The record-union., 1895-04-15

the matter was dropped. The police are
now inclined to ths1 ak that Durrant is re-
sponsible for the isappearance of Miss
Lamont, and suspenting that Miss Will
Jams was in possession of sufficient evil
dence to prove his suilt, concluded to de-
coy her into the church and silence her
| forever
The police argue that Durrant had heard
the statement OF the girl and momentar-
lily feared exposure. AS she continued
to declare that her friend had been mur-
oered. Durrant concluded to kill her. It
IS known that he met her by appoint
ment on Friday night and the police be-
ileve that he had already arranged his
plans for putting her out of the way
The fact that he selected night when
the church was deserted, the police argue,
shows that he had carefully arranged for
the commission of the bloodyadeed.
| Last night Chief Crowley detailed sew
eraI OF his best man to hunt for the body
of the dead school girl. and. as stated
! above, her naked dead body was found in
the belfry Of The church about o. clock
this morning. The Chief when he gave
the order to make the search was firmly
convinced that Miss Lamont had been
murdered and that her mu:ilated body
/ had been slowed away.
t Late yesterday afternoon the Coroner
| held an autopsy on the body of Miss
Williams. 1t revealed the fact that she
had been outraged. In one of her pockets
was found a receipt signed by ]. L. Bal
lertine of l435 Park street, Alameda.
showing that she had paid 80 cents for a
number of copies of a morning paper
containing accounts of the disappearance
OF Blanche Lamont.
/ The autopsy on the body of Miss La
mont was held tonight. 1t showed that
the girl had been strangled to death, her
slayer using his hands, as shown by the
deep imprint of the fingers and the nails.
The physicians making the autopsies on
| the bodies state that both Miss Lamont
and Miss Williams had been outraged
before being killed, and further state that
there was no doubt that both girls had led
Virtuous lives. In the case of the La
mont girl the autopsy indicated that the
assault had been made on her about ten
days ago, which was the time she disap-
| peared.
| Coroner Hawkins to-day complained
that his Office is overworked at present.
! de has thirty suspicious deaths on his
/ books upon which inquests have not
been completed. During the month of
/ April there were six deliberate murders.
This number does not include the deaths
of Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams.
/ These two make the total of eight violent
! Il he ot I,o hov de-
unknown since April lst. The Coroner
will not be able to hold the iuquests in
| the matter of the two girls until the latter
/ part of this week, if the police will be
ready to go on with the cases. In the
meantime separate juries will be i'm
| paneled, who will view the remains.
| Miss Lamont's body will be shipped to
I her home at Butte, Mont, for burial.
i while Miss Williams remains will be
buried in this city.
Miss Lucille Turner is the name Of the
young lady referred to in Chief Crowley's
statement as the person to whom Durrant
made the insulting proposals one Sunday
night on escorting her home. Since then
their relations ha ? been somewhat
strained. Miss Turner is teacher in the
Sunday school, and has known Durrant
since she first entered the church last
May. She says that he was verv much
interested in his studies and work. fond
of describing the horrors of the dissecting
room, and seemingly lost to any feelings
of reverence for the human body. Miss
Turner has been connected with Durrant
in compiling catalogue of the Sunday
school library. The first pages of the
catalogue were written by Durrant.
| Others were written by George King, and
the rest by Miss Turner herself. She
identified Durranrs writing in the sew
eral places and then, shown a scrap of
paper in which Blanche Lamont's rings
were returned to Mrs. Noble, positively
identified the writing aof the
| name George r. King on the paper
as being that of Durrant. She said that
it would take conclusive evidence to
prove to her that any one other than
Durrant wrote that name.
The detectives have two theories with
regard 10 this paper and writing. One is
that Durrsnt wrote the name of King.
thinking to connect the absence of
Blanche Lamont with him. The other is
| that Durrant picked up a stray paper
without noticing the name on it, and sent
it off, seemingly anonymous.
During a conversation with the detec-
tives, when Miss Turner was examining
the different handwrItings, she exclaimed
suddenly, in an excited and passionate
tone: 81 would have fallen a victim to
him, too, if [ had not said no."
Then followed the story as to Durrant,s
| action. Miss Turner also said that on thu
Sunday night following Blanche Lamont,s
disappearance. Durrant seemed worried.
and she had a conversation with him
using the fly leaf of hymn book. she
asked him what troubled him. writing.
money matters or love, one or the othsr
l know it is" He wrote in reply: "No:
it is something hundred fold greater in
importance to me-"
1t has been learned that Durrant had
been engaged to Miss Flora Upton, a gov
erness in family at Mintern. Merced
County. She was a graduate of the high
school in this city. Durrant told Miss
Upton that he was expecting to graduate
from the medical school this summer.
lie was an earnest student, and his stand
ing in none of his classes fell below g7
per cent. The young people had not
looked forward to any termination of The
engagement on graduation, as Durrant
had name to make in his profession be-
fore he could think of matrimony.
Measured by the characteristics which
are usually found in murderers, Theo-
dore Durrant is the last man whom anv-
body would suspect of committing a
murder. He is described by his friends
| as gentle, conscientious young man, of