The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-04-02

New York, March 28.-Harry K.
Thaw for two hours today submitted
himself to q running fire of questions
from the three men appointed by JUS
tice Fitzgerald as a commission in lu-
macy to determine his present state Of
mind.
The examination a conducted be-
hind closed doors, and when a few
minutes before ; o'clock this after
noon an adjournment was taken until
10 o'clock Saturday morning No one
connected with the hearing before the
commissioners would discuss the de-
tails of the inquiry. Thaw went will
ingly and confidently before his judges,
and when the two hours secret session
was concluded his attorneys appeared
with smiling faces and declared they
were more than satisfied with the
course of the proceedings, District At
tOrney Jerome hurried away from the
criminal courts building, declining alb
solutely to say Il word about the COM
missions work..
The most important feature of the
N'H ~ No9 Tx "CNlSIOll vi
the commission to limit the scope of
its inquiry to the exact language Of the
Statute-tO determine solely the ques-
ton as to whether on not Harry ThaW
is able today to understand the nature
of h court proceedings against him,
and is able to advise his counsel in a
rational anner District Attorney
Zero ~ g. - n,nI1ccnJ TO tho ynnnoIoarc Of
the commission tina all of the legal
experts he had employed in the case
had advised him that Thaw is suffering
from a typical case o. paranoia-a
disease of the mind, in which the re-
cOveries are limited to . or 8 per cent.
He offered to adduce testimony to sup
port this statement, but the commits
Si"2 waived it aside, saying that the
pr .ose of the inquiry was q very SIM
H II and had to do not with any
- %5iication of mental diseases, but
" h the prisoners present state of
Ind as judged by laymen.
In laying dow this decision. the
commission confronted the district at
tOrney with the very position he has
maintained in putting Thaw on trial
for his life. Mr.. Jerome contends that
Thaw was Suffering from paranoia on
the night of June 25 last when he
shot and killed Stanford White. but
he added that p~aranoiacs often have
knowledge of what they are doing and
hat Thaw knew the nature and quail
dty of his act in killing White and knew
that the act was wrong Thus while
medical experts nay determine today
that ThaW is still suffering p~aranOia,
the question TO which the lunacy COM
mission has decided to confine itself
deals solely with Thaw's knowledge
as TO the proceedings against him and
his ability to advise his lawyers
The commission got under way with
a rush n plunged at once into the
personal examination of the defendant
District Attorney Jerome protested at
first that he was not able to proceed,
saying ne would like to have his med
1cal advisors present during ThaW's
examination. He finally stated he
would have no objection to the eXami-
nation going forward provided he was
permitted to reserve his crOss-eXami-
nation. The commission Forthwith
settld the matter of the presence of the
experts by excluding them from the
room, along With every n else, except
the defendant and his counsel, the dis
trlct attorney and Assistant District
Attorney Garvin.. AS to the cross-ex-
animation by the district attorney, the
commission said the matter would be
taken up when it was reached.
1t was stated that during most of the
two hours Thaw was before the COM
mission this afternoon the notes and
letters which he has written to his
counsel since the trial begun was I'M
der consideration. To put Thaw
thoroughly at ease the commissioners
addressed their questions to him in a
conversational tone, and in a casual
manner as though he were in confer
enCe with them, asked him from time
to time to explain incidents in h trial
which had called forh certain Of the
letters placed before the commission
by Thaw's attorneys. 1t was said that
Ihaw answered the questions calmly
ana Vent into lengthy explanations Of
om on the notes he had addressed to
Mr. ,Oelrnas while his trial was in
progress. These rotes and letters were
made d part of the affidavit filed by
Mr. Delnnas with Justice Fitzgerald
when haw counsel were opnnsing