The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-25

troll of than hearing? This man was COM
ing down from the belfry and coming
down for the first time as murderer. Do
| you think for one moment that there was
anything else buzzing in his brain than
| that of the murder? And when George
| King gives you his testimony it is appar
| ent that he is his friend, and an unwilling
! witness"
George r. Kings testimony was here
read, showing that Durrant stood at the
entrance to the room a moment
It aoGs the pdIlor of nervous
exhaustion on his face
"He stood pale, disheveled, his hair
unused, the pallor OF nervous exertion
PENDANT says: i came up to the door and
said, Hello! George, playing the piano?'
| But the defendant let slip one thing.
! When George King said to him, why do
you look so pale?' he said-and mark
this, gentlemen of the jury-'You would
| what | have gone through George King
| did not tell you that because he did not
wish to harm this man more than he
needed
Mr.. Peixotto made one or two satirical
| remarks in reference to Durrant's attempt
ing to carry off his conversation with
! George King in a light and airy manner,
He said that Durrant was weak when he
helped George King to carry down the
| organ, and that when he took the bromo
settler he was nauseated. Testimony was
read to prove this and the court adjourned
| for luncheon.
| On resuming after luncheon Mr.. Peixotto
quoted from Oliver Wendell Holmes, who
| said, 'Sin has many tools, but the lie is
the handle that fits them all.
'When this defendant" continued Mr..
| Peixotto. ''had committed the greatest sin
! IL, !.
| crossed the first laws of God and the high
est laws of man, when he had imbued him
self with the greatest of all sins, then and
! from that time, my contention is, his en-
tire life and acts with reference to the
| Emmanuel Baptist Church, Blanche La
mont and everything concerning that
transaction, was living lie that has been
exposed in its entirety to you.
No one had asked Durrant
to fG the Su1lburnerS.
! when he met George King there, when
| he stood exhausted, pale, disheveled, King
said to him What is the matter with your
and he then told him i have been upstairs
fixing the gas We have proved 10 you
that the first words he spoke were false.
| Take the story as he described it. He says
| the gas was out of order, that he had a
conversation with Sademan, the janitor.
| This he places on the oath of March. But,
| gentlemen of the jury, here is what Mr..
| Sademan says about that:
Frank Sademan's testimony was read,
! showing that on the Sd of April the gas APP
| paratuS in the Emmanuel Baptist Church
was in perfect condition.
| From each and every one of the trus-
| tees of the church we have the same an
swer that none of them had spoken to this
defendant about the gas. If, taking his
story to be true for the moment, they had
| spoken to him on the 24th about the gas.
| int bat liOht of hn HOY ir1t no
| of heaven was this man so unfortunate,
how were the gods so leaeued against him
| that they should have been left unfinished
| to this fatal day, April 3? That was
| busy day, you will remem Der. He says he
was at the lecture or one pa TT of it. How
was it that this man was up there to re-
pair the gas fixtures when the day before
the plum bers were there, and on the next
day the company sent their men to take
down the sunburners, removing all work
he claims to have done.
What the experts said about
| the effects Of inhdling gas.
"There was nothing to corroborate him,
| and everything to disbeleve him on this
| ground. If be had waited for week and
a half after finding out the fixture was not
| in order, do you think he was going to
sneak away from the lecture, hurry to the
church and turn on the gas? Why, if the
burners had been out of order and he had
| turned on the gas, the atmosphere would
! be IN a condition TO explode. He might
have been suffocated, but if he had not got
| to that stage, he would at least have got to
cherry red, as was testified to by Profess
sor Price, the most celebrated chemist in
| this State, whose reputation is as broad as
this State. The gas that he had beer tam
per1ng with was the life breath of Blanche
| Lamont-that and that alone, and he was
never near that sunburner save when he
| passed by ana down. If he had been at
| the fixture he would have had the tools
with him when he appeared before George
King. That say is the first falsehood.
HolO Durranfs conscience
| troubled him at the prayer meeting.
''The first thing that he tells you is dis
| proved by science and by medicine. That
night he goes home to his mother who
| says that his appetite was not good-but l
| do not want to take the testimony of the
mother against the defendant. He was
not feeling well and he went to the church.
| He sat down there. Mrs. Noble came to
| the church. At that time nobody in the
congregation knew that Blanche Lamont
was missing. Mrs. Noble did not want the
story to get out. OF course she was
| troubled. OF course she was worried, for
Blanche Lamont went through the even
| tenor of her life with great regularity
| Who, above all, is the first TO mention the
name OF the missing girl? Somebody had
a gnawing at his innersef. Somebody
there was, who was not there for the pur-
pose OF prayer or devotion, but for the pur-
pose OF covering up his true identity.
| D1rrdRt matching at the
ferries for the missing girl.
"That person was Theodore Durrant.
He was watching Mrs. Noble, he tells you.
He saw her cast paper at Mrs. Moore
He in his guilty conscience was watching
her, moved up to her and said: Did
Blanche Lamont come home2 I've got a
book I'm going to bring to her. Look
through the history of any crime and see
| how the human mind tries to conceal and
to put itself in the way of innocence. We
will see how he carried this through.
Thine went on. The girl was reported
missing. he Joined actively in the search.
He gave suggestions, offered his services.
offered the services of his friends. He de-
| preCated the work of datactluaS thnt ,.-o..a