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Today on the eve of Halloween, a grisly tale of murder in early San Francisco that became the biggest local crime story of its time.
This nice little home on Bartlett Street seems pleasant enough but at one time it was the site of San Francisco's most horrific murder case. In April of 1895 this was the location of the Emmanuel Baptist Church when two young parishoners, Minnie Williams and Blanche Lamont, went missing. A few days later a group of women decorating the church for Easter came across the mutilated body of Minnie in the church's library closet. Police then found Blanche's naked body stuffed in the church belfrey. Suspicion quickly focused on the church's Sunday school superintendent, a young medical student named Theodore Durrant.
The lurid story of of sex and murder shocked the city and the press fed the outrage. When word leaked out that Durrant had been trying to pawn Blanche's rings angry mobs had to be restrained from attacking Durrant in jail. The city further seethed when it was found out that Durrant, when not working for the Christian Endeavor Society, visited a local brothel several times a week, often bringing in live pigeons and chickens which he would kill during his nightly debauches.
The jury deliberated only 28 minutes before sentencing Durrant to death. After he was hanged in San Quentin no funeral director in San Francisco would accept his body. Eventually an undertaker in Pasadena agreed. Angry mobs of waiting for his corpse's arrival in Los Angeles were foiled when his coffin was secretly taken off the train in Glendale.
Footnotes:
After the execution Durrant's parents also came under public scrutiny for sitting down and enjoying a roast beef and fruit salad dinner just a few feet from where their son's body lay in repose.
Due to the publicity, Durrant's sister changed her name to Maud Allan and later became a world-famous actress, dancer and choreographer. She also published a number of books including, in 1900, an illustrated sex manual for women.
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4 Comments:
OK, but was he really guilty or was the public just looking for someone to blame? I guess being in possession of the victim's rings kind of points the finger.
OK, but was he really guilty or was the public just looking for someone to blame? I guess being in possession of the victim's rings kind of points the finger.
Usually those Baptists plan their crimes a bit more carefully...
Now, I'm off to Google more about Maud Allan... This ought to be good...
Although Blanche (her grave reads "Blanch" for some reason) and Theodore did indeed walk past the buildings in the photo shown, any visitors should actually coontiue two more buildings south to reach the place where the church's first floor library closet and tower stood. First you'll see a little cottage, then an Edwardiam, (The Edwardian is where the north yard of the Church was) and then you'll see a huge apartment building. The north corner of that is the exact spot.
Also worth seeing is the chimney high above that building that's to the left of the little cottage. It still looks exactly the same as in the 1895 photos.
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