The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-27
DURANT'S DEFENSE.
Relics Cron the RolI Call OF II Medical
COLLEGE 10 Assist in Proving ru Aiihi

-
San Francisco. Sept cG.-Thc defence
in the Durant case today took up the
important question of roll call at the
lecture in the Cooper Medical college
on the afternoon of the murder II Is
upon this that Durant mainly relies for
his alibf. This lecture hegan at $40
and continued until i'1E. 1t was n
few minutes after three when Miss
Lamont left the school from which, in
the company of a young man. sup
posed To be Durant. she went to the
church. she entered the church about
five minutes after the adjournment of
the lecture. and the roll call was made
at the conclusion of the lecture. In
view of these facts II is vital for the de-
fense to show the presence of Durant
at the college at that time. Ii produced
two witnesses on the point today.
One of these was DR.. William r.
Cheney. who delivered the lecture. He
testified as to the subject. which was
Infants Food" and said the rule to
call the roll was followed at its con-
clusion. He had made an investiga
tion to verify the roll call as to Dur
ants presence but the result of this
was not admitted, An Intellectual ef-
fort was made to get into evidence an
opinion from the doctor as to whether
or not Durant was present at the lee
ture, hut this the prosecution pre-
vented He denied that there was such
confusion in his class as to interfere
with proper calling of the roll. The
roll. he said, was carefully guarded
against interpretations, as 1t was ma
terial in arriving at the standing of
the students.
A vigorous fight was made against
the introduction of the roll call, but 1t
was admitted. The prosecution tried to
discredit the rnll call by showing that
frequently students answered for one
another. The settlement of this ques-
tion of the Introduction of testimony
went over until tomorrow.
Ten Students Absent.
1t was shown that there We're seven
ty-four students in the class to which
Dr. Cheney lectured and that ten were
marked absent
The defense put on three detectives
to testify to marks about the door to the
lower belfry and about Pastor Gibson's
study in Emmanuel church. The shoe
with blood stain on the sole belonging
to Gibson. which was found in his
study the morning after the finding of
Minnie Williams body. was produced
and identified as having been among
six shoes in the study.
The door leading to the church tower
with marks supposed to have been
made with chisel was shown in court
The blade of the chisel did not COM
pletely fit the mark of the doors and the
detectives were not sure that they had
not been made with a jimmy. The
| marks were such as might have been
made with an instrument like jimmy
| as well as a chisel. One of these marks
had been vanished. which indicated
that Il was made before the time Of the
murders. There was also a mark in
the door as though made with a ham
mer. The hammer and chisel which. 1t
Is thought, We're used in the making Of
these marks were placed in evidence
They came from Rev. Gibson's tool box
always kept open in his never closed
study. The object Of their introduce
| tion by the defense was to add to the
material for connecting Gibson at least
| by innuendo with the crime.
The defense today announced that II
| would have between forty-fve and
| fifty witnesses This insures three
weeks more of the trial.