Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1907-02-14
MES. TRAW
AS WITNESS
THE IMPRESSION OF CHILDISH
PURITY CLINGs ROUND HER
LIKE GARMENT.
LIKE GARMENT.

IL Is 10 De thought that the State
intends a driving cross examination
OF Everlyn Thaw. This for the for
tunes of the prosecution should
prove a serious mistake Were the
witness man, strong and able for
his own protection, some measure
or hammer and anvil I'm question
Ing him though It did no good. would
In all chance work no harm. The
instincts of a gazing world would
be to let witness and advocate. I'm
horse and gadhy fashion fight it
out.
But such is not the case. The
witness here. while mayhap a wo-
man in experience. is just no more
than a girls in looks and years
Also she is girl carefully combed
and frocked and collared in timid
emphasis OF that girlishness. To 20
racking and straining the aching
joints OF her testimony with cruel
question putting will be 10 bring
every turyman to her defense. II
would be too much like beating a
child. No excuse. however. excel
lent OF itself. could serve to justify
that violence in the sympathetic eyes
or the spectator. All the latter
would know, or care to discover. is
that creature, helpless and unde-
Tended. was being tortured and
bruised by one older and bigger and
ferociously stronger than herself.
Aside. too, from an impression Of
childish purity, which clings about
her like garment, Evelyn Thaw
is not wanting in other powerful
advantages. There be women who
In their natures are contrived like
unto the teal Of the gorgeous wood
duck. Their moral plumage is seem
ingly so thick planted and closely
set that they can play and splash
the long day through in some mud
hole OF impurity and will come forth
unspotted of any faint OF foulness.
Or they are as mirrors that some
lecherous breath may briefly dim.
only to show them shining out more
brightly clean the moment after. OF
such Is Evelyn Thaw
She has told mankind her story
vile, evil story OF herself and
Stanford White and that moral
abattoir, the tower room-a story
or degradation and a vulgar. sordid
poverty slipping into vice! And
yet, in spite OF It and its criminal
coarseness, she sits in its dripping
midst as much a present tableau
OF unconscious innocence as Lambs
dove on the wasp's nest To her.
In her impregnable, guilelessness,
tricked OFF by a girls frock and
collar and crowned OF her manifest
misery. the poison and the mere
tricious venom of that life she has
pictured seem utterly alien, unrelat-
ed and remote. 1t makes a bewil-
dering instance OF warfare between
eye and ear, and what one sees is
In feud with what one hears. To
confuse her would bring no victory;
to involve her in self contradiction
and set her tongue to tripping would
do the State no good. That child
ishness and girlish, helpless limo
cence, though it be but the poor
veneer of a manner, would save
her with every normal man who
listened.
Nor is 1t sure that the most har-
rowing cross questioning would
confuse or bring Evelyn Thaw to
any verbal stumbling True. she
is OF no profound intelligence; her
mind is commonplace and weak. But
her mentality is cool, her nerve cur
rents slow and even Saved by
these, she might prove more ready
and apt for her own rescue. I'm any
cross examining pinch, than many
another Of greater wisdom but
warmer temperament Taken what
way you choose, the States safety
will be vastly consulted by letting
her alone. Besides. there stands
the experienced Delmas ready with
the buckler OF his Interruptions,
should she require mental breath
ing space.-Alfred Henry Lewis.