The Wichita daily eagle., 1898-01-08
he was to be arrested before the officers
THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE.

arrived.
THE CRY FOR VENGEANCE.
While these events were taking plac
on Mt. Diablo, so miles away, a discover.
had been in the city which filed tn
streets with men and women crying 70
vengeance. From the first the police as
sociated with the finding of Miss VIII
iams' body with the disappearance o
Miss Lamont, and a search was at ono
begun in the church for the body. Mel
worked at night tearing up floors anC
| breaking down partitions and at 10 o'clocf
| Sunday morning the body of Miss La
mont was found. a broken door knob and
| a turned bolt excited the suspicion of tht
| searchers, and the door leading to the bel
fry of the church was broken down. UI
! the winding stairs the policemen grow.
! their way. and at the third landing lying
| in thecorner of the darkened beIfry, the
! naked body OF the murdered girl was
! found No knife had been used TO COM
nit the crime, as was the case in the mur
| der of Miss Williams but the imprint -. :
| fingers buried in her throat revealed the
manner in which the young woman met
her death.
THE POST MORTEM.
The post mortem examination showed
that murder was not the only crime that
had been committed. Thenews of the
discovery of the second body in the
church had spread with incredible vel
ocity, and at s o'clock, when Durrant, in
custody of the officers, alighted from a fer
ry boat at the foot of Market street. in
this city, he was met by dense crowd
that was ominous because of his silence
The police We're prepared for an outbreak
however, and two companies of armed
men were present Durrant was placed in
closed carriage. surrounded by 80 men
armed with Winchesters and driven TO
the city prison. Durrant then protested
his innocence. as he did to the hour of
his death, but the evidence against him
accumulated rapidly. and on April 2ist an
information was fled against him by Dis
trict Attorney Barnes, charging him with
the murder of Blanche Lamont
THE TRIAL.
The trial, which began on July %, and
lasted until November /, was one of the
most celebrated in criminal Jurisprudence
Nearly 200 talesmen were examined be-
forea jury was secured, and six weeks
passed before the taking of testimony was
begun. The evidence throughout was
circumstantial. but when taken together
formed chain so strong as to admit of
no reasonable doubt The prosecution
produced witnesses. who traced Durrant's
movements on April 3rd from the tine
he left Cooper Medical college until he
entered the church with Miss Lamont.
To all Of this testimony the prisoner en-
tered denial, and in rebuttal produced
the roll call of the college, which show
ed that he was attending lecture at the
hour when Miss Lamont was murdered.
The prosecution disputed the reliability
of the roll call. and showed that students
were accustomed to have class mates an
swer for them when they were not pres
ent. As the case became more hopeless.
Durrant went on the stand himself. and.
although he remained a remarkable
composure throughout, his testimony. on
a number of important points. was pal
pably false. The case was submitted to
the jury on the afternoon of November
lst, 1885. after having been on trial over
three months. Twenty minutes after
they left the court room the jurors re-
turned and rendered a verdict of guilty in |
gives the jury power to fix the punish
nent of the criminal, but as no recon- |
of mercy was made. Judge |
Murphy, few days later, sentenced Dur |
rant to be hanged on February 21st, 1896.
THE LONG FIGHT FOR DELAY.
Then began a fight for delay, vigorous
Y maintained for almost twenty months,
he death sentence. Durrant appealed /
rom the judgment Of the supreme court.
'ut his appeal was not perfected for
many months. A preliminary proceeding
vas the settlement of the bill of excep-
ions-a very lengthy document.
The defendants attorneys first prepar-
d their bill Of exception. The district at
orney added amendments thereto. then
ollowed frequent meetings of opposing
ounsel to determine their differences.
The document was read by the court and
iven to the printers. but it was August
st, 1896, before the bill of exceptions and !
he transcript of testimony reached the
upreme court. The case was then placed
n the supreme court calendar, and at
.os Angeles. in the following October.
he defendants attorneys not appearing.
he case was ordered submitted on pa
ers filed
Durrant's attorneys subsequently NOV
TO set aside the submission, and they
'ere allowed to file briefs. but were per-
litted to make no oral argument. Attor-
ey General Fitzgerald filed a brief in
aply, Durrant's attorneys answering the
ttorney general in another brief. and the
ase was not really under submission un-
] January. 1897.
The supreme court affirmed the decis-
N of the superior court on March Bird.
%. and within ten dsys-i. p. on March :
attorneys fled a petition :
" a re-hearing The application for re-
caring was denied by the supreme court !
! April 2nd. and the following day a a
,mittitur was handed down 10 depart j
ent three Of the superior court. ordering c
lat court TO pass final judgment.
Superior Judge Bahrs of department r
Tte' HNeu SfluTudE' 1pih 4'NH' a. the
" for passing sentence. and on that
ite Durrant was resentenced. and or G
,red to be hanged at San Quentin State
-ison. on Friday. June 11th. On the af- Z
rnoon Of April 10th, Durrant was taken
ON the county jail. where he had been
nfined ever since he was held 70 an I
yer to the police court, and taken TO
IN Quentin.
Every effort was then made 10 induce .
1verror Budd to grant clemency. bu.
~ y