The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-30
THE CASE FOR THE STATE.
What the Prosecution VIII Attempt
to Prove Against the SuS-
naCfed MurdarAr


At the opening of court on Monday
morning District Attorney Barnes will
present to the jury selected to try Will
liam Henry Theodore Durrant for his life
the statement upon which the State will
base its evidence. The defense will, of
course, reserve its statement until the
States case shall have been submitted,
and Immediately following the statement
of Mr.. Barnes the examination of the wit
nesses will be begun.
The trial will cover considerable periad
OF time, although the work will be expe-.
dited by the fact that the whole theory OF
the prosecution has been gone over IN the
testimony adduced at the Coroners in
quest and in the preliminary examination.
A history of the case has been closely re-
viewed from time to time in the newspa-
pers and is here but briefly recalled.
Blanche Lamont. the murdered girl, was
last seen alive by any other but her muir
derer on the afternoon of April last. On
that day. as has been shown by the testi-
mony, she attended the cooking school at
the Powell street Normal School and LETT
there about o'clock IN com pany with
Minnie Belle Edwards. In the story, as
told thus far, the defense will probably ac-
quiesce.
Upon the testimony of Mrs Vogel, the
prosecution will show that Durrant waited
for an hour outside the Normal School.
1t can offer the sworn statements of both
Mrs Vogel and Miss Edwards that when
Blanche Lamont left the school Durrant
met her, raised his hat, and with her
boarded the Powell car going south
1t will produce Miss May Lanigan and
Miss Alice Pleasant to identify the accused
as the man they saw riding beside Blanche
Lamont on the dummy, as the car passed
them, and talking to her.
Martin Quinlan, an attorney-at-law, has
testified that while standing at the corner
of Bartlett and Twenty-second streets
while watching some men at work on the
street he noticed young couple approach
ing along Bartlett street from Twenty first;
that he noticed the man particularly, be-
cause he had seen him before and was ac-
quainted with his face, and that that man
was Theodore Durrant, the defendant;
that the couple walked past him and pro-
ceeded in the direction of the Emmanuel
Church.
The prosecution will probably claim that
at that time Mrs. Leek stood in the win
dow at LA Bartlett street, diagonally oppo-
site the church, and at Ais P. NJ she saw
Durrant and girl whom she could not
positively identify, since she walked on
the outer edge of the pavement and in
talking turned her face toward her COM
'panion; that the two at 20 o'clock en-
to the side door.
George King has testified that he en-
tered the church, noticed the door to the
library, to which he and Durrant only had
keys, open; that he closed and locked it
and began playing the piano; that soon
afterward he saw Durrant enter the room
without his coat and hat and strangely
pale and disturbed.
Durrant explained his condition by
stating that he had been fixing the cleo
trical apparatus connected with the lights,
and had been overcome by the escaping
gas, of which there was strong smell in
the church. Durrant sent him to drug
store for some bromo settler, and on his
return the two carried small organ down
from the main auditorium, and Durrant
seemed strangely weak and had to rest
several times. The smell of gas in the
main auditorium was less strong than
downstairs, yet the ventilators for the
auditorium were so arranged as to prevent
the escape of gas into the loft where Dur
rant claimed to have been overcome.
When the two left the church Durrant's
hat and coat were in the library, though
King had not noticed them there pre-
viously when he had tested the burners
for escaping gas.
Pawnbroker Oppenheim has stated that
Durrant, after the death of Blanche
Lamont, offered for sale one of the rings
the dead girl had worn upon the day she
disappeared. The State will prove that the
rings were sent back to Mrs. Noble by mail
wrapped in an old newspaper.
If Mr.. Barnes or the police have i'm
portant witnesses against Durrant whose
stories have not been made public, the
character of the prosecutions case will IN
doubtedly differ materially from the fore
going.
Assistant District Attorney Pelxotto said
yesterday that the prosecution would pro-
coed on the theory that the murdered girl
was lured to the belfry and there killed,
which would eliminate the question of the
physical strength of the defendant from
the case. He stated that the people will
account for Durrants appearance to King
at the rear of the church by the theory
that after the murder he broke the knobs
and lock of the tower door upon the in
side and escaped from the belfry by way of
the rafters of the false roof.