The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1907-04-17
.UNALTERABLY SPLIT
Was the ThaW Jury, After Long
And Heated Debate.
STOOD 7 TO S FOR CONVICTION
The "Unwritten Law" Had
no Part in the Delhi
eratiOnS.

Hopelessly divided-seven for a YER
dict of guilty of murder in the first
degree and five for acquittal on the
ground of insanity-the jury, which,
since January 20, has been tryingHar-
ry X. Thaw, reported after forty-sev-
en- hours and eight minutes Of DELHI
GRAFTON that it could not agree. The
twelve men were promptly discharged
by Justice Fitzgerald, who declared
that he, too, believed their task hope
less. Thaw was remanded to the
Tombs without bail to await a second
trial on the charge of having murder
ed Stamford White, the noted archi-
tect.
Jerome Immediately afterward an
nounced that he would put the defend
ant on trial again-probably next Oc-
tober, and meanwhile would oppose his
admission to bail or change of VEN
ne.
simultaneously it became noised
about the court house that the bit
ter luminosity which has existed
among counsel for Thaw all through
the trial had been famed into open
warfare by dissatisfaction over the
result, and that all the lawyers, with
the exception of Daniel O'Reiley, were
out of the case. The Thaws them
selves lent color to this by their open
disapproval of the conduct of the trial.
In brief, chaos ensued. Frank state
ments were issued by the various law
yers in critical vein. Thaw was per-
mitted to be hurried back to the
Tombs, where he remained alone af-
ter brief visits from his wife and fam
lily, and the imposing array of counsel
melted away and were lost in the
vast crowd that surged about theCrim-
inal Court Building.
The end came with such dramatic
suddenness that the disagreement was
officially recorded in the minutes, the
jury discharged-unkempt, disgrunt-
led and split into factions-and the
prisoner landed back in his cell be-
fore an intelligent realization of what
had happened had come to any one.
And the tragedy of it all-the deep
pathos, the heart-wringing agony
dawned only on the minds of the on
lockers when they saw the frail, wan
wife of the defendant stagger from
the prison pen, blinded by her tears,
and fall into the arms of Dan O'Rei-
ly, as she sobbed a farewell to her
husband
The story of the proceedings in the
jury room far outranked in interest
the brief court proceedings which
brought the famous trial to an end.
1t developed that the jury had consid-
cred everything connected with the
case except "the unwritten law" .Bas-
ing their judgment entirely upon the
evidence they voted either for or
against murder in the first degree,
when they cast their first ballots.
The first vote was eight to four in
favor of conviction. Then the jury
tried to reach a common ground upon
verdict of manslaughter in the first
degree, the punishment for which
ranges to a maximum of twenty years
Imprisonment. The men in favor of
cquittal-largely on the ground of
insanity, it is said-would not change
their ballots and in the end won over
to their side one of the eight who
favored conviction. During the near
ly forty-eight hours of deliberation
only eight ballots were cast. The ju-
ry spent two nights doing in their
chairs.