The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1907-02-14

ing on his hand during Mr.. Gleason's
!, address. The greater part of the
, time his eyes were downcast 1t was
only occasionally that he raised them
, to look at the lawyer who was plead
J ing his case. Not once did he look
toward the jury box
when that man shot Stanford
White declared Mr.. Gleason, point
ing to the defendant, who quickly
looked down, .'he was insane The
question that will arise is: Are you
satisfied beyond doubt that this man
was sane?'
IF not, you should give him the
benefit of that doubt; and | must say
that any doubt as to insanity Is a rea-
sonable doubt
Mr. Gleason was about to ask
the jurors TO consider a passage In
a story by Robert Louis Stevenson,
when Mr.. Jerome interposed an OBJ
lection He asked that counsel be
guided by facts and the evidence to
be introduced. Justice Fitzgerald
said he would not voluntarily have
now that the matter had been called
to his attention he felt he must ask
counsel TO confine himself to the evil
dence to be adduced, leaving the
argument and inference to be drawn
from the testimony to be submitted
at the end of the trial
Mr.. Gleason then attempted to give
something of the defendants history,
saying he was thirty-six years old.
and that Harriet X. Thaw. the daugh-
ter of an aunt, is confined in an in
sane asylum for the insane.
Mr.. Jerome again interrupted, OBJ
jecting to bringing in collateral evil
dence.
Mr.. Gleason explained that he
would show there was insanity on
both sides of the defendants family,
and on this assertion he was allowed
to proceed.
Harry Thaw," continued Mr.. GIea-
son, after the interruption, met Eve
lyn Nesbit in 1901 and fell honora-
bly, in love with her. He went to her
mother in March, 1902, and told her
he wanted to marry her daughter.
The girl soon thereafter, it so hap
pened, was in the hospital to undergo
a serious operation. 1t was under
stood that when she had recovered
from the operation, Miss Nesbit was
to go to Paris, and Thaw was to go
along as the avowed suitor of the
young woman
I'VE will show that in 1903 he
asked this young woman to marry
him. She refused. Why she refused
you will hear from her own lips She
will best tell her story. Suffice it to
say that the reason was the one that
connected the experience in the life
of the girl with Stanford White.
THAT Thaw suffered from a dis
eased mind we will show you by the
testimony of his mother, his Wife,
his relatives, his doctors, and by let
ters he wrote to the Society for the
of Vice in this city.
When you have heard all this testi-
mony it Will be impossible for you
to say that the act of this man for
which he is now undergoing trial was
that of a sane person. Working in
his diseased brain we will show you
many things connected with his past
life and that of his wife. They cul-
in the explosion which caus-
ed the defendant to kill White.
'Thaw had long labored under the
delusion that his life was in danger
whenever he was in New York City,
and consequently he had always, af-
ter January, 1904, carried a pistol
with him when visiting here.
.sThe pistol was in his overcoat
pocket, with his other belongings,
when Thaw went to Madison Square
roof garden, the night of June 25.
His diseased brain was still guild
ing him; he saw what was a demon
glowering at him. Acting on the inn
pulse of the delusion that his act
would be an act of providence, he
walked coolly and deliberately, as
you or | would walk down the street,
to where Stanford White SAT-, and
still believing that it was an act of
providence guiding him, he shot and
instantly killed him. He thought the
act was right and not wrong.
Believing his act to be right, he
had no idea of evading any of the
Still regarding him
self as the agent of providence, he
stood there, held his pistol aloft, as
mutely as if to say, 1T is done; it
is right: it is not wrong.
Mr. Gleason Snol1a for an hour and