Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-25

was little chip diamond with rays. Il
was ring bought as Christmas present
and given to Blanche's sister. Maud, in
DILLON. Mont. A garnet ring was given to
Blanche at the same time, and the two had
changed rings.
Then occurred a most remarkable incl
dent. On April ID the postman delivered
to Mrs. Noble wrapped in a newspaper,
the three rings which Blanche wore when
she disappeared. including the chip dia-
mond ring.
Another point made by the state was
that Durrant was not where he ought to
have been at the time he met Blanche La
mont; that he was not at the Cooper Med
ical School. where DR.. Cheney was lee
turing to the students of Durrant's class,
between $3.50 and 4:30 o'clock in the af-
ternoon. but that his name nevertheless
appeared on the roll call of the class that
day.
Durrant had induced one of his fellow
students to answer roll call for him.
A Dramatic Ordeal.
One of the most dramatic ordeals through
which the alleged murderer passed .oc-
Cured the second day Of the trial. He and
the jury were taken to the scene of Blanche
Lamont's death. Every inch of the place
was gone over for the benefit of the jurors.
He stood in the little room where Minnie
Williams was choked and gashed. He pass
ed up the narrow stairway up which tho
murderer dragged the body of Blanche
Il.
found When the examination was over
he brushed the dust from his clothes and
came away smiling.
On the following day DR.. G. c. Barrett.
autopsy physician at the morgue. was CALL
ed. He testified, as the district attorney
had foretold, that Blanche Lamonts death
was due to aspbyxation, caused by stran-
grlation, and that there were seven finger
reil ircisions on the right side of the neck
and five on the left. She had probably been
dead two weeks. He said he had made no
Investigation to determine whether not
the person of the victim had been violated.
He was very positive that the nails of the
nurderer's fingers were cut square. The
peculiar significance of this testimony was
that Durrant's nails were found to be cut
square at tie time of his arrest, but they
were very short. The police theory that
they had been cut short since the murder
was borne out by DIR. Barrett.
The seven nail marks on one side might
have been caused by a person pressing the
fingers of both hands on that side at once.
An Important Point.
A glove and a few buttons, torn from
Blanche LamoLts dress, played import
ant part in the efforts of the prosecution to
establish the exact place of her death.
These things We're found on the same land
ing where the body was found, and the infer
ence would be that the buttons We're torn
off in struggle there. and that death took
place on the landing where 1.-The body was
found.
AS the trial proceeded the evidence trac-
ing DCrrant and Blanche Lamont up to the
door Of the church accumulated. The weak
er links of the chain were strengthened and
the prisoners chances of escape seemed less
and less.
An unexpected witness was Mrs. Elizabeth
Crosett, woman seventy years of age and
an old friend of the prisoner and his mother.
She testified that she had ridden on the Va
lencia street car with Durrant and a young
woman whom she did not recognize on April
3, but whose description answered to that Of
Blanche Lamont.
They had travelled together to 2lst or 22d
street either of which led to the church.
This statement supplies the ore gap in the
line of testimony showing Durrant's move
ments from the time he met Blanche La
mont till he entered the church.
w. j. Phillips, a cigar manufacturer swore
he saw man. whom he identified positively
as Durrant, enter Orperheim's jewelry store
a few days after the murder. Oppenheim
had elready testified that Durrant tried to
sell him one of Blanche Lamont's rings.
But though the testimony going to show
that he was the last person seen alive with
Blanche Lamont grows stronger, evidence
directly connecting him with the commission
of the crime, or showing what he did in the
church, still seems lacking This is the
weakest part of the prosecutions case.