The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1895-10-05
THREATS ARE BEING MADE
The Judge Is Called Upon to Rule on
His Own Question to WIT.
ness in Durrant's Trial.

left over from last week. the defense
in the Durrant case this morning began
the building of an alibi for the young
medical student from April to April
IL inclusive. The purpose Of the alibi
is to impeach the testimony of Pawn
broker Oppenheim and W. J. Phillips,
who testified that on April IL Durrant
tried to pawn Blanche Lamont's ring
at Oppenheim's store
During the course Of the testimony
which covered Durrant's movements
on April and 5, a struggle was pre-
cipitated by District Attorney Barnes,
who again challenged the reliability of
roll call book at Cooper medical col
lege. The argument ended in victory
for the defense so far as the question
before the court was concerned, as
Judge Murphy sustained an objection
to question prOpounded by himself to
the witness and cut off discussion.
The trial began this morning with a
sensation which was quite as unex-
pected to the prosecution as to the de-
Tense. Juror Truman informed the
formed the court that last Thursday,
during the noon recess of the court,
he was approached by H. j. Mccoy,
6SASAoi oOS1CId1y VI CQC 1Ou1lS MICH
Christian Association, who endeavored
to engage him in conversation on the
subject of the trial.
IF you don't hang Durrant," said
Mccoy to the juror, 1--WE will hang
YOU
The court said the offense bordered
strongly on a crime and cited Mccoy
to appear in court at noon on October
and show cause why he should not
be punished for contempt.
r. w. Maitland, the electrician, who
testified last week with regard to the
construction Of the sunburners in
Emanuel church, was the first witness
called. The testimony 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.
The assault on Pawnbroker Open
helms testimony then began. The de-
Tense called to the stand four witnesses
by whom it was proposed to test the
accuracy of the pawnbroker's memory.
Martin Curtis, William Cathcart, p.
j. Neumann and Leonard Everett,
members of the national guard and the
signal corps to which Durrant belong
ed, testified that they had taken vari-
Gus articles of jewelry to Oppenheim's
They described the manner in which
they were dressed at the time. The
descriptions in many instances did not
correspond with the descriptions given
by Oppenheim when he was asked to
tell how the men who tried to pawn
the articles were dressed.
The next step was to impeach the
testimony of David Clark, the witness
who assisted Attorney Quinlan to fix
the date upon which he saw Durrant
and Blanche Lamont walking toward
Emanuel church. John Patten, Patrick
Mulvaney and M L. Murphy said that
Clark's reputation for truth and integ-
rtty was bad. On cross-examination.
Mulvaney and Murphy said they were
prejudiced against Clark from the fact
that they had had business difficulties.
The district attorney asked that the
testimony be stricken out, but the mo-
ton was denied by the court. The
building Of Durrant's alibi in contra
d1ction of the charge made by Pawn
broker Oppenheim was begun with the
testimony of DR.. A. w. Haihalt, a lee
turer at Cooper medical college. Asked
II Durrant was present at the lecture
given on the morning of April 4, the
doctor referred to the call book and
said that the defendant was recorded
as present. On cross-examination. the
doctor said he had no personal knowl-
edge OF Durrant's absence or presence.
The defense tried to offset this by ask
ing II he could give the name Of any