Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-04-18
Famous Trial of no Avail, Seven Jurors
Voting for Electric Chair and
Five for Acquittal
California Attorneys Use of Term Dementia
Americana Deemed to Have Hurt
Defense May Ask Change of Venue e Second
Trial Next Fall

ext Fall
out a statement in which he said
that lhaw has already expressed
himself DESTROYS of a trial under and
in accordance with the laws of the
state" and declared he entirely
agreed with him and hoped that the
next time it will not be necessary
for the presiding judge to have 10
charge the jury that We are living In
civilized community"
Eight Ballots Cast.
The story of the proceedings III
the jury room, as they were learned
last night, far Outranked in interest
the court proceedings which brought
the famous trial to a close. 1t de-
velOped that the jury had considered
everything connected with the case
except the unWritten law The first
vote was to in favor Of conviction.
dict Of mansIaughter in the first de
gree. Three fayoring acquittaI
largely on the ground of insanity, It
is sad, would not change their bal
lots and in the end won over to
their side one Of the eight who ia
vored conviction. Eight ballots in all
were cast.
The entire story of what trGlSpired
I III the Jun lCOm WIS told 81 one IT
the jurors, Henry C. Harvey, manu-
facturer Of pianos. The final ballot
was:
How the Jury Stood.
For conviction of murder in the first
degree:
Deming B. Smith, foreman.
George Pfaff.
Charles H. Fecke.
Henry c.. Brearley.
Charles D. Newton.
Joseph B. Bolton.
Bernard Gerstman
For acquittaI on the ground of in
sanity:
Oscar A. Pink.
Henry c. Harvey
Malcolm S. Fraser.
Wilbur F. Steele.
John S. Dennee.
Story of the Jury Room.
Harvey said: About 10 minutes
after we reached the jury room We
took the first ballot and it resulted in
eight for conviction, in the first de-
gree, and four for absolute acQuittal
The men who voted for conviction
We're Smith, foreman; Pfaff, Fecke,
Brearley, Dennee, Bolton, Newton
and Gerstman. The men who voted
to set Thaw free were Pink, Harvey,
Fraser and Steele"
Half an hour later the second bal
lot showed no change, and the third
ballot was the same The fourth bal
lot. taken Thursday after having the
testimony re-read resulted seven for
first degree, four for acquittal, and
one, Gerstman, for manslaughter.
One Changes to Acquittal.
"On the fifth ballot Dennee changed
to acquittal The rest of the jurors,
except Pfaff, who had voted for MUIR
der in the first degree, decided that
Thaw was only guilty of manslaugh-
ter in the first degree. There was no
change on the sixth ballot. The sew
enth ballot was taken at 1920 yester-
day afternoon. All the jurors showed
they were of the same mind as be-
fore excepting Brearley, who in addi-
ton to voting for manslaughter in the
first degree added that the defendant
should be recommended to the mercy
of the court.
Settle Back to First Opinion.
The eighth and last ballot was
taken at 3:45 in the afternoon and
showed a most remarkable change in
the entire jury. The five who had
voted for absolute acquittal changed
their ballots to not guilty on the
ground of insanity, but the remainder
of the jury, all Of whom, with the eX-
ception of Pfaff. had voted for man.
slaughter, made up their minds that
Thaw was guilty of murder in the
first degree and voted accordingly.
This practically ended the delibera-
tions and the jurors arriving at the
conclusion that they could never
agree asked to be discharged
Wife Cuts Little Figure.
Juror Steele said "the jury consid,
cred insanity in many phases, but did
not give the subject of wronged wo-
manhood any lengthy debate, in fact
scarcely any. 1t was touched upon
and quickly dropped"
O'Reilly, of Thaw's counsel, last
night said:
Coined Word a Mistake.
Il confess l am disappointed. |
really expected acqrittal Perhaps
now, in view of the verdict, Mr.. Del
mas made mistake in using the term
dementia Americana But he made
an honest effort and it might have
been a mistake of judgment"
Attorney Gleason said:
THE isagreement Of the jury is
disappointing of course. 1t was I'M
fortunate that the insis,ence upon the
unwritten law was characterized as
'dementia Americana If instead of