The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1898-01-13


atrocity, from any point of view. He
was reared in a Christian home, and un-
! til the time of his arrest was regarded as
model young man, of Industrious hab-
its, who was trying to work his way
through medical college. The only char
! acteristic that seemed marked in his ma
ture was his piety. He had been prom
inent member of the Emanuel Baptist
church for several years, and for year
previous to his arrest had been assistant
superintendent of the Sunday school. In
this capacity he made the acquaintance of
Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams,
both of whom were destined to be muir
dered by him in the church where they
worshiped together.
Blanehe Lamont disappeared on April
3, 1895, and was never seen alive after
wards. She left the home of her aunt,
Mrs. @. G. Noble, on that day to go to
school, and for ten days no trace of her
could be found. Many members of
, Emanuel church assisted in the search
for the missing girl, and among others
was Theodore Durrant, who had often
! acted as Miss Lamont's escort.
He seemed greatly distressed on ac-
count of Miss Lamont's disappearance,
and at length expressed the belief that
she had joined the ranks of fallen wom-
en-. This theory seemed plausible to the
police, and a search was made among
the places where it was believed the miss
ing girl might be found. Durrant as
sisted in the inquiry, which came to
naught. Ten days had passed since Miss
had almost given up hope of ever know
ing her fate, when a discovery was made
which led to the finding of Miss La
mont's body.
The ladies of Emanuel church were en-
gagged In decorating the edifice preparato-
ry to the celebration of the Easter Sun
day services, when the mangled body of
Minnie Williams was found, almost
naked, in the library. A number of ug-
" knife wounds and some rags that had
been forced down the young woman's
throat told of the unequal struggle she
had made to protect her honor.
Miss Williams body was discovered in
the afternoon, and late the same night the
first clue to the murderer was obtained
From some of the young woman's friends
1t was learned that she had been seen the
evening before with Durrant, and al
though there was nothing else to show
that he. had any connection with the
crime, the police decided to arrest him.
Durrant's home was visited late at night.
but he was not there. His parents said
that he had left at midnight with the sig
nal corps of the National guard, to which
he belonged, to make some heliographing
experiments on Mt 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 MUIR
der 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 experiments of the sig
v,k Irx..x 4.
to be.arrested before the officers arrived.
While these eyepfe were taking place
on Nj Diablo. sixty niles away, n dis
covery had been made in this city which
filled the streets with men and women
crying for vengeance. From the first
the police associated the finding of Miss
Williams body with the disappearance
or 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
Lamont was found. A broken door knob
and turned bolt excited the suspicious
OF the searchers. and the door leading to
the belfry of the church was broken
in. Up the winding stairs the policemen
CROPPED their way, and at the third land
ing: lying in the corner of the darkened
beltry, the naked body of the murdered
girl was found. No knife had been used
to commit the crime, as was the case i'm
the murder of Miss Williams, but the i'm
print of five fingers buried in her throat
revealed the manner in which the young
woman met her death.
Ihe post mortem examination showed
that murder was not the only crime that
had been committed. The news of the
discovery of the second body in the church
had spread with incredible velocity, and
at O'Clock, when Durrant, in custody of
the officers. alighted from ferry boat at
the FOOT of Market street, in this city, he
was met by crowd that was ominous
because of its silence. The police were
prepared for an outbreak, however, and
TWO companies of armed men were pres
ent. Durrant was placed in a closed car
rage surrounded by fifty armed men
with wlnchesters, and driven TO the city
prison. Durrant then protested his in
nocence., as he did to the hour of his
death. but the evidence against him ac-
cumulated rapidly. and on April Fl an
INFORMATION was filed against him by Dis
TIC attorney Barnes charging him with
the murder of Blanche Lamont.
The trial, which began on July %
one. of the most celebrated in criminal
jurisprudence. Nearly 1900 talesmen
We're examined before jury was Sc
cured and six weeks passed before the
taking of testimony was begun. The
evidence throughout was circumstan-
tlal but when taken together formed n
chaln so strong as to admit of no rea-
sonablc doubt. The prosecution produced
witnesses who traced Durrant's move
ments on April g. from the time he
ieft Cooper medical college until he on
tered the church with Miss Lamont. To
all OF this. testimony the prisoner en-
tered a denial, and in rebuttal produced
the roll call of the college, which
showed that he was attending a lecture
ut the hour when Miss Lamont was
murdered.
The prosecution disputed the RELIABLE
ny OF the roll call, and showed that stu
dents were accustomed to have their
class mates answer for them when they
were not present. As the case became
more hopeless Durrant went on the
stand himself. and, although he main
tanned a remarkable composure through
out, his testimony, on n number of i'm
portant points, was palpably false. The
case was submitted to the Jury on the
afternoon of November /, 1896, after
having been on trial over three months.
Twenty minutes after they left the
court room the jurors returned and rem
dered verdict of guilty in the first de-
gree. The California law gives the Jury
power to fix the punishment of the Grim
lnal, but as no recommendation of mercy
was made, Judge Murphy, a few days
later, sentenced Durrant to be hanged
on February p. 1896.
Then began fight for delay, vigor-
ously maintained for almost twenty
not even ceasiDg with the exc
cutiOn of the death sentence. Durrant