Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-02-29
'HE DID NOT HANG FRIDAY
That Was the Date for the Execu-
ton of D%urrant.
4 Stay OF Twenty Days Gives the
Avch-Ftend a Little More OF
Earth - History OF the
Awful Crime.

sas Frasctsoo. Feb. 21.-Theodorc
Durrant. the sroh-fen@ and condemned
murderer, will not be executed today,
owing 70 an additional respite OF twenty
days granted on the 18TH inst. in order to
permit the prisoners attorneys 10 pre-
pare their bill Of exceptions. This will
delay the contamination of the sentence
~propounded by Judge Murphy until the
early part of March. and the prisoner
will probably spend the whole or greater
portion OF the interval In the San QUEEN
tin penitentiary. where he IL at present
confined.
On December IL last Judge Murphy.
In the circuit court. denied the motion
for "A new trial In Ia a 8 of w. IL. II.
Durrant. convicted of the murder OF
Blanche Lamont under circumstances
that created "A national sensation. and
ordered that he be taken 10 the state
prison at n Quentin, there to be kept
I'm close confinement until today when
he was TO be hanged by the neck until
he was dead. With the full story of the
crime and the remarkable circumstan-
tial evidence which resulted I'm Dur
rants conviction on the indictment
charging him with the murder OF
anc Lamont. all newspaper readers
are familiar. The defense relied upon
establishing an alibi. but the effort was
so weak that II was easily shattered.
Long before the case IN both sides had
closed. the jury was satisfied that
Blanche anon had fallen a victim
TO Durrant's lusts and had then been
brutally murdered to prevent his expo
sure. A verdict OF guilty was speedily
reached n after unsuccessful efforts
TO secure "a new trial, Durrant was agar
arraigned n sentenced to be hanged
today. Had he been acquitted. the state
would have placed him on trial for the
murder III Minnie williams
The case has been one which for in
genuity and dramatic interest has sci
dom been surpassed. Including the
time occupied I'm securing a jury, the
trial occupied nearly four months. The
crime of The century Is what the Eman-
uel Baptist hurch murders are called
In San Francisco. The Jack the Rip
per murders Ia London did not
them in horror. In that case a series
OF outcast women whose lives were a
burden to them were de way with,
but In his case two young, pretty and
innocent girls were murdered In the
most %strooious msnner within the very
walls of the church of which they were
devoted members; while the man con-
victed OF one OF the murders. william
Henry Theodore DuIrant. was the ex-
emplary young man of the congrega-
ton. He was assistant superintendent
OF the Sunday school, an earnest mem
Der OF the Christian Endeavor society
and the trusted conhdant OF the pas
for L. usa "a hpfpht Nrasn0 man ruhA
acted as electrician and handy man
around the church, and he was a stu
dious young man preparing himself for
the medical profession by study az the
Cooper Medical school, in San Francis
co He was a member OF the National
Guard and in all outward ways a mod
ell citizen.
Or Saturday. April Is, the women OF
h congregation OF Emanuel Baptist
church. going there 10 decorate the
building for the great festival of Easter.
found In the little library OF the Sunday
school The body OF Minnie Williams. a
member OF the church. She had been
stabbed and ~straneled to death. The
horror caused by this discovery was in
full force. when a second one raised it
to frenzy. On Easter Sunday a search
inS party Penetrated lo the pelIry OF the
church and there found the dead and
naked body of Blanche Lamont. Min
zoe y>-fsss-s.- $500 s--s. '"s-s
than the previous Friday. but the other
had ain there w weeks, In fact, as Is
universally believed, since the dlsap-
pearance OF Blanche Lamon on April
8. In the library was found lanch
Lannon'S library card, and this fact
appears first to have suggested a con-
nection between the two murders. Dur
rant, the model young man OF the
church. was the last person seen with
Minnie Williams, on Friday night.
April IL. He was the last person seen
with Blanche Lamont OF April .. On
the night Of the Sunday when the lat
ter's body was discovered In the belfry
Durrant was arrested while on duty
with the militia signal service corps.