Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-04-20
THAW JURY
'''" '' DISAGREED
SEVEN WE'RE FOR C0Nvlc71CW
WHILE FIVE WANTED TO
ACQUIT.
STORIES FROM THE JURY.
Trial Lasted Eleven Weeks and Was
a Continual Dramatic Scene TIL the
End Came.
New Trial in the Fall.

New Trial in the Fall.
After having struggled for nearly
two days to reach verdict, tho Thaw
jury reported disagreement late Fri
day afternoon and was Immediately
discharged The final ballot stood
seven for conviction of murder iaskhe
first degree and five for acquitt&1Nn
the ground of insanity
On the final ballot the jurors who
voted for conviction were Foreman
Deming n. Smith, George Pfaff, Chas.
H. Fecke, Harry C. Brearley, Chas.
ID. Newton, Joseph H. Bolton and Ber-
nard Gerstman.
The five who hung out for acquit-
tai were Oscar A. Pink, Henry c. Har.
ney, Malcolm F. Fraser. John S.
Dennee and Wilbur, F. Steele.
Thaw was at dhce taken back to
the Tombs. District Attorney Jerome
announced Immediately after the
jury's discharge that Thaw would be
tried again, though not for several
months.
Attorney Delmas, of California, who
conducted Thaw's case in court, and
who in making his summing up ad-
dress to the jury appealed almost d.
rectly to the "unwritten law" or de
mentia Americana" as he termed it,
was not in court when the jury made
its report.
When the votes cast on the first
ballot were counted it proved that
eight of the jurors voted to convict
Thaw of murder in the first degree,
the other four voting to acqpit on
the ground of insanity. TheNorlginal
four who stood for acquitta '>we111ec
Jurors Pink, Harvey, Fraser and
Steele.
From this time on the contest was
one between these two extreme wings.
There never was much hope of reconcile
ing them. The four who originally
were for acquittal never voted for
anything else. while seven of the eight
for murder in the first degree, re-
manned Of the same opinion, although
some of them were willing to COM
promise if the champions of acquittal
could be induced 10 meet them half
way.
This, however, was not possible, and
before the twelve men finally gayA it
up, the forces that fought for acquit-
tai had won over Juror Dennee to
their side.
Juror Joseph Bolton said: There
was no question of the unwritten law
or of dementia Americana in our de-
alterations. We considered the case
from a purely legal standpoint. We,
were not swayed by emotion
The jury when considering the
case took no stock I'm brain storms
said Juror George II. Fecke. I'VE did
not pay any undue amount of attention.
to the testimony of the alienists, eith~
err Mr. Fecke said. 1T was after Mr..
Dennee had read some of Thaw's LETT
ters that the latter decided there was
a reasonable doubt as to Thaw's SAN
ity. Dennee then joined the four men
who stood for acquittal on the grounds
of insanity"
District Attorney Jerome. as 5000
as the jury had been discharged, won't
upstairs to his office. When he got
there several of the juross were inside
waiting for him. The Jurors were
Fecke, Pink, Denaee and Foreman
Smith. A little later Juror Bolton came
in carrying a little satchel. The door
was locked and Mr.. Jerome listened
to the jurors for about twenty minutes.
They explained TO him their recol-
lection of everything that went on I'M
the jury room. Mr.. Jerome was much
pleased to get an accurate account
of what happened, though he refused
to say anything about what the Jurors
had told him. They all went away
after shaking hands with the district
attorney.
The district attorneys manner in
dictated that he was not much put out
over the outcome. He was asked about
what he had to say as to the result:
There Is nothing that / can with
propriety say about the trial." he
said. From what went on in the jury
room and the way the jurors stood, 1t
appears certain that there should be
a second trial. AS to the date of that
trial, there is no telling now. There
are fifteen prisoners in the Tombs
awaiting trial on the charge of murder
in the first degree, and their cases
will have to be disposed of in the reg
ular course Of events before we can
get to Thaw again. 1t certainly will
not be before fall,
"As to bail, an, Implication will Of
couTp, be made, but shall vigorously
oppose the release of Thaw. Taking
ire consideration the number Of
jurors who voted to convict the de-
PENDANT of murder in the first degree,
! think it extremely unlikely that any
Judge would allow the application"
Mai. Francis p Fremont, of the
Fifth U. s. infantry, and a son Ct The
late Con Jobp n Erop,onf &c .r-->Ao