Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-01-24

HIS TESTIMONY CORR0BORATED
The Prosecution in the Great Murder
Trial Has Most Of Its Case
Before the Jury. IA

Trial Has Most Of It's Saso
Before the Jury. x[
ID San Francisco, Sept, %. - More
women than men sit and slisten while
Durrant is tried. Every phase and IN
cident of the drama is keenly watched
by them. When Mrs. Durrant comes
in of a morning and imprints mother
ly kiss ON her sons lips, the women on
the back benches peer and peek and
crane and fiutter. AS the kiss is met,
there is an involuntary indrawn "Ah"
all along the line, and then, with
wave of hats and bonnets and feathers
and flowers, these fauna and flora OF
millinery shops subside into the pool.
. This morning, Durrant was handed
an invitation to social, to take place
tomorrow evening. The invitation was
passed around, but he was obliged to
send his regrets-a previous engage
ment.
Adolph Oppenheim sat i'll front. Mr..
Oppenheim was breathing hard. he
knew what was before him in the way
of cross examination, and he was hard
ening his heart for the test. The de-
Tense laid all sorts of traps for Open
helm; and whether they succeeded i'll
netting him In any of them will not be
made clear until they bring in such
evidence as they may have to impeach
his testimony. There is no doubt that
such is their purpose, for they laid the
foundation today.
The most dramatic witness of the
day was w. J. Phillips, now of San
Rafael. Phillips may be described as
a British blonde, and he kept a cigar
store for five years in Victoria. Phil
lips has an important walk, and an i'm
posing manner. He stepped off the
stand, walked to the front, pushed out
an aggressive finger, almost threaten
ingly, and said:
"That's the man."
No hesitation about him or his testi-
: mony. He said he would know Dur
} rant if they had shaved his head in
J stead of giving his hair the intermedi'
| ate pomadour of the county Jail, sort
| of midway couture between the city
prison and San Quentin.
Oppenheim was the first witness OF
the morning, and he was taken III
5 hand by Dickinson for cross-examina'
/ ton. From the severity and searching
f nature of the inquisition, it is evident
that the defense regards his testimony
A as important. They have had detec.
tives working up his record, and have
sent people to him with articles for
sale in order to test his memory. They
showed him silver corkscrew, a
, watch charm, a gold chain and a couple
: of watches, and asked him to say if he
had seen them before. He had seen
! them. They had been offered him fol
4 sale in his store. Then they asked him
g to describe the clothes and appearance
. of the men who offered the articles.
4 Oppenheim was able to do this in some
;, degree. 1t is altogether possible that
among the articles shown were some
that were never offered him for sale.
the memory" of the witness. Oh
Il course, Oppenheim's memory fol
clothes and outward characteristics OF
y casual visitors to his store is a most
" important element in the value of his
= testimony, as his description of the
: man he believes to have been Durrant
:, is specific and minute in detail.
~ Further, they asked him questions
D. regarding some transactions in which
he was mixed up with the police. The
bearing of the questions was not made
N clear at the time, but were obviously
e. put to lay foundation for future testi
a. mony in the way of impeachment
lie The man who goes ON the stand in thu
IL Durrant case takes his reputation il
a his hand.
The prosecution now has it's cas-,
u substantially before the jury. Its mail
Witness have been heard, and all tina
the district attorney will now try t,
do is to substantiate the evidence al
ready given with corroborative testi
= mony. Adolph Oppenheim, the broker
he who stated that Durrant had, about tn,
is middle of last April, tried to pawn .
S, ring with chip diamond, identified
veI by Oppenheim as one belonging t,
g. Blanche Lamont, was recalled for fur
1t Their cross-examination. The witnes
er was questioned at length by the defens
~ regarding Durrant's visit to his shop
in order to ascertain the possibility of ,
mistake in Identification. To test hi
memory he was questioned concernin,
s. other persons who had visited hi
O. pawnshop on the day Durrant i
IN charged with having tried to sell tn
n ring. Oppenheim said only two othe
IS persons had called. Both were strang
lg ers, yet he described them infinitely
re and recounted the particulars of thei
g. visits as if they had occurred yester
day.
Oppenheim was asked regardin,
other specific days, answering PROMPT
ed ~. In the minds of some spectator
e. IN the courtroom he was too good
x witness. remembering events on specia
al days months back with extraordinar,
p ylvidness. Counsel for the defens
he tried to confuse Oppenheim by shown,
to him number of silver articles and in
en- curing if he had ever seen them he
fore. In many cases the pawnbroke
replied in the affirmative, and de