The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1898-01-12
DURRANT HANGS FOR HIS GRIMES.
HIS FATHER PRESENT.
Every Recourse to Law Exhausted to Save
the Condemned Man.

wlllim Henry Theodore Durrant was
hanged at San Francisco. cal. last
Friday morning. If ever all known
advantage of II was done In this re-
markabIe case. For two years the case
has been swung from court TO court ap-
pealed from lower to higher. but TO no
avail. Even at the last moment the
United states Supreme Court refused
TO interfere. Durrant gave such an ex-
hibition of coolness and nerve as has
seldom been seen under similar circum-
stances. Hopeful almost to the very
last minute that something or some
one would intervene to save him, he
walked to the scaffold and made n lit
tie speech protesting his innocence as
calmly and with as distinct enuncia-
tion rs II he had been addressing an
assemblage of friends upon some or
dinary topic of the day. His face was
pale, his eyes were red, but his voice
was firm, and he stood as solidly as n
rock while he proclaimed his innocence
and professed forgiveness to those who
he said. had bounded him to death.
There was not n hitch or accident to
mar the plans of Warden Hale In ear
rying out the sentence Of the law. The
moose was adjusted, the trap was
sprung. the stout rope held and Dur
rants daed body dangled Mt the end.
The neck was broken by the fall of five
feet. and 15 minutes later the murder
er's body was cut down and placed In
the coffin.
Durrant's father saw his son meet
death. The murderer embraced the
catholic faith at the last moment. the
Protestant minister refusing to declare
him innocent.
II was on Easter morning OF 1895 that
San Francisco was Mortified by the
finding of a beautiful young girl dead
In a closet opening into the library Of
Emanuel church. The girl had been
ohoked. smothered in her own clothes,
aud then almost hacked TO pieces with
n case knife borrowed from the church
kitchen.
For ten days another young girl had
been missing from her home in the city.
She was also a member of this church.
The police broke down Il barred door
that gave access to the belfry and high
up In the steeplc they found the body
OF the missing girl. The body was stark
naked, the hands folded across the
chest. the head resting on n block of
wood. On the throat were the prints of
the nails Of the fingers that had stran-
gled her.
The girl in the belfry was Blanche
Lamont, and the girl In the library was
Minnie Williams. Durrant knew them
both He was the assistant Sunday
school superintendent OF the church
and had offered marriage to the girl
I'm the belfry. Durrant had been promi-
nent In the search for Blanche Lamont
during the days of mystery. Durrant
was convicted on November I. 1895. An
appeal to the state supreme court pre-
vented the Judge from fixing the date
of execution. A new trial was denied
on n hearing of appeal in March, 1897
and Durrant was sentenced to hang
June II.
A stay OF execution was granted on
an appeal to the United States SUI
preme court from the ruling OF the
United States court of California,
which refused to grant "a writ of ha-
beas corpus. The United States su-
rreme court dismissed the appeal No
vember 8, last. The California superior
court. before the arrival of the re-
mittur. Immediately ordered Durrant
to be hanged November II. but the
state supreme court granted n certin-
cate OF probable cause and the execu-
tion was again delayed and finally set
for January z. A second application to
the federal court for n writ OF habess
corpus was made Tuesday, January 4,
and was denied.