The herald., 1897-06-11

Associated Press Special Wire.
YOSEMITE, June 10.-Gov. Budd
granted Durrant reprieve this even
ing until July 9th.
| THE REPRIEvE
SACRAMENTO. June 10.-The follow
ing is Gov. Budd's reprieve in the Dur
rant case. received here after II o'clock
tonight:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA.
| EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
| Whereas, during the months of July
August, September, October and No
vember, A. D. 1885, at regular session
Of the superior court held in and for the
city and county of San Francisco. in
said state, w. H. T. Durrant was tried
and convicted of the crime of murder
and sentenced to be executed upon the
21st day Of February. 1896; and,
| Whereas, The said case was appealed
to the supreme court, and after a decis-
ion of said court affirming the judgment
of the superior court. said w. H. T. Dur
rant was sentenced to be executed upon
the 18th day of June, 1897; and,
Whereas, Said w. H. T. Durrant, un-
der sentence as aforesaid, has appealed
to the United States supreme court;
and,
| Whereas, The warden Of San Quentin,
whose duty it Is to execute the sentence
aforesaid of said superior court, does
and will refuse to execute the sentence
| Of death of said w. H. T. Durrant on
said 18th day of June, 1897; and,
| Whereas, 1 shall apply to the supreme
court Of this state for a writ of man
date to compel w. E. Hale, the warden
aforesaid, to execute the sentence Of said
court unless he be restricted by an order
| of the federal courts; and,
Whereas. 1 am advised by the attor-
ney-general Of this state that a reprievc
Is requested that the said court may
properly consider the 'saidsubject; and,
| Whereas. The opinios, of the said court
in said proceedings will settle the ques-
ton judicially whether an appeal to the
United tSates supreme court in such
proceedings as taken by Durrant stays
the execution of the sentence of state
court;
| Now, therefore, by virtue of the au-
thority in me vested by the constitu-
| tion and laws of this state, 1, James II.
Budd, governor of the state of Califor-
mia, do hereby repreve the sentence Of
the said w. H. T. Durrant to the 9th
day of July. 1897 at which time the said
sentence shall be executed unless other-
wise ordered.
Witness my hand and the great seal of
the state this 10th day of June, in the
year Of our Lord. 1897.
JAMES H. BUDD,
| Governor Of the State of California
REASONS GIVEN
| SAN FRANCISCO, June 10.-Gover-
nor Budd's reason for granting Durran.
reprieve from his death sentence
until July 9 is that the legal points could
not possibly be decided before the time
! set for the execution, tomorrow. He is
advised, however, that it might take 80
days to decide, even though the ques-
tions be presented at once to the Su-
preme Court, hence the repreve was
deemed necessary.
| The Governor has stated that it is his
intention for the law to take it's course
against the murderer of Blanche La
mont. This he said when he decided
net to interfere in behalf of the con-
demned man. Now he says that the sen
tence must be carried out or he must
learn that the Federal courts have the
right to interfere with the State courts
in cases such as the one at issue.
Charles Garter, who is special coun-
sci for Durrant in the habeas corpus
proceedings. said he did not feel the
slightest apprehension in the matter of
the ultimate decision in the habeas cor
pus proceedings. He said that he ha !
been unable to obtain any information
from the Attorney General in regard to
the proposed course of the Governor, but
he added, "the Attorney General is a
good lawyer and he knows that the po-
sition he has taken is correct, and that
the appeal from the denial of the court
Of habeas corpus acts unquestionably as
a stay OF execution
The Attorney General, when informed
last night that the Governor had de-
cided to reprieve Durrant, declined to
make any statement. He said: "I will
not say whether have prepared papers
or not. When I commence proceedings 1t
will be in the courts, not in the news
papers,"
An evening paper publishes an inter-
view with one Of the attorneys for The
odore Durrant to the effect thatin spite
of his denials, Attorney General Fitz-
gerald has given an opinion to Warden
Hale instructing him not to proceed
with the execution Of the condemned
murderer tomorrow, but that it had been
decided not to make the attorney gen.
erals opinion public until the last mo-
ment, and then only in the event of
the governor refusing to grant re-
prieve. This action, it is explained is
due to the fact that the attorney general
feared that if he told the warden not
to hang Durrant the governor might
demand writ of mandamus compelling
both state officials to perform their duty.
When Secretary Shields received this
message from the governor he immedi-
ately wrote out two copies of the re-
prieve to be mailed to Warden Hale and
Attorney-General Fitzgerald on the
early morning train. He then called up
Warden Hale by telephone. and although
| 1t was after midnight the warden an
swered In person. When informed that