The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-05

Sunday. 1 think it was on April ID
In the year 1895?
In 1895.
Was it on Easter Sunday?
Where had Blanche Lamont first resided?
At 209 Twenty-tirSt street.
When do you remember first having seen her
there?
About the middle of September, 1884
Judge Murphy-Where did you first see the
dead body of Blanche Lamont? In the belfry
of the church?
Yes; in the belfry.
"No cross-examination," said Mr.. Deu-
prey.
DR.. J. S. Barrett, the autopsy physician
at the Morgue, who made the post-mortem
examination on the body of Blanche La
mont, was the second witness. He was
examined by Assistant District Attorney
Peixotto, whose questions were frequently
interrupted by the technical objections of
Mr.. Deuprey. Between objections DR..
Barrett managed to get before the jury the
condition in which he found the body of
the murdered girl.
Decomposition was well set in, he said,
and life had probably been extinct for
about two weeks. He found seven finger
nail missions on the left side of the throat,
and five on the right side. Death was
caused by asphyxiation due to strangula-
ton.
Mr.. Deuprey did the examining.
He went into the history of DR.. Barrett
from the time he graduated from the
Cooper Medical College in 1898.
Witness said he was house surgeon at
the City and County Hospital from Janu-
airy l, 1894, to January of this year, and
bad performed about 200 autopsies. There
was but one case of strangulatlon among
the number. 1t was of a man who had
hanged himself at the Mission and died in
the hospital. Witness had also had a
lD Nf - ~ lo4, !,
Morgue before that of Miss Lamont.
Then Mr.. Deuprey wanted to know what
was the difference between asphyxiation
and strangulation. Dr. Barrett defined
them both. Then the inquisitor led the
witness by tortuous route over the entire
autopsy, making him explain each step
fully and describe the condition in which
all the organs were found.
Durrant appeared very much interested
in all this surgical and anatomical exami-
nation, much Of which was directed to-
ward eliciting information that would tend
to show the impossibility of fixing even
approximately the time of death.
"Did you ascertain the color of the eyes or
the weight of the body?" asked Deuprey.
81 looked at the eyes, but do not remember
the color. l believe, from my observation
that the body weighed about 40 pounds. l
made no note of the height or complexion of
the body"
"Was there any evidence of clotted blood
about the body?"
"There was none except about the mouth and
nose. think 1t had been coughed or other
wise brought forth by the girl before death and
after struggle"
How soon would death occur in such a
case?"
alt might be halfan hour before actual death
occurred"
Were the finger marks alike in size?"
"One, think that OF a thumb-nail, was very
much palmer than the others. l think 1t was
low down on the left side"
CHOW about the shape of the nails?"
81 think, so far as could determine, that the
nails were square and not round. placed my
nails in the marks, but did not measure them"
"In your opinion, were the marks all made
by fnger-nails but one, aud that was the
-thum b-nail you speak OFF,
1.-THE examination of the throat showed
there was evidently struggle" asked Deu-
.'it did" replied the witness.
did it indicate that the victim at the time
was crying out and that the hands on the
throat were pressed tighter to stif1e the out
AZ have no opinion as to that
Then concerning the nail incision again,
Attorney Deuprey said:
''You suppose, then, that the seven nail in
cisions must have been made by more than
"We object" said Mr.. Barnes.
And the court sustained the objection,
ruling that Sucn question should not be
asked of medical expert witness and was
a matter for the jury to decide for itself.
But later on Mr.. Deuprey got at the same
conclusion in different way, and then the
witness said that the two hands of one per-
son could easily enough produce such
severe incisons on the throat, and to
prove this DR.. Barrett placed his hands
upon the long throat of Attorney Deuprey
in such way that, had they been pressed
tightly, would have produced the same
kind of marks as those found on the
neck of the murdered girl
Another point brought out clearly by
the cross-examining attorney was that, in
the opinion of the witness, Blanche La