The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-26
A DAY FOR DURRANT.
His Counsel Wastes No Words in
Introductory Pleasantries, but
Goes at Once to Work.

His Counsel Wastes No Words in
Introductory PIeasantries, but
Goes at Once to Work.
Yesterday it was a well-set, middle-aged
man who stood by the long green recovered
table and talked all day. He spoke in a
monotone almost entirely, rarely raising
his voice above the conversational pitch,
and sometimes letting it fall SO low that
the stenographers must watch the move
ments of his lips to catch the full mean
ing Of the words.
How different Mr.. Deuprey would have
been, people said. But these same COM
mentators did not begrudge to Mr. Dick
inson the credit due him for his terseness
his quiet, matter-ef-fact, transformations
delivery. Perhaps he was too quiet to be
entertaining to the crowd. At no time
did he grow enthusiastic or become heated
in his argument Durrant himself could
hardly have spoken with less show of feel
ing. But he weighed his words before he
spake them, and there was a refreshing
absence OF Introductory irrelevancies. He
seemed to take il for granted that the ju-
rors were intelligent enough to know why
and with what degree of carefulness they
had been selected. He presumed that the
seriousness of the case, the responsibility of
number of witnesses called and the length
the Judge and the jury, together with the
of time already consumed in hearing the
case, were already CogniZant facts to court
and jury and too patent to need reitera-
ton.
There were other things before him of
which he was not quite so sure, probably.
1t might not be so patent to the jury, this
task in front of him-the innocence of
Theodore Durrant.
So he set to work at once, wasting but
scant number of words in introducing his
subject, ana before he had talked half a
typewriter folio, though he spoke slowly,
he was thick in his argument. AZ will
start with the morning of the Sd of
April he said, and from then till the
close of the afternoon session all that he
said concerned the testimony in the case
He laid great stress upon the correctness
OF Dr. Cheney's rollcall. He called it the
pivotal point of the case and argued long
that there could be no mistake about it.
Moreover, it was corroborated by the evil
dence of the defendant himself.
The State had failed to disprove the cor
rectness of the rollcall, he said. And when
it failed in that it failed in all respects to
establish the guilt of Durrant.
He criticized DR.. Graham for not having
made known his testimony until the trial
was nearly over. Then he spoke of the
conduct of Durrant at the time of his ar.
rest. ~ am as satisfied of his innocence
by his conduct at that time" said Mr..
Dickinson, "as much as by any other cir
cumstance in the case"
Perhaps he meant by this to affirm his
belief in Durrnnt's innocence, but the
words themselves may be interpreted in
more than one way. He said, however,
that Durrant did not murder Blanche
Lamont, that he had no motive for the
deed, and that the evidence showed none.
With the exception of Quinlan he did
not accuse any of the identification wit
nesses with having deliberately sworn
falsely. He rather suggested that they
were mlstaken-that they were influenced
in their belief by public opinion and by
what they had read in the sensational
DALI papers, and that they were afflicted
with hallucinations and decisions. But
their honesty he did not question.
1t might have been either a crank or an
emlssary OF the Police Department-this
mysterious stranger who tapped Durrant
on the shoulder and told him to 90 search
at the ferries for Blanche Lamont. And
at all events, the point was immaterial. he
said, for even had Durrant told an untruth
about (which was purely an imaginary
hypothesis for the sake of the argum emit
1t dld not tend in any way to prove that he
murdered Blanche Lamont.
Mrs. Leaks testimony he did not like at
all, because she had hidden it so long,
when she might have been witness at
the preliminary examination.
Meantime Durrant listened apprecia-
lively, though as calmly as ever He sat at
the other end, from Mr.. Dickinson, of the
defense's long green-covered table and
turned his face partly toward the crowd SO
that every one in the audience caught at
least good profile view of him. and those
fortunately seated, or standing, could even
look him in the eye. He took no note
while his counsel spoke and did not once
in the day yawn sleepily.
The mother and father appear hopeful,
but their faces are as inexpensive of emo
ton as that of their son. They sit quietly
most of the time, in the second row of
chairs behind the table. Sometimes they
whisper to each other or to one of the
ladies who always sit with them. Yester-
day they watched Mr.. Dickinson closely.
and drank in every word approximately.