The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-08

1t Began ON July %, 1895, and Lasted
TIL the LIST of November.

TIL the LIST of November.
The trial of w. II. T. Durrant for the
murder of Blanche Lamont was one of the
most stubbornly contested cases recorded in
criminal jurisprudence. The Journal yes
terday printed a review of the Emmanuel
Church murders with which Durrant was
charged, and it now gives resume of the
trial. The case opened before Judge Muir
ply, of the San Francisco Superior Court
on July p, 1895. The prosecution was con-
Quoted by VIM H. Barnes, the district at
torney, with his assistant, Mr.. Peixoto. The
defense was represented by Gen. John Fl.
Dickinson and Eugene Deuprey. The case
had excited so much interest all along the
coast that unusual precautions were taken
to limit the audience in the courtroom. A
score of policemen were found necessary to
keep back the mob that clamored for adj
mission. Crowds surrounded the door of
the county Jail to see the prisoner brought
out, and equally big crowds were at the
City Hall entrance when Durrant alighted
and walked arm in arm with sheriff and
jailer to the courtroom. 1t required more
than a month to get a jury. Panel after
panel was exhausted, but finally, on Aug.
20, after the examination of 1920 talesmen
twelve men were accepted. They were a
fairly intelligent body of men, and their
actions during the trial showed that they
We're trying to do their duty to the best of
their ability.
On Sept. District Attorney Barnes made
his opening statement He outlined the
story of the murder of Blanche Lamont
substantially as related in the Journal yes
terday. In telling what led to the search
for her body in the church belfry he tried to
introduce a reference to the murder of Min
ME Williams, but to this the defense made
exception and the judge sustained it. The
prosecution, after outlining its case pro-
ceeded to put their witnesses on in logical
order. First the judge, the jury, the pris-
oner and all the counsel visited Emmanuel
Church and inspected all the places which
were to be discussed in the trial. Then Po-
liceman George w. Russell. by means of an
elaborate design of the belfry, eleven feet
high. explained the prosecutions theory of
the crime and the way the murderer car
ried the body up the winding stairs to the
landing where il was found. This model.
after use was placed in a corner of the
courtroom, where it formed one of the con-
spicuous objects of interest. Along with ii
was a large French doll which represented
the body of Blanche Lamont. Another de-
vice in realism was the fitting of the cloth
ing of the dead girl upon dressmak er's
dummy in order to show the SlightneSs of
her figure and the ease with which a man
of Durrant's physique could have carried
her up the stairway to the belfry
There were about ten strong links in the
chain of crcumstantial evidence against
Durrant. The first of these was the testi-
mony of Miss Minnie Bell Edwards, the
school friend of Blanche, who saw Durrant
near the Normal School at 3 O'Clock on
April 3, 1885, This young girl gave her tes-
timony in very straightforward fashion.
She described the very clothes the accused
wore, the way he acted, the seats he and
Blanche took on the dummy. on cross-ex-
animation she explained very simply that
her great interest in Durrant was the inter-
est of any young girl in the beau of q class
mate Miss Edwards testimony was borne
out by that of Conductor Shamount who
gave substantially the same description of
the actions of the young couple. When
questioned in regard to Durrant's manner
toward the young woman ne sad.
He seemed to be talking very sweetly to
her; he wasn't exactly hugging her
Shalmount said he easily recognized Dur
rant from the picture printed in the news
papers. -
A BASE SUGGESTION.
Another strong witness of this same day
was Hermann Schlageter, a classmate of
Durrant's. who testified that Durrant, a
few days after Blanche disappeared asked
him if he remembered seeing him get on
car with a young woman the other morn
ing. Schlageter replied yes. whereupon
Durrant volunteered the inform alton that
the girl was Blanche Lamont lgho had so
naysferiously disappeared Schlaeeter added
that Durrant said that he feared that the
girl had been enticed 10 a house Of i'll fame
because she was very Innocent and could be
led astray very easily
Corroborating the story of Miss Edwards
aud two other schoolgirls who saw Blanche