The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-11-11
EXECUTION OF THE MURDERER OF
BLANCHE LAMONT IS LIKELY
TO OCCUR SOON.
DECISION OF THE SUPREME court
Refused to Interfere with the Exc
cution-The News Spread Quickly
In San FranciEcO-Mrs. Dur
rant Insists Her Son
Is Innocent.

Washington, Nov 8.-The Unite
States supreme court today affirmed tn
decision Of the circuit court for the Ca
ifornia circuit refusing u writ of habea
corpus to William Henry Durrant unde
sentence of death for the murder of Mis-
Blanche Lamont in San Francisco i
April, 1895.
The decision of the court in the Dun
rant case was in response to the motion
of Attorney General Fitzgerald, entere
| last Monday, to dismiss the case or at
| firm the decision of the court below, an,
of course relieves the court from the ne
cessity of hearing the case upon its mer
| its on the 18th inst, as at first arranged
| The chief justice. in rendering the opin
ion of the court, INDUCED in no common
whatever, beyond remarking that the or
der of the. circuit, court was affirmed il
the authority of the decision of the cOur
in the cases of Hurlado VS.. California
Vol. 40 of the Supreme Court Reports)
Nordstrom VS.. Washington (Vol. 164 OF
these repOrts) and of Cramer VS.. Wash.
ingtOn, recently decided.
Attorney General Fitzgerald was pres,
ent in the court room when the opinion
was rendered and said it would insure
Durrant's execution and was in all re-
spects satisfactory to the state. The
court granted the motion of the states
Hill and CrOssley, two men under SEN
tence of death in California, fixing the
date for their hearing on the first Mon
day of December.
There was absolutely no excitement or
interest whatever attendant upon the an
nouncement of the chief justice in the
Durrant case. Only a few of the usual
Monday crowd of sightseers in the court
knew the significance of the conclusion
of the court. The chief justice made
the announcement. along with list of
others and his rapid, indistinct utterance
conveyed no intimation that it was prob
ably the last legal step in one of the
most celebrated of the country's crimes.
AS soon as the opinion of the chief
justice was known, Attorney Fitzgerald
telegraphed the fact to the district at
torney having charge of the case. and
it will devolve upon the latter to deter
mine just when Durrant shall be
brought before the superior court at San
francisco for reSentence. Mr.. Fitzger-
aid says that the statutory rule of sixty
days does not apply in the case Of re-
sentence of a murderer, and Durrant
rant, he says, will be promptly sentenced
and the time for the execution will be
fixed by the superior court.
Mr.. Fitzgerald preferred not to *
press an opinion as to how soon he
thought the death penalty would be i'm
posed.
Attorney Eugene Duprey of counsel
for the condemned man expressed con-
siderable surprise when informed that
the case had already been decided, as
he was under the impression tina. it was
to have been heard ON November -.
He said he did not consider the decision
final. He refused, however, to discuss
what action he proposed to take in the
premises and intimated that he was
afraid that snap judgment would be
taken by the state officials if he an
nOunced his intention for the future.