The herald., 1898-01-07

been made with the Postal telegraph
company to have through wire to San
Francisco ready at noon, SO that no time
will be lost In forwarding the message.
AS to the legality OF a Geographic stay
of execution, one of the justices or the
| supreme court said tonight: 1T is mat
ter that, so far as know, has never been
legally tested, but in case of tele-
graphic stay being sent, properly at
tested by the clerk of the court, should
think 1t would be most unlikely that the
warden in charge of the execution would
disregard it. In case of such disregard
the court might very properly take
cognizance Of the matter afterward,
but In this case it would be too late to
benefit the prisoner. Owing to the pecu-
liar urgency of the case, should say
that every facility will be given the at
torney for the condemned for a speedy
hearing. whatever the action of the
court may be-"
WILL DIE GAME
SAN QUENTIN PRISON, Jan. e.
Shortly before midnight Durrant pre-
pared to retire. telling Captain Edgar
that he wanted to get some sleep before
morning. He showed no signs of weak
ening. and all who have seen him tonight
agree that he will die game. Captain
Edgar still considers him a remarkable
criminal, and is firmly convinced that he
will go to the gallows bravely. His
mother remained with him until 1880.
and will see him in the morning. No one
will be admitted to the prison after mid
night until the gates are opened at
o'clock in the morning The officials are
confident that Durrant will not attempt
suicide, even If he had the opportunity
which he has not. Nothing more is
likely to be heard from the condemned
mans quarters until after o'clock. Mr..
and Mrs. Durrant have gone to San
Rafael for the night, accompanied by
Rev. Edward w. Davis. 1t is not known
positively whether Mr.. Davis will appear
on the scaffold with Durrant, or whether
Rev. Mr.. RAIDER will carry out his
adviser.
NO DANGER OF SUICIDE
That Durrant will not commit suicide
those responsible for his custody are
certain, whether he ever contemplated
such thing or not. To establish to a GER
tainty whether such thought was ever in
his mind, an inspection was made today
of the personal effects taken from him
when he was first sent to the condemned
cell, to determine if there is concealed
in them any subtle poison by which his
taking off would have been made easy.
1t is a matter of criminal history in
this state that a condemned murderer
awaiting execution once defeated jus
q cA h.
of a book previously saturated with ii,
and presented to him by his friends.
Capt. Edgar, while expressing his belief
that Durrant has not at any time con-
templated suicide. nor given a thought
to the taking of his own life, omitted no
precaution to prevent a recurrence of
the incident.
Just prior to Durrant's removal to the
cell his mother presented to
him sachet bag made of silk orna-
mented with tassels and embroidery.
and Bible bound in morocco, with pad
ded cover. When it was suggested to
Captain Edgar that possibly these might
be the hiding places of some deadly
poison he laughed, saying: There is no
poison in those articles; of that l am
certain. Whether there is or not is a
matter of no concern or interest, as Dur
rant has no means of making use of it,
even if 1t were true. have all of Dur
rants possessions in my office. They
will remain there until they are deliv-
cred to his parents after his execution.
No one will be allowed to examine them,
nor to subject them to analysis. unless
the warden officially directs it to be
done.
"Durrant has with him in his cell
Bible and a dictionary. These I pur-
chased for him myself after he was sent
to the condemned CELL and If every leaf
and the covers of all the books given or
lent to him after he went into the con-
demned cell were saturated with the
most deadly poison known it would be of
no avail to him. He would not obtain
possession of it. There is nothing in
the condemned cell with Durrant except
what has been furnished him by the
prison authorities, who are responsible
for his custody"