The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-16
WEAVING A WEB ROUND THEODORE DURRANT

a radical variation from large number OF
these items in the person of the actual
murderer without impairing the value OF
the general scheme which is here pre-
sented. This is written without any
knowledge of the personal appearance OF
the man charged with the crimes, and IN
the absence of a singular lack of in
quiry on the part of the reporters, up to
the time of this writing, regarding it.
Such man is of necessity monster;
and being, for that reason, not subject to
the feeling of normal men we may expect
to find otherwise unaccountable things in
his conduct. In other words one must ap-
ply to the conduct of such man, not the
reasoning belonging to a discussion of an
ordinary mans behavior, but that applica-
BILE to a monster, and such a monster as
this Such creatures are fairly well under
stood by students of criminology, and it is
upon that understanding and to the COM
pIete ignoring of an ordinary mans con-
duct that this inquiry is based.
Let us take, first, the case of Blanche
Lamont and apply to her murder the the
oretical conduct of her murderer.
1t was not within the mental grasp of
this man to understand that possibly
her romantic nature might have offered an
opportunity which excluded violence. He
could form no conception of the tremen-
dous self-sacrifce that such a woman's
love might lead her to commit. 1t was i'm
possible for him to know, either that
woman's devotion is a very strange, beau
tiful and sacred thing, or that there are
differences among women on the score
both of their confidence and loyalty; on
the score, also, both of the intensity of
their affection and the extent of the sacri-
fees to which it might lead them; and,
still further, differences based on expert
ence. To him a woman was merely
woman. Thus it was that in this case two
girls of so extraordinarily opposite tenn
peraments and degrees of wisdom hap
pened to be his victims.
We can imagine what was the conduct of
the man in producing the murder of
Blanche Lamont, and how he would pro-
coed after the deed. First she would of
necessity be overpowered by choking, and
this would necessarily be continued until
death ensued. There would be no mercy,
no feeling of compassion, only a terrible
and boundless ferocity. Next concealment
was a necessity. For such a man-espe-
cially if he should happen to be medical
student finishing his studies and
thoroughly familiar with corpses - the
presence of this poor corpse could have no
terrors, and there could not have been in
his nature a very sensible remorse on the
score OF affection, for affection of the
nobler kind had to be absent. To him the
! corpse was above all things else threat
of discovery. Surprising, as seems quite
natural, that the murder was committed
on the ground floor of the church, it would
be perfectly natural for the murderer, who
was intimately acquainted with the re-
hottest recesses of the house, to select the
one place least or never visited. As there
| was no bell in the tower of this church,
the tower was clearly the safest place of
concealment.
| To bear the body, which was heavy, to
so great a height, up crooked stairs only
two feet wide, was an heroic task. Yet it
was accomplished. II is not wise to say
that the ordinary strength of man was
inadequate for in times of great peril or
other extraordinary mental stress a man
may perform incredible feats of strength.
In view of our knowledge on these subjects
we are aware that the murderer could have
carried the body on his back to the tower
unaided, but we should not ignore the pos
sibility that some one assisted him, for by
doing so we might be putting an accom-
| plice out of the case.
In the tower other problems arose If
the body should be entirely deprived of
! clothing, and the clothing taken away and
destroyed, decomposition in time would
render Identification extremely uncertain.
| So in this case the clothing was removed
and concealed with wonderful skill in the
various darker and more inaccessible
hooks of the steeple, to be taken away
afterward, one article at a time In fact,
the hat, shoes and a glove of Blanche's
had already disappeared when her body
was discovered. At no time would there
be any fear or repugnance for the corpse
greater than the fear of discovery.
The removal of the knobs of the door
leading to the tower, and the injuries to
the lock, have not been adequately ex-
planned. We may pass that for the present,
for in any event it is not important.
After the murderer had done these
things we might expect his boldness and
daring to manifest itself. Having known
Blanche, and having been with her on the
day of her murder, he might naturally
and shrewdly make a show of attempts to
discover her whereabouts might even
visit the police and the newspaper offices
and hint at foul play and let out vague
remarks that he had certain suspicious
which he was trying to confirm. Such
course would be as much part of his ma
ture as of his plan for securing safety.
Thus matters rested for ten or eleven
days. With such man the repetition of
the crime would be perfectly natural, if not
inevitable, not only because that deformity
of his nature which made the first crime
possible must have remained in full vi
tality, brt also because the abnormal, dis
eased exhilaration of the first adventure,
especially as its successful conduct had
hattered his own estimate of his shrewd-
ness, cunning and boldness, served as an
almost irresistible temptation to its repeti-
ton. Remember that we are dealing with
monster and are judging his conduct by
the standard of monsters.
The second crime was far more involved
in detail, and this doubtless filled it with all
the more zest. It's consideration compels