Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-07
MAY BE DAMNED BY A DOLL Prosecution Places One in the
 Miniature Belfry. REPRESENTS MISS LAMONT The Outlines of Durant's Defense Are Begin
 n;ng to Loom Up. THE POLICE ARE TO BE ATTACKED And the Trial Delayed as Much as Possible. The Defendant in the Meshes of
 His Own Lies-The
 Trial
POLICE ARE TO BE ATTACKED

ooi iohSioNo, toOPts it ShCiCtVii of the defense in the great Durant trial is beginning to be faintly visible. Wheth- CT they have the sensational evil dence that they have hinted will clear Durant completely or not, they will try the police department. There will be a whole lot in the trial about the blind- ness of the police and their fatuousness in ignoring every clew that did not CO., incide with their preconceived idea that
 Durant was the guilty man. By dis putting every proposition of the prosecu- tion, and assuming all the time that the
 police are turning everything against
 the prisoner, they will raise cloud of contention and surmises that, with what evidence they will produce of Durants
 previous good character and the alibi
 witnesses, they will raise reasonable doubt in the jury's mind that will deter
 them from bringing in verdict or guilty.
 Now it is certain that the trial will be A very long one If such minor witness
 es as the detective who merely found
 the body and the physician who only
 conducted the autopsy are to be cross.
 examined for half day, how long Will
 the attorneys for Durant keep the wit
 nesses who actually give testimony against Durant on the stand?
 Mrs. Leake, who will swear she saw
 Durant on the fatal afternoon in the church with Blanche Lamont; Openheim-
 er the secondhand dealer in JeWelry,
 who will swear Durant tried to sell him
 one of the dead girls rings; the witness
 es to whom Durant made statements ln-
 consistent with the present theory or
 the defense, and with facts the pollce
 will prove, will undoubtedly be Kept on
 the stand for days. District Attorney
 s1 ;t talx
 weeks to get in the evidence. If he does
 not occupy two months present indlca-
 tions count for nothing. So far the case has been almost ex-
 clusively one of models, maps, charts,
 plans and diagrams. The witnesses tes-
 tify with plat in hand and every spot
 they mention they indicate either on
 the elaborate model of the tower or on
 the diagram. To make things perfect
 the prosecution will produce doll that
 will represent the dead girl in the tower
 model. It is as pretty a doll as ever de-
 lighted a baby, but it will play grue- some part in this trial. It is one of those pretty French dolls, with movable limbs
 and head, tumbled hair and eyes that
 close It will be laid in the corner or
 the miniature belfry, with arms folded across the breast and head turned
 slightly to one side, being kept in posi-
 ton by two blocks of wood. Then the
 iury will know more vividly than words
 can tell them what was the state or
 things in Emanuel church when 'Detec-
 tive Gibson broke down the belfry door and found the murdered girl.
 Durant takes the liveliest sort of inter est in the model of the church with which he was so familiar. He leaned to De tective Harry Morse and whispered sug- gestions and comments all the time that Policeman Russel was pointing out the distance and particular points in ms model.
 In the interval between the disappear ance of Blanche Lamont and the finding of the body in the belfry the tongue of Theodore Durant was busy. He may have cause to regret it. To some people he declared that he could not account for the mysterious disappearance of the girl. With tears in his eyes he said she had been a pure girl and he could not reason in his mind a theory for her absence To others, in several instances to news paper reporters, he said that he felt con- fident that the girl had gone astray; that she would be found down town. To her uncle he offered his services to search in
 the shadows of the city for the missing girl To the janitor of Emanuel church, who caught him at the ferry the day Minnie Williams was murdered, he said that he had information that Blanche Lamont was going away and that he in tended to intercept her.
 How will Durant reconcile these atti-
  | It is one of the questions that the student will not answer, but it is one problem with which he will have to face the jury who is trying him, who will say whether or not his life shall be forfeited to the state.
 | When the trial was resumed this morn- | ing C. c. Noble, uncle of the murdered girl, was recalled and completed his evi- | dence respecting the identification of the | body.
 A B. ReihI, police officer, was the next witness He entered the church with | Detective Gibson and assisted the latter | in breaking in the door leading into The belfry Gibson discovered the body of | Miss Lamont and called his attention, to | it. Witness saw the blood stains on the l floor of the third landing below where l the body was found and on examination, | he had found that this blood had dropped from above. He also saw footprints on, bhe dust of the steps of the stairway.