Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-11-04
THE CLOSING SCENES.
District Attorney Barnes Makes a
Powerful Arrangement of
tina PriConar

the Prisoner.
San Francisco, Cal, Oct 30.-District-
Attorney Barnes today began his closing
argument on behalf Of the state in the
trial Of Theodore Durrant. The court
room was crowded to it's greatest capac-
ityf and close attention was paid to the
speaker. Mr.. Barnes spoke in part as
follows:
District Attorney Barnes Address.
The individual who perpetrated the hide
Gus murder With which the defendant
stands charged, and which has narrowed the
soul and frozen the blood of this community,
is no ordinary criminal; and his crime, in
cred, is without a parallel. 1t was not COM
mitted under blind and furious impulse to
revenge some real or fancied wrong to his
person, his property or his character, nor
from motives of gain, nor in the commission
of robbery, nor yet under the hot spur or
jealousy. 1t was i'll every sense cold
blooded, vicious murder. 1t was without
the slightest provocaton or apparent excuse
or pallation. The assassin chose for his
victim an innocent and helpless maiden.
She was undeveoped in mind, pure in life
and thought, of simple and unsuspecting
nature and presenting in body none of the
qualities which are supposed to arouse the
evil passions of seducer and libertine.
For the scene of his d. cadful assault, the
murderer selected an evangelical church,
the life of his victim not with the savage
mercy Of the quick pistol or the silent knife,
but he tortured her with the lingering
process of stranguation, driving his cruel
fingers deep into the tender flesh of her
slender throat. and so fiercely did he do his
devils work that the stigma of his crime
remained until the discovery of her corpse.
clearly discernible as. the cause of death,
not only by the surgical examiner, but by
the most unearned observer. What other,
if any, wrong was done her before her soul
exhaled and went to heaven we do not
know. The advancement of natural decom-
position baffled investigation and made
either living OF dying, OF dead. she was
taken by him up the steep stairs of the
steeple of the belfry of the church. where
he supported the poor body with blocks of
wood and left it there to rot in nakedness
and wither in the cool western wind that
swept through the lofty spire He hid the
remains where he believed they would re-
chrst GnaEEg Gra and have no promise Of
N2se saw the crime, save the God whom
slender form on the belfry floor. laid the
thin arms across the undeveloped bosom,
propped the head and Strengthened the mea-
f faG B Behssd + his hG re fES5t from th{
ence Of the death which was his work, and
the he secret ne waT Ssf sbe 9 and his unI
tifying corpse, and what was it now to give
him fear? 1t had been nothing but girl
after ALL and concerning her there would
be the same old story to which he could
help to give currency-the same old story
of vanished girl, distracted family, an
ineffective and perfunctory search among
the houses of ill-reputo, a reluctant cOnclu-
sion that this little one, like others of Ewes
daughters had gone to her moral deStruc-
ton; picture turned toward. the wall,
name never spoken, and oblivion, personal
and social, for poor, lost Blanche Lamont
And he was right for the moment. The
murderer went his guilty way with his IN,
diyulged crime, unscathed and unwhipped
by justice. while his victim lay in the spire
that pointed its slender finger to the sky
as if reproaching its Ruler for His unmoving
indignation.
Mr. Barnes then reviewed the circum-
stances in connection with the discovery
of Miss Lamont's body and from the
facts drew the conclusion that she was
murdered by some member OF the church
who had keys to the building and in
whom she had confidence. The murder
err must also have been a man whose
cunning was sufficient to enable him to
stifie the natural feeling of timidity
which always accompanies innocence and
induce her to go alone with him to the
darkencd church in which they both wor-
SHIPPED Oh Sunday. Such man, he said,
is Theodore Durrant. Only a monster
capable of taking the life of an innocent
girl, he said. could remain cool, impressive
and almost defiant when accused of such
a crime. Mr.. Barnes continued:
Nerveless, Impa ssive, Smiling Villain.
Gentlemen, such man is of such rare
quality that il confronted at last with the
DrOOIS OF HIS cIlIuc, WHOSE recital mas
shocked all civilization, he could and he
would, as he has DONE sneeringly smile ia
the awful presence of the relics Of his VIC
tim, torn by his hands from her stiffening
body and exhibit neither passion nor emo
ton, neither sympathy nor regret, for the
unfortunate child be had brought to 4 pre-
mature grave. Such a man Could well lie
in jail awaiting his trial for murder and
clothe his yillainy with the mask Of a pre-
tended trust in the Jehovah whom he had
defied and play the saint with verse and
phrases stolen from Holy Writ. He could
listen with grim complacency while his
counsel struggled to weave a web of suspi-
cicn and accusation around one whom he
ming to the end of his trial for the highest
crime known to the law remain the same
nerveess, impressive, smiling villain.
Durrant's testimony is a mass of contra
dictions from beginning to end. Not only
has he contradicted the testimony of the
prosecutions witnesses, but he has contra.
dicted the testimony of his own. / submit
to YOU, gentlemen, that there is nothing lii
the testimony of the defendant or any
witness nTesented by the defense to estab-
fish the abb thar ssa,e defense has tried to
M 33ssrnnes s c1Ssed with an eloquent
appeal e the ivy to aven 1 the e., murder
en- and girls Of the state by returning
verdict 81 guilty Of murder in the first
degree with the penalty Of death.
Judge Murphy will charge the jury to-
morrow morning and a verdict is ex-
pected by tomorrow night. a9