Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-04-19
A HORRIBLE TRAGEDY
THE BLOODY WORK OF JACK THE
RIPPER PARALLELEO.

Church-Thc Deed Attributed to
an Assistant Superintendent OF
the sabbath SchOoI-Some oT iac
Narrowing Details.
\ san Francisco dispatch OF the
! 18th states that the dead hodc. of two
young girls had been found within two
days in the Emmanuel Baptist church
OF that city. The building is located
on Bartlett, between Twenty
and Twenty-third streets. The girls
were murdered, and the crimes are the
most atrocious ever committed in the
State.
Saturday morning when the church
was visited to decorate it for Easter,
the mutilated and murdered body OF
Marian Williams was found in the
library of the editce. Monday the
dead and naked body Of Blanche La
mont was found in the tower of the
same church. w. II. Il. Durrant is
suspected of having committed both
crimes and is now under arrest.
Both girls were members OF the
church and Sunday school and were
J about 81 years old. Durrant is q young
medical student, Librarian of the
church and Secretary OF the Young
Peoples society of the church. He
has shown marked attention to both
of the girls, who were brunettes, re-
markably pretty and modest.
Miss Lamont disappeared April ,
and was last seen in the company of
Durrant. Miss Williams was seen to
enter the church oarly Friday ovoning
with a young man answering the de-
scription of Durrant. Both girls had
been outraged. These clues were
given to the police, who arrested Dur
rant at Walnut Creek, on the road to
Mount Diablo, where he was on trip
with others of the signal corps, of
which he was member.
Durrant is about 90 years old, and
was raised in the neighborhood in
which the murders occurred. He is a
graduate of the Cogswell high school,
and has been studying medicine for a
year. He is member of the Second
Brigade Signal Corps, and was Assist
ant superintendent of Emmanuel
church Sunday school. He was al
ways of quiet disposition, and his
friends refuse to believe, in spite of
; the evidence, that he committed the
, crimes attributed to him.
The police think that Durrant is an
other Jack the Ripper, with mania
for murder. They state that it is
highly probable that Durrant is re-
sponsible for the killing of Eugene
Ware, a young drug clerk, who was
found stabbed to death several months
ago in the store where he worked. No
trace was ever found of the assassin,
and the theory is that Durrant killed
, him. No motive for this murder was
discovered, and the fiendish cruelty of
it-Ware was stabbed in IL places
leads TO the belief that it was the
work Of an insane person. Durrant's
parents are highly esteemed people of
the district in which they live. His
father is Chief Engineer in Bucking-
ham & Hechts large shoe factory, and,
while not rich, has been able to give
his children good education and
start them in life.
About the time that Miss Williams
body was found, the cong eg .tion OF
Emmanuel church were on their way to
attend the Easter services, for which
elaborate preparations had been made
When they arrived, however, and
learned of the frightful crime, they fed
horror stricken from the spot. The
church was locked and guarded by the
police all day.
Further mystery is added to the al
fairs OF Emmanuel Baptist church by
the report that Mrs. Ella Forsyth,
who has been missing for a week, was
also member of the parish of the
fatal place of worship. Her husband.
who has been searching diligently for
her, says she left home to go to the
beach to gather shells. She has never
been seen or heard of since, and it is
surmised that she may have shared
the fate of Blanche Lamont and Ma
rian Williams.
Assuming that Durrant is guilty,
one theory for the motive for the
murders is that the crimes were COM
mitted for the purpose Of medical in
vestigatiOn. The statement has been
made that Durrant proposed to n
number of girls that he be allowed to
examine them for female troubles
| x,t al, hn IN hn
, Persons to whom he made this propo-
sal Indignantly refused. 1t is known
that Durrant was an ardent medical
student and took great interest in dis.
, eases of women. The theory is that
, he was crazed on the subject, and,
being unable to conduct the investiga-
ton in a legitimate manner, he muir
dered the girls for that purpose. The
conditions of the bodies would tend TO
, carry out this line of reasoning.
, A later dispatch states that instead
of abating, the excitement over the
horrible crimes is on the increase.
Every fresh rumor is an excuse for an
extra edition OF the newspapers, which
are eagerly bought by crowds of peo-
pie on the streets. Other crowds
gather in front of bulletin-b boards and
haunt the scene of the crimes
Emmanuel church. The home of
: Durrant's parents is also an object OF
curiosity.
A strange feature of the case is the
fact that the people living in the
vicinity of the church are not back.
ward in asserting that the Rev. Mr..
| Gibson, pastor OF Emmanuel church,
knows more about the murders than
he has yet revealed. Mr.. Gibson has
come in for considerable harsh
criticism on account of his peculiar
actions in connection with the case.
His plan seems to be to block the
gathering of information, and so point.
ed did the illusions to his conduct be-
come that he issued statement to
the public in which he said that he
was so overcome by the discovery of
the bodies in the church that he did
not know what to do. A suggestion
to burn the desecrated church was
seriously discussed by respectable
citizens.
George r. King. organist of the
church where the horrible crimes were
both committed, made q statement to
Chief of Police Crowley which tends to
fix one crime at least, the murder Of
Miss Lamont, upon Durrant. King
says:
april 3 last, the day Miss Lamont
was first missed, l strolled into the