The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-27

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2e.-The key
stone in the arch of Durrant's alibi
crumbled and fell today.
The witness upon whom the attorneys
for the defense depended most to sustain
their contention that Durant was attend
ing a lecture at Cooper Medical College
at the hour when Blanche Lamont was
murdered, gave disappointing testimony.
A Body Blow.
Instead of testifying that Durrant was
present at the lecture as Attorney Deu-
prey SAID DIR. Cheney would do, the doc
tor said he had no recollection of seeing
the young medical student. To Offset this
reverse, the defense gained only one
polnt-the admission. as an exhibit of the
roll call book at the college in which
Durrant was recorded present at the
lecture given on the afternoon of April
3. The prosecution holds the roll call
books in little esteem from the fact that
1t VIII place witnesses ON the stand to
prove that Durrant frequently asked his
classmates to answer to his name when
he was absent and that they complied
with his request.
Crush In the Corridors.
The crush in the corridors at the en-
trance to the court room was greater
/ today than upon any other day since
| the trial began. Men and women fought
for admission, while the. sheriff and a
| ately to keep the crowd back. AT times,
! the confusion outside was so great that
| the proceedings of the court were in
| terrupted. AT length Judge Murphy sum-
moned the sheriff and ordered him to
! clear the corridors. If the sheriff's force
was insufficient, the. judge said he would
/ call on the chief Of police for a squad
! of men to execute the order.
The ChiseI Marks.
Sergeant Reynolds, police officer who
after the discovery of the bodies of
| Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams
[ was the first witness called to the stand.
? After describing the furniture and other
was asked about the cfisel marks found
! in the door leading to the belfry. The
! door and casing through which the muir
derer passed with the body of his vic
! tim were brought into court and formed
| one of the most interesting exhibits pro-
duced. The witness. testified that the
found in the tool box in Rev. John Glib
sons study. The witness was also asked
to identify shoe supposed to have been
! stained with blood which was found in
! the pastors study. AS Sergeant Reynolds
did not know to whom the shoe belonged
Sergeant Burke was called, but he was
also in ignorance with regard to the
ownership of that shoe.
The Keystone CrumbIed.
Dr. w. F. Cheney of Cooper Medical
mainstay of the defense was the next
witness. He said the lecture on April {
began at $50 o'clock and i2sted until
called. The witness did not know whether
| Durrant was present or not, as the roll
was called by DR. f. P. Gray DR.. Gray
did not know whether Durrant was pres
ent or not. but assumed that he was
from the fact that he was not marked
absent on the roll call. Questioned with
regard to the roll call book, the witness
g
not an original record, as it had beer
transferred from another page subse
quent to that date for the purpose Of
rectifying an error On this ground the
not admitted as an exhibit, but the OBJ
lection was oVerruled.
Deuprey NettIed.
DR.. Cheny was then recalled and re
iterated his statement to the effect thai
he had no recollection of seeing Duran
April 3. Attorney Deuprey was plainly
nettled at the conflict between what thu
defense had promised DIR. Cheney would
testify to and what he really did say
satisfactory answer. The witness wa!
asked if in a conversation with enc 0.
the attorneys for the defense, he (wit
ness) had not said that he believed tina
Durrant was present at the lecture. The
court asked Attorney Deuprey if he wa
trying to impeach his own witness ant
then sustained an objection lntefpoSet
by the prosecution.
Loose Roll Calls.
On cross-examination. District Attor
ney Barnes tried to show that student
at the college frequently had their class
mates answer to their names at roll cal
when they were absent. The witness wa
asked if in his experience as an in
structor at the college he had not be
come aware of the existence of such
practice. The defense objected to tn
question on account of its sweeping ma
| ture. The court sustained the objection
but intimated that the question Nigh
be asked if made in proper form. Tw
or three more questions of similar i'm
port were asked, but objections were sus
tanned in each case.
Court adjourned until tomorrow morn
ing with the cross-examination of Dl
Cheney still incomplete.
EATEl