The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-11-15
Durrant Found Gnilty.

day, took one ballNt and found the
medical student guilty of murder in
the first degree. The facts in the
case were as follows:
On the sd of April last Blanche
Lamont left her home at 8:3o A. NJ,
and went to the Boys High School
for the morning session. In the after
noon she attended the Normal School,
in Powell street, near Clay, for the
cooking class, which she left about z
p. M. AS she walked from the school
in company with Miss Minnie Ed
wards. young man stepped up to
her, raised his hat and escorted her to
the car at Clay and Powell streets
The two sat on the east side Of the
dummy, and rode in that position to
Market street.
En- route to Market street Miss Ed
wards sat inside of the car, and paid
close attention to Miss Lamont and
her escort. She saw them last at
Market and Powell, where she left
the car, and proceeded down Market
to Fourth street. AS the car on which
Miss Lamont and Miss Edwards rode
passed the corner of Powell and Cali.
fornia, Misses May Lanigan and Alice
Pleasant, who attended the Normal
School and saw Miss Lamont there
that day, noticed the young lady and
her escort sitting on the outside OF the
car.
NEVER AGAIN SEEN ALIVE.
Blanche Lamont was never again
seen alive by any one who knew her.
She failed to return home, and her
disappearance was reported to the
police. They not only failed to find
her, but were unable to get clew
which would show whether she had
been murdered or had eloped. The
latter was the most accepted theory.
1t became known that a young man
had escorted the missing girl from the
school, but his identity was not estab-
lished at that time.
On the 18th of April the mangled
body of Minnie Williams, who had
been murdered on the night of Friday,
the I2th, was found in the library OF
the Emmanuel Church. This dscov-
cry led to an investigation and the
finding of the remains of Blanche
Lamont on the top floor of the tower
of the church.
| rI>-cEp MApEc ON HER NECK
She had been strangled to death,
and the marks of the murderer's fin
gers were plainly to be seen on the
neck. 1t was evident that the murder
had not occurred where the body was
found, but that the body had been
carried, or rather dragged, to that spot
BY the murderer from some point out.
side of the tower. There was large
blood stain at the second floor OF
| the tower and other bloodstains below
which showed that there the murderer
had rested and permitted the body
to lay.
The body had then been taken to
the top floor, denuded and laid ou,
with blocks of wood at the head and
under the feet, something after the
method in vogue in dissectlng room
The clothing had been torn tc pieces
and stuffed into interstices in the wall:
of the tower. The school books
which the murdered girl had carried
had been disposed of by being thrown
|; into dark recesse: above the ceiling o
the church on level with the lowe
, floor of the tower.
ATTEMPTS AT CoNcEALMENT.
The murderer, probably upon th'
dav of the crime, had broken the out
side knob off the door of the towe
leading to the gallery and had broker
the lock. This was done from TIT
inside, and necessitated his departure
from the scene of the crime by goln,
through an aperture communicating
! with the space above the church cell
t ing and thence crossing over the tot
: of the ceiling to the rear of the churcI
whence there was passageway dow
r to the auditorium floor, and fror
there to the floor below, on which tn
Sunday School room and the lbrar
e room were located.
When the murder of Mimi
Williams became known suspicion wa
e directed toward Theodore Duran
and detectives found enough evidenc
in his clothing to justify his arrest o
Sunday morning, April "A. Duran
was then at Mount Diablo. II
S was brought back to this city and al
S effort was made to fix the murder
o Blanche Lamont on him.
= The two school girls positivel
n identified him as the man they ha
), seen leave the Normal School wit
Miss Lamont on the afternoon
April 8. 80.
e An attempt was made by the d'
e tense at the trial to arouse susplclo
Al n ,,,,tor of the church. Rev