Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-04-11

| floor above.
This dragon preying upon female
virtue wrote this angel child scores of
| letters-we have shown them to be in
! the possession of the defence. Some of
them were identified-but was single
one put in evidence, and read? No,
there is nothing to show you that these
| letters contained anything that was
bad. Would not some of these many
| letters contain something to indicate
| the vicious character of this very wick
| ed man?
But they contained nothing of the
| sort. Now, contrast this with the mod
ern st. George, who led the angel
| child back into the paths of virtue in
| November. 1908. writing her letters in
which he discussed sexual perversion.
oh, that we might try this case be-
| fore a jury permitted to hear all the
evidence. l have not been permitted
| by law to show to you where White
was the night after the pictures were
taken of this angel child-the night
she says she was ravished.
As l have sat here in this court
room unable to raise a hand i'll reply
to some of the things that have been
| uttered. it has seemed TO me l have
heard the voice of Stanford White
calling out from the spirit world ask
ing me if l could not utter one word
for him. Must 1 be blackened as by
the fires of He'll unheard and unde-
fended?"'
Mr.. Jerome paused for a few mo-
ments and continued:
Now, let us see what this girl her
self says of the horrible demon who
ruined here. She says: Outside of
this one awful thing. | admired STAN
ford White. He had a most extraor-
binary personality
stamford Whites lips are sealed by
death and by the rules of evidence But
what are we expected to believe
against a man to wnom such a tribute
is paid by the girl he SO brutally Sc
duced?
Gentlemen, | am not here to de-
lend Stanford White, but | am COM
PEELED to say that there is difference
between unchastity and brutality;
there is a difference between the man
of the world and the brute who raw
iSheS.
Her own words have ruined the
theory that Stanford White was a
brute. Has she been so enlightened
by this modern ST. George that at
last she has come to believe that all
women are not unchaste, and yet she
can come here but % years of age and
sit in that chair and describe the man
who ravished her as a girl of 16 in the
remarkable way that she has done?
stanford White was a wealthy man
"a man who found enjoyment, God
knows why or how. in this class of
people. He sees this child blow into
his circle You have looked upon the
girl in court and you can we'll draw
the picture of her at the time she
went to apply for a position in the
Florodora chorus, and was told by the
manager he was not conducting
kindergarten or a baby farm. 1t was
natural that a rich man like Stanford
White should have helped this girl to
the extent that when she was out of
work he would give her money. 1t
was natural that he should give her
the little gifts of wearing apparel
which tended to her comfort There
is nothing in his conduct consistent
with the theory that the relations be-
tween the two were not pure.
Again, here is nothing inconsistent
with the theory that they were not
pure. l don't known how it was, and
neither do you, except as this girl tells
us, and gentlemen, l must submit in
all solemnity that she does not tell
the truth. You have not a scintilla of
evidence outside of her own story, that
the relations between her and Stan
nd
character of her story may best be
judged by her statement that all OF
her experiences with this man were
against her will-that they were all
rape-yet We find her as L have tod
you before, voluntarily in his rooms
waiting and willing for the awful at
tacks of this monster"
At this point, luncheon recess was
ordered.
Resuming after the recess, Mr.. Jer-
ONE said:
81 have briefly outlined to you what
we are here for in respect OF duty. 1
have pointed out to you that you can
render but one verdict and that YER
dict was pointed out to you by the
grand jury What is the answer made
to this serious charge of murder?
That 1 was insane
Il have gone somewhat into the lives
of the three principal figures in this
tragedy, but / have tried to keep clear
III your mind the issue of the state OF
New York against Harry X. Thaw.
No matter how we may digress, we
must always come back to the PROPOSE
ton, 1 did not know what L did, be-
cause | was insane.
II told you of Stanford White. Now
We come to the second figure. 1t is
hard for a man to speak of woman
Especially hard when no matter what
you think of her. no matter whether
she told the truth here or not, you
must pity her. We find the girl at 16
years Of age knocking about the stu
dos of New York and the story pro-
crosses from there"
Mr.. Jerome prefaced his discussion
of the life of Evelyn Nesbit by say
ing:
We know what this sort of life is
the life of the stage-is. We pass
along the great white way of this city
and see something of it."
Coming directly to the career of