Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1907-02-26
A YELLOW" DIS
TRICT ATTORNEY

The cross-examination OF Mrs.
Thaw. the wife OF the traverser In
the trial now going on in New York,
has been brutal and shocking 20 the
moral sense of the whole country.
IL 1t Is the object OF District At
torney Jerome to convict the prison
er OF murder, IL seems that he is
not pursuing the course most likely
to bring about that result He has
stripped the woman OF every vestige
of self-respect and laid bare her i'm
moral life TO the public gaze. She
voluntarily went upon the stand and
made certain confessions of her
shame under the belief that by sc
doing she would aid In her husbands
acquittal. According to her volun.
| t6ry confession, she was the victim
OF White, as I'm all probability she
was, even II her story as told on the
stand Is largely untrue. She was a
very young girl at the beginning OF
her career of vice, hardly 16 years
OF age. Mr.. White was middle
aged man OF the world when he met
her. Every instinct OF manhood,
every impulse of a gentleman, should
have impelled him to save her. In
stead of that, we have no evidence
Of any such effort on his part. On
the contrary, the woman swears that
he poisoned her mind and deceived
her. All this she may have told
her husband, but it may well be
doubted whether she told him the
details of her subsequent association
with White which Mr.. Jerome has
extorted from her by the inquisition
OF his savage and relentless cross
examination. II may be possible that
Thaw, the prisoner, is hearing these
things now for the first time. II may
be that when he married the woman
he was her dupe and that she de-
ceived him as to the extent OF her
misdoing. IL may be that Thaw
bad and useless as his life has been
has still sensitiveness enough re-
naming TO him to be utterly over.
whelmed by the revelations that Mr.
Jerome is making II may be that
this view will be the one which the
jury will take, and that the methods
Of the District Attorney will create
sympathy for the prisoner which
Will tend to acquittal
Much has been said about yellow
journalism" in connection with this
trial. It has been proposed to ex
clude from The mails those news.
papers which publish the details oil
this case. But what about tho DIS.
trict Attorney? Is any newspaper in
the land as yellow" as he has been ?
Any newspaper publishing in full
and unexpurgated the. cross examin.
alton by Mr. jerome might make A.
self amenable 10 the law Many oi
the questions he asked and the an.
swers he eXtorted we're 80 shameless
and indecent and so unnecessary as
to be unfit for publication, and The
Sun carefully suppressed them. And
yet the examination was conducted
in the court before a miscellaneous
audience, including women, untn, I'm.
deed, even those women who were
employed I'm the courtroom were put
to flight by the indecency Of tho
exhibition. Does a different code oil
morals govern the District Attorney
from that which is supposed TO con.
troll the newspapers? Is oral indocen
cy less reprehenslblo than indecency
in print2 If the cause OF iustic,
demanded an these details be drag
ged into the light OF day by Mr.
Jerome, there would be justification
for him. But any bearing whicl
the details Of the various transgres
sioDs Of the witness may have upoI
the case IS farfetched and fanciful
and e is astonishing that the judg