Evening journal., 1895-10-02
THREATENED A JUROR.
Another Sensation at the Trial
of Young Durant.
ATTAoK AND DEEENsE OF HIs ALIBI
Secretary OF the Y. NJ. {. A. Accused by Ju-
Tor Truman OF Trying to IntimIdate Him.
Medical students Are Tying to Help tho
Prisoner.


SAY FRANCISCO. oct. 2.-Aftcr gather
ine.u n few ragged ends Of tho testimony
ieft over from last week the dofonse in
the Durant case began the building Of an
al.hi for the young medical student from
April up to April 10 inclusive. The pur-
pose Of the alibi is to impeach the testi-
nony Of Pawnhroker Oppenheim and W.
J. Phillips who testified that on April
~ Durant tried to pawn Blanche La
monts ring at Oppcnheim's store.
During the course OF the testimony,
which covered Durant's movements on
April 4 and ., a struggle was precipitated
bctwoon District Attorney Barnes and the
defcnso, who again challenged the relia-
bility Of n roll call book at the Cooper col
lege The argument resulted in a victory
for the defense SO far as tho question be-
fore the court was concerned, as Judge
Murphy sustained an objection TO a ques-
tion propounded by himself to the wit.
ness and cut OIL the discussion.
The day began with a sensation, which
was quite as unexpected TO the prosecu-
tion as TO the defense. Juror ]. J. Tru-
man informed the court that last Thurs
day during the noon recess of the court
he was approached by II. J. Mccoy gem
oral secretary of the Young Mems Chris
llUf u~NOllHllOIf WIN OINttiNbAiN W UihW
him into a conversation on the subject Of
the trial
"lf you do not hang Durant, said Nc
Coy to the juror, I've will hang you"
Tho court said the offense bordered
strongly on crime and cited Mccoy to
appear in court on Oct. and show cause
why he should not be punished for con-
tempt
r.. W. Maitland, the electrician who
testified last weok with regard to the con
struction OF the sunburners in Emanuel
church, was the first called. The tostimo-
ny was Of the same nature as that given
last week and was intended to show the
liability of the escape of gas under certain
conditions.
Oppenbeim's Testimony AssaiIed.
The assault on Pawnbroker Open
helms testimony then began. The de-
fense called TO the stand four witnesses,
by whom it was proposed to test the accu-
racy Of the pawnbrokers memory.
Marvin Curtis, William Cathyart, =. J.
Numann and Leonard Everett members
Of the national guard and the signal corps
to which Durant belonged, testified that
they had taken various articles Of iewelry
to Oppenheims store and attempted to
pawn thom. They described the manner
in which they were dressed at the time.
Tho descriptions in many instances did
not correspond with the descriptions given
by Oppenhoim when he was asked to tell
how the men who tried to pawn the arti-
cles were dressed Each of the four wit
nesses said he had subscribed money to
assist in the defense Of Durant.
The next step was made to impeaoh the
testimony Of David Clark, the witness
A q NIL 20.
date upon which he saw Durant and
Blanche Lamont walking toward Emanuel
church.
John Patton, Patrick Mulvaney and Nj.
j. Murphy said that Clark's reputation
for truth and integrity was bad. On cross
examination MulVaney and Murphy said
they were priudicoed against Clark from
the fact that they had business troubles
with his father The district attorney
asked that the testimony be stricken out,
but the motion was denied by the court.
The building of Durant's alibi in con-
tradiction Of the charge made by Pawn
broker Oppenhoim was begun with the
testimony Of DIR. A. W. Haihalt, n lecturer
at Cooper Medical college. When asked If
Durant was present at the lecture given
ON the morning of April 4, the doctor re-
forred TO the roll call book and said that
the defendant was recorded as present
On cross examination he said that he
had no personal knowledge of Durant's
abs0nco or presence The defense tried 20
offset this by asking If he could give the
namo of any OF the 81 students I'm the class
who attended the lecture on the morning
in question. The doctor recalled the names
of o dozen students and said he believed
he could remember more If he were given
time TO think the matter over
Judge Rules out His own Question.
The prosecution next attacked the rel-
ability OF the roll call Before the district
attorney had hardly reached the point of
the subject, however, Judge Murphy took
hand in the examination. He asked the
witness whether in his experience as an
instructor at the college he had known in
stances where students had answered at
roll call for others who were not present.
The defense at once intorposed an obieo-
tion, and the court was placed in the pre-
dicamcnt of having to rule on its own
question.
The judge said that while he might per
NIT tho question to be answered if it
should come from proper source he
would sustain the objection for the pres
ont. phcn District Attorney Barnes ask
cd the same question, and the defense in
terposed another objection. Attorney
Dickinson argued that while it was posi-
hlo TO call into court every student who
attended the lecture and ask each ono IL
he had answered the roll call for Durant
IL would be unfair to cast suspicion ON the
particular roll call ia question by any
practice or custom that might have occur
red at another time. The court said that
it believed the question proper and tho
evidence sought competent, hut for the
sake of safety he sustained the objection.
With Durant's whoreabout on the
morning of April ! the defense attempted
20 show whore the defendant was the next
day. George A. Merrill, an instructor az
the Lick school of Mechanical Arts, said
that Durant called upon him at / o'clock
OF the forenoon of April 8. Whom asked
IL Durant made known the object of his
call, he replied in the Affirmative but was
not permitted 10 tell what Durant said.
Before the court adjourned Attorney
Dickinson called the attention of the court
60 the large nunslcr of threatening letters
that wero being received hy himself and
Attorney Dupfoy ana asked that the
/ jurors bo instructed To turn such letters
over TO the court should they receive any