The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-24
DISORDER AT I THAW TRIAI Police and Reporter Have Clash. TWO JURORS SWORN \ Line of Defense Has Not Bel
 Indicated. Mrs. William Thaw, Evelyn Nesbit, M { Carnegie and Countess of Tar mouth Have Prominent Seats at AFraiEnment.
 

4 sEt
 New York, Jan 2s.--The curtain VI
 rung up today for another act In VI tragedy of real life known as ts
 Thaw-white case
 The setting was not the gay aii-night# restaurants of the Tenderioin, where* the principal actors in the tragedy onca were familiar figures, but the story of
 the play war brought down to the grim
 court room where twelve men arc tn
 sit and render judgment which may
 mean either the taking of another life.
 this time by the State, or a determina
 tion that Harry K. Thaw was justified
 in the claim that he shot the man who
 had ruined hls wIfe." There may be
 a third decision that Thaw was Insane
 at the time he committed the crime---
 ..emotioual insanity it was called to~
 day--but thero will be no opporfunitv
 to say that Thaw Is now insane.
 The Iong-awaitad trial began tnis
 morning shortly after 1o:30 o'clock
 and when an adjournment for tho day
 had been taken about 5 o'clock, there we're two jurors in tho bcx- A third iuror had been accepted and sworn, but he was excused in the closing mo- ments of the days session, the rcAson for the action being of q private naturs and not made public.
 Nineteen of the 200 talesmen whn
  the day closed. Nearly all of them
 seemed anxious to serve and q small percentage was excused for causes. The challenges In nearly every instance were of a peremptory character, anu about evenly divided between The pro- secution and the defense The exam ination of the first talesman called from the largest panel was foH0Wea
 with the keenest interest. aa it wM# thought the line of questioning by the attorneys for Thaw would develop n@ character of the defense they are ko set up. There was disappnintnent in this respect The defendants counsel 1 seemed willing to accept any proposed juror who satisfactorily answered the questions put by District Attorney ss- | rome, who personally conduetea tNe | examlnations The detense perempt0r- | fly challenged two talesmsn. Wuas &A'AS l their business as architects.
 Mr Jerome asking each thtMemAu | in turn if ha would be influenced hT I the so-called higher or unwriEten law ! to the exclusion of the actual laws oi l the State as they would be laid down | by Justice Fitzgerald. There was Avt.F | to say he would not accept tne couss < | ruling as to all questions of law on inc questions of insanity as hn 1 axeuse for crime, Mir. Jerome expiained l to each taIesman that the law e@cuae1 | only those persons who were la0orlnB under such a defective reason as nok W | know the nature or the quality ok tne | act committed, or even 10 knD~ snAs l the act was wrong
 Law On Insanity. That Is the law, declared MT. se
 rome. Now would you import Into
 your conclusion any imaginary Form or insanity you might have in mind or
 that might be suggested to you. to the | exclusion of the law as 1t VIII pc iAi0
 down to you by the courtT l Again the talesmen said in turn that they would be guided solely by the court
 rhaw's counsel entered objections onlv to certain forms of questions pro- pounded by MT. Jerome along this
 line.
 They declared they had no objection l to the question in principle. The us- l uaI percentage of talesmen, who de- | clare their conscientious scrupt6a | against capital punishment was mish- | ing today. On the other hand, howeS- | CT. every talemen examined said he had l formed or expressed an opinion In the case. All admitted however that their | opinions were based on newspaper ra- l ports and these had been 50 conflicting | from time to time as to make their | opinions suspectibile of change by the | actual evidence.
 | knew Thaw's friends, or Whites or any | one connected with the case. Tney were asked if they were on the Maoi-
 sen Square roof garden the night oK l the tragedy, if they had Iriehds lh | Pittsburg or if thelr sympathy or emo tions would affect their fair minded | jurgment. The examinations by dls- trict attorney Jerome and by ThawA counsel varied little on essential | points The presence of three noted alienlsts in the court room, as pros | pectiVe witnesses for the prosecution created some comment
 ThnyN Was Listless. Thaw sat during the day at the ta- 1 ble set apart for his counsel. Al | times he seemed to take a lively tn- | terest in the examination of the men summoned to decide his fate. Again I he would seem listless and his eyes | deep set and having something of
 stare, roved about the court room | His face was pallid, doubtless due 10 i his seven months confinement in tho
 Tombs Thaw Is fully six feet in l height and is quite thin. He wore a dark blue sack suit and had always with him a plaid ulster coat. ! Just behind the prisoner sat tha
 several members of his family gather- ] ed here for the trial. They had ar ! rived before the prisoner was sum-
 moned for the morning session and
 greeted him with smile as he strode l past on the way to his seat. With his | eyes resolutely to the front, Thaw did 1 not see his mother. or his wife untu | he was almost upon them. Then his ! sober face broke into a quick sniilo and he bowed graciousIy
 Mrs. William Thaw the prisoners { mother, was the first of the family to
 arrive. She was dressed in black and ] wore a heavy we'll. her white hair 1 showing in striking contrast against 1 the sombre costume. She sat with | her eyes fixed upon her son and spoke ! but seldom to her children about her. | The Countess of Yarmouth. who was | Miss Alice Thaw, followed her mother. Her gown was of brown, cut with coat
 effect The brown hat was of fur and
 a heavy brown veil covered her faca. 1 The Countess and her mother. after