People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1895 — DURRANT ON THE STAND. [ARTICLE]

DURRANT ON THE STAND.

Cool and Self-Possessed, He Makes a Good Impression. San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 10. —TheodoTe Durrant was placed on the stand yesterday for the purpose of convincing the jury that he did not murder Blanche Lamont in the belfry of the church on April 3. With the same coolness that has characterized his conduct since his arrest, he denied the principal allegations that have been made against him by the most important witnesses for the prosecution. Only once during the course of the direct examination did he show any nervousness or hesitancy. When Attorney Dickinson asked him if he took notes at Dr. Cheney’s lecture on the afternoon of April 3< he cast his eyes toward the floor and for a moment was silent. He replied thaft he had taken notes, but they were brief. Taken altogether, Durrant's direct testimony probably had a tendency to strengthen his case. Questions that would ordinarily cause a visible impression on a guilty man, were answered by Durrant with the utmost unconcern. Even when Attorney Deuprey asked him if on the 3d of April, or at any time, he murdered, or participated in murdering, Blanche Lamont, the prisoner coolly replied in the negative. The cross-examination was brief.