The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1906-11-29


New York, Nov. 26.-The trial of
Harry Kendall Thaw, slayer OF STAN
ford White, the noted architect, which
probably will take place during De-
cember or January, is looked forward
to as one of the most famous cases in
the criminal history of New York state.
The prominence OF the Thaw family,
the wealth Of his parents. the civ ;um-
stances surrounding the young n1l,'s
marriage to Evelyn Nesbit, the ar
lists model and chorus girl ami ID
spectacular scene In the mids, III
which he fired the bullets into the
breast of the man who he claimei had
betrayed his wife, all tend to attract
an interest to the trial extending from
enc end Of he country tn the other.
For long time an effort has seel
made to have young T.aw rely upon
a defense of emotional insanity"
but he steadfastly has declined to give
his assent to any such plan, and In
his determination not to agree to hide
behind a cloak Of insanity the cause
which he impatiently asserts to be
Just, he has at one time and another
since his Imprisonment dismissed
several Of the lawyers engaged to help
in his defense, among them a former
Governor of the state of New York.
The players in this extraordinary
tragedy Of real life are each Of them
interesting. Harry Thaw, the ever
hayward son of rich and indulgent
parents, had become widely known
throughout the country prior to the
killing of Stanford White by reason
Of the publicity given to many Of his
escapades by the newspapers. His
father, the late william Thaw, was
one Of Pittsburg's richest men. He
had early seen that Harry was not to
be entrusted with large income lest
he give himself over to a life of lux
urious idleness and liberty. So when
the elder Thaw died he provided that
Harry Thaw should have only $4,000
year. The bulk of the estate went
to Mrs. William Thaw, whose indul-
gent love for her children was soon
made apparent by the manner in which
she lavished money upon them. Harry
Thaw had but to ask whatever sum
he chose and the mother COVE 1t to
him. He abandoned his $4,000 year
income from the estate to his valet.
It is said that the young mans ex-
penditures often averaged as high as
$50, 900 and 100000 year.
1t was late in the evening of June rs
last that the city and soon the entire
country was ringing with the tragic
news that Harry Thaw had slain
Stanford White. The setting of the
fatal attack had been the Madison
Square Roof Garden where the first
night performance of a summer must.
cal show known as mile. Champagne
was given. The place was gay In
flowers and multitudes of colored cleo.
trio light and was thronged with a
fashionably dressed audience. On
the stage a man was singing Il could
love a thousand girls when sudden.
ly above the music the pistol shots
rang out. The music ceased, the
chorus girls and actors upon the stage
were terror-stricken, men and women
in the audience dropped their glasses
upon the tables before them. In the
stiffness a man was heard to say.
"You ruined my wife, d you
and now I've got you
Stanford White lay dead at the
table where he had been sitting;
Harry Thaw, in evening dress, stood
with a smoking pistol in his hand
His wife who had seen him fire the
fatal shot was led screaming away
from the spot and Thaw was arrested
He made no attempt to escape.
Thaw has sought his justification
Fin the words he uttered to his victim
on the night Of the tragedy. He has
claimed that under the ''unwritter
law" no Jury could convict him o.
having taken the life Of "the mar
who had traduced his wife in her In
nocent girlhood." To these accusa
ton by Thaw the friends Of Stanford
White many Of them Influential
men Of the community, have declared
that the architects interest IN thu
girl was purely Of q fatherly charac
ter.
Il has been constantly stated TIA
the Thaw case would never come x
trial and that the mysteries Of II
many intricate phases would nevel
be exposed to the light Of the publicl
gaze, this conjecture being based q
the report that a plea OF INSANITY
might be entered and accepted.
This probability, however. It II NOV
ssid, is past. Harry Thaw has him
self stood in the way Of such I
plan. It is asserted that IN his -
fusal to give assent to the insanity
plea he has been steadfastly support
/ cd BY his wife, who. It IL also general
| Is reported, has constantly urged be-
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