The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-15

off and the key refused to turn. 1 then
kicked IN the door.
1--WE went up the stairs to the top land
ing just under the place where the bell
would hang if there was a bell There
living in one corner we found the body of
Blanche Lamont.
1.-The body was stark naked. There was
not stitch of clothing upon it or near by.
The body was laid out on its back as if for
burial, and no undertaken could have done
it better. The arms were crossed upon the
breast. the limbs had been placed close to-
gether and perfectly straight, and bits of
wood placed beside them to keep them in
position, and the head lay straight, but
with the face turned slightly to one side.
A tiny pool of blood stained the floor be-
low her mouth, and at her feet lay glove,
such as women wear. large carpenters
Ratchet also lay near by, but there were no
begun to turn black and was beginning to
decompose. The belfry is a cold place.
The sun does not enter 1t and there is a
draft through it which would tend to pre-
serve the body. Judging from nv past ex-
perience with dead bodies l should say it
had been there ten days or more.
Returning from the belfry, left Officer
Riehl on guard at the tower door with in
structionS not to allow any one, under any
circumstances whatever, to enter then
went to the Seventeenth-street station,
notified the Chief of Police and returned to
the church wit h the patrol wagon.
'On my return | sent Officers Brown
McMurray and McGreavy to search for the
dead girls clothing among the rafters.
Climbing up in the inside of the steeple
they found it all except the hat and the
shoes. 1t was torn to pieces and scattered
all over. The corsets were tucked under
the caves of the steeple. The dress skirt
was whole except that it was split from top
to bottom. The waist was torn as if it had
been unbuttoned and then torn from the
body through impotence. One sleeve was
turned inside out. The undervest was torn
in three pieces as it was wrenched from the
body. The drawers were torn in two and
stained with blood. The mate to the glove
found at the dead girls feet was not dis
covered.
81 sent for Mr.. Code and for Mr.. Noble.
the uncle of the dead girl, and took them
up into the belfry. They identified the
body as that of Blanche Lamont. Ladies
of the church identified the clothing found
as some which they had seen Blanche La
mont wearing in life.
Detective Ben Bohen and John Moffitt,
clerk to the Chief of Police, came out and
looked over the ground for clews. In
fact, the whole force is working on the
case.
deputy Coroner Hallett came out with
the Morgue wagon and removed the body
to the Morgue.
''About 10 o'clock DR.. Gibson, pastor of
the church, attracted by the crowd which
had gathered, came over Then he went
to the residence of ex-Supervisor Taber on
Twenty -second street, near Bartlett.
went over to see him, and sent George
King, the organist, and J. Saderman, the
ianitor, to the Chiefs office with Officer
Walsh. The Chief wanted to see him be-
cause Gibson's statement, made yester-
day, was unsatisfactory, and because he
had refused the officers the keys of the
church the day before"
The body of the dead girl lay on the
board floor of the belfry or tower-room
formed by the uppermost platform of the
steeple. Above rose the dark, rough raft
ers of the spire. On every side the room
was open to the wind, but rough species
of blind formed of heavy boards prevented
the entrance of the rain. A wooden rail
surrounded the narrow opening by which
access was obtained from the rude steps
below, and behind this railing in one cor
ner of the tower lay all that was mortal of
her who was termed. by her classmates in
the High School 1.-The Juno beauty"
Entrance to the tower is obtained
through door off an uncarpeted and I'M
used gallery of the church. It's interior is
unfinished and the huge rough beams
stand forth in all their ugliness. From
one side primitive stairway, scarcely two
feet wide, leads its crooked course upward
and along this stairway the dead body of
Blanche Lamont was undoubtedly carried
by her murderer. 1t was an awkward task
and difficult one and the man who placed
the corpse where it was found must have
been a giant. Yesterday two of the
strongest of the Coroner's deputies, with
all their improved appliances, could
scarcely bear the body down the narrow
stairs, and they contend that no one man
could have borne it up aloft.
There is evidence, too, that the assassin
became exhausted at his gruesome task.
Half way up the stairway is a great pool of
blood, which has soaked through between
the tread and riser OF the staircase and
dripped in big blotches on the floor below.
There, doubtless, the murderer rested the
body till he recovered from his fatigue.
He was a long time recuperating, for the
amount of blood there left is much greater
than the pool found beneath the dead
girls head.
The search for the clothing showed the
extreme care taken by the murderer to
conceal the identity of his victim. Doubt
less he thought that in that deserted tower
the body would waste away and decom-