I am researching murder of minnie williams and blanche Lamont in Emmunal lutheran Church by Theodore Durrant in 1895. He was executed in Calfornia. the murders took place in San Frnacisco. Any help on where to go for info? Maybe newspapers or something that has been achrived?

-- Heather S Davis (suejohn34@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002

Answers

You should read "The Telltale Corpus Delicti" by Bruce Sanders. It's out of print, but most libraries have it (the SFPL certainly does).

Another source is Jay Robert Nash's "Bloodletters and Badmen."

-- Miss Rosa (rosadebon@yahoo.com), April 03, 2002.

Hi Heather,

In 1999 a book came out called "The Bell Tower: The case of Jack the Ripper finally solved... in San Francisco" by Robert Graysmith. I have a copy, but haven't read it yet, so I can't be sure of how much detail, however it is all about the murders that you are researching. It is over 550 pages, with anumber of illustrations, so I think you might find it quite helpful. I picked up my copy at a local used book store, however, you mays tsill be able to find it at Borders, etc.... Hope thsi helps.

-- Glenn Koch (Glennk1112@aol.com), April 06, 2002.

Researching this a bit myself after reading Graysmith's book "The Bell Tower". Good book, I highly recommend it. A century and more has passed since, and a good deal of conjecture is involved. As a nautical historian, however, I am interested in seeing if the Ellis Island/US Customs/Immigration records show the exact date of Pastor jack Gibson's arrival in the US. hese records should also show his departure date from where he left, as well as the location.

For other records, the San Francisco main library might have the newspapers on microfilm, as might other nearby city libraries in other towns. Other papers, as well, would have recorded this landmark trial.

Ciao! John.

-- John Hemmert (jhemmert@yahoo.com), September 17, 2002.