Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-02-08
WITNESS
GIVEN TO
JEROME.
DistriC Attorney Tries 10 Upset
the Sensational Testimony Of
Mrs. Evelyn Mesbit ThaW.
COURT WAS IN TEARS
Climax in the Madison Square
Roof Garden Tragedy Reach
ed Yesterday.

NEW YORK, Feb. S.--Evelyn Nesbit
Thaw, the beautiful young wife of
Harry X Thaw, laid bare in the Grim
inal branch of the supreme court here
the story of her life, the recital of
which is expected by the defense to
convince the jury that her husband
was justified when he shot down Stan
ford White, the famous architect and
the man who, she declared, first drug
ged and then ruined her and for whose
murder young Thaw is on trial.
Every word she uttered seemed to
bear the imprint Of truth. Still the
one thought uppermost in the minds of
all who had heard the testimony was
whether II would stand the test of
cross examination. Should ii do SO
the general opinion was that the plea
Of justification, not that Of insanity
mining the fate Of the prisoner. The
case suddenly seemed to turn to the
very human question whether White
ought not to have been killed.
AS the former chorus girl answered
readily the questions put to her by
Dolphin NJ. Delmas, chief counsel for
the prisoner, every one in the court.
room leaned eagerly forward, so as not
to miss word that dropped fronfher
lips. The pitiful story she told moved
every one in the room. Men wiped
the tears from their eyes, while the
morbid women who had come to hear
the revolving testimony sobbed aloud
1t was one Of the most dramatic re-
citals ever heard in any court.
The girlish wife of the prisoner was
in the witness chair practically all
day. ~--''-
To save the life of her husband she
barred to the world the innermost Sc
nrets of her soul, for the portrayal of
which sanctuary was more fitting
place than the crowded, gaping court
room. 1t was the same story she told
Harry Thaw in Paris in 1903 when he
had asked her to become his wife-the
confession of one who felt there was
an insurmountable barrier to her ever
becoming the bride of the man she
loved.
"Mr. Thaw was sitting down OPP
posite me-" she said "and he sudden
ly said to me that he loved me and
wanted to marry me, and l STAGED at
him for a moment, and then he sail:
Don't you care for me? Don't you
care anything about me?' And | said
Yes. And he said, What is the mat
tery And l said, Nothing at ALL And
he said, why won't you marry me-?
And said, Because And then he
said, Well, tell me why, won't you;
for what reason; why won't you marry
meT Then he leaned over me and put
his hands on my shoulders and looked
straight at me, and he said, is it be-
cause of Stanford Whittier And l said,
Yes Then he said he wouldn't think
any the less of me il told 1t, and he
wanted me to tell it. So | began by
telling him how and where had first
met Stanford White"
In the big witness chair she appear
ed but a slip of Il girl, and she told
the pitiful story of her eventful young
life in a frank, girlish way. When
tears came unbidden to her big brown
eyes and slowly trickled their way
down scarlet cheeks she strove in vain
to keep them back. Though emotion
at times seemed about to smother her.
she forced the words from trembling
lips. and by marvellous display of
courage which took her willingly to
her staggering ordeal she shook off ii
depression which once threatened to
become an absolute collapse.
AS the young wife unfolded the mar
rative of her girlhood and told the
early struggles of herself and her
mother TO keep body and soul together,
of how gaunt poverty stood ever Mt
the door and how she finally was able
to earn livelihood by posing for pho
tographers and artists. she won the
murmured sympathy of the thr0ng
which filed every available space in
the big courtroom
Then came the relation Of the wreck
of that girlhood at sixteen years Of
age. 1t was the story of her meeting
with Stanford White, the story of the
sumptuous studio apartment whose
dingy exterior gave no hint of the
luxurious furnishings within. of Il vel
vet covered swing in which one could
swing until slipperpd toes crashed
Continued on page 50.