The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-03-11
WILL HANG At LAST
California Justice Promises
to Overtake Durrant.
SUPREME COURT TAKES A HAND
Lower Courts Decision Ahirmed. and
Now tho Day OF Execution II
to Be Fixed.

to Be Fixed.
San Francisco, March 5.-The SUI
preme court this afternoon affirmed the
decision of the lower court in the case
OF Theodore Durrant, found guilty of
the murder of Blanche Lamont, in
Emanuel church, two years ago. He
appealed from the verdict Of guilty, al
leging errors in the rulings of the trial
judge, and filing voluminous bill of
exceptions. The trial judge, however,
was confirmed in all his disputed rul-
ings, and the verdict approved by the
supreme court. The case will now be
sent back to the superior court, which
will fix the date for Durrant's execu-
ton.
Friday afternoon, April IL, 1895, the
body of Minnie Williams, a young girl,
was found in a closet in the pastors
study of the Emanuel Baptist church.
The girl had been outraged and MUIR
dered, the arteries in the wrist being
cut. Two days later, just before church
services began, the body of Blanche
Lamont, who had been missing for sew
eral days, was found in the belfry of
the church. She had been strangled to
death. Theodore Durrant, young
medical student, who was assistant SUI
perintendent of Emanuel church Sun
day school, had been on very friendly
terms with both of the girls, and was
suspected of the crime. He was arrest
ed while on trip to Mount Diablo,
with the signal corps, and, although he
had been warned with heliograph by
his comrades of the signal corps from
Telegraph hill, he betrayed no concern,
and calmly waited the arrival of the
officers. In his overcoat, which had
been left at home, was found Minnie
Williams purse. A pawnbroker identi-
fed Durrant as man who had tried to
sell him diamond ring which had be-
longed to Blanche Lamont. It was
proved at the trial that Durrant accom-
panied Miss Lamont to and from school
on the day she disappeared, and that
he met Minnie Williams at the ferry
the evening on which she was murdered.
That evening Durrant arrived late at
meeting of the Christian Endeavor So
ciety. He was flushed and disheveled.
He asked permission to brush his hair
and wash his hands before he entered
the meeting. The discovery Of the
murders caused tremendous excitement,
and, after long and sensational trial,
Durrant was convicted Of the murder of
Blanche Lamont He was sentenced
to be hanged year ago last February,
but has been granted several stays of
execution pending the hearing of his
appeal for new trial by the supreme
court. All this time he has been con-
fined in the county Jail, where he has
maintained his usual stolid composure,
devoting his time to study and religious
reading.
When Durrant was informed by the
head jailer of the supreme courts de-
cision, he burst into tears, and said
this was very cruel world. He said
that some day the truth would prevail
and he would be indicated. He
seemed to take some comfort from the
report that Chief Justice Beatty would
in few days file dissenting opinion.
Durrant has ever since his arrest
manifested the most supreme confidence
in his ultimate acquittal, and when he
was convicted in the superior court, de-
clared that the supreme court would
grant him new trial.
The attorneys for Durrant intend to
employ every legal means to estop the
execution of the sentence of death.
Eugene Deuprey, one of his attorneys,
said:
81 am adamant in my belief that this
young man is innocent, and that his
death by hanging would be murder. l
shall therefore fight for him to the last