pointed to | ? the fact that the same fiend had committed hacked, was nude and.showed that her murder had occurred some days before that of Minnie Williams. The mystery of the crimes yielded vester- | day some more circumstantial evidence | against young Durrant, the medical stu- | dent, assistant superintendent of the Sun- | day-school and exemplary ysung man. Durrant was arrested at the foot of Mount Diablo yesterday afternoon and is now behind barsat the City Prison. The police are certain that he is the fiend who | committed the atrocious and re\-nlzing‘ double crimes which caused the death of | the two bright and respected young | girls whose butchered remains were found respectively in belfry and library on | Saturday. After his arrest last evening | the prisoner made statements which con- tradict both each other and facts which have been learned elsewhere. | The evidence against Durrant remains | circumstantial, and that circumstantial evidence almost wholly concerns Miss | | Williams. It is on this case that the police have been concentrating their efforts, and aside from the close acquaintance among Durrant, | Miss Lamont and Miss Williams there is | |little to throw light on the death of | | Blanche Lamont except the natural and | generally accepted theory that both girls | | were victims of the same murderous | hand |1 young Durrant is not the criminal who | committed those crimes of almost unparal- | leled atrocity within the sacred precincts | of a sanctuary which was being bedecked | for the glaa Easter festivity, he is just now | the victim of a series of coincidences and | circumstances which will make his case a | notable if his innocence is established. | 1f he is the criminal he presents a rare study in crime. He is a young man of | good family and was entering upon a i promising career. In six months he would | graduate from Cooper Medical College. | He is a member of the National Guard, be- | ing trumpeter in the Second Brigade sig- | nal corps. He has always enjoyed a host | of friends, who have esteemed him for his | quite exemplary life and bright qualities. His social standing in his circle was good, and his prominence in the affairs of Emmanpel Church and its Sunday-school gave him many social advantages. There has.not yet come to light any important | testimony reflecting on his character, as is generally the case when a criminal be- comes known as one. This is the fellow who knew well Blanche Lamont, who mysteriously disappeared some days ago, and who was at least a close acquaintance and an occasional escort of Miss Williams. Many of the circumstances at once fastened on him a suspicion which | increases each hour with the development !;of new circumstances. He denies any | | knowledge of the crimes, but his story is | not complete and above-board as might be expected of an ifnocent man. In the minds of the police the most damning evidence against him is their | finding Miss Williams' empty purse i one . of his pockets at home when the house was searched yesterday. To Chief Crowley he found Saturday morning, and the spot where Blanche Lamont’s body lay was rch of the church. Away upin |both atrocities. The body was terribly | about sixty feet directly above the library closet. The discovery was made by Police Detec- tive Ed Gibson and Officer Riehl. They were searching the church for evidence which wonld tend to reveal the identity of Miss Williams’ assailant, and they little off and the key refused to turn. I then kicked in the door. ““We went up the stairs to the top land- ing just under the place where the bell would hang if there was a bell. There lying in one corner we found the body of lanche Lamont. “The body was stark naked. There was not a stitch of clothing upon it or near by. The body was laid out on its back as if for burial, and no undertaker could have done it better. The arms were crossed upon the breast, the limbs had been placed close to- gether and perfectly straight, and bits of wood placed beside them to keep them in position, and the head lay straight, but with the face turned slightly to one side. A tiny pool of pblood stained the floor be- low her mouth, and ather feet lay a glove, such as women wear. A large carpenter’s hatchet also lay near by, but there were no blood stains upon it. The body had just begun to turn black and was beginning to decompose. The belfry is a cold place. The sun does not_enter 1t and there is a draft through it which would tend to pre- serve the body. Judging from my past ex- perience with dead bodies I should say it }md been there ten days or more. “Returning from the belfry, I left Officer Riehl on guard at the tower door with in- structions not to allow any one, under any circumstances whatever, to enter. I then went to the Seventeenth-street station, notified the Chief of Police and returned to the church wit h the patrol wagon. “On my return I sent Officers Brown, McMurray and McGreavy to search for the dead girl's clothing among the rafters. Climbing up in the inside of the steeple | they found it all except the hat and the shoes. It was torn to pieces and scattered all over. The corsets were tucked under the eaves of the steeple. The dress skirt was whole except that it was split from to | to bottom. The waist was torn as if it ha been unbuttoned and then torn from the body through impatience. One sleeve was turned inside out. The undervest was torn in three pieces asit was wrenched from the | body. The drawers were torn in two and stained with blood. The mate to the glove found at the dead girl’s feet was not dis- covered. “I sent for Mr. Code and for Mr. Noble, the uncle of the dead girl, and took them up into the belfry. They identified the body as that of Blanche Lamont. Ladies of the church identified the clothing found as some which they had seen Blanche La- mont wearing in life. “Petective Ben Bohen and John Moffitt, clerk to the Chief of Police, came out and looked over the ground for clews. In fact, the whole force is working on the ¢ “Deputy Coroner Hallett came out with the Morgue wagon and removed the body to the Morgue. “About 10 o’clock Dr. Gibson, pastor of the church, attracted by the crowd which had gathered, came over Then he went to the residence of ex-Supervisor Taber on Twenty-second street, near Bartlett. I went over to see him, and sent George King, the organist, and J. Saderman, the janitor, to the Chief's oftice with Officer Walsh. The Chief wanted to see him be- cause Gibson’s statement, made yester- day, was unsatisfactory, and because he had' refused the officers the keys of the church the day before.” The body of the dead girl lay on the board Hloor of the belfry or tower-room formed by the uppermost platform of the steeple. Above rose the dark, rough raft- ersof the spire. On_ every side the room was open to the wind, but a rough species of blind formed of heavy boards prevented | the entrance of the rain. A wooden rail surrounded the narrow opening by which | access was obtained from the rude steps below, and behind this railing in one cor- | ner of the tower lay all that was mortal of her who was termed. by her classmates in the High School *‘the Juno beauty.” Entrance to the tower is obtained through a door off an uncarpeted and un- used gallery of the church. Its interior is untinished and the huge rough stand forth in all their ugliness. one side a primitive stairway feet wide, leads its crooked course npward, and along this stairway the dead body of Blanche Lamont was undoubtedly carried by her murderer. It was an awkiward task and a difticult one and the man who placed the corpse where it was found must have been a giant. Yesterday two of the strongest of the Coroner's deputies, with all their improved appliances, could scarcely bear the body down the narrow stairs, and they contend that no one man could have borne it up aloft. There is evidence, too, that the assassin became exhausted at his gruesome task. Half way up the stairway is a great pool of blood, which has soaked through between the tread and ri of the staircase and dripped in big blotches on the floor below. There, do\‘.blt-ss, the murderer rested the body till he recovered from his fatigue. He was a long time recuperating, for the amount of blood there Jeft is much greater than the pool found beneath the dead girl's head rch for the clothing showed the me care taken by the murderer to al the identity of his victim. Doubt- less he thought that in that deserted tower the body would waste away and decom- INTERIOR OF THE BELFRY. THE CROSS WHERE MISS LAMONT'S BODY WAS FOUND. [Sketched by a “Call” artist.] NIRRT MARES THE SPOT thought that they were to bring to lighta second tragedy as terrible as the first. Telling the story of the discovery of the body yesterday Detective Gibson said: “‘I left the Seventeenth-street station this morning at 9 o'clock accompanied by Officer Riehl. We had searchecfthe entire church with the exception of thé beliry last night at 1 o’clock. e could not get into the belfry ; we were admitted to the church by the janitor, Saderman, and proceeded directly to the tower door off the gnlleg. 1 asked the janitor t6 open the door. He tried, but did not succeed. He said that some one had been tampering with the lock, as the knob of the door was broken ¥ose till scarcely recognizable as human. l he winds would dispel whatever of odor would result, and when at last the remains should be discovered the absence of cloth- | ing would render identification almost im- | possible. Yesterday the officers tound por- | tions of the clothing hidden in the mfiers of the spire, fully thirty feet above the | level of the belfry floor, and it was a dan- gerous as well as difficult undertaking to secure them. GUARDED BY POLIOE. Extra Precautions to Prevent a Possible Lynching, An imposing police reception masked Durrant’s arrival in the city. Anthony alone guarded the prisoner from Walnut Creek to the Oakland mole, but from the moment the two stepped from the train at the mole to the line the pris- oner was hustled into a hack at the ferry and rushed off up Mission street, there wasa strong police guard protecting the suspected young medical student from the possible vengeance of a lynching mob. But the police precaution was unneces- sary as far as lvnching bees were con- cerned. The crowds returning from across the bay seemed to realize instantly and almost instinctively that the young fellow wearing a blue military cape was the one that was the central living figure in the most sensational tragedy of the Pacific Coast, and they said on all sides, “That’s him,” and “They’ve got him,” and pushed ahead and stretched their necks for better views, but there were no threats nor threat- ening moyvements. 7 ‘The train bringing Durrant to prison got to Sixteenth street, Oakland, at a few min- utes past 6 o’clock, and a CarL reporter saluted Durrant in the smoking-car a few moments later. Durrant’s countenance did not convict him on sight. His eyes appeared rather cold and gray, but his appearance was that of an ordinarily decent young feliow. One would not pick him out fora murderer, nor for an assistant superintendent of a Suu- day-school. “I must decline to say anythin, the case just now,” he said, *'I will make my first statement to Chief Crowley and then the newspapers will know what I have to say.”’ He said this with eyen less display of ex- citement than any innocent man in his situation would be apt to display. S “Yes, I know that there are some cir- cumstances that appear to be against me, but they will be explained to Chief Crow- ley,” he said again, and to several ques- tions he declined to make any definite ansiven “It's a prett; “but I \vofildn{ was not for my folks. broken-hearted.” As the crowded train sped onward to the mole a direct question about the purse just discovered in one of his pockets at home was put to him. It appeared to be the first time the purse had occurred to him in con- nection with the case and he displayed a moment of excited interest. His reply became pertinent in the light of subse- quent statements. “Well, since you speak of it,” he said quickly, ‘“that may be a matter of some importance. I hadn’t thought about the purse before. I came by it in a peculiar way without thinking much aboutit. In fact, I didn’t know whose purse it was.” Do you mean that somebody put it in your pocket?” : “Noj; but I'll explain it to Chief Crow- ey.”’ At the mole Detectives Sylva, Hanley, Byron and Seymour had been waiting for an hour and a half and the officers rushed the prisoner through the crowd ana onto the boat through the gates used for teams and trucks. On the boat he was hurried to a little room off the cabin and there kept from the crowd while several police officers kept the throng from that region of the boat. As the boat reached the ferry slip on this side of the bay he was hurried through the crowd and under the rope to the front of the boat, and six police officers made the rope a dead line. undreds looked with excited interest at the little fellow in the military cape the bow, and every man, woman and child on the boat asked ques- tions and gave opinions about the murder to those around. As the apron fell, the squad of police officers and the nervous little trumpeter made a rush from the boat, while more police officers kept the rope up and the crowd at bay. ‘“Let usoff,” the imp:tient crowd began to cry, and when the official barriers gave way there was a charge by the crowd. On East street at the ferry gates was a hack and another squad of police in charge of Captain Douglass. As the prisoner was hustled into the hack and rushed off to Mission street thirty or forty of the crowd followed on a run through curiosity, but Captain Douglass drew his revolver with a threatening shout and his squad repressed the charge for the minute that elapsed before the carriage whisked around the corner of Mission street. “I was not at all afraid of the crowd until we got to the carriage,” Durrant ex- plained later, “but I was a little skittish for a minute on East street when the crowd collected and the captain drew his revolver.” In a few minutes Durrant was under- going an examination in Chief Crowley’s office at the City Hall. SCENE AT THE FERRY. Durrant Might Have Been Lynched Had He Not Been Guarded- When the boat that brought Durrant over from Oakland reached the foot of Market street there was a crowd in wait- ing. How they became adyised of his coming can only be explained by the fact that all the city and suburbs is talking over the murders, and the slightest hint of news is passed on and on, growing as it goes, until the crowds of interested men and women, by a system of telegraphy peculiarly their own, find out facts that are by the officials fondly supposed to be profound secre ts. Charles Brown, an old resident of Cali- fornia. who has for some time been away from the State and who now lives at Hack- meier's Hotel on Eddy street, was a pas- senger from Oakland on the boat beiore that in which Durrant was being brought over. While coming to the city Mr. Brown heard that Durrant was to come on the following boat. When he landed he concluded to wait and see the man charged with the hideous crime. “‘The big crowd at the ferry depot,” said Mr. Brown last night, “showed that the coming of the prisoner was no_secret. Fully = 300 geople were waiting to see him, and thinking at first that I had a private tip, I wondered what the crowd was waiting to see. When the boat came in 1 knew at once. Before she had fairly entered the slip the crowd began to press forward. Then I noticed the police ar- rangements. All along the edge of the crowd there was a line of men in ordinary citizen’s clothes that seemed to be working together and with one point in view—to keep the passage clear from the boat to a carriage that stood conspicuously near the entrance. Without attracting attention, until it was a matter of no importance, the special squard as I afterward found it to be, d keep the crowd back from the exit.” Durrant looked pale and frightened, and the group of men that followed him showed how carefully he was bein, uarded. On the way over from Oaklane e had been kept in the pilot-bouse of the boat, and just before the landing was made had been quietly taken through the crowd to a point that made it possible to land him ahead of the other passengers. This was done quickly. The crowds did not realize at first that the man the; been waiting for had passed them. hen they did they began to growl. At first it was a low undertone, but by the time Dur- rant and the officers were in the carriage it had risen to a cry for vengeance. “Hang him!” "“*Lynch him !’ “Kill the cur!” were amonF the milder phrases hurled at the rapid. {reoeding carriage. It at that time needed but the rush of a single man to precipitate a ‘‘lynching bee.” Fortunately, the officers were two or three blocks up Market street before any move was made by the crowd, and only that rapid action of the police prevented trouble. After the carriage was out of sight the growls of the crowd continued, but they gradually died away. San Francisco was never, for a long time, so near a street lynching. BEHIND THE BARS. Daurrant Talks of His Relations With the Murdered Girls, Durrant was taken to the City Prison by Detectives Seymour, Byram and Handley. He was followed by his father, his attor- ney, A. H. Thompson, and two or three friends. His name was registered on the detinue-book and then he had a long con- about hard deal,” he observed, care so much about it if it My mother will be Detective | versation with his friends. At first he de- clined to make a statement, but finally consented under the advice of his attorney. He said: ‘“About Blanche Lamont I will explain my movements on tne day she is said, ave disappeared, Wednes: day, April 3 I understand. I left home about 8 o’clock that morning, intending to g0 to the house of a friend, George King, to ask him to assist me in a little elec- trical work I was to perform in the after- noon. “On my way down I met Blanche on the corner of Mission and Twenty-first streets. I had known her since. September last. As she knew that I'was attl%nding‘ college and we were going the sime way, she said: ‘You had better come along with me.” I couldn’t very well refuse, so I got into the car with her. We got talking, and one subject we were both much interested in | was literature. I was reading a book, ‘The Newcombes,’ and I promised to take her that book that evening to the prayer- meeting in the church. 9L difi not get to the prayer-meeting, but next morning I met her aunt, Mrs. Noble, and told her to tell Blanche I would call and give her the book on my way to the hosgxtul on Friday morning. That morn- ing I walked down Twenty-first street to Mrs. Noble’s house. sister, Maud, if she was in. ‘No; she had gone to school.” book and went away. “Goin% of her alleged disappearance, I went to the church between 4and 4:30 o’clock to go ahead with my electrical work. I took off I left the my coat and hat, went ugsfitailg tg thle bel- | xed the electric | fry, turned on the gas an: light all right. When I began to climb down I felt squalmish from the effects of the gas. When I got down I heard some one Y{lnying the piano, and saw it was George ing. I told him I felt sick with inhaling the gas, and he went out and brought back some bromceseltzer. I then assisted George | to carry the organ downstairs, and both 1t and the piano were to be used for the Easter entertainment. Then we went nlon{i Bartlett street to Twenty-second, and I left King at Capp street. “Now about Minnie Williams. Last Fri- 1. asked” Blanche’s | Maud said, | back to the Wednesday, the day | ment of facts, and that isenough. I won’t allow him to answer any more questions.” OROWLEY'S STATEMENT, The Ohief of Police Gives His Reasons for Arresting Durrant., One of the most important statements concerning the crime committed in the church was prepared for the press by Chief Crowley last night. It contains the rea- sons why suspicion fell upon Durrant, and it is a formal recital of the facts gathered by the detectives. It isas follows: I was informed that Durrant called to see Miss Williams at Mr. Morgan’s residence, Visale Station, Alameda, the latter part of last week, | and he said he wonld like to &sk her something special, she replied that if he had anything to say to say it there, and_she then told him that | she was going over on Friday night to attend a | church social at her church, which was to be held at Dr. Vogel's house on that Friday. At3 o'clock that day she left her home in Alameda to go to the hair-dresser’s, returning to her home in Alameda in time to catch the 4 o'clock Dboat for this city, which she did. I learned thac Durrant was séen at_the ferry that day by two different persons at about 4 o’clock. She arrived in this city and went to Mrs. Voy's house, getting there at about 5 o’clock, 1707 Howard street. At about 7:15 she left Mrs. Voy’s house and said that she was going to attend the church social at Dr. Vogel's house. She did not attend the social, but a person answering her description and a person answering the description of Durrant were seen at the corner of Bartlett and Twenty-third streets at about 8:30 P. M. that night. They | went down the street toward the church and remained a short time in front of the gate at | the side entrance. The man was noticed to have made a motion as if using a key and opened a door, and they were both seen'to go |in. Durrant made his appearance at Dr. | Vogel’s house at about 9:30 or 10 P. ., remain- | ing there until about 11:30. | Er. Vogel states that at the time Durrant | arrived at his house he noticed that he was { somewhat exercised and that great beads of perspiration came from his forehead. His hair was disheveled and he asked Dr. Vogel’s per- mission_to wash his hands and comb his hair before he made his appearance where the voung people were, stating to the doctor that | he had just returned from the signal corps and | consequently his hands were soiled. He after- | ward ~ came downstairs, after washing his | bands and combing his hair, and during the (24 MINNIE WILLIAMS, THE SECOND VICTIM. [From a photograph.] day evening I left home about five minutes to 8 o'clock. I walked down to Twenty- fourth and Guerrero streets to speak to Dr. Perkins, the first sergeant of our signal | corps, as to getting a blue flannel shirt of mine which I had left in the armory. I had to get the key to the locker. We walk down Twenty-fourth street to Valencia, | nty-third, and stood | down Valencia to Tw talking till Dr. Perkins’ car came along. “Knowing I would have little time to get my horse shod I concluded, when I got to Mission street, to take a Mission-street car to go to the armory at Page and Gough streets. I got on the car but concluded it would make me too late for the meeting at | Dr. Vogel's house. Igot off the car be- tween Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, walked down to Howard street, walked to Nineteenth street, and then thought it was no use to take a car, so I walked to Dr. Vogel’s house, getting there about five minutes to 9 o'clock, and Dr. Vogel made the statement that I was a little behind- hand. “After the party broke up, at I1:25 o’clock, a number of us walked as far as Twenty-fourth street, on Howard. Three went down Twenty-fourth, and three up the street. street, where they turned down. straight up Twenty-fourth to Guerrero. “‘As I was crossing Bartlett street 1 saw | something glisten on the sidewalk. I gave | it a kick, and something shining fell out of it. Ipicked it up and saw it was a small mirror, and then saw that it had I was with Miss Merian Lord | and Elmer Wolf. We walked as far as Capp | I walked | R { evening read & letter purporting to come from his sister in Germany, and after reading the letter he seemed more com posed. About a month eago I am informed that on one occasion Durrant accompanied & young lady from chureh and during the conversation ich ensued he asked the young lady if she Te not suffering from some complaini. ‘When Durrant left Dr. Vogel's residence at bout 11:30 he left there in company with a | young man named Woli and a number of young ladies. They walked from Vogel’s house to Twenty-fourth and Howard streets, where the parties separated and Durrant continued west on T At about 12:9 Wolf went to ii idled his hors and crossing sta sa he corner of Twenty-fourth an Bartlett streets he noticed Durrant standing | on that corner. When the above facts wers | made known to me I detailed Detective Se: | mour to Tamalpais, understanding that Du | rant was to go there, and Detective Anthony to ! go to Mount Diablo. | rant might be at eitlier place. | Ialso came to the conclusion that the person | who murdered Miss Williams was the same per- | son who had something to do with the disap- pearance of Miss Lamont. I kept these facts to | myself and only advised the detectives who | were working on the case of my suspicions. I | i | I was informed that Dur- told them that I thought that Miss Lamont would also be found in the church. I accord- ingly instructed Detectives Gibson and Cody to take what force of oflicers they required and make a thorough investigation of the church. Gibson and Cody, with Sergeants Burke and 0lds went o the church and there suc- d in finding the body of Miss Lamont in I then directed Sergeant Burke, ng satisfied thatmy suspiclons wero correct, | to go, upon my responsibility, to Durrant’s | house and_there search for any evidence pro- | curable. Burke took Officer Joseph with him | and they found a long ulster and a photograph t bei; A c \ DURRANT BEHIND THE BARS. [Sketched by a ‘“Call” artist.] fallen out of a purse. I put it in my overcoat pocket. I reached home at ten minutes to 12. I did a little writing, and then went to bed. “Igot up next morning about 5:30 0’clock. I got my things together as quick as I could, as T had to go to the horseshoer at the corner of Barilett and Twenty-third streets, to get my horse. About twenty minutes past 7 I rode down to the nmox‘;yA We took the creek boat at 8 o’clock and I was with my corps since then till I was arrested.” “When was it you last saw Miss Wil- liams ?"” ““I last saw her about three weeks ago,” replxed Durrant. *‘Now, now, that will do,” interrupted his attorney. ‘‘He has made a plain state- 1" album containing a photo of himself and two of Miss Williams, and in the ket of the ulster Miss Williams’ purse was found, contain- ing an Oakland car ticket. The Pm‘u has been positively identified by Miss Williams’ father, as he gave it to her as a Christmas gift last Christmas. ON DURRANT'S TRAIL. Detective Anthony Tells How He Found and Captured the Prisoner. Detective Anthony, who arrested Dur- rant, gave the following account of the capture: Officer Anthony reports that he was detailed by the Chief of Police last night to take the first train Sunday morning to go on the trail of ed of murdering Miss receiving information Durrant, who was sus) Williams. The Chi