The Washington herald., 1907-03-29

New York, March 2S.-The real test of
deciding whether or not Harry X -Thaw
IS now capable Of nationally advising with
his counsel as TO the conduct of his trial
was begun this afternoon by the exami-
nation of Thaw himself The examina-
tion was in private. Only the members
of the commission, the lawyers for both
sides. the clerk of the court. and the
official stenographer were present. The
examination was not completed, and it
viii be continued on Saturday morning.
Phaw sat in the witness chair, where
his wife and mother testified for him
during the trial. The three commissioners.
David Mcclure, Peter b. Olney. and DR..
Leopold Patel. sat in a row where JUS
tiee Fitzgerald has alone presided. Dis
triet Attorney Jerome and his assistant,
Francis p GarYan, had their usual seats.
inside the rail The lawyers for the de-
fense, Delmas. Hartridge. Peabody.
Gleason, and OReilly. had the seats from
which Jerome's experts have watched
Ihaw The rest OF the big courtroom
which has been jammed for eight weeks
with Thaw the center of interest. was
empty.
Thasv stands Ordeal Well.
The scene that Thaw faced must have
been enough to unnerve even the steadiest
man. But he was cool enough, according
to what reached the reporters In
the first place there were no aljenjsts
present Jerome thought that some of his
experts ought TO be present. and ne made
a tight for them. but the commission ex-
cluded them, at least for the present. /
Before the commission went into secret
session it was made pretty plain by the
chairman. who turned out 10 be Mr. Nc /
Clure, that the commission does not think 1
IL has any right to. 90 into the province 1
oI the trial jury, and that its ,iuty is /
simply TO decide if Thaw knows what he
Is on trial for; that he is aware of what /
Is going on about him. aud that he is
mentally competent to advise with his
counsel.
When Thaw was called to the witness
stand he made a little speech to the com
mission He said he wished to be enligbt-
ened as 10 just what the commission |
wanted from him. He was ready to give
them whatever information they desired;
al that he asked was that they make
clear to him what they wished him to tell
them.
Real Examination Begins.
Then his examination began. DR.. Putzel h
had the seat nearest to him. and his
piercing black eyes never left Thaw dur
ing the examination. He only asked a
few questions. and they were put for the
purpose Of amplifying answers made by
Ihaw. The rest of the time DR. Putzel
sat back and observed everything Thaw [
did and how his answers were made. {
on the other side of DR.. Putzel was Mr. d
Mcclure, and beyond him Mr.. OInev
They did all the questioning. No ques- g
tons were asked by jerome, and there y
We're no questions from Delmas or the q
other Thaw lawyers. 1t is the intention v
a. the commission, it is said, that so far I
as his oral examination is concerned. there o
viii be no cross examination Of Thaw bv
the district attorney or the Thaw lawyers
1t was only an oral examination to-day,
and the commission intends to conduct 7
that themselves.
Questioned Concerning Notes.
In substance Thaw's examination to-day >.
chiefly as to what he meant by i,
the letters and notes he sent to Delmas Fl
during the trial, and the part he took in p
the selection of the jury. The letters and y
notes Thaw was questioned on are the L
ones Delmas Incorporated in the affidavit 4
he submitted in his contention that Thaw Il
IS now sane and able to advise with his
It viii be recalled that in these
documents Thaw referred TO some things
that jerome did, the advisability of calling l.
carroll BeekWith, the artist, as a witness
ms right as husband TO have the truth
brought out. and the amount OF money
5pent by White. In addition he was asked l.
about the letters he wrote to Delmas put 7
ing him in entire charge Of the case. B