The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-01-07
DURRANT HUNG.
Continued from First Pageo

1 n1led the streets with men and women
/ crying for vengeance, From the first
| the police associated the finding of Miss
! Williams body with the disappearance
/ of Miss Lamont, and search was at
/ once begun in the church for her body.
/ Men worked all night tearing up floors
/ and breaking down partitions, and at
| 10 o'clock Sunday morning the body
/ of Miss Lamont was found. A broken
! door knob and a turned bolt excited
] the suspicious of the searchers, and the
| door leading to the belfry of the
/ church was broken down. Up the wind
| ing stairs and policemen CROPPED their
! way, and at the third landing lying in
! the corner of the darkened belfry, 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
! murder of Miss Williams, but the inn
print Of five fingers buried in her throat
| revealed the manner in which the
| young woman met her death
The post mortem examination show
! ed that murder was not the only crime
i that had been committed. The news Of
/ the discovery of the second body in the
| church had spread with Incredible We
locity, and at o'clock, when Durrant,
in custody OF the officers. alighted from
! a ferry boat at the foot of Market
street, in this city, he was met by q
/ dense crowd that was Ominous because
/ of its silence. The police were prepar-
! ed for an outbreak, however, and two
companies of armed men We're present.
/ Durrant was placed in a closed carriage
/ surrounded by so men armed with Win
I CueSI6IS ana driven 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 q an information
! was filed against him by District At
! torney Barnes charging him with the
/ murder of Blanche Lamont.
The trial which began on July % and
! lasted upntil November /, was one of
/ the most celebrated in criminal juris-
! prudence. Nearly 1900 talesmen were
! examined before a jury was secured,
| and six weeks passed before the taking
/ of testimony was begun. The evidence
| throughout was circumstaptial, but
! when taken together formed a chain so
| strong as to admit of no reasonable
| doubt. The prosecution produced wit
! nesSes, who traced Durrant's move
mentS 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
/ q denial, and in rebuttal produced the
| roll call of the college, which showed
! that he was attending a lecture at the
| hour when Miss Lamont was murdered.
! The prosecution disputed the reIia-
| bility of the roll call, and showed that
| students were accustomed to have
| class mates answer for them when
! they were not present. AS the case
/ became more hopeless Durrant went on
/ the stand himself, and, although he
maintained a remarkable cOmpOsure
/ throughout, his testimony, on a number
of important points, was palpabIy false.
| The case was submitted to the jury on
L,
/ er having been on trial over three
months. Twenty minutes after they
/ left the court room the jurors returned
! and rendered a verdict of guilty in the
| first degree The California law gives
| the jury power to fix the punishment of
the criminal, but as no recommended
/ ton of mercy was made, Judge Murphy
a few days later. sentenced Durrant to
! be hanged on February p, 1896.
Then began fight for delay vigor-
| ouSly maintained ever since. Durrant
/ or 1p6 a 111o 1aT1t fO bo
| preme court, but his appeal was not
| perfected for many months.
The supreme court affirmed the de-
! cision of the superior court on March
| g. 1897, and within ten days.. e. on
! March 13-Durrant's attorneys filed a
| petition for a rehearing. The applica-
| ton for rehearing was denied by the
supreme court on April 2, and the fol-
| lowing day a ~remittitur. was handed
/ down to department three of the SUI
periCr court ordering that court to pass
/ final judgment.
Superior Judge Bahrs of department
| three fixed Saturday, April 10, as the
| day for passing sentence, and on that
| date Durrant was resentenced, and or
| dered to be hanged at San Quentin
state prison on Friday, June IL On
! the afternoon of April 10 Durrant was
! taken from the county Jail, where he
had been confined ever since he was
held to answer to the police court, and
taken to San Quentin.
Durrant was never tried for the MUIR
der of Miss Williams but the evidence
of his guilt was as conclusive as in the
Lamont case. Miss Williams lived IN
Alameda, and on the afternoon she was
murdered Durrant was seen to meet
her at the ferry and board west
! bound car She came to this city for
the purpose of attending an entertain
ment to be given by the church in the
! evening, and it is supposed that when
Durrant met her he made an appoint
ment before going to the entertain
ment. At any rate, Miss Williams went
to the home of a friend in this city. and
at 7:30 o'clock started for the enter
tainment. Half an hour later she was
seen standing in front of Emanuel
Baptist church talking to Durrant. She
was never seen again alive. At $50
that night Durrant arrived at the resi-
dence of Mrs. WOgel, where the enter
tainment was being given, with flushed
face and in a highly nervous condition.
He asked to be shown to a toilet room
in order that he might wash his hands
and later asked that the person who
directed him should say nothing about
the incident. When he was arrested at
Mt. DiablO, Miss Williams purse was
found in his OvercOat pocket. Durrant
sad he found the purse on the sidewalk
while going home from the entertain
ment. He was seen in the vicinity of
the church at II o'clock that night, and
! it is supposed that he went back to the
! library where he had Strangled Miss
| Williams. and finding her breathing
feebly, cut her wrists and forced part
of her clothing down her throat. The
theory of the prosecution has always
been that Durrant murdered Miss Will
Jams to conceal the murder of Miss La
mont The two young women were ac-
that Miss Williams believed he knew
something about the disappearance Of
Miss Lamont.