Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1905 — Mr. Halstead Was Mistaken In The Durant Case. [ARTICLE]

Mr. Halstead Was Mistaken In The Durant Case.

Editor Republican: In “The Republican” of Aug. 4th, you publish part of a communication in which Governor Hanley is commended for his action in the Donahue case. In a portion of the communication not published you say that the author reviews, at considerable length, the Durant case in San Francisco to' prove that innocent men olten suffer, bj action of Courts based on circumstantial evidence. This may be true but the facts in the Durant casj do not prove it. The asser tion that the Pastor of the church where the murder is supposed to have been committed (Ist Baptist confessed on his death bed that he was guilty of the murder and nol Durant, is wholly wrong, as Dr. Gibson is yet alive and still pastor of the same church. I do not think there ever was any doubt in the minds of the people of San Francisco or of an> of the courts through which the case passed as to the guilt ot Durant. This, however, has but little in common with the Donahm case, I should think. Yours very truly,

C. P. MAYHEW.