The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-08

sides allowed his wrists some play, and
his fingers rested lightly on the strap. Five
minutes later when his body was swing
ing like a pendulum beneath the trap. the
fingers, now all blue and chilled-lool1ing,
still rested where he had placed them as
he left the cell. His face was pale, but It
was not the ashy paleness of terror. II was
the face of a man who, knowing that he
has momentous thing TO- do, is resolved
TO do it like a man.
Durranr finished quickly. and scarcely
had ceased when the black cap was placed
over his face.
Then Hangman Lunt raised his hand,
the trap was sprung and Theodore Dur
rants body was shot through the open
ing.
There was a sound as of stout rope
drawn taut and a broken necked criminal
swayed two and fro for moment when
the body became motionless.
The crowd surged forward, but the war
denis voice was heard exc.alming "Stand
back"
The doctors, however were permitted
to go forward, where they felt his pulse
and finally decided that Durrant was dead.
In Just II minutes and Is seconds ell signs
of life had vanished and the most noted
criminal of the nineteenth century Nas
officially dead
The elder Durrant gazed Steadily at the
proceedings for a moment and then his
head fell forward upon the shoulders OF
young Smythe, Deuprey's clerk, and he
buried his face and the expression of his
grief from the sight of men.
The body was allowed to hang for f1f-
teen minutes, when it was cut down and
placed in a black coffin, provided by an
yet wriswhat disposition Of the body
will be made as Durrants parents have
been so far unable to secure accommoda-
tions in any of the local cemeteries for
the body of their son. 1t is probable that
the body viii be cremated.
AS soon as the drop fell the spectators
hurried out of the room and nobody re-
manned except the physicians and news
paper men.
Durrant, Sr., went Immediately to his
wife, who was waiting in one of the
guard rooms, and together they accom-
panied the body of their son to San Fran
cisco.
The prison officials were all enthusias-
tie in their praise of Durrants nerve 1t
had been feared by them that in spite of
his apparent bravado the condemned man
would break down at the last moment and
make a scene. At one time several days
ago Durrant gave evidence of a collapse,
but he managed to pun his nerves togeth-
er once more and proudly declined all Of
fers of stimulantS to enable him to make
a bold showing on the scaffold. The
criminal was apparently proud OF his race
and avowed he would "de like Dur
rant"
Durrants most urgent request of War
den Hale was that no autopsy be held on
his body. The prisoners medical training
seemed TO have imbued him with a horror
of the surgical treatment of corpses, and
he vowed that no knife should ever touch
his flesh. He also requested that the rope
with which he was hanged be burned
observed by the -wafdeo
1t was sad day, not only for Durrant
but for those other murderers who are
confined i'm San Quentin, and whose faith
depended on the success made by the ef-
forts of Durrants attorneys in his behalf.
They were all prepared to follow the same
tactics for delay, but now that the courts
have shown that it is possible to hang a
murderer in California, they have given
up hope.