The herald., 1895-10-31
DURRANT SITS STOL|DLY
Or Sniiaes at His Own Witty
Remarks
BARNES CLOSING SPEECH
Thrills Every Listener but the Man
Accused
The Address Will Be Concluded Today, the
Jury Win Be Charged and DUR
rants Fate Decided

Associated Press Special Wire.
! SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30.--Dstrict
Attorney Barnes tocay appeared as the
central figure in the last scene of the
trial Of Theodore Durrant. While the
| spectators IN the crowded court room
craned their necks to catch every word
of the speaker, 0e delivered what Is con-
sidered in many respects one of the
strongest arguments ever made to Cali
forna jury. Aside from bsing logical
and convincing in his discussion of the
| testimony he made two or three dramatic
by-plays that put to a severe test the
! iron nerves of the prisoner. Or these
scenes the most impressive took place in
the early part of his argument, when be
spoke of how counsel for the defense had
invoked the spirit of Blanche Lamont
and voiced her thought by saying, Let
hin, go free he harmed me not. " While
looking intently at the frame bearing
Miss Lamont's dress, which stood near
the Jury box, and telling how through
the long days of the trial he had seen the
young school girl clothed in all her inno-
cence and purity, Mr.. Barnes reached the
climax of the scene. Turning upon Dur
rant, who was seated only three feet
a-ay the district attorney, with clenched
fists and in voice of thunder exclaime ed:
II see her now. There she stands be-
hind him at this very moment, not pray
| ing for vengeance for her deep and reme
diless wrongs not for the laws retribu-
ton upon her murderer, but with upllft-
ed hands and streaming eyes, praying
that God will not put 1t into your hearts.
By the mockery of verdict of not guilty,
to set free this monster to prey upon
other souls, pollute with vile hands the
unsunned snow of other children, and
defy anew that God of justice whose min
listers YOU are.' Durrant was the least
affected person in the court room. While
Mrs. Noble, the dead girls aunt, wept
silently, and every body else was thrilled
with the mpressveness OF the see ne,
Durrant sat stolid and indifferent. AS
, ths distr CT attorneys last words were
: uttered, the prisoner whispered sons.
thing in the ear of his mother who sat
, near him and smiled as if pleased at the
wit of his own remark.
Mr.. Barnes BEGAN his argument by
dwelling upon the personalities Of Miss
Lamont and Durrant and outlining the
grounds upon which the state bases its
contention that no one but Durrant could
he the murderer. He spoke in part az
follows:
"lhe individual who psrpetrated the
bideuus murder, with which the defend
ant stands charged, and which has haI-
} rowed the soul and frozen the blood of
: this community, is no ordinary criminal; {;
) his crime in every aspect In which 1t
NAV be considered ia without parallel.
II ot itta1 nn15r q Hind md
furo;us impulse to revenge some real Or
: fanoied wrong to his person. his property
, TT his character, nor from motives OF
gain, nor in the commission of robbery
: nor yet under the hot spur OF jealousy,
that hoil of the In ured lover. 1t was in
every sense a cold blcoded vicious mur
t der. 1t was without the slightest provo
1 cation or apparent excuse or palliatlon
The assassin chose tor his victim an in
nocent and helpless maiden, in years al
most q child. almost a stranger in our
3 city, o simple school girl temporarily re-
sidinS with relative and engaged in the
struggle to obtain an education as a
teacher in tho normal school, She was
7 undeveloped in Eind, pure in life and
: thought, of simple and unsuspecting ma
. ture and presenting none of the qualities
which are supposed to arouse the evil
: passions of the seducer and the libertine.
For the scene OF his dreadful assault tn @
murderer selected an Evangelical church,
denicatei to the worship OF God, tenn
rle where the doctrines and the life of
) Jesus Christ were taught and illustrated
, in Sababth assem- ply, in mid dweek prayer
: meeting and in social gathering. He took
the life Of his victim, not with the saw
, age mercy of the quick pistol or the
silent knife, but he tortured her with the
. lingering process of strangulat'on, driv
ing his cruel fingers deep into the tender
flesh OF her slender throat; and, so fierce
ly did he do his devii's work, that the
stigma of his crime remained until the
discovery of her corpse, clearly discern
ible as the cause OF death. not only by
} the expert surgical examiner but by the
most unlearned observer. WHAT other ii
any wrong, was done her before her soul
Q exhaleJ and went to heaven, we do not
know. The advancement OF natural de-
l | com position bailled investigation and
. made knowledge impossible, but we know
: that either living or dying, or dead, she
q was taken by him up the steep stairs OF
the steeplc of the belfry of the church,
3 where he supported the poor body with
{ blocks OF wood, and left it there to rot in
| naked ness and wither in the cool, ives ern
, wind that swept through the lofty spre.
He hid the remains where he bell ev ed
4 tbey would remain undiscovered and
have no promise OF Christian burial.
There he left her. She was dead, but he
fancied himself safe from detection and
+ exposure. The Heaven pointing spire OF
{ the Redeemer's church was his only con-
: iidant and accomphce. No human eye
, / had witn ssed his assault upon Blanche
. lamont. No ear had heard her first
, shrek of terror ami amazement. as this
monster fell upon her, or the last stiflsd
moan of dying agony that preceded the
awful silence of her final rest. None save
the God whom he feared not had seen
! him as he extended the naked and
slender form on the belfry floor, laid the
, thin arms across the undeveloped bosom,
propped the head and straightened the
meager body III the aust. Not human
, be ng had beheld his retreat from the
! awful presence of the death which was
his work, and the secret was safely locked
in his own breast. There lay the speech
, less and untestifying corpse, and what
was i: now to give him fear. 1t bad been
/ nothing but girl after all, and concern
I ing her there would be the same old story
, tc which he conld help to give currency
! tho same old story of vanished girl. a
distracted family, an ineffective and per
functory search among the houses OF i'll
repute a reluctant conclusion that this
little one, like others of Ewes daug
had gone to her moral destruction; a
: picture turned to the wall, a name never
snnkan. and oblivion. personal aud snnial.