The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-31

and Riehl assembled to the first platform of the
belfry. They assembled the steps Nothing was
discovered upon the platform and nothing
upon the stairs. They went up, and as they
reached point on the stairway three or four
steps below the top platform, the position
where Glbsons face was above the top plat
form, and where his eyes had view of what
was there, he saw at the head OF the stairs,
lying In the dust, human body, looking, in
the dim light, like marble.
As to the footprints on
the stairs Of the beLfry.
Gibson went to notify his sunerior and sta
toned Officer Riehl at the door to keep people
out: No one passed into the belfry except
Riehl himself, who went to look at the floor
OF the belfry to get glimpse of the body. Mr..
Rlehl said in his testimony that on the first
two or three steps of the platform were per-
ceptible footsteps. ask you to take into con-
sideration this fact, the condition of the floor
OF the belfry as you saw it yourself, the con-
dition of the stairs the character of the light,
the excitement that was natural to these two
men on finding this long-lost body. There has
been talk of q trail that was left on the plat
form, but nobody has testified in regard to
this except Officer Riehl. This, then, is the
answer to the first proposition, that on the
14th of April, 1895, a body was found in the
Emmanuel Baptist Church on Bartlett street.
That being the case, whose was the body?
fingers, and he knew that this was the girl
for whom he sought. And so he sent for Mr..
Noble, for he knew that Blanche Lamont was
his niece.
The body eoas fully
identified by Mr.. Noble.
Mr.. Noble came to the church. He looked at
the body and said: "That is my niece, Blanche
Lamont Then they took the body, laid it in
a tablecloth and they carried 1t down to the
gallery. Again Mr.. Noble asked to look at the
corpse and again he said "That is my niece,
Blanche Lamont" Then, after the body of the
poor girl was taken to the Morgue, everybody
knew that the long lost girl had been found
murdered. Gentlemen, that night in theaters,
clubs, churches and homes in this great City,
n4W n a w nf mon cir had
been found in Emmanuel Church. And all
knew that this body was the body OF Blanche
Lamont That. gentlemen, is my answer to
the second question. Our third and fourth
propositions are joined together by the man.
ner in which We are pursuing this investiga-
ton. DR.. Barrett says the body presented the
phenomena OF one that had been HfelesS from
ten to fourteen days.
The presence of strong, bong,
ctutchGRg, aRercttcSs hands.
The doctor saw the incision of the finger
nails, seven on one side and five on the other.
He saw that the larynx and trachea had been
compressed. The lungs and brain were con-
gested, all symptoms, plain and manifest, of
death by asphy1iation. What caused the
cause the body would have been red. What,
then, caused It? Pressure from the outside
that contracted the great tubes and prevented
any air from getting in-the pressure of strong,
bony, clutching, merciless hands. Therefore,
gentlemen, 1t is manifest from the examina-
tlon OF the surgeon and from his testimony
lilhI dSaIu resulted from aSpQyAldllOu, lndI 1t
was caused by strangulation, that strangula-
ton was caused by some one. 1t was the vio-
lence OF another person, and that being so 1t
was case OF murder.
She ecas strangled to
death! Somebody did it!
1t was plain, manifest murder-the kind of
murder that the British Government has
spent over f10,000,000 trying to root out in
India - assassination. We have established
that a body was found in the Emmanuel Bap-
tlst Church. that the body was that of Blanche
Lamont and that she was strangled to death.
somebody did 1t. 1t was not accident. 1t was
not suicide. We are now brought to the main
fact in this case which we have been trying
Tor three months. Who was this murderer,
and when did he murder the girl? Gentlemen,
we know that at the time OF her death Blanche
Lamont was between 20 and q years of age.
She was resident in San Francisco only about
SIX months before her death. She was, the evil
quiet girl. In September, 1894, the defendant
became acquainted with Blanche Lamont. He
was, after that, much in her company.
He tickled the panity Of
simple, innocent girl.
She seemed in some mysterious way to have
become attracted toward this man. Attracted
is perhaps strong word, but 1T appears that it
was so. She met this defendant, and he visited
at her home. Once they took journey to
Golden Gate Park. They were out on that
occasion several hours, and Durrant apologized
TO Mrs. Noble on their return home. Mrs.
Noble said 1t was all right she knew the de-
iSAoohti ilhcu ulun, the SHlOOtu, oily ScOunQrel
That won his way to girls heart. If she per-
United him to take Blanche to the park, why
not to church? She could not know what he
was. She could not see the snake that was
lurking IN this pewter invitation of a tin-pot
DANDY. He was at the church clothed in
authority. He was an usher of the church,
garbed IN solemn black, the hero of strawberry
festivals, OF chicken dinners and SO forth. He
held Just the position that cheap beau like
MN would hold in a mission church. He was
rehg1ous, held q good character, and so was
thought pretty good fellow. Just the man to
TICKLE the pride or vanity OF a simple, innocent
She arent there because
theodore Durrdat lgent there.
Why did Blanche Lamont attend Emmanuel
Chureh? Did she prefer that church to the
one she hrst attended, the Grace Methodist?
NO. Dld she prefer DR.. Gibson's sermons to
any otherY By no means. But she went there
because theodore Durrant went there, because
ne was superintendent of the Sunday-school
ana she wanted to meet him there. She liked
MIN, and he liked her; that's the plain, hard
common-sense And they knew one another
pretty well, had no doubt discussed each others
prospects; and opened out, doubtless, an aurora
poreails before them that had no cloud. He
Knew she was good girl; she thought he
was good man. She did not know to what
Q6ptQS OF degradation he p01ld sink 10 could