The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-11-02
DURRANT MUST HANG
ACCUSED SLAYER OF BLANCHE
LAMONT FOUND GUILTY
OF MURDER.
VERDICT ON THE FIRST BALLOT


SceneNever to be- FOrgotten--Death
semteace VIII be Pronounced Friday.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. l. Theodore
Durrant Assistant superintendent of
Emanuel Baptist Church Sunday School,
was to lay convicted of the murder of
Blanche Lamont, for which he has been
on trial since July %, last. The jury
was ont twenty minutes and arrived at
the verdict on the first ballot. AS there
was no recommendation of mercy the
punishment was fixed at death.
The scene in the court room when the
verdict was announced will never be for
gotten by those who were present. Judge
Murphy finished his charge at $3.50
o'clock and the jury at once retired
Although there was supposed to be little
prospect Of verdict being returned be-
fore z or 8 o'clock this evening, the
throng of spectators who had remained
in the over crowded court room
all the afternoon to hear the judges
charge, settled themselves back in their
seats to await the return Of the jury.
Mrs Durrant and the prisoner talked
and laughed together as if an acquittal
were foregone conclusion. They were
surrounded by half dozen friends and
the conversation was animated when it
became whispered about that the jury
had agreed upon a verdict
Ina instant hush fell upon the
little circle that had gathered around
the prisoner.
Durrant's face, always pallid, assumed
a CHASTITY hue, and his mother was
speecbless. Then the door at the rear of
the room opened, and the jury filed in
and took their seats in the box Intense
excitement followed. The court room,
although filed to it's utmost capacity,
was almost as quiet as Ii it had been va
cant. Judge Murphy, who had retired
to his chambers, was summoned and
took his place upon the bench.
Clerk Morris asked the usual question
as TO whether the jury had agresd upon
verdict. Foreman Warren DuttOn
arose, and replied in the affirmative
1--WE, the jury, said he, find the de.
fendant, William Henry Theodore Dur
rant, guilty of murder in the first de-
gree."A
As the aged foreman, pale and trem-
bling, read the words which settled Dur
rants fate, low rumbling noise like the
roar of mob arose from the rear of the
court room. The next moment men
we're cheering wildly, while women wept
Historically with excitement. The bailiff
raped loudly for order, but the tumult
continued for minute before anything
like quiet could be brought out of the
disorder. When District Attorney
Barnes arose and asked that a
day be set upon which the sentence of
death should be passed upon the pris-
oner, Judge Murphy said that sentence
would be passed next Friday, upon
which day he would also set the day for
the trial of Durrant on the charge of
numbering Minnie Williams.
During the tumult that followed the
announcement Of the verdict, Durrant
and his mother were lost sight of, ex-
cept by few who sat near them.
As the last words of the verdict were
uttered, Durrant made a spasmodic
effort TO arise to his feet, but before he
could do so, his mother with half sigh,
half moan, threw her arms around his
neck and sunk back into her chair His
mothers grief seemed to make Durrant
forget his own position and for the next
few minutes, he sat with bis arms around
her neck, trying to soothe her. The
long strain of the trial however,
had completely shattered her self
control and it was sometime be-
fore Mrs. Durrant could lsave the
court room. Durrant's father was not
in the room when the verdict was re-
turned. As soon as the jury retired, he
went out into the corridors, not believ-
ing that the jury would return for sew
eral hours, and he first learned that his
son hod been convicted when cheer
went up from the crowd in the building
as the news spread.
Durrant recovered his old time com
posure as soon as he left his mother and
prepared to return to the county Jail.
With his overcoat swung carelessly over
his arm, he walked leisurely out Of the
room, twirling his slight mustache with
apparently as little concern as If he were
merely a spectator instead S the prin-
cipal figure in the exciting scene.
ASIu6 lIOu OllC opCStceOASb hiS' GOoAOt
Blanche Lamont's aunt, and Maud
Lamont, the dead girls sister, were ap-
parently the happiest persons in the
room.
AS soon as Durrant started to leave
the building the crowd gathered around
the door ont of which the prisoner
usually came to reach the prison van.
Fearing that some violence might be
offered the prisoner. he was taken out of
another door and driven by circuitous
route to the county Jail.
The verdict fell with all its force on
Durrant and his family, who had banked
all their hopes on disagreement While
Mrs. Durrant knew that it was among
the possibilities that her son would be
acquitted, her friends said she steadfast
ly maintained that shadow of doubt
would rest in the mind of one of the
jurors and that her son would not be