Kansas City journal., 1898-01-08

SATURDAY, J
the church for her body. Men worked all
night tearing up floors and breaking down
partitions, and at 10 o'clock Sunday morn
ing the body of Miss Lamont was found.
A broken door knob and a turned bolt ex,
cited the suspicious of the searchers: ana
the door leading to the beltry OF the
stairs the policemen CROPPED their way. and
"a the third landing. lying in the corner OF
the darkened belfry the naked BODY OF
the murdered girl was found. No knife
lad been used to commit the crime. as
was the case in the murder of Miss Will
iams but the imprint of hve hnSers Dur
led in her throat revealed the manner in
which the young woman met her death.
The post mcrtem examination showed
t;.at murder was not the only crime tnat
las been committed. The news of the dis
covery of the second body in the church
Lad spread with incredible velocity. and
at O'Clock when Durrant. In custody or
this city, he was met by a dense nro"d
that was ominous because of Its silence.
The police were prepared for an outbreak.
however. and two companies OF armed men
were present Durrant was. placed in y
closed carriage surrounded by fifty men
armed with Winchesters and driven 10 ths
city prison. Durrant then protested his
innocence. as he did to the hour of his
death but the evidence against him ac-
cumulated rapidly and on April q an IN
formation was filed against him by Dis
trict Attorney Barnes. charging him with
the murder of Blanche Lamont.
Durrnnt Tried and Convicted.
The trial, which began on July % and
lasted until November !. was one of the
E,ost celebrated in criminal Jurisprudence.
Nearly l. 200 talesmen We're examined before
II Jury was secured. and six weeks passed
before the taking of testimony began The
evidence throughout circumstantial.
but. when taken together. formed a chain
strong as to admit of no reasonable
doubt. The prosecution produced witnesses
who traced Durrants movements on April
3 from the time he left Cooper Medical
college until he entered the church with
Miss Lamont. To all of this testimony the
prisoner entered denial and in rebuttal
| produced the roll call of the college, which
| showed that he attending a lecture at
| the hour when Miss Lamont was muir
dered.
The prosecution disputed the reliability
| Of the roll call and showed that students
were accustomed to have classmates an
swer for them when they We're not present
| AS the case became more hopeless. Dur
| rant went on the stand himself. and, al
| though he maintained Il remarkable COM
posure throughout. his testimony, on Il
number of important points palpably
false. The case was submitted to the jury
on the afternoon of November ], 1899 after
| having been on trial over three months.
| Twenty minutes after they left the court
| room the jurors returned and rendered II
verdict of guilty in the first degree. The
| California law gives the jury power to liX
| the punishment of the criminal. but no
| recommendation of mercy was made. Judge
| Murphy. few days later, sentenced Dur
| rant to be hanged on February H. 1886.
| Fight for Delay Begun.
| Then began fight for delay. vigorously
| maintained for almost twenty months, not
| even ceasng with the execution of the
| death sentence. Durrant appealed from the
| judgment of the supreme court, but his
! appeal was not perfected for many months.
| A preliminary proceeding was the settle
| ment of the bill of EXCEPTIONS very
| lengthy document.
| The defendants attorneys first prepared
| their bill of exceptions the district attor-
| ney added amendments thereto, then fol-
| lowed frequent meetings of opposing coun-
sci to determine their differences: the doc
| ument was read by the court and given to
| the printers. but it was August !. 1856. be-
| fore the bill of exceptions and the tran
court The case was then placed on the
| supreme court calendar, and at Los An
geles, in the following October. the ae.
was ordered submitted on the papers hled
Durrant's attorneys subsequently moved
to set aside the submission. and they Wert we're
to make no oral argument. Attorney Gen
eral Fitzgerald filed brief In reply, Dur
| rants attorneys answering the attorney
general in another brief. and the case wa:
1881. 1881 e'
The supreme court affirmed the de, decision
of the superior court on March 3 1871, ant
within ten days-i e.. on March 1S-Dur
rants attorneys filed a petition tor re
hearing The appica1ion M for court en Apri
3. and the following day remittltur wa
handed down to department three OF an'
superior court ordering that court to pas
final judgment.
Superior Judge Bahrs. of department
three, fixed Saturday. April 10. as the t ga:
! for passing sentence, and on that udte Dui =
hanged at San Quentin state prison; oi
Friday June IL. On the afternoon OF APT I, 1
10 Durrant was taken IRON MI i',e a,er since h
was held to answer to the police court
and taken to San Quentin.
| Governor Declines to Interfere.
Every effort was then made to induc
Governor Budd to grant clemency, pu
without avail. On June 3, attorneys OF III
condemned man applied to the ,Hse nh,.e
States district court for Writ OF ,,r;'.a na1ea
corpus alleging that he had been deprive
of his liberty without due process OF law
in violation of the Fourteenth amenamen
of the constitution of the uniSeu S@ta,es @
| The application was refused. ana an appea
was held 10 act as stay of execution
Accordingly. Governor Budd granted a 3 re
prieve to July 9. On that date no attenl
| was made to carry out the sentence. IN
0 | case still being before the court OF last re
4 sort. on November S. the supreme .,s cour
| in bripf ODiDlOn. reaU DS 1Nlel
: | Fuller affirmed the decision OF the dlstri'
; court in denying the writ of habeas corpus
. Attorney General Fitzgerald immediatel
f telegraphed from Washington. to hay
Il | Durrart executed without awaiting IN
mandate of the court. The prisoner wa
! brought before Judge Bahrs of the superb
court on November 10. and resentenced
be hanged November L.. The lawyers hul
red to the circuit court. Where they trle
+ TO secure a writ which would prevent tf
: carving out of the sentence 1hey WEI
. | refused a hearing. but at ohce brouSht ti
:, | matter up before the supreme court OF u
i state and secured writ of probable eau:
5 and an order to the warden at san Quentl
Il not to execute the prisoner until notifle
d in the future.
N TIE surreme court then reversed Juds
Rahrs second order affirming the first. al
e directed the superior court to proceed wi,
: the carving out of the judgment by Sc
u ting a day for the execution. Accordlnei
= on December L.. Judge Bahr resentenct
e purrant this time fixing the date OF eX
=; cution for Friday, January Z. 1873.
IL Big suit for SANDER.
;. The next step taken by Durrants alto
!. news was the filing of an affidavit. charsir
y, y: that Horace Smyth. one of the trial juror
i had admitted basng his verdict on info
/. nation obtained out of court. Smyth n
ID reared before Judge Stack. on Decemb
10 | Is charged with contempt OF court.
was promptly acquitted but was immet
| ately sued by Durrant : parents for SJO,t