The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-10-30
DICKINSON'S AND DEUPREY'S AP-
PEAL TO THE JURY.
DIscrepapcles In the Testimony OF
Onnenhefmer. the Pawnbroker.
Pointed Out-Difference of State
ments Concerning Footprints in the
BeIfry of Emmanuel Church-Ques-
tion as TO the Date When Deceased
Was Murdered.


afternoons session of the Durrant trial
was enlivened by the most dramatic in
cident of the case when Eugene N
Deuprey, of counsel for the defense,
who has been confined to his room Tor
a couple of weeks with paralytlc
stroke was wheeled into court to make
his address before the jury. The at
torney showed the effects of his illness,
but his argument was strong, and be-
fore it was completed he had Mrs.
Durrant the defendants mother, in
tears. Deuprey's physician accompa-
MED him to court and administered
stimulants while he spoke Counsel
opened with the statement that he be-
lieved that great wrong had been done
to his client. DR.. Cheney had, he said,
vindicated the promise the defense gave
in opening that he would testify that he
believed Durrant was present at the col
Iege lecture on the afternoon Of the
day of the murder. There was not only
the lecturers testimony as to this, but
the defendant statement that his notes
fortified it. The evidence these af-
forded had not been broken down by
anything the prosecution had present
ed He attacked the testimony of the
identifying witnesses on their time and
a liability to error. He denied that
there was enough against the defendant
to deprive him of his liberty, much
less Of his life or that the jury as law
abiding citizens could accept as con-
vincing to point to the defendant as a
criminal.
He referred to Durrant's alleged
consistency in statements as to the
last time he saw the dead girl and other
things connected with his movements,
as strong proof in favor of his innO-
cence. which could not be ignored. Dur
rant, he said, had shown himself to be
q friend of the Noble family and of the
dead girl, and he vas as anxious as any
body that light should be thrown on the
murder.
The defense, counsel said, had made
no charges against anyone else, but had
merely stated that the police had fol-
lowed one line of investigation which
pointed toward Durrant. Had the in
vestigation gone in the direction Of 9TH
ers a case equally as strong might have
been found against some one else.
he did not beneve that Dr. Gibson
had anything to do with the murder
neither did Durrant, but had DR.. Glib
son been arrested for it there was
peDOugh mute evidence in the church
him to clear himself Had he been IN
such a position, and made no better
showing on the stand he did when testi-
flying in this case, counsel thought his
cause would have been hopeless.
Deuprey then called attention to the
danger of receiving circumstantial evi-
dence too freely, and cited the case Of
a man named Burdue, who narrowly
escaped execution in this State in
1851 being mistaken for one Stewart
and another case of Willis German. VINO
died in Wisconsin and was successfully
personated by a cousin who took Cor
mans place in his family. Human in
struments Of torture he said. would
be inadequate in Furnishing the mur-
derer Of Blanche Lamont, but ne chal
lenged the prosecution to show that his
client was the man.
He asked: Who can say she was
killed on the Sd of April? She was
killed some time between the 3D. and
9th of April, Judging by the decOmposi-
tion. We know not what her fate was
There is no proof before you of who
killed her or where she was killed. There
is no atom Of evidence to show whether
II was in a stable. IN a backyard, or in
the private room of some ScOundrel
There was also no evidence of motive .
The prosecution, he said, had proved
only two things. that DUrrant was in
the girls company on the morning Of
April Sd, and ia the church on that
afternoon.
lie closed with a panegyric on a
mothers love, and made an appeal to
the jury for the defendants mother,
who with his father. has sat beside
him every day since the trial began.
] was this which caused her to show
the first sign of emotion in the case
and TO bury her face in her handker-
chief
Deuprey's closing words We're 1--WE
hope you viii say to this mother that
her boy is the same as he ever was, an
honorable gentleman"
General Dickinson occupied the
morning session with the close of his
address for the defense. He character
lied the statement of PawnbTOiler Op-
penhefm who said that Durrant Of
fered him the dead girls ring for sale
as absurd on its face. Counsel said at
the time Durrants visit was said to
have been made his name was aSsOci-
ated with that Of the missing girl. As
a matter Of self-preservatcn he would
not have gone to the pawnshop on s';ch
q mission: but added to this. he had
two small bank accounts and had 20
need to pawn a - 30 chip diamond
ring.
Counsel pointed out what he consid-
cred DISCREPANCIES in Oppenheimer's s
testimony. and then referred to che
witness Ouinlan, who had testified 10
seeing the defendant near the church in
the dead girls company as unworthy
OF belief. The lady witnesses who had
said they saw Durrant IL her compan,'
on the afternoon of the murder We're
only mistaken.
Dickinson paid his respects TO each Of
the main witnesses for the prosecution
in turn, and then said: 7 consider It a
particularly unfortunate thing that at
the time the body was found search Of
the belfry was not made, for think had
II been made, some clew would nave
been found to the real criminal. Before
the body was taken away by the Coro-
per's deputies no search Of the helfry
vas made, and. after Il was removed,
everybody permitted to SO into It..
There IS some difference of statements
as TO whether there were footprints.
The detective who found the body says
there were no footprints The patrol
man who was with him SAYS there
were. instead of letting everybody into
the belfry it should have been carefully
guarded until proper search could
have been made 7 do not believe the
deceased was murdered in the belfry.
The evidence was that there was dust
or the stairway leading up TO the bel
fry. The only other evidence other than
this was that there was blood on
boards on tho second platform removed
four months afterward Nothing was
done to examine the letters in the slrIs
trunk. Her sister took them hcnae and
her mother burned them. L do not refer