The San Francisco call., 1898-01-08

'cuted at San Quentin at 1O:3O o'clock to-day. The petition which is here pre- sented involves certain Federal ques- tions as to the Jurisdiction of the Su- perior Court of San Francisco to inn pose the judgment of death, and also particularly involves the power and au- thority of the Circuit Court to deny an appeal to this court under the statute provided for appeal proceed ings of habeas corpus. think the ques- tions may be most expeditiously pre- sented by reading the direct allegations of the petition on the questions that are involved.
 Mir. Boardman then read the first part of the petition reciting that on the 11th day of November, 1897. an appli- cation was made to the Circuit Court in San Francisco for a writ of habeas corpus, and upon the hearing of the application the writ was denied, and from that judgment an appeal was sought to be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, which was also denied. and the clerk of the court was directed not to file any papers up- on this appeal.
 Secondly. it was contended at the time of making the order in the Su- perior Court that certain Federal Ques- tions were present, which were after ward taken on appeal to the State Su- preme Court. and that Durrant had the right under the constitution and laws of California to have this appeal determined by the court, and afterward to prosecute a writ of error to the Su- preme Court of the United States upon the Federal questions that were in- VolVed. These rights were claimed to be vested rights under the constitution and laws of the United States.
 The proceedings of the State court and of the court of California were shown by certified copies of the records which were incorporated in the peti- ton presented by Mir. Boardman. During the reading of the petition Mir Board man explained and commented upon the different grounds for the motion, and number of questions were pro- pounded by Justices Harlan. Fuller. White and ShiraS, to which Mir Board man responded promptly and clearly.
 At the close of the argument the Chief Justice asked Mir Boardman if a writ of error, upon the questions pre- sented by the petition. had been pre- Viously asked for, and the attorney stated that writ of error had been ap- piled for to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California and that applications had also been made to ] three of the Justices of the Supreme ! OO0A OL lLe Olllleu SIdlGS. ana that 1 the writ Of error had been refused | The Judges then retired to their con Sultatton chamber, where they re- 1 mafned clOseted for thirty-eight min- utes. Not one person left the court room, for every one knew that the de- cision must be announced quickly, as ! the hands of the big clock in the court room were creeping toward the hour 1 of execution. There was an ominous ! silence, broken only by whispers.
 After the Justices had been out for twenty-five minutes Senator White whispered to Boardman that the delay seemed favora ble to Durrant, but some of the other spectators regarded it as ominous.
 Exactly at 1 o'clock the Justices filed back into the courtroom and took their seats.
 Amid an impressive silence the Chiet l Justice said: ''In the matter of the ap- | plication for a writ of habeas corpus in the case of Theodore Durrant, the petition to file an application for writ is denied upon the unanimous opinior l of the court"
 Attorney Boardman then arose ant ! thanked the court for their considera. tion, and the crowd dispersed quietly 1 Not so with the San Francisco core. spondents. They made a bee line fol the nearest telegraph offices, several O. which are situated in the Capitol build ing.
 But The Call was ahead of all com. petitors. Arrangements for transmit
 ting the first news to San Francisco had been made the night before On, man was stationed in the courtroom ! A messenger rushed the news to tn,
 Western Union office in the Capitol cor ridor, where a through wire direct tC The Calls editorial room was waiting
 A code of cipher signals had beer prearranged. The Washington core. spondent of The Call was in the oper. ating room of the Western Union al the down town office and in constant and direct communication not only with the Supreme Court room, but witt the bulletin board in front of The Cal office. At 12 minutes after 12 the new: was flashed to The Calls bulletin board that Boardman had gained recognition and was making his argument A
 12:25 the news was sent that the Jus
 tices had retired. The interval be
 tween this bulletin and the next seem
 ed interminable. The hands of tn, clock in the operating room crawled to
 ward l. Durrant had but half hou
 to live if the court denied his petition
 Every minute seemed an hour. Tn,
 clerk of the Supreme Court was calleC
 up over the phone. He said that n, i, QeClSlOH IdQ DttI IedCIleQ, put prom
 ised to hold the phone for The Cal
 and telephone the very first informa
 ton. Then the instrument operated a the right of the correspondent began t
 click
 Decision in about two minutes" i said. Then after one minute came tn
 words, Writ denied
 A message addressed to The Call ha
 already been prepared. It containe ; the simple word Hang" but thi | cipher had been agreed on before hand The direct wire to The Call office wa waiting for this word. It was flashe to The Call office in just fifteen sec
 onds. Five minutes later other mess l ages to San Francisco papers, as we : as the private message of Attorne Boardman, were sent over the wires : but The Call had not only beaten ther all; it had actually beaten the officia message from the Supreme Court t San Quentin. This marvellous feat c
 the Western Union is commented on a length by the Washington papers to night. Five minutes after Durrant wa hanged the news was posted at Tn 5 Call office in the Riggs House. l The Star says: The San Francisc l hod fa1