The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-19
All Suspicious Against Him
Are Found to Be Without
Foundation.
DURRANTs OWN STATEMENT.
Insurance Companies Cancel the
Policies on the Church for
Fear of Fire.


on quiet Bartlett street in the Mission.
The inquest will be resumed this morning.
Some new theories have been advanced.
some trifing suspicious and circumstances
have been added to the puzzling mass of
those things and, more important, doubts
that Durrant is the man who did the two
fiendish deeds have increased.
Many people not concerned in the case
have been carefully reading the testimony
which has presented the circumstantial ev-
idence so far given to the public, and the
weakness of some of the most important
links in the chain of circumstantial evil
dence has been considered more calmly
than was possible day or two ago.
The police are as firm as ever in their
belief that Durrant the man they first sus-
pected, is the fend, but with many others
the question of who butchered Blanche
Lamont and Minnie Williams is a growing
mystery. Durrant may be the man, and
again there is a possibility that some sud-
den discovery may reveal some other
criminal and make the bits of circumstan-
tial evidence against Durrant which now
seem so strong. fade into commonplace
matters of everyday life which happen to
be thrown together like five aces from
dice box.
The greatest puzzle in the case against
Durrant and one of the strong presump-
tons in his favor advanced by his friends
has been the utter absence of any blood on
his clothes. If he committed the murder
of Minnie Williams between and $3.50
O'Clock on Friday night there was at least
no blood noticed on him when he arrived
at DR.. VOgels house to attend the party.
The police searched his home and exam
ined the clothing he was known to have
worn that night without finding any trace
of blood.
In the stuffy little by 10 library closet,
under the stairs, where Minnie Williams
was butchered, blood in great quantities
covered the floor and little table, and
formed two large pools several feet apart.
On two opposite walls blood had been
sprayed in quantities nearly as high up as
ones head, and on one side so much had
been thrown that it ran down the wall to
the floor. 1t was assumed from the first
that the blood on the walls came from
squirting fountains when arteries were cut |
This and the distance between the pools
seemed to indicate a struggle, during which
the victim moved while being stabbed |
Granting all this it seems physically i'm |
possible that the murderer could have es-
capped being almost bathed in blood.
But now the police have quit looking for |
bloody garments belonging to Durrant,
ana have adopted a new theory which |
makes blood on his clothes unnecessary.
The theory is that the girl was first
strangled in the reading-room, from one
corner of which the dark little library
opens, and was dragged in there dead
Then the cutting was done. In this event |
the blood would be venous blood, and it |
would all have welled forth gently.
. The blood on the wall was cunningly
thrown there, which must have been done
if it did not squirt from arteries. In view |
of this theory, Chief Crowley yesterday
ordered an examination of some of the |
blood, to find out whether it was venous |
or arterial. If the blood came from veins, |
it will be assumed that the fend might |
have guardsd himself from it while plying |
the dull caseknife, and could easily have |
washed his hands in the church.
The police are also through searching !
the church for evidence. They have found |
all of Blanche Lamont's clothes and the |
search for any other evidence has been ex- /
tremely thorough.
There has been much talk and misun-
Outstanding about footprints in the dust
in the belfry-tower when Blanche La
mont's body was found. 1t has been as
sumed by many that the thickness of the
dust on the belfry-stairs and on the floor
of the topmost landing where the body was
found would make footprints fairly plain
and capable of measurement.
One statement has been made that De- |
tectiye Gibson found footprints of the size of /
Durrant's shoes, and another one was that |
they were too big to have been made by |
Durrant. Chief of Police Crowley states |
that Gibson has made no statements about |
finding tracks, and that the police have no |
evidence at all based on footprints. The |
thinness of the dust and the amount of |
chips on the floor made tracks impossible |
of detection.
The city has been full of rumors and sus- |
picions that connect DR.. Gibson, the pas
tor with the crimes, but they have had no |
foundation in any circumstances that have |
come to light. His alibi appears to be |
complete He left the church, according |
to his own words, about 7:30 o'clock He |
is shown to have reached the party at Dr. |
VogeIs at about O'Clock and at about the |
time that Miss Williams left the Voy resi-
dence. He left DR.. Vogel's house about |
IL 80 o'clock, and he is accounted for hence
forth.
One of those who have been studying
the case analytically is R. Williamson, |
stenographer, of 216 Bush street. He has
computed the times stated in the evidence
relating to Durrant's movements on the
day Blanche Lamont disappeared and
concluded that Durrant had sixty-fye |
minutes in which to dispose of Miss
Lamont.
The Normal School is dismissed at 3 |
p. NJ She came out and waited on Powell |
street for the car, which she boarded with |
a young man since identified by three |
schoolmates as Durrant. If the two went |
to the church they must have taken a
Valencia or Mission-street car. Leaving !
the school, waiting twice for cars and rid |
ing on both lines would consume at least |
thirty-fve minutes, and it would take |
about five minutes to walk to the church.
This would bring them there at $40 |
P. NJ. King says that it was 30 P. M, or
but little later when Durrant came down |