The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-27
MAD, THAW'S PLEA
II II Prevails, No Trial---It
Will Be Resisted.
EVELYN NESBIT SlLEMCE0.
Grand Jury, and Not the Coroner,
to Question Her.

NuTucrtT VI StuhiOTu VINO hV'ob'"p"N
by the Police and Taken In Handouts
to the Tombs He Has Made No state.
ment Since He Said in the Roof Garden
HE Deserved II" -Physlcians for tho
Prosecution Have q Talk with Him
and He Denies That He Is Q Drug
Fiend or a Drunkard Told Not 10 Talk
Evidence of the motives that led - the
murder of Stanford White by Harry X. Thaw,
and OF the relations Of the architect with
Evelyn Nesbit, now Thaw's wife, Is not to
come out for a time In any public proceed
ing, and there Is a remote chance that 1t
will not come out at all. The Coroner's
inquest will be a formal inquiry into the
cause Of death. Evelyn Nesbit will not
testify in the CoroneH' Court but will
60 before the Ora nd Jury, whose sittings
are secret. Ar indictment will undoubt-
eddy be returned, the plea Of insa nifty will
be put in and inquiry into the sanity OF the
prisoner will be the first proceeding. That
may take a month, and the result Ia at
present a matter Of conjecture.
There Is little doubt that Evelyn Nesbit
can tell the story behind the ira gedy. 1t
was che who fell on Thaw's neck on the
Madison Square roof after the shooting
and vowed to stand by him.. When the
police had gone with him she was taken
away from the Garden by q man and a
woman. She was found yesterday, and at
the Office Of Lewis L. Delafield, one of
TIL VS. many lawyers, where she went in
the afternoon, she was served with a SUBJ
pena to appear before the Grand Jury
at 10 O'Clock Thursday morning, about the
hour set for Mr.. Whites funeral.
She appeared yesterday to be rather
excited, but to be sticking by her hus-
band, although not going to see him.
She has told her lawyers her story. She
oan. il she wants to. plead a wifely privilege
az a witness in regard to some Of the mat
ten affecting her husbands case. Whether
or not she will do this depends Upon the
advice her lawyers give her, They are
to make every attempt to prove Thaw
insa ne.
Through an arrangement made with the
Coroner yesterday by Acting District
Attorney Mott the only evidence which
will be brought out at the inquest which Is
set for Q 81 tomorrow will be that relating
to the actual shooting. There will be the
testimony of several eyewitnesses to this
and the testimony Of the doctors as to the
effect OF the shots Thaw fired into Whites
body. All this will, of course, be public.
Evelyn Nesbit and other witnesses-the
detectives expected to have many OF them
who know something on the line Of de-
liberation and reconciliation will be reserved
for the Grand Jury. The inquiry into
Thaw's sanity which will follow his indiot-
ment will be conducted by experts en-
ployed by the prosecution and the defence.
II the prosecutions experts decide that
Thaw Is insane he will not be tried for muir
der and in that event the story Of the tragedy
the real story which is whispered already
pretty generally in the Tenderloin-will
not be brought out officially at all.
But neither the District Attorney nor
the Coroner nor the police believe, how
ever, that Thaw is legally insane. They
don't believe that such a plea will hold
water. With the evidence thus far in hand
the District Attorney believes that he will
be tried and convicted Of murder In the
first degree.
SANITY INQUIRY BEGUN ALRBADy.
The experts who are to examine Thaw for
the prosecution ha w already been decided
on. They are Drs. Mabon, Macdonald
and Flint. Their services were secured
early yesterday morning and Thaw had
been in his cell in the Tombs but q few
minutes when Drs. Macdonald and Flint
had their first look at him. They were
with him only ten minutes, but this morning
at II o'clock all three will ms Ike an examina-
ton L. sting over an hour.
From one OF the doctors who saw Thaw
in his cell yesterday it was learned that
Thaw had denied emphatioally that he
was a drug fiend, which has been the rumor
In the Tenderloin. He insisted that he
did not use drugs at all. He said also In
response to a few questions put to him In
the short examination yesterday that he
was not a drunkard. His attitude, ac-
cording to this doctor, was that OF a man
who resented the imputation that he was
insane. He had all the signs Of one who
had led a gay life, but no convincing signs
Of insanity.
Black, Olcott, Gruber d Bonynge have
been retained to defend Thaw. Lewis l..
Delaheld has been the general counsel for
the Tina We in this city, but is purely a civil
lawyer. 1t was he who engaged ex-Gover-
nor Blacks firm yesterday afternoon. 1t 10
also understood hat at least one of the
lawyers for the Thaw family in Pittsburg
will be here to-day to advise with the other
lawyers.
Both Frederick and Lewis l.. Delafeld
had talks with Thaw ycste rlay and 40 did
Mr.. Olcott. They would not allow Thsw
to talk TO reporters and none Of the lawyers
saw At yesterday to Ia TX for him.
LooKIN VI EVIDENCE OF MOTIVE.
Although the police and the District
Attorney have got a pretty good account OF
the movements Of both Thaw and his victim
on Monday night preceding the tragedy On
the roof Of the Garden, detectives were sent
all through the Tenderloin yesterday 10
trace Thaw's doings for two weeks or moro.