The herald., 1895-08-21
DURRANT'S WAY WITH THEM
A Line of Damaging testimony
Being Developed
AUlACITY OF THE ACCUSED
He Wrote Insulting Letters to Young
Actress
An Alb; Is the Probable Defense In the
AUDACITY OF THE ACCUSED
An Alibi Is the Probable Defense In the
Lamont Case but 1t VIII
Hardly Work

Associated Press Special Wire.
SAN FRANCISCO, August 20.-The
prosecutors OF Theodore Durrant are st
present engaged in developing fruitful
line of testimony, which promises to
throw powerful sidelight on the conduct
OF the young. man toward women.
While Durrant is pictured by his friends
as meek, modest youth, who, so far
from being able to murder two school
girls, found his only true enjoyment in
the Sunday school of which he. was assist
ant superintendent, it is proposed to
prove that his baseness was boundless
wnen associatIng with women. In sup
port OF this assertion young women who
are said TO have been insulted by Durrant
will be placed on the stand, and letters
written by the prisoner to his female ac-
quaintances will be introduced as 'evi-
dence. The audacity of the prisoner is
shown by a letter now in the hands of
the police. which he wrote to Helen
Henry, local actress, a few weeks be-
fore the Emanuel church murders. AL
though he had known the young lady but
few days. he wrote her letter SO sug.
gestive that she declined to answer it,
and in Il few days followed it up with an
other just as offensive. So bold did Dur
rant become, that long before his arrest
it is said that number of young women
declined to attend parties to which he
was invited, or associate with him in any
way. Some of the women who have
been insulted by Durrant will be placed
on the witness stand and will be OF Import
IN, raf, fhn ~ nf ho
defense that SO moral and conscientious
Young man could not commit two such
atrocious murders.
FromN- reliable source il is learned tha
no matt,r what is accomplished by
tie present .rial, it IS intended to- bring
Durrant before jury on the charge of
killing Minnie Williams. This course will
be pursued even if Durrant should be
found guilty of. the muroer of Bl nche
Lamont. The idea of the prosecute - in
doing that would be to provide against
the supreme court grating new trial in
the Lamont case. 1t is even possible that
the district attorney would consent to a
change of venue for the Williams trial.
Much speculation has been INDUCED in
as to the nature OF the alibi Durrant's s
counsel expect to present to the jury to
combat the evidence now in the hands of
the prosecution. From hints that have
been dropped it appears that the records
of the Cooper medical college will form
the basis of the attack on the testimony
of Martin Quinlan, Mrs. Leak and others.
The records are the rolls of DR.. William
f. Cheney's class at the college. Durrant
was one of the class OF seventy seven
students who attended DR.. Cheney's
Lectures. The roll shows that he was
present at the lecture delivered at the col
lege on the afternoon of April Sd at the
perecise hour that the prosecution claims
I@ al, "A,
Blanche Lamont
DR.. Cheneys lecture hour is from $3.50
to 80 o'clock and the roll of students is
not called until the close of the lecture.
On this occasion. the doctor says, his
lecture was little shorter than usual
and that he may have ordered the roll
called as early as go O'Clock. If Durrant
were present and answered to his name,
then he could not have been at the church
with Blanche Lamont.
DR.. Cheney conidered the point so i'm
portant that he spent two days in trying
20 determine tho truth or fal sity of facts
as shown by the roll. The seventysix
private office one by one and interrugated
8s to whether they had remembered
Durrant's presence at the lecture, whether
they had heard him answer when his
name was called ana wheGher they had
answered for him. To the last two in
terrogations they all answered in the
negative. Some were under the impress
ion that Durrant had attended the
lecture, but none was sure. DR.. Cheney's
investigation brought out one important
fact. 1t was that on April 10th Durrant
went to a fellow student, Edward y.
CHASER, and asked for the notes on DR..
Cheney's lecture, delivered on the after
noon OF the Sd. The prosecution looks
upon this as proof that Durrnnt di1 no.
attend the lecture, for had he done so he
would have made his own notes.