Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-06-30
"EMoTIoNAL INSANITY" TO BE
PLEA OF DEFENSE IN FAMOUS
MURDER CASE
THAW IS ARRAIGNED
PLEADS NOT GUELTY
Whole Story Of Evelyn Nesbit's Kela.
t'0ns With Architect White, Both
After and Prior to Marriage, to Be
Told In court-cIaImed that White
Was Heavily In Debt.

New York, June 2s-Harry K, Thaw
eItered formal plea OF not guilty
when arraigned on the charge Of mur-
uer IN the court of general sessions
To-Day. The plea was entered with the
reservation that it may be withdrawn
Tuesday next.
lnaW was cool and collected when
ne pleaded to the indictment and an.
pearea TO be In, good health and spirits.
MIS-. Ihaw was not in the court room.
Says White Was Heavily In Debt.
The Globe today says that Stamford
White, supposed to have been wealthy.
was heavily indebted to MANY pronii.
nent persons, and that he had over
Drawn from his FIRMS resources so
heavily that his partners had nut him
on a limited weekly allowance.
Emotional Insanity" Defense.
The announcement that the
defense will make ''emotionaI
insanity" the basis for its fight
TOT the release Of Harry K. Thaw. in
jail, indicted for the murder of stan
lord White. set at rest all speculation
on this point today Justtfable homi-
clde and a strai ght plea of insanity had
been suggestedoas line Of defense, but
,Thaw himself made the insanity asssaaa
impossible by a refusal - cons
and declining to allow the alienists to
question him.
To Bring Out Whole Story.
It will not be claimed that he is In
sane now as such plea would mean
sentence to the asylum for the crimin-
ally insane at Mattaewan. This new
line means trial and If the plea Of
emotional insanity" is justified Thaw
will be a free man.
| The defense plans to bring out the
whole story of Whites life, his rela-
tions with Evelyn Nesbit before she
married and his subsequent actions,
which the defense claims annoyed Mrs.
| Thaw and goaded her husband on to
the shooting.
Will "Face the Music"
Mrs. Thaw will be a witness for
her husband. She has declared her
Willingness to tell all she knows.
Mrs. Thaw fully realizes that in do
ing SO she will subject herself to q
searching cross examination; that the
district attorney will demand to know
OF her relations with White. She
says she will face the music" be-
cause in doing SO she will prove her
self true and faithful wife, willing
to stand by her husband in sorrow as
well as in JOY
1t is stated that the former chorus
girl will tell how she met White and
there is a report that there will be
testimony that Miss Nesbit when but
mere slip of a girl was drugged by
White the first day she called upon
him in his den in the Madison Square
garden.
1t will also be brought out that ever
since Thaw married Evelyn Nesbit,
White had been running after the girl.
1t is said that White had seen Mrs.
Thaw at least dozen times in the
last year and half and that when
they met casually he tried to renew
the friendship that had existed be-
tween them before her marriage.
/ ogIed Wife In Theaters.
| 1t is charged that White was &C.
customed to ogle the girl wife in
theaters and other public places. It
is claimed that on the night Of the
murder she saw White at the Cafe
Martin and that he stared at her
and tried to catch her eye until she
became nervous.
1t will be asserted that Mrs. Thaw
had been trying her very best to
keep away from White, that finally
her husband could not help noticing
that great change had come over
her, that he questioned her and that
finally she told him the cause Of her
worry. Thaw was white with rage.
Mrs. Thaw pleaded with her husband
not to pay any attention to White
but Thaw said that something must
be done.
1t will be claimed that the second
annoyance finally worked the husband
up to such a pitch of nervousness and
emotional sentiment that his mind