The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-12
SC0WLED WHEN BRITAIN WON.
DURRANT TAKES CONSIDERABLE
INTEREST IN THE RACE FOR
THE CUP.


His own T=faI-Irs. NoIt's Meeting
with Clarence Wolf soon After Her
Discovery of the body of Minnie
Williams i'm the Library-Queer Ae--
tions of the Young Man-His Em-
barrassed Manner and Evasive Re
plies an Important Fenture.
San Francisco, Sept. I.-W. II. T. Dur
rant, the alleged murderer of Blanche La
mont and Minnie Williams, appears to
take greater interest in the international
yacht race than in his own trial. DURING
the afternoon session of the trial yeste--
day. early editions of the afternoon pa
pers were handed him.
There were columns of his own fight for
life, the story of the forenoons testimony
Was he concerned with It? Not at all
He read the account of the great yacht
race, and frowned with disappointment
over Valkyrie's victory. The paper in his
hands was held without a tremor. His
fingers were as steady as the fingers of
fate.
The most impressive point that has
been reached in the trial was where Mr.
Barnes walked behind the witness stand
and brought out the black draped dress
makers model upon which were the gar
ments last worn by the murdered girl
There was wave Of intense but sub
dued excitement in the audience and a
barely audible "Ahr that came from
many throats. Only Durrant was unmoved
by the incident.
Mrs, Herman Nolt, the lady who first
came into prominence as the discoverer
of the dead body of Minnie Williams, may
prove to be one of the most important
witnesses for the defense. Mrs. Nolt was
the possessor of testimony which she did
not see fit, or did not deem of sufficient i'm
portance to divulge at the time. Since
then she has been made to see differently.
The additional story she has TO tell has
been heard by the detectives for the de-
fense, and ii is at least interesting. 1t
concerns Clarence Wolf, the step-son of
ex-Supervisor Tabor, and brother of Ell
mer Wolf who figured as Durrant's clos
est chum.
In her former narration of the incidents
of Easter Sunday morning, Mrs. Nolt
stated that after she had been Mortified
by the finding of the body of Minnie Will
Jams in the library she Immediately made
up her mind to notify the church author
tiles She first hurried to DR.. W. Z. King,
and after telling him of her discovery, the
two hastened to notify the pastor.
Mrs. Nolt, through an oversight proba-
bly, failed to state at the time that she
had met one other person before she
saw King. That meeting the defense has
deemed important. The person she met
was Clarence Wolf.
As she left the church she hastened
down the board walk to the gate, which
is south of the church. AS she placed her
hand on the knob, the other person pushed
it and in an instant Mrs. Nolt was face
to face with a young man, who, as she
afterward learned, was Clarence Wolf.
She had not anticipated meeting any one
and was somewhat taken aback at rum
ming against a strange young man. Her
surprise was slight apparently, compared
with that of Wolf. He started back ana
exclaimed: What, you here?"
Yes" replied Mrs. Nolt, I'm here.
Who are your
"Mr Wolf" he replied hurriedly. Then
he glanced uneasily at Mrs. Nolt and said
something about coming over to the
church to bring some lilies for the ladies
to use in decorating the church. As there
were no lilies in his hands or indications
of them anywhere in sight, Mrs. Nolt
thought the remark a strange one. She
saw that the young man was confused
about something, and acted in a rather
distracted way. He made no movement
to go into the church. In fact, he sur
prised her still further by remarking that
he thought he would go over home to
lunch Without further conversation, he
abruptly left Mrs. Nolt and walked up
Bartlett street, to Twenty-third, where
he resides.
Mrs Nolt was too much agitated over
the murder to give VOLTS actions further
thought at the time. The shock of seeing
the murdered girl was so great that she
could think of nothing else. She made
her way to DIR. Gibson's residence at Va
lencia and Twentieth street and did not
tel of her encounter with Wolf until the
name of Wolf was brought up in connec-
tion with the murder of Minnie Williams
Then she remembered how strangely the
young man calling himself Wolf had acted
at the gate of the church the morning af-
ter the horrible deed had been committed
When seen last evening, Mrs. Nolt was
reluctant to talk of the affair. Il have
never talked for the press yet" she said
"and 1 prefer not to say anything until 1
say it on the witness stand. When am
subpoenaed by the defense, of course, l
will testify, although ] dread the ordeal
l really have little to say and can get it
over with in a short time. l was in hopes
1 could keep out of the trial altogether"
JOhn Cuffans VINO, II was stated IN the
morning papers. had seen Blanche La
mont on a street car with Durrant
on the day of her disappearance, sent
word to Capt. Lees this morning to the
effect that he had seen a girl with school
books on her arm. but was not certain that
it as Miss Lamont. Neither was he GER
tain about the date.
When the case was resumed to-day Mrs
Noble. aunt of the murdered girl, again
took the stand. She testified that Dur
rant called on her twice and asked about
her niece. He particularly mentioned that
she might have been made away with.
Clarence Wolf and others also called
and Durrant came twice.
The main witness in the celebrated Dur
rant case to-day was Maud Lamont, sis
ter of Blanche. Her examination occu-
pied nearly the entire day. and she was
put through a rigorous cross-examination
She gave a history of her sister up to the
time Of her disappearance and stated that
Durrant was the only young man with
whom Blanche had been keeping com
pany in this city. She told of Durrant's
visit to her home after Blanche's disap-
pearance, when he offered to make a
search for her. and said that before he
left4ile had told her that If she needed
.rIa4sH