The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-30
DURRANT'S DEFENSE.
NO ADDITIONAL LIGHT THROWN
ON THE CASE.
Argument Very Disap-
pointing and Adds Nothing to
Dispense the Cloud That Over
hangs the Prisoner.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29,-The close
of arguments for the defense in the
trial of Theodore Durrant today was
marked by the greatest crowd that
ever fought for admission to a murder
trial in this city. Judge, jurors, court
officers and attorneys struggled for
nearly an hour in surging throng of
men and women who crowded the cor
r1dorS leading to the court room The
Sheriff and his deputies We're not able
to control the mob and a requisitiOn
was made on the chief Of police for a
squad of twenty men. Ropes were
stretched across the corridors and an
effort made to keep the people back
but the ropes were brushed aside as
easily as pieces of Irvine might have
been. 1t was not until half an hour
after the regular time for the session
of court to begin that the last juror
was in his seat. Then one of the jurors
arose and informed the court that he
would never enter the room again if
he were compelled to fight his way
through such a crowd.
The afternoon session of the court
was several times interrupted by the
shouts of officers and the cries of wo-
men. AT last the court ordered the
sheriff to arrest every person who
should refuse to go out of the building.
The crowd was finally dispersed with
out the necessity of making any ar
rests.
General Dickinson resumed his argu-
ment for the defense this morning and
concluded his remarks at noon. The
only significant feature of his remarks
was the suggestion that Miss Lamont
was
Probably Murdered BY Two Men
instead of one.
When Attorney Deuprey appeared at
the afternoon session to make the clos
ing argument for the defense he was
accompanied by his wife, a nurse and
his physician. He looked weak from
his recent illness and by permission of
the court addressed the jury while
seated. Deuprey's impaired physical
condition was apparent in his argu-
ment, which was a disappointment to
the large crowd which fought their
way into the court room to hear him.
1t is generally considered that the case
would have been just as strong if he
had submitted it at the close of Cen
eral Dickinson's address without fur
Their argument
Attorney Deuprey said Durrant was
an innocent victim of circumstances
and begged the jury to right the Wrong
that had already been done the pUs-
oner, by acquitting him as speedily as
possible. He attacked the testimony of
the prosecutions witnesses in the same
manner that General Dickinson did
All of the witnesses who swore they saw
Durrant and Miss Lamont going to-
ward Emanuel church on the afternoon
of April were mistaken. No evidence
had been introduced which he believed
established the fact that Durrant
strangled Miss Lamont The same
amount of energy directed toward
casting suspicion upon the Rev. John
George Gibson, he believed, would have
developed as strong d case against the
clergyman. At the same time Mr.. Deu-
prey expressed the belief that the Rev
Gibson had no connection with the
crime. While the prosecution had prov
ed nothing Mr.. Deuprey said the de-
Tense had proved more than he prom
ised in his opening statement. He could
not see how any juror could doubt for a
moment that Durrant attended Dr.
Cheney's lecture on the afternoon of
April 3.
District Attorney Barnes will begin
the closing argument for the prosecu-
ton tomorrow morning.