The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-06-01
Governor Budd Refuses to Com
mute His Sentence.
DEAFHWATCH HAS BEEN SET
The Governor Came To His CODvic-
ton of the Condemned Mans Guilt
by Personal Examination of Wit
nesscs aud Sonie Effective Detes-
tive Work.

Dcen mace 10y refusing TO iHteTleie Will
thecaSesortheco condemned murderers, Thee
dore Durrantand Salter d. Worden WOrden
will hang June 4, for causing train wreck
in which were killed Engineer Clarke
and four United States soldiers
The governors action in refusing TO
spare the life or even prolong the existence
of young Durrant is commended. The gov
ernor says in his brief statement that III
regard 10 the case no, new evidence
was presented and on the evidence he re-
garded the conviction just.
Durrar,t Yesterday afternoon was removed
20 a condemned cell and a deathwatch was
set.
The moillerof the young murderer dccla res
that Sue will he present a L the execution,
as under the law the condemned man has
the right to choose five persons to witness
his hanging.
In making his investi CATION into the au-
thcnticity of the, evidence upon which
Durrant was convicted, Gov. Budd has
established "A unique precedent His po-
sition has Teen condemned by judges and
lawyers, who dcclarethat he Is putting him
self al,or-a the courts and the juries, whIch
have already weighed this evidence. The
governor has gone behind the evidence upon
which Durrant was convicted He mas
heard every witness THAT appeared after
the trial was concluded. and heard the
story If every crank, who swore that he
killed Blanche Lamont, oI hat he had
seen Saiae one other than Durrant do 1T
Gov Budd came to san Francisco several
weeks ago TO devote himself to this in
veSticaiion, to satisfy himself as to the
Credihnity of the witnesses.
The governor first saw Mrs. Vogel and
Attorney Martin Quinlan, whose evidence
was Ur vital Importance, the former sweat
ing that she saw Durrant in front OF her
house Cor half an hour before the Normal
School attended by Blanche Lamont closed
on April 3, 1895; later, that she saw
DurIant and the girl going toward the
church about ! p III. of the same day
Mrs.. Vogel also SwOre that man, whom
she identified as Durrant, joined the two
girls when the school adfourned. The Wit
nesSes told Gov. Budd the same stories,
and were not in any doubt on the points
involves.
The states chief magistrate also rode
over the route from the school to En-
manuel Church, and made the trip in
about the time alleged by the prosecution
as being necessary for such b iourn ~
This was the route taken by the murderer
when he Iured Blanche Lamont TO her
death
Next, Gov. Budd visited Emmanuel
Church, spending the day in the rooms
where the two murders were committed,
a b.. bod or
Lamont was found. The governor first
went to the library OF tire first floor, where
Durraut, according to the theory of the Re
tcctives, murdered the girl.
The governor paused to make thor
oUsh examination. District Attorney
Barnes and Chief of Police Lees explained
the route to the executive. The party
then proceeded to the auditorium and up
stairs, where it is supposed the body Of
the girl was dragged.
At the landing where the body was
found the chief OF police told the gov
crn0r how the murderer had disposed
Of his victim. From the landing, the route
witch Durraut is supposed to have pursued
was followed They climbed to the top
If tie beifry. They went to the ceiling
and over the rafters To the top of the sun
burners, which figured in the trial, and
locked into the hooks where the assassin
had slowed away Blanche Lanont's hat
and clio; hing Then they wendell their way
to the rear OF the church, downstairs and
INTO tho Sunday-School room, where Organ
ist George King was playing when Dur
rant entered the room and accounted for
his abrupt appearance 10y saying that he
was repairing the gas fixtures. The gov
ernor here paused a long time and reflected
In has investigation tiov. Budd returned
10 the church on several succeeding days
to make himself familiar with the prem
lsss and climbed over the rafters and up
aad down On" steep hclfry stairs
Across the street from the church lives
MIS- Caroline Leake, al aged woman, " no
swOrc that she saw Hanche Lamont enter
EInmanuel Church with Durrant on the day
OF the tragedy. Gov. Budd visited the
woman aud quest ,oned her for several
hours. apparently satisfying himself that
her reason and sight were not affected, as
claimed 10y the defense.
The governor spent d day In examining
the court exhibits in the Lamont case. He
looked over the clothing OF the dead girl,
the chiseI, the paddock and other articles
trial TIE paddock had been on the door
to the belfry stairway, and the chisel was
used By the murderer to open il. Durrant
had charge of what tools there Were IN
the church, and outsiders would have had
trouble in finding tie chisel. Nearly a
week was devoted to he airing the stories of
cranks and witnesses, who did not put in
an appearance until Durrant's trial was
concluded.
One Of the first of these was Mrs.
SchwaitZer, who declared that she saw
Pastor George Gibson, of EmmanuelChurcn
and Minnie Williams together on the day
tie latter was murdered Later, tne W.
man added TO her tale the statement that
the Williams girl had told her she was
GIbSon's wife. The statement OF w. g.
Rake, an inmate of the Colorado Soldiers
Home. that he had seen Preacher Gibson
kill Blanche Lamont was investigated and
found TO be either a willful prevarication
or the vagary of a lunatic, and was cast
out.
Durrant's attorneys theTns elves dis
car,led the confession OF Convict Rosen-
berg, of San Quentin, that he had killed
Blanche Lamont II. A. Tubb, a loose
" itted attorney, was given an opportunity
to prove that Gibson, and lot Durrant,
committed the Emmanuel Church murders,
as re claimed he could, and was found to
have no substantial evidence
~ These were but a few of the cranKs
who precipitated themselves into the case.
All were heard patiently, but how their
stories were regarded, Gov. Budd alone
knows