The San Francisco call., 1897-07-02
7 a. Secret Conference of High.
B. {" f Officials and Nothing
s. !. :. FRI T s. Decided, +.
FEiR " 4 MORE COMPLEX MIDDLE.
The Papers IN the Murder Case Nov
s. s. !. +. {. in the. United States su.
::.:.: :...:..:.. .... . preme Court.

= For a time YES terday it looked as though
a new: conplica tion would arise in the
: case of Theodore Durrant, who is now
under the death sentence for the murder
of Blanche Lamont. A writ of mandate
was prepared IN the Office of the Attorney
General, with a. view of com pelling War
den Hale to carry out the order and ludg-
+meut of the: oourt--fn other words, hang
DurEant. This petition never became an
.ofticial document, for it never wentfarther
than .the:hands of the Chief Justice of the
i: Supre me Court, where it now is. While
in the hands of the Chief Justice it was
like the proverbial hot potato, for at all
accounts that official did not know what
to do with il, ami, though he might like
ito drop it, it is still there.
=: : It. will: be- remembered that when the
Suprem Court refused to interfere with
: the judgment and order of the lower
court i'm posing the death penalty, the
case was taken into The Federal courts
and now i. before the United States Su-
prefne Court on an appeal. There it vas
supposed il would stay until that tribunal
saw tit to take it up and dispose of 1t,
W hich will not be before the October term.
3Durrant WAS sen fenced TO be executed on
June H. and pending the latter proceed
-ihgs Governor Bldd commuted the SER
. tence o July 81. And herein lies the diff
Guilty, for in ordinary cases the Warren
would proceed with the execution on that
date. The Governor, the Warden and the
Attorney. General know that the case is
in the highest tribunal in the Land, and
yet there is no emphatic stay OF exc
cution issued out of the Federal courts.
T.Ais state ofAffalrs caused the 'Governo<
some uReaslness, and a few days ago he
wrote. 10 his. legal adviser, the Attorney
JfeneraL, for opinion as to what to do in
1.-The premises, and followed up the letter
by coming to this City in person to .looh
after the case. AS stated, the petition for
a. writ of mandate was prepared in the of
flee 'sof the"Artorney-Gener and yester-
day 1T was placed in the hands of the
'Chief Justice. Tnen ollowed q long con-
.sultatlon, in:which the Governor, a repre-
sentative of the Attorne General and all
..of the Justices, of the Supreme Court took
@part. The: greatest. secrecy was thrown
around that meeting, and none who took
: part would. give. the least Information
=: about the proceedings: Sufficient was
learned. however, to justify the belief
that the whole lot had run up against
snag that they could not get around.
In the first place 1t is understood that
Warden Hale has in animated that he will
not hang Durrant on the 9th inst. This
knowledge reaching the Governors ears
j.: was what started the mandate proceed
:. ings. Warden Hale takes his position
upon his knowledge of the case being in
1.-The United States Supreme Court Even
should writ of mandate be issued 10 the
Warden there is no possibility of his obey
ing it, for he could at once sue out writ
of error or sue for stay OF execution. If
he should not desire TO do this Durrant,
as an:interested party, could do either or
both Such proceeding'in the Federal
- L Al
OF the State courts and the State officers
until after the dread day, July 9. and
::thet would staye off the whole matter for
another two or three months, for the sn-
tire legal machinery would have to be set
!: in motion. oyer again.;
=: That is, Qhrrant would have to be
: brought back from the State prison, pre-
. sented in court and resentenced. AS the
:. execution could not take. place at once,
!: between two and three months would
::eiapse before he would be brought again
:: wi hin the. shadow of the gallows, and ii
is Just such delays as this that the defense
lis desirous OF. securing. The Attorney
General and the Justices of the Supreme
:: Court are no doubt aware of .aH this, and
: their failure to- arrive at a. conclusion yes
terday was caused by a desire not to 'tum-
: bic into any'legal pitfalls.
:: After: the conference Governor Budd
j: showed no disposition to discuss what had
taken place; saying that nothing had been
done and would not be until he had a
chance to discuss the matter with the At
lorney General to-day. H had not seen
any petition for a writ of mandate and did
not know that any had been filed with the
clerk, and aS a fact none had besn. At
torney General Fitzgerald positively de-
clined TO discuss the matter and would
not affirm nor deny that he had prepared
such petition.
Eugene n: Deuprey, counsel for Dur
rant, had hearo something about it and
was watchtul and on the alert. He
stated that he did not believe that the Su-
preme Court would do such a thing as the
Governor contemplated, for the Justices
would not be likely to interfere in q mat
Ter that has been taken out of the State
court and placed in the highest tribunal
in the land. Said be: "If writ of man.
date be taken out and served, in spite of |
the fact that the case is on appeal to the |
United States Supreme Court, we will sue !
out a writ of error and put a stop to its |
being executed. Under such procedure
Durrant could not be hanged until after
being resenteEced in the State court. This !
is provided for In section 1927 of the Re- |
vised Statutes"
While the case stands as it is it is safe
to say that nothing of a very startling
nature will come out of it, and it is be-
lieved that the conference between the |
Governor and the Attorney. General and
The deliberations of the Supreme Court |
Justices will result in all hands letting
matters stano.a they are.
WASHINGTON, d. c., July 1.-The |
papers in the appeal of W. II. T. Durrant
under sentence of death in San Fran cisco
for the murder OF Blanche Lamont, were
received by the clerk OF the United States
Supreme Court to-day.
The appeal is from the decision of the |
Circuit Court of the United States for the |
ninth circuit in refusing to grant Dur
rants motion for writ of habeas corpus. |
In his petition. .Durrant alleges the |
irregularity and illeg ality of the proceed
ings against him III the California State |
courts IN that the trial was conducted |
upon information not in accordance ce with |
the equal protection of the laws and not |
d,,a x,racaas 81 L