Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-10

from all l can judge from the reports
having been absent-you have been wan
dering through a mere field of romance
for two days The life of human beiRg
is not to be judged on such premise
The issues here cannot be determined by
quotations from the Scriptures. You have
been enjoined by the court to make up
your verdict solely from the evidence.
The attorneys for the defense have had
the responsibility of a human life rest
ing upon them But there has been re-
sponsbility equally grave upon the prose-
cution
THE law is not cruel law. 1t does not
punish for the mere sake of punishment. 1t
Furnishes to protect those who live under It,
Important as it is that no human life
should be put out unjustly, it is equally inn
portant to the community in which you and
1 dwell that the law shall be justly upheld.
No Easy Task.
II, gentlemen, have had no easy task.
If In the heat of the battle l have trans
cended the courtesy due to counsel, will
beg you to overlook 1t. If in the judg-
ment of the court 1 have gone farther than
1 should have gone in making certain
statements in court, 1 have nothing but re-
greet for it. This is time for us all to lay
aside our animosites. The issue here is not
to be determined upon my personality or
upon that of the counsel for the defense.
Keep clearly in mind that while the de-
PENDANTS counsel stands for the defendant
individually, there is another side, the side
of the people, of whom you are a part.
This is no action between the executors Of
Stanford White and this defendant; il is
tri,
Nesbit was ravished by Stanford White. 1t
is an issue between the people of New York
and Harry X. Thaw, and it is to determine
whether what he did was justifable or ex-
cusable, or whether he should be punished
for it,
Bound to Decide Issue.
Il will assure you that not on the words
of counsel but on the evidence you are
bound by your oaths to decide this issue.
On the evidence 1 will try to point out to
you that this defendants crime was not
justtiable or excusable, and that he should
be punished.
You are not entitled to say that this
man is guilty because the grand jury in
dicted him for murder in the first degree,
but you are entitled to consider that on
their oaths they said the unexplained evil
dence justified them in charging him with
murder in the first degree
Mr. Jerome then went briefly into the
law covering the various classes into which
homicide is. divided, describing each.
No Dementia Americana.
IF you find that this defendant was in
sane when he killed Stanford White it is
your duty to say so in your verdict. If
you do not say so it is because you believe
that this killing was justifiabe. Justifiable
does not mean 'dementia Americana, 1t
means self-defense; but when man sits
with his head In his hand and is deliberate
" shot with a pistol held SO close to him
that after the shooting the victims own
brother-in-law did not recognize him, it
can hardly be called self-defense east of
the Mississippi river.
There can be logically but one of four
verdicts returned by you-murder in the
first degree. because there was not only
design but generalization; murder In the
second degree, because there was design
but no generalization; manslaughter, be-
cause there was neither design nor pre-
meditation, but merely the heat of passion;
or lastly, not guilty because of insanity
Judges of the Issue.
Gentlemen of the jury, it is for counsel
to appeal to you as they themselves see
their duty. To me the duty points only
to an appeal upon the evidence in court
Counsel should not inject other things into
this case An effort to infiame your pas
sions and to turn your minds from the
issue In this trial to another case is not
considered the duty of counsel on the At
lanttc seaboard-
your oath binds you to render your YER
dict upon the evidence. and that alone
You must reach your verdict by purely and
plainly an intellectual processes you
would dispose of a problem in geometry,
an equation in algebra, or sum in arith-
metic. You are to be the sole judges Of
this issue, and you are to judge by the
facts. You must take the law as the court
gives it to you.
IF we are going into the proposition of
sympathy in this trial it can be played upon
by both sides. Have you thought of the
widow in Cambridge and the fatheress boy
in Harvard? l mention this, men, that you
may see that the question of sympathy has
naught to do with the issues here
Quoted From Examination.
Mr.. Jerome next quoted at length from
the examinations of the twelve jurors, re-
minding them of their oaths and what they
promised while being selected to serve.
Whether you believe the story told by
this girl whether or not you believe in the
sublime remuneration she made of Thaw's
offer of marriage, your sympathies are
bound to assert themselves in one form or
another There is here every element to
arouse your passion You can't help it. But
when your retire to consider your verdict
YOU must lay it aside and guide yourself
solely by intellectual processes
Mr.. Jerome discussed the question of rea-
sonable doubt. He said it was such doubt
as a man would act upon in matters per-
tanning to his own private affairs and
nothing more.
1T must be doubt of which you are
reasonably or morally certain. A reasonable
doubt is not a mere within.
ION the subject of insanity you jurors
were carefully examined said Mr.. Jerome.
''Dementia Americana"
You swore you would not inject any
ideas of your own into your Judgment, but
take the law as 1t was laid down to you
by the court. You swore you would accept
only that form of insanity which deprives
q man of the knowledge of the nature and