Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-03-09

Seemed Completely BafiIed at the
Turn Of Events.
New York.-Another dramatic chap
ter was added to the history Of the
trial of Harry X. Thaw for the muir
der of Stanford White Wednesday.
when the gray-haired mother of the
defendant took the witness stand to
contribute what she might toward saw
Ing her wayward boy from the death
danger which menaces him. Mrs,
Thaw's story before the jury was brief.
When Dolphin Delmas had deftly
limited her examination to the change
she had noted in her sons condition
following his return from Paris in
1908, after Evelyn Nesbit had told him
her story, and when District Attorney
Jerome had, with the greatest respect
and consideration, conducted a short
and Intellectual cross-examinatiOn, the
mother-love welled stronger in Mrs.
Thaw and she felt she had not done
her all. She was loath to leave the
| witness chair.
"There is the question OF -h2Fedity, =
she protested when both Mr.. Delmas
and Mr.. Jerome told her she might
step down.
II have asked you, madam, all that
Is considered necessary" said Thaw's
attorney with the utmost Difference.
Mrs Thaw half rose, hesitated and
was about to sit down again when the
leading counsel for the defence offered
her his hand to assist her from the
stand.
Twice during her recital of the
events which had caused her to fear
that all was not right with her son,
Mrs. Thaw broke down and was unable
to proceed. Her face flushed and she
made an effort to speak, but the words
would not come After few moments
Justice Fitzgerald asked solicitously
if she felt able to proceed, and Mrs,
Thaw, evidently much chagrined that
her grief had overcome her strong Will
Of resistance, nodded in the aflrma-
tive. She declined a glass Of water,
made an effort once more to proceed,
but failed.
Justice Fitzgerald then interposed a
relief for which the elderly woman fac
ing him must have been deeply CRATE
full He said that as many Of the wit
ness remarks had been uttered In q
very low voice it would be necessary
to have the stenographer read all her
testimony up to that time to the jury.
When the reading was ended Mrs.
Thaw had regained her composure and
was able to proceed to the end Of her
narrative.
She said that when Harry came
home in 1903 he seemed depressed and
apparently had lost all interest In life.
He passed sleepless nights, would Of
ten leave the table at meals and go in
to the parlor to play upon the piano,
the music growing softer and softer
until it finally died away. She told In
motherly way of her solicitude for
the boy. The family physician was
summoned.
He told me a wicked man-probably
the wickedest man in all New York
had ruined his life"
1t was not until some time after he
had offered this explanation Of the
change in him that she learned the
ftory of the young woman who was to
become her daughter-in-law. Mrs.
Thaw told of Harry breaking down at
church in Pittsburg and afterwards
explaining that it was all because OF
the sorrow which prevented the young
woman he loved being at his side.
Mrs. Thaw told of coming to New
York to meet Evelyn, Nesbit and of
giving her consent to her sons mar
riage-the one condition being that
the girls past life in New York should
be a closed book, never to be referred
to in any way Then came the story
Cf the marriage in Pittsburg in April,
| 1905, the honeymoon trip and then a
/. happy, placid summer spent at the
mothers country home in the noun
tains.
That was all. Mr.. Delmas ended her
| testimony abruptly. The district at
| tOrney was taken Dy surprise ana De-
gan to cross-examine Mrs, Thaw in a
very low voice, with the utmost re-
spect in word and manner. He asked
the conditions surrounding the in
crease in her sons allowance, but Mr..
Delmas objected.
He asked what the sons Income
amounted to. Mrs. Thaw said 1t was
moderate and nothing like the sum the
newspapers have so often reported.
Mr.. Jerome next treaded upon what he
must have felt was the thlnnest Of ice
lest he put himself in the attitude of
attempting to harass the pathetic fig
ure in black on the witness stand.
He asked the mother what she knew
of her sons relations with Miss Mes
bit before she became his wife.
Nothing" she replied without hesi-
fancy.
The district attorney seemed com
pletely bafled and speedily brought his
cross-examination to close.