Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-11-19
HASA CHARMEDLIFE.
DURRANT, THE CALIFORNIA MURDER
Err, AGAIN ESCAPES THE GALLOWS


This Time the State Supreme Court In
terfercs-Chnrges Too Hasty Action on
the Part of Trial Court-Prisoner's Re
markable Fortitude.
William Henry Theodore Durrant was
not hung in the san Quentin prison in
San Francisco last Friday, the supreme
court of this state having granted a re-
spite at the eleventh hour. Up to /
o'clock Thursday afternoon, when the
news flashed over the wires from Sac
ramento that the court then in session
there, had granted writ of probable
cause. and instructed Warden Hale not
to carry QUE the execution of Durrant
until further orders. there apparently
was no further hope for the condemned
murderer. His attorneys, Dickinson
aud BOardman, had made u futile effort
to obtain another writ of habpas corpus
in the United States G. urt, and had not
even been granted permission to appeal
from that decision to the supreme court
of the United States.
Meanwhile. however, Mr.. Puprey has
tened to Sacramento and applied to the
state supreme court for a writ of prob
able cause for the purpose of Saying the
proceeding against his client upon the
grounds that no official knowledge of
the action of the supreme court of the
United States in the matter of Durrants
appealing from the decisions of the
federal court had yet been received; that
the superior court had acted too hastily
in sentencing Durrant to be hanged
Friday, as the law required that at least
sixty days grace be given, and, thirdly,
that the ppndancy of an appeal in the
supreme court affecting the condemned
was of itself sufficient cause for a stay of
execution.
The matter was partly argued in cham.
bers, and later argued before the full
court and taken under advisement.
Shortly afterward the court announced
its decision granting the writ applied
for, in which all the justices concurred.
And thus agan has Durrant tempOrar-
lily at least. escaped the gallows. With
/ the fatalism which has characterized his
every word and every action, for now
nigh on to three years, he believes he
never will be hanged. With a persist
tnce, the doggedness OF which has been
uuequaled in criminal history, he insists
upon his innocence. His friends, few
though they be. are loyal They declare
it impossible that guilty man could
have passed through the ordeal and not
betrayed himself. His enemies say that
an innocent man would have felt his
position too kecnly not to have shown
despair. Students in criminology I'M
interested as to the question of guilt or
of innocence, cOntine themselves to
declarations that his case stands alone As
one in which under no circumstances was
there Indication of solicitude or of fear.
At no time since his arrest has Dur
rant shown that he is possessed Of emo.
ton. There is no bitterness against his
prosecut RS; no complaint against his
jaiers no expression of annoyance with
any one; no indication of gratitude TO
those who are standing by him Loyalty ;
no apparent appreciation of the disgrace
he has brought upon his family. Not
once, from the afternoon In May. 1898,
when he himself received Photograph
message flashed from San Francisco to
Mount Diablo that the police wanted
him for the murders of Blanche Lamont
and of Minnie Williams, down to yes
terday, when he received word of stay
of execution, has he evinced the slight
est concern.
When he received word that he was
wanted for the murders he was one of a
signal corps of the National Guard, and
it was to him the message came. He re-
turned to the city and surrendered. His
trial was sensational. He was on the
, stand for three days, and never WINGED
There were some minor contradictions OF
himself, but none inconsistent with a
theory of innocence He handled the
clothing of Blanche Lamont without a
tremor, and, though surprises were laid
for him. he was not once disturbed
Throughout the trial there was the in
nuendo that a clergyman, and not he
was the murderer. but there was nc
open charge. Ills defence was an alibi.
When the jury returned the verdict
against him of murder in the first degree
2 ne never linched, either in the courtroom
, or in his cell. He received his sentence
aS he did the verdict. All the time he
has protested that he would not be hang
ed He had his case carried to the SUI
preme court of California. Six of the
seven judges affirmed the conviction
f The seventh, Chief Justice Beatty, tool
no part, saying he had not the time Il
: give the case the attention merted. Al
1 appeal went to the federal courts, anC
: again the decision was against him, anC
| then to the United States supreme court
p which cOncurred in the finding of tn,
Jury And now comes this last stay jus
q on the eve of the execution.