The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-09
UEsDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER 9, 1897
strange relation to the ecclesiastical calen-
dar. Observe these dates:

liamS was killed in Emmanuel Baptist
April a. 1896, Easter Sunday. the body of
Blanche Lamont found in the belfry of the
In 1896, April 8, the anniversary of the
death of Blanche Lamont, was Good Fri
day.
the Supreme Court, just one year and elev-
en- months after the date of the murder.
California has had crimes of romance, of
mystery of jealousy and Of revenge, says
Charles NJ. Pepper in recent letter 10 the
Chicago Tribune. 1t has had murders in
which the principals and the victims were
of national renown. 1t has had savage but
cherries, in which all human instincts were
lost, just as other States have had them
Yet nothing in it's annals has quite equaled
the atrocious killing of Blanche Lamont
and Minnie Williams. The tragedy Of those
two young lives just crossing the threshold
of womanhood, brings friends, but the
memories cannot die while one act in the
drama is yet to come. This is the act that
drags slow, tedious, and with interruption.
1t is the execution of it's sorrowing memo
ries to the families and the young man
legally convicted of the murder of Blanche
Lamont and morally convicted in the mind
of the San Francisco community of the
murder of Minnie Williams.
This young man is William Henry Theo-
dore Durrant "the criminal of the CEN
tury,'' as he is called on the Pacific slope
human monster who would outrival
Holmes if his career had not been cut short,
a prodigy in the metaphysics of criminol-
ogy. This opinion on the coast might be
called universal That it is not the adj
mitted belief of blood relatives, who talk
of an innocent boy caught in the meshes
of damning circumstances, may be stated
without reelection on the natural impulses
which anchor TO that belief. Possibly there
are also a few persons whose scrupleS
would not permit conviction for crime on
circumstantial evidence, just as there are
persons who will not agree that the hsh
is caught in the net unless they see the
actual drawing-in, though they know that
| fish are in the sea, and that nets may be
woven so fine that even a minnOW cannot
| slip through.
THE BLOOD-STAINED CHURCH.
While the law is halted in its execution
the church in which We're murdered the two
| hapless young women strives with fair
measure of success to forget The shadow
of the tragedy rested long upon it, but
| time has softened the horror of the recol-
| lection. It's services are still conducted by
the pastor who ministered there when
| Blanche Lamont was one of the attendants
and young Durrant was church librarian
assistant superintendent of the Sunday
school, and active in the Young Peoples
Society OF Christian EnQeaVOr. During tne
recent gathering of thousands of strangers
in San Francisco, Emmanuel Baptist
Church had some WorshiperS who went to
it's services with perhaps more of curiosity
than of reverence. They found nothing
to crafty their curiosity. The belfry to
which the body of Blanche Lamont was
from without the chul ch edifice. the library
room, near which was found the mutilated
body of Minnie Williams, was not exposed
to their view. Nothing now serves as a re-
minder of the painful notoriety to which
the modest church was for long period
subjected.
The story of the double crime was fresh
ened for me the other day when l saw
Durrant. Its recital is pertinent to the IN
terview with him. Told in single chap
ter. the story is this: Blanche Lamont was
a young woman from Dillon, Mont. she
attending the High School. She was an at
tendant at Emmanuel Baptist Church and
was member of its Young Peoples I'm
deavor Society One morning in April, 1879,
she left the home of her aunt and was new
er seen at that home again. 1t was the
third day Of the month Nearly 1S two weeks weeks
of clothing in the belfry of the church. The
clothing was discovered hidden away in
various places. Though the body was par
TALLY decomposed. finger nail marks on her
throat were discernible She had evidently
been strangled to death.
Minnie Williams was a young woman of
good character, who was employed in the
home of family in Alameda, across the
bay. She came to San Francisco one after
ing social meeting in Emmanuel Baptist
Church. Her. body was discovered in
closet of the library room of the church.
She had been choked, stabbed: and some
ags forced down her throat The discov-
cry of her body was almost coincident with
the finding Of the remains of Blanche La
mont
William Henry Theodore purrant at that
time was not long past his s, majority, fd. lie
as known and was held up as a model His
experience in the world had not been wide.
He. was student at the Cooper Medical
College.
Durrant as it was developed. knew both
Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams. He
had in a sense kept company with both
Of them, though they were not intimately
acquainted with each other. Durrant had
ridden the street cars with Blanche La
mont the morning of her disappearance.
That evening at o'clock he had been seen
in the church by the organist and accord
ing to his own story had been fixing some
gas jets and had been nearly overcome
by the gas. The evidence was to the effect
that he had met Blanche Lamont after
school in the afternoon, and had been seen
going to the church with her-nothing u1.
common in ITSELF as the young people OF
this society were in the habit of going in
and out. 1t was shown that the girl was
in all probability .strang!ed during the after
noon and her body carried to the belfry
DURRANT'S DEFENSE.
Durrant's defense was an alibi. He sought
to establish that he had been present that
afternoon at the lectures of DR.. Cheney at
the Cooper Medical College. The roll call
helped to support his claim, as it recorded
him present There were other circum-
stances which seemed to impeach the ac-
curacy of this record. A score of circum-
stances tangled him in the mesh, besides
the direct testimony Of persons who were
positive he entered the church that after
noon with Blanche Lamont Whether his
own explanation and his own testimony
tightened the meshes would perhaps be
hard to determine. He was convicted after
a trial lasting three months, and after a
deliberation by the jury lasting less than
half an hour.
1t is believed that Durrant was also the
murderer of Minnie Williams. That case
has not been tried. The prosecuting Off
GERS took the ground that a double con-
viction was unnecessary. Durrant, accord
ing to the testimony that was gathered had
known Minnie Williams and visited her.
The belief was that he had invited her to
attend the church social meeting one even
ing when there was none, and had then
purse in his pocket was simply one Of the
several circumstances. In the event of trial
the state has witnesses to swear to more
direct circumstances. One of these was tes-
timony by a witness to his entering the
church with Minnie Williams and leaving
1t alone
Nothing can shake the belief held in San
Francisco that Durrant lured both the
young women into the church and that their
murder was natural sequence of his in
stincts In his trial for the murder of
Blanche Lamont one point strenuously
maintained by the defense was that no suf-
fciapt motive was shown and that no ba sis