The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1895-09-14
Chain of Circumstances in Dur
rant Case Unfolding.
TWO MORE WITNESSES HEARD
Aunt of the Murdered Girl Told of Ac-
quaintance With Durrant- Maude
Lamont's Story

San Francisco, Sept. 1.-THE trial Of
Theodore Durrant is becoming more in
teresting. The district attorney has
proved the death Of Blanche Lamont
and has established that the body
found in the belfry of the Emanuel
church was her corpse and that the
clothing hidden in the rafters Of the
edifice was worn by the girl on the day
she disappeared. The prosecution is
now putting in evidence connecting
the prisoner with the crime. The wit
nesses for the people will be called in
chronological order, the intention being
to form a chain, the links Of which will
be testimony showing the movements
Of the murdered girl and the defendant
on the fatal Sd of April.
The district attorney tried by vari-
GUS preteXts to ascertain the weight Of
Blanche Lamont at the time of her
death, the object being to show that
she was not too heavy to be carried by
one man up into the church belfry. All
questions looking for this information
were objected to by the defense as hear
say and overruled. Finally however,
when Maud Lamont, a sister of the
murdered girl, was on the stand, the
fact was elected that last September
Blanche was weighed and her weight
found to be lis pounds. Her sister said
that she had gained about seven
pounds. This was a point for the pros
ecution. The autopsy surgeon had tes-
titled on crOss-examination that, al
though the corpse had not been
weighed, he considered the weight to be
about 140 pounds.
The prosecution will now show that
when the surgeon viewed the corpse
the girl had been dead 10 days and that
with modification the corpse had be-
come swollen so as to appear heavier
than it was actually. The defense
fought the Introduction Of this evidence
hard, but it was allowed by the court.
MRS. NOBLE TESTIFIED.
The first witness today was Mrs. No
BILE, aunt of Blanche Lamont. On cross
examination she denied that she had
said to Durrant, when her niece first
came here from Montana: ''Now, Theo-
dore, 1 wish you would make it as pleas
ant and agreeable as you can for these
girls Of NINE" The witness said the
only occasion when Durrant had taken
Blanche out alone was in the afternoon
had remained away SO long that Dur
rant voluntarily apologized, although
the witness had not been anxious at
their absence.
After Blanche disappeared" the wit
ness continued, "Durrant came to my
house with DR.. Vogel to consult about
her absence. He turned to me and
said: Blanche was such a good girl:
she believed every one else was as good
as herself, and in that way she might
have been carried off,
Maude Lamont told about Durrant's
attentions to her sister, corroborating
her aunt's testimony on that point
Maude positively identified the ring
with chip diamond as hers. She said
she had exchanged with Blanche, each
wearing the others ring. This was one
of the rings returned to Mrs Noble
wrapped up in newspaper, on the
edge of which was printed the names
of George King, the church organist,
and Professor Schernstein, an elderly
music teacher. This same ring was DOS
itively identified at the preliminary ex-
animation by secondhand dealer
named Oppenheim as the one offered to
him for sale by Durrant after Blanche
Lamont disappeared. The witness iden-
titled the clothing found in the belfry
as worn by her sister on the morning
Of her disappearance.
reasury Statement.