The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-25

Public opiaion stops short at
the doors Of justice.
"Whatever may be the public opinion,
its waves may roll and roar, but when they
reach the temple of justice there they stop,
and in the calm and dignity of the law
such as we have witnessed, no matter how
hldeous the crime and no matter how bad
the individual who committed it, he is
entitled to fair and impartial trial.
I'VE charge that Theodore Durrant
killed Blanche Lamont on or about the 80
OF April, 1895. This fact must be estab-
lshed to the satisfaction OF the State, free
OF all reasonable doubt, and OF moral GER
tainty. We know this. At the inception
OF this cause you were asked especially
upon the question as TO what is a reasona-
Bile doubt. You were told it did not mean
an imaginable or possible doubt; for any
thing that Is the work of a human being,
that is the product of the testimony of hui
man beings is accompanied by q vague or
possible doubt. If we had to prove beyond
all possible doubt a cause murder would
always go unpublished, as circumstantial
evidence would be eliminated from the
law and we could never prove crimes which
in many instances are fearful and h1deous
because there is no direct evidence OF it,
1--WE told you the case rested largely on
clrcumstantial evidence, though this can
not be called a case of pure circumstantial
evidence. We have a large amount of di-
rect evidence upon one of the vital ques-
tons and that must be determined; that
is, as to the identity of the body, as to
whether or not it was Blanche Lamont,
and whether or not she is dead"
Nol0 the State anspers Mr..
Deaprey'S opening questions.
Here the Assistant District ATTORNEY
cited the case of the Parkman- Webster
murder. Then, continuing, he said: eve
are now prepared to answer the questions,
Where was she murdered? When was
she murdered? BY whom was she
murdered? What was the motive ?
We answer the question, Where was
she murdered? In the beifry of EN-
manuel Baptist Church. When was she
murdered? On the afternoon of the Sd of
April, between the hours of 4 30 and 5
O'Clock. By whom was she murdered By
this defendant, Theodore Durrant What
was the motive? Unbridled passion-that
same motive that has filled our history
with so many black pages.
Now, gentlemen of the jury, we will go
right at our case. We will take up the
evidence piecemeal; that evidence that
has come from all sides, from all classes
of people; SO different, so diversed, old
and young, girls and boys, men and
women, rich and poor-all have supplied
evidence that fits together and coils the
rope around this defendant so tight that
he is beyond recall.
"And if in the statement of this evil
dence l go one jot beyond the fact, one
misstatement, no matter how slight, I ask
you, / beseech you, learned counsel for the
defendant, to stop me where | am, for
knowingly and Intentionally l would not
state one thing against this man further
than what has already been stated in your
presence that would harm him one lot be-
yond the awful position in which we find
him now.
DurrGnt sholOs the nerve re-
quired to handle dead bodies.
blanche Lamont was a young girl of
about twenty years of age, born in Mon
tana, reared in the country. She came
out here a year or two ago to reside with
her aunt, Mrs. Noble. Let US take Dur
rants own description of the girl. He
said: She was SO pure, so good, so limo
cent that she thought all others were like
her, and whoever she had confidence in
could lead her wherever they would This
is the defendants statement of her charac-
ter TO her friends after she was missing.
He only too well knew what her conf
dence was and how she might be led
1.-The other character in this awful trag-
edy is young man about "a years of age.
handy man about the church, medical
student, one who is Just in the first step of
that profession which takes nerve, the
kind OF nerve that leads up to crime of
this character; that profession in which
so many have stopped in the first year of
their studies because they did not have
nerve enough and stamina enough to 90
through with handling dead bodies and
dissectlng them as is required. You have
seen this young man in court, YOU have
observed him on the stand, you have seen
his GOODNESS, his calmness and his cum
MING That character and ~, a1;ool
dent handling dead bodies, / wish you
would keep before your eyes, for we need
these facts later on. The character of
Miss Misunderstanding and confiding-I
wish you also to keep in your mind, for
we need that later on.
"This defendant has proved good char
acter for himself. l admit right here that
in criminal defense this is one of the
strongest safeguards against accusation.
Blanche could haze been led
only by a man Of good reputation.
"We know as prosecuting officers that in
the ordinary CAGES OF murder, of EN- bezzle-
ment, of forgery, that good character is
one of the hardest things to contend
against before jury. But in this case we
wanted the defendant to prove good
character. He has proved it. 1t is only
with man of good character that Blanche
Lamont would have ever gone to lonely
spot. Ii he had been a man of bad char
acter-if Blanche Lamont had for one
moment suspected that he was not what
the world believed him she never would
have gone one step out of the sight OF any
other human beings. That is why l say to
you, This defendants good character helps
to place him, as we shall show you, as the
murderer of this girl.
'On the Sd of April Blanche Lamont
started as usual for her school. She was
attending the higher branches. The same