Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-01-14
A BRIEF STATEMENT.
CONCLUDING CHAPTER OF AN
APPALLING TRAGEDY.
Public Attention for a Moment
Directed Towards the Cause for
the Moose to Tighten around the
Neck of Dnrrant.

the Moose to Tighten around til.
Neck of Dnrrant.
The lapse Of time since the Emman
uel church murders were committed
by Durrant has given rise to morbiC
sympathy for the fiend, many of the
main incidents being forgotten, and &
doubt of guilt fostered by the persis
tent professions of innocence made
by Durrant, his family and his law
yers.
While the public have been sur
fcited at frequent intervals by refer
ences to the bloody deeds, it is well
before drawing the veil of oblivion
over the transaction, to state briefly
the main incidents of the crime as a
justification of the seeming harsh
treatment his lawyers encountered
when they made such herculean efforts
to prOlong the travesty on Justice in
the concluding lines of the chapter OF
horrors.
The following excerpts are taken
from q narrative filling several col
umns of one of the metropolitan dali
les, and give enough of the facts to
show very clearly the conclusive ma
ture of what is persistently claimed as
purely "circumstantial" evidence elic-
tied on the trial:
Ten days had passed since since Miss
Lamont disappeared, and her friends
had almost given up hope of ever
knowing her fate, when a discovery
was made which led to the finding of
Miss Lamont's body.
The ladies of Emmanuel church
were engaged in decorating the edifice
to the celebration of East
er Sunday services, when the mangled
body of Minnie Williams was found,
almost naked, in the library. A num-
ber of ugly knife wounds and some
rags that had been forced down the
young woman's throat told of the un-
equal struggle she had made to protect
her honor.
Miss Williams body was discovered
in the afternoon, and late the same
night the first clew to the murderer
was obtained. From some of the
young woman's friends it was learned
that she had been seen the evening be-
fore with Durrant, and although there
was nothing else to show that heshad
any connection with the crime, the
police decided to arrest him. Dur
rants home was visited late at night,
but he was not there. His parents
said that he had left at midnight with
the signal corps of the National Guard,
to which he belonged, to make some
photographic experiments on Mount
Diablo. The next train carried two
detectives toward the mountain, and,
after completing their journey by
stage, Durrant was found late in the
afternoon and arrested. But the news
that he was charged with the murder
of Minnie Williams was not first i'm.
parted to him by the officers. A mes
sage was flashed on the rays of the
sun by the photographers in this city
who were taking part in the expert
ments of the signal corps, and Durrant
knew that he was to be arrested before
the officers arrived.
While these events were taking place
on Mount Diablo, GO miles away, dis.
covery had been made in the city
which filled the streets with men and
women crying for vengeance. From
the first the police associated the find
ing of Miss Williams body with the
disappearance of Miss Lamont, and a
search was at once begun in the
church for her body. Men worked all
night tearing up floors and breaking
down partitions, and at 10 O'Clock
Sunday morning the body of Miss La.
mont was found. A broken doOrknot
and turned bolt excited the suspi
cions of the searchers, and the door
leading to the belfry of the church
was broken down. Up the winding
stairs the policemen groped their way
and at the third landing, lying in the
corner of the darkened belfry, the
naked body of the murdered girl was
found. No knife had been used to
commit the crime, as was the case ir
the murder of Miss Williams, but the
imprint OF five fingers buried in hel
throat revealed the manner in which
the young woman met her death.
A post-mortem examination showed
that murder was not the only crime
that had been committed. The news
of the discovery of the second body iE
the church had spread with incredible
speed, and at 6 o'clock, when Dur.
rant, in custody of the officers, alight
ed from a ferry-boat at the foot o.
Market street, in this city, he was met
by a dense crowd that was ominou'
because of its silence. The police
were prepared for an outbreak, how
ever, and two companies of armed
men were present. Durrant wal
placed in a closed carriage, surround
ed by so men armed with Winches
tiers, and driven to the city prison.