The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-11-08
HOLMES AND DURANT BOTH CON
VICTED.



Summary of the Evidence in their Cases
Holmes Career MS the Great Murder
erofthc Century Again Reviewed.
Two famous criminal trials resulted in YER
diets of guilty, Friday and Saturday-that OF
Theodore Dnrrant nj San Francisco for the muir
der of Blanche Lamont and that of ii A Mud
gett, alias ii II Holmes, Mt Philadelphia for the
murder of B Pietzel in an insurance fraud
The result was somewhat unexpected in both
for though there was little moral doubt of guilt
the legal proof, mainly circumstantial, was
rather weak. Durrant and his mother, who.has
faithfully accompanied him through the tiial
evidently both expected an acquittal, for they
INDUCED in considerable leyity while the Jury
was out When the verdict was announced the
crowd rose and gave aiyell of jubilation. Dur
one of defiance and was apparent that he had
| it In mind to address the jury But when he
heard his mothers cry, he sat down and took
her &c; ony in his arms she rested her head
left hand and with his right strokGd her hair
He seemed obivious to everything except his
mother He takes 1t coolly, and says he has
appeal to the supreme court on bill of excep-
tiOns. So far as known, Holmes was as impas.
sive as ever when his verdict was announced.
He made no cutlery or exhibited emotion of any
kind. He stared vaeantly before him. His face
was that of n corpse. IL was as eXpressionless
as mask. Only nervous twitching of the
eyelids and the contraction and dilatiOn Of the
III the dock. His under lip fell and he ran his
tongue across 1t, moistcning the dryness, and,
clasping his hands together, he leaned forward
to listen to the judges decision.
The Durrant case was that of the "church
steeple" murders, the bodies of two girls,
Blanche Lamont. and Minnie Williams, with
whom he was known to be friendly, being
found and showing outrage before the mnr.
inent in the church was shown to be there
about the time Of the girls, disappearance
and also to have offered some Of Blanche's Jew
prove an abb by showing that he was present
at a medical lecture at that time; but this ap-
peared to be fraud. His name appeared on
lie got another student to answer for him and
he did borrow notes of the lecture from an
other.
In the Holmes case, all evidence of or allus-
ions u, the 20 or more other murders including
thosssof the Pietzel children he is accused of
cODsnitting, were excluded, and the issue was
confined to that of Pietzel himself. The proof
was that the body was found in n room In
Philadelphia and arranged in position that
would not have been possible il he had COM
mitted suicide by chlor0form poisoning as the
defense claimed. Holmes was shown to be there
at the time and he admitted seeing the body
after death and arranging It las found. The
$4,000 life insurance was collected and only
few hundred of it given to the widow. Holmes
and the lawyer pOcketing 1.-THE rest. Chl0roform
was found in the dead mans stomach but in q
LIQUID state such as would not cause death and
the claim was that he poured it in after death.
The defense put In no evidence put rested on
the claim, developed by cross examination OF
experts, that in n hard drinking man IKE met.
zil the chloroformlmight act as 1t was shown 1t
had done.
ii he had not been convicted there were in
dctments against him In several other states
which would have hung him. He is one OF the
most persistent and daring criminals. not only
of this country, but of history, and who mas de-
veloped the possibilities of scientific murder.
Whatever of the horrible other men have
dreamed in the line Of murder he has used and
refined upon. lie is in face and manners a very
interesting and even fascinating man, his var.
iOus victims having been first attracted by this
frank and winning ways, which were all lifted
to make him what might be called promoter OF
confidential numbering. He is a man of medium
height, being 8 feet, inches tall, and rather
heavy, his shoulders which were held erect be-
fore his arrest, being now somewhat stopped.
In his head and face. where the evidences OF
criminal disposition are narmsay So" Was
while in college at Ann Arbor. Mich,
that he concocted his first insurance fraud with
q fellow student, VINO secured policy OF Sl2,3oO
and disappeared, leaving Holmes to collect the
money on the discovery of n corpsc, which was
identified as that of his fellow-conspirator. rms
money was divided. Later Holmes appeared az
Mooers Forks, Clinton county, \ !, Where ne
taught school and ran off leaving big board
bill unpaid. He visited his wife, Miss Cara
Lowering of Landon, n II, whom he had mar
ried before leaving the state, who had had a
son Dy MN, a1IcT tnls cDlsOut, WV hei
for good, going to st Paul, where he was ap
pointed as receiver of a restaurant, stocked 1t
up on credit, sold out and left, his bondsmen
having to settle the bills he was next 9eara
Y Belknap of Willamette, suburb OF the big
city, without going through the formality OF a
divorce with his first wife. He tried to get pos
Int failed. and his wife left him, taking little
pirl which had been born TO them. In the period
Since 1880 Holmes crimes have, according to
the reports, been exceedingly numerous anu
atrocious. various cOnspiracies having been con:
Quoted simultaneously. Outside or f1etzel anu
his three children, all of Holmes murders are
thought to have been committed in his famous
.'castle," which he built especially for the pur-
pose at Chicago. 1t was three story nat build.
ing, Holmes using the second 1ioor, With olmces
in front and apartments IN the rear. rms hoor
and the basement were designed especially ior
the purposes of crime. From Holmes pain
room n secret trap door opened TO Il niddeh starr
way leading to the Easement ana the street.
There was chute from the roof to the cellar,
with an opening in the bathroom. On the tnlru
floor there were also trap doors, one Leading
into a room used as u laboratory Tor the drug
store on the first floor and another into the Dat
room. In the cellar the most starting aiscov
tanks one of which was connected with n fnr-
mace. Human bones were found In one OIL the
tanks and n number of homes were also dug up
under the surface of the cellar, while whole
Skeletons were proved 10 have been sold to
man named NJ Chappel who articulaten
them. Holmes says all these were bones OF
bodies which he had intended TO use IN ,hs III.
victims by passing gas into their rooms Wmle
they slept or shut them into his large safe. The
bodies were then thrown down the chute ana
destroyed by chemicals or in the furnace
Fasts 65 Days.
The news comes from st Barnabee, Que, of
voupr woman named Deschene who has taken
no food for G5 days, the only thing she can swat
low being a little water or tea, Although very
weak she is still able to move about anu 'he 'oc'
tors are puzzled with the case.
Hope Yet at Panama.
sir Renry TYLER writes to the London Times
giving his impressions of the Panama canal,
and his opinions concerning It's feaslDiilty anu
the probabilities of its complexion, which ne
considers excellent He says tnat nc meh ,a W.
n homeless enterprise, both from the STANDPOINT
of the engineer and the tlnancier, put ne mas
entirely changed his opinions since ms WISH anu
study Of the new plans. He thinks that rs
originally planned there was little doubt OF the
failure OF the project, but the apparently iaut
mistakes have been corrected, much Oh w
original route abandoned ana more nso "'" an
1id rather than an obstacle. His estimate OF
Inc cost of the Panama canal Is sllU,oo,uu ana a
nf the time necessary to build it, SIX years, anu
he expresses confidence that the new fIencn
romnanv which owns the concessions anu tne
oroperty of the old company, can command tne
necessary capital to complete tho enterprlse.
M more on the way, and estimates the full
working force ut about 1000, possibly increasen .
y, y, elNa1. There are Is miles of the canal from
tSe Atlantic end practically comp 'eted ana four
from the Pacific end. ,, u.,a.n. called
r. gorge Edward johnson of Mcdford. an ~
~ NJ Rntherford exchange q liquor saloon at
rha rIestown, Mass, Monday night and the latter
Miss Sarah Wright professional nurse , a5H
Mrs. John Grove, her iandady, got into ag.s
ast week at jamestown, !, over mom mnd