The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 3, 1895, Page 8

8 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1895. NOW FOR THE SECOND ENMANUEL CHURCH MURDER. Theodore Durrant W.1I Seon Boswer in Conrt for Killing| Minnie Williams, District Attorney Barnes| Says This Case Is Stronger Than the Other. [ THE PRISONER'S STORY. Some of the Crushing Evidence | That Will Be Brought Against Him. | do with the murder. HE STILL SEEMS UNDISMAYED Blanche Lamont’s Relatives Rejoice at | the Verdict—Parson Gibson's | Opinion. y gave notice that tence of death on y, District m to set Dur- ge of murder When Judge Mt | | | | he would pronounc | on the second chas time. The dge said he | case on that day, so Dur- for the Supreme Court or reverse the verdict which to the gallows will be on er even more savage and opened the door of the closet and \\'ere‘; norrified to see there the body of the girl. | They notified the parson, and he and some | others hurried to the buildingz and inve tigated. It proved the corpse of Minnie | Williams, She had been outraged, | strangled and_cut in various places with | | one of the knives from the church kitchen. | The shattered knife was also there. | On the floor near the body of Minnie | Williams lay a number of old library- cards, among them one in the name of | Blanche Lamont. This was probably a| mere coincidence, and it had nothing to | But it suggested at once that the girl who had been missing | for ten days had met a similar fate at the hands of the fiend who killed Minnie | Williams. It did not take the detectives | long to determine that Theodore Durrant, a medical student, who had paid attention to both s, was the man to be suspected. He had gone away with the Signal Corps for a short trip. They® went to his house and searched his | clothes and in his overcoat pocket a police | officer found Minnie Williams’ purse. Ofticers were dispatched to bring the | medical student back. Detective Anthony | found him with his brother National Guardsmen on Mount Diablo and returned | with him. The arrest was no surprise to the medical student. Some of hiscom- | vanions in the City had neliographed a | message to him that the police wereon his | track. He made no attempt to escape but | accompanied the officer back to the City. | Meanwhile the most intense excitement prevailed in San Franci The body of Blanche Lamont had been found in the belfry and it became known that Durrant rant left the party ostensibly to go home, but a little later Elmer Wolf, another member of the Endeavor Society, thought he saw him on Bartlett and Twenty-fourth streets, which was not far from the church. It was learned that Durrant had visited the girl in Alameda a few days before, and had asked her to meet him here in the City, as he had something to tell her. She refused to make an appointment, because he had made an insulting proposal to her on a previous occasion, but he learned that she was coming to the City on Friday. Durrant waited at the ferry-landing all Friday afternoon. He was seen there by several people, and he explained his pres- ence there by stating that he had received information that the missing Blanche La- mont was about to leave the City and he was looking for her. About 5 o’clock in the sfternoon he was seen talking to a girl whose dress and appearance corresponded with that of Minnie Williams. About the time that Minnie Williams should have been on her way from the | Voys to Dr. Vogel’s house, a girl dressed as she was dressed was seen near the church with a man of the appearance and dress of Theodore Durrant. C. T. Hills, a carpenter, was one of the witnesses who saw them. He thought the woman was his wife and followed them until they disappeared through the gate- way into the yard of Emmanuel Church. Durrant, in Lis statement made toe day he was arrested, attempted to explain his whereabouts during the hour and a half that elapsed between the time he left home on that evening and his arrival at the Vogels and also to account for the girl’s purse being found in his pocket. He said: “Last Friday evening 1 left home about five minutes to 8 o’clock. I | walked down to Twenty-fourth and Guer- rero streets to speak to Dr. Perkins, t'ne‘ first sergeant of our Signal Corps, to get | a blue flannel shirt of mine which I had | | was to be brought back to answer the mur- | left in the armory. I had to get the key | 4 | Durrant in the matter of the murder of Minnie Williams, but the police have a great deal of evidence since the prelimin- ary examinations which has not yet been made public, and it ison this new evidence that District Attorney Barnes bases his statements of the strength of the case. B THE FIRST SUSPICION. Durrant Was Under a Shadow Before the Bodies Were Found. Since the arrest of Durrantat Walnut Creek the general public has had its atten- tion directed principally to those events in the history of the crime that followed the arrest. In the development of the lat- ter part of the case many interesting feat- ures preceding the arrest have been over- looked and forgotten. Now that the story of the murder of the schoolgir! in the church, the capture of the murderer and his trial and conviction, hasbeen told, Captain_Lees of the detec: tive force, whose hand has directed the case for the commonwealth, is free to dis- cuss the tragedy. For the first time he has made puglic a feature, of no small im- portance, that has never been told before. It isan astonishing story and serves well to further illustrate the iron nerve of the convicted murderer. Durrant was under the surveillance of the police within twenty-four hours after the disappearance of Blanche Lamont was reported to the department. More than that. He well knew that the finger of suspicion was pointed at him, and that the police believed that in some man- ner he was responsible for and connected with the disappearance of the schoolgirl. Durrant was interviewed by the police about the missing girl within thirty-six hours after her disappearance was reported. = He was a marked man and he knew it, but he brought his wonderful will-power and self-control to his aid and passed the ordeal so well that he may have thought that he was safe from detection for all time, so successful was he in shooting tne first rapids. But he was not, for from that | event, the threads that finally and fatally entangled him were beginning to weave about him. Mr. Noble, the girl’s uncle, went to Cap- tain Lees, in company with Supervisor James, and implored the detective to search for Blanche. In tne conversation Mr. Noble said she was attending the THEODORE DURRANT AND HIS CELLMATE, JAMES SARGENT. [Sketched at the prison yesterday by a * Call” artist.) So closely has the people’s attention been held for three months by the trial just over that the fact that Durrant was | also charged with killing Minnie Williams was almost forgotten. It was not for- gotten, however, by the office of the Dis- trict Attorney or the Police Department. While these departments were handling the Lamont case in court their agents were working as hard to gather the evidence in the Williams case as if they depended on that to hang Theodore Durrant. District Attorney Barnes chose to try Theodore Durrant on the Lamont case be- cause that seemed a stronger case. Since then, however, the evidence has accumu- lated and the District Attorney now says that the proof that Durrant murdered Minnie Williams is even stronger than that on which the jury has already con- demned him to death for the other crime. It was the discovery of Miss Williams’ body that led to the finding of Blanche Lamont. Had the second murder not been committed the poor girl’s body would probably have laid in the belfry for years. Minnie Williams’ body was found by a | number of the ladies of the Emmanuel Church. On Saturday morning, April 13, these ladies were engaged in decorating the church with flowers for the Easter ser- vices. A Mrs. Nolte, a visitor to the church, wished to see the books in the library. These were kept in a small room off the library-room. Mrs. Stevens and Miss Lila Berry der and a big crowd gathered at the ferry. The police had taken every precaution and though the crowd was loud in its threats the little man in the soldier uniform was hurried from the ferry-boat into a hack and landed safely at the City Prison. The case against him began to develop immediately. It waslearned that Minnie Williams had come to the City late Friday aiterncon to take up her residence in the Mission with Mrs. Voy. She reached the Voy residence all right, had supperand a few minutes before 8 o’clock left the house to attend a gathering of the Christian En- deavor, of which she was a member, at the home of Dr. Vogel. Durrant was alsoa | member of this society. The girl never reached the Vogel house. Durrantarrived there at half-past 9 o’clock. although the meeting was set for 8, and as an officer of the society he was expected to be among the early ones. Durrant was perspiring and his hair was disarranged. He asked Dr. Vogel to give him an oppor- tunity to wash his hands, and he cleaned himself up before joining the party in the parlor. The explanation he gave was that he had been out with the Signal Corps, or something of that sort. Dr. Vogel, who testified at the inquest and the prelimi- nary examinations, was not sure of the exact language. Since then he has remembered that Dur- rant also asked him not to mention the fact that he had washed his hands. The weeting broke up before 11 o’clock, Dur- to the locker. We walked down Twenty- fourth street to Valencia, down Valencia to Twenty-third, and stood talking till Dr, Perkins’ car came along. “Knowing I would have little time to have my horse shod I concluded, when T got to Mission street, to take a Mission- street car to go to the armory at Page and Gough streets. Igot on the car, but con- cluded it would make me too late for the meeting at Dr. Vogel’s house. I got off the car between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, walked down to Howard, walked to Nineteentb, and then 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 state- ment that I was a little behind hand. “After the party had broken up, at 11:25 o’clock, a number of us walked as far as Twenty-fourth street on Howard. Three went down Twenty-fourth street and three up the street. I was with Miss Merian Lord and Elmer Wolf. We walked as far as Capp street, where they turned down. I walked straight up Twenty-fourth to Guerrero. “As I was crossing Bartlett street I 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 fallen out of a purse. Iputitin my overcoat pocket. I reached home at ten minutes to 12. I did a little writing and then went to bed.”” | 7This is arough outline of the case aglinn_l her, Normal Scnoot onzPoweil steet. Jetective Anthony was dispatched to the school for what information he could get of her there. He learned that on the morning of April 3 she was accompanied to the school by a young man, who subsequently he learned was Durrant. Three schoolgiris, whose names have never been mentioned, saw the two together, In the afternoon three other girls, Miss May Lannigan, Miss Belle Edwards and Miss Pleasance, saw a young man call at the school for Blanche and accompany her on the car toward the Mission. Who that young man was was easily learned by theé detectives and that evening Detective Anthony called by appointment at the residence o{ Dr. Vogel in the Mis- sion to meet Durrant. The latter never flinched when he met the detective. Anthony questioned Durrant for over an hour relative to his knowledge of Blanche Lamont and where he had last scen her. Durrant acknowledged that he had uccom- panied the girl to the school on the morn- ing of her disappearance, but he denied most emphatically that he had called for her at the school in the afternoon or had rode to Market street with her on the car. From that moment Durrant stood in the shadow of the gallows. Why washe not apprehended at once? Itwas because the body of Blanche Lamont was not discov- ered until a week or ten dayslater. At first he was only suspected of having en- ticed her from home. Durrant professed to be surprised when he heard that Miss Lamont was missing, and he offered to do all in his power to help the authorities and the family find There was a division of opinion MINNIE WILLIAMS. [From a photograph.] must have been misled by her pecaliar no- tions of journalistic honor. If she were a man I doubt whether she counld ever again get employment on any paper in the coun- try. I cannot tell you anything about the Williams trial or on what the motion for & new trial will be based. We want a rest, and I have several other cases that will .| take up my time as soon as I am able to get out.” Detective Harry Morse, who has been untiring and faithful in his labors on be- half of the defense since the trial began, | was in a cheerful mood yesterday. He | says it was a newspaper trial. The detec- | tives and police working with the prose- | cution, he claimed, have made it a studious | practice of tampering with the witnesses for the defense. | “Not only that,” he proceeded,* but they instructed their own witnesses not to talk to us. Every precaution was taken to pre- vent our talking with their witnesses or ascertaining the nature of their proposed testimony. We were handicapped on every hand. It was only yesterday that | I met E. C. Jones, the engineer snd expert | of the San Francisco Gas' Company, and | he laughed at the idea of gas effects as | apparently established by the so-called expert witnesses for the prosecution. He | says that the redness of the skin surface, | about which so much was said, does not oceur until asphyxiation has proceeded to | the fatal degree. The first effects of in- halation of gus are pallor and nausea. Oh, | but it was a_handicap. As to the possi- | bility of getting a fair jury, all I can s: is that we might as well take the fi st twelve men to be picked upon the streets.’ S i GLAD HE IS TO DIE. Blanche Lamont’s Aunt and Sister Rejoice at the Ver=- dict. Mrs. Charles G. Noble, the aunt of | Blanche Lamont, is satisfied. Her face | has lost the anxious expression it wore all | during the trial of Durrant and now her | features relax readily into smiles. She laughs at little things and seems to feel relieved of a heavy burden, because Theo- dore Durrant has been condemned to die. “I never had any doubt about the ver- dict,” she said. ‘At first I feared that Mr. Dutton might be uniavorable, he frowned so. But I have learned since that among the detectives as to the young med- | ical student’s sinceritv, but all decided that he would bear watching, and he was watched. On April 11 Captain Lees went to Los | Angeles fora few days’ rest, but he left | the machinery of his department working upon the mystery of the schoolgirl’s dis- appearance. Chief Crowley had the case in hand. Then came the news of the finding of Minnie Williamy’ murdered body in the church on Bartlett street. Durrant, who | was already under a cloud of suspicion, | was the first person to come to the minds of the police, and a few quick moves di- rected by Chief Crowley soon brought to light that she was last seen in Durrant's company. He would have been arrested that night, but Durrant slipped off with the Signal Corps to Mount Diablo, and for a time | it was feared that he had fled to escape from his just deserts. The story of his gapl‘llue in’ Walnut Creek is well remem- ered. e DURRANT TALKS. He Still Declares His Innocence and Is Still Religious. Theodore Durrant was a very different person yesterday from the nervous, irri- table, crestfallen young man who was| taken from Judge Murphy’s court td the | County Jail the day before, after hearing himself pronounced guilty of a devilish murder and deserving death for his crime. The weight of the jury’s decree, that would have crushed almost any other man, seemed to have rested more lightly upon him than his actions the evening before indicated, for he slept soundly during the night and arose yesterday morning as bright as a lark. All his wonted cheerful- ness, miidness of temper and soft tones had returned to him. He was, however, disinclined to talk, | either of the case just ended or of the Min- nie Williams case soon to be called, but of himself he was not so loth to speak. “Do I still say my prayers? I certainly do, although I suppose the assertion sounds somewhat grotesque to you.” This was in reference to occasions when he lapsed into the use of profanity and ob- scenity in discussing various phases of the trial, and was in response to a question if | his experiences had not crushed his relig- ious beliefs out of him. “No, 1 have not abandoned my belief in God,” he continued, ‘but I have changed my opinion of the good-fellowship of cer- tain creeds. The members of my church | have not shown me the consideration that | devotees to other denominations have. In fact, about all the spiritual consolation I | have received has come from outside my own church. “No, I don’t know that I have aban- doned the Baptist faith, but I shall cer- tainly not return to the church of which I am a member when I get out of this.”” Durrant’s confidence that he would beat the gallows and yet be a free man was never more marked than when he deliv- ered himself of the last remark. The tone, manner, everything, indi-ated that he does not believe that he will ever pay the penalty of the crime of which he was con- | victed last Friday. Carrie Cunningham’s story was called to his attention. “I have dismissed her and her stor; from my mind,” he said, ‘‘as one lin broken loose from the chain and sunk by the weight of its own perfidy to the bot- tomless depths of the ocean of calumny. *“What did I intend to say when 1 started to rise after the verdict was pro- nounced ? “I was going to declare my innocence and then and there tell the world what I thought of such a trial. You may believe I would haye said some very pointed things if T had been permitted, but Geueral Dickinson thought I had better not say anything vet. suppose he was right, but I wanted to talk.” It was suggésted to Durrant that the “‘Reynolds’ letter to the Coroner and in connection with it the *Reynolds” and “‘Smythe” statements might have been part of a scheme to blackmail the defense; that is, that the two statements to be of- fered to prove alibis for him in the Lamont and Wnfiams cases respectively had been first offered to the attorneys for the defense for money, but the effort to induce the de- fense to put up money failing, the “Rey- nolds” letter was then sent to the Coroner as an expose of the defense. Durrant re- plied: ““Yes, I have thought that very thing. I have myself been approached by parties offering to perjure themselves for me for money. I could point out some of these very persons to you, but [ am not allowed | he frowned bacause he had a headache. asmuch as the subject had not been | Some of my friends thought Mr. Smyth touched upon in direct examination. | would hany the . But 1 was not Durrant’s attorneys will aiso file copies | afraid of him. His questions were always of all the newspaper articles published | to the point and he seemed almost to nod since the murders in support of a conten- | ‘Yes’ when some of the evidence was being tion that public prejudice was so aroused | given. against the defendant by them that the | ‘‘There was one man we were sure of jury had not the moral courage to find in | from the first. Maude picked him out. is favor, or otherwise than they did. | gebvg_as tbg[flcsdhy mg“ll ml the corner, )Lr; Should the motion for a_new trial be | Babbitt. Maude said she was sure denied, as everybody but Dickinson and ( WOuld be honest, and as the trial pro- Deuprey know it will be, Durrant’s attor- | £7essed she grew more and more enthu- D Deuprey stoutly | hat and bowed and we smiled, and, don’t hold to_their convictions that their client | YOU know, it was just like meeting an old isinnocent and say they will stay by him friend, altho}xgh that was the first n’ryc “‘i to the last. General Dickinson said last | had ever even nodded to him. For i evening in this connection: would have been dreadful for us to have “I am as satisfied in my own mind that | spuken”lo or been friendly with one of the 88 : -~ | jurors. 31\;:‘1';;1; :;fi?fzfem, as I ever was of any- Mrs. Noble said that the w‘opki’in Dill;m, “If T didn't believe the fellow was inno- | Mont., the former home of Blanche Lo would not d i vi San e Pretext before this that would have en- | Yosterday morning. It wasdated 1:20 A at. o ne D EStlOn bR e O e e laineT wisa: ember of out any remuneration and without any | the lodge of Ma:m).\ to which Mr. Lamont prospect of it. No, I do not believe Dur- | had belonged. The dispaich read: rant is guilty; in fact I am positive he is | The entire community of Dillon rejoice innocent, and I think the real murderers | over the righteous verdict rendered rud send ; Should JtUd eDMurphy delr;y (hli)emol}ion | God 1&10:5 the Tmllgln. Jury and all those con: OT a new trial urrant will not be taken | nected with the noble work. to San Quentin, as is customary when the | The telegram was addressed to Mr. death sentence is passed upon a convict, | Nople, This, Mrs. Noble explained, was but will remain in the custody of the | to prevent her being alarmed upon receiv- Sheriff until the trial on the charge of ing the message. murdering Minnie Williams is disposed of. | " I peaking 0f the verdict, Mrs. Noble Eugene Deuprey was reclining on a | said: }ounge, piled high with comfortable Pil- | “It could not have been different. There ows. ; | was no other way to think than thqse _Mr. Deuprey is much better. Hisphysi- | jurors did. As =8 myself, the e\'enlsq\p[ cian says he will be able to attend to his | the trial merely added certainty to my bg- numerous professional duties in a few |lief, for I was sure that Durrant was days without further interruption on ac- | Blanche’s murderer from the moment ker count of sickness. The physician’s pre- | poor body was found in the belfry.” diction finds corroboration in the greatly | ° As she spoke, the smiles that had gath- mproved appearance of his patient siuce | ered at the sympathy of the people of his dramatic appearance in Judge Mur- | Diflon faded away. phy’s courtroom a few days ago. ““And you had not connected Durrant Unlike Dickinson, his associate counsel, | with her disappearance before that?’’ ke is cheerful and hopeful under defeat. ‘“Never for a moment. Some one—I[ be- “Yes, certainiy,” he was willing to dis- | lieve it was Detective Anthony, but i cuss the case. He does not believe 1n put- | don’t remember—suggested th perhaps ting a sour face on over the failure of two | he was responsible, but I told him the 1dea men to make twelve othezs think the same | was preposterous. Later I went to see as they do, and so affirm. | Miss Fowler, the teacher atthe Normal “Do I think it possible to get a fair and | School. The girls said he was the last one impartial jury in the Williams case?’’ | seen with Blanche, but Miss Fowler said Mr. Deuprey slowly, in answer to a | thought the idea of suspecting Durrant question. *‘That is a serious question. It | wasnot to be considered seriously for a is certain that the newspapers have | moment. She said that Durrant—no, she molded public sentiment to a great de- | didn’t ca]l him that; she said, ‘Theodore gree, and it is hardly possible that there | Durrant’—had gone to school to her, and can be many men in" this City who have | that he had always been one of the best of not read of and formed some opinion con- 1 boys. cerning Durrant, but I cannot pass on that | “That is why I never thought he was the | one who had enticed Blanche away, for question finally just at present.” Though evading a direct answer, it was | then, you know, we were acting under that palpable he had his very grave doubts | idea. " Besides, [ knew he was t0o poor to about the securing of an intelligent and | be able to afford such a thing. Blanche unprejudiced jury to try Durrant on the | and I had talked about him ofte , and she charge of killing Minnie Williams. | bad told me about some of his peculiari- We thought he was not very bright, ““Her conduct is inexplicable to me. She | As to a change of venue, in case it was | ties. found impossible to obtain a fair jury in | but was very good. This, too, had its efs the State, he said there is no provision of law whereby the case could be tried in an- other State. The State is sovereign. He had considerable to say about the | defense being handicapped by the manner in which the newspapers have handled the case, and then confined his criticism to the methods employed by Miss Carrie Cunningham. | fect in making me feel that there was not | even a suspicion of his being connected | with the dear girl’s absence.” Mrs. Noble here spoke of some of Dur- Tant’s peculiarities. His command of English, she said, was poor. He was a very bad reader and was unable to pro- nounce even the commonest of words cor- | rectly. This had made her feel that he lacked the ability to thoroughly benefit by by my attorneys to say anything at all.” sastipdviady STILL IN THE FIGHT. General Dickinson Wil Try to Get a New Trlal for Durrant. General Dickinson called at the jail in the afternoon and held a long consultation with the prisoner, after which he instructed Durrant very positively that he must henceforth close his wicket when reporters came to talk to him. General Dickinson will move for a new trial when Durrant goes before Judge Murphy to receive his sentence next Friday. He believes he has a strong bill of exceptions upon which to base his motion, and says he feels confident it will be granted. Principal among the excep- tions to be noted will be the questions put to the defendant while on the stand by the District Attorney with reference to Durrant’s alleged revelations to Miss Cunningham. ~The defense contends that the questions which were objected to at the time were not cross-examination in | BLANCHE LAMON AFrom a photosranh