The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1907-02-07


stress-when he shot and killed SIAN
ford White. was taken up by the e.
Tense in this famous case but at AL.
iournment il was the general opinio
in the court room that bat little pre-
gress had been made.
Thaw's attorneys endeayOrcd in vain
to place before the jury evidence tend
ing. it was said to prove a strain OF
insanity in the collateral branches OF
the defendants family. but they were
blocked at every point 10y District At
torney Jerome. whose objections were
upheld by the rulings OF Justice FIJI
gerald.
The defense did. however get before
the II men in the box the testimony
of an expert, that in his opinion Harry
Thaw was suffering from insanity
the night of the tragedy Mr. Jerome
undertook to break down the evidence
of the alienist-Dr c. c. Wiley. o.
Pittsburg- and Tor three hours put
him through a cross-eXamination as
severe as was ever heard in a New
York court. The prosecutor was re-
lentless in his attack. and before he
had finished Dr. Wiley protestinsly de-
clared:
Il didn't come here as an expert. /
came as a witness to a fact. and have
been con ,rted into an expert without
being pT. red iOr il.
The district attorney astonished
every one by his intimate lnowlelg.
of medicine and its technical phrase
ology. demonstrating the care with
which he had prepared himself TO NEE,
the very defense which Thaw's counsc.
have entered in his behalf. Mr. Jc.
rome searchingly inquired into Dr.
Wiley's record as physician and as
an expert on insanity He hurled vol
leys of technical questions al the Wit
ness. who az times sat mute. and a
other times declared he could not an
swer. or gave eyasive replies. often
ne brought upon himself sharp warn
ing from the district attorney % make
a reply and not an argument
Dr. Wiley testified that he predicated
his opinion as to Thaw's insanity upon
his actions the night of the tragedy.
as described to him in a hypothetical
question propounded by the defense.
and upon an incident which he Wit
messed on a Pittsburg street car dur
ing the summer of 1905 Thaw said
the doctor. acted irrationally on the
car. coming in Suddenly and jenkins
up one of the window blinds. slammine
il down and then lifting il up again
the while engaging in a wordy wal
with the conductor.
Have you ever examined this de
PENDANT with any of the recognized
tests OF insanity" asked Mr.. jerome
NO" replied the Witness.
"Haye YOU ever conyersed with
him."
NO" replied the doctor
jerome Battles Expert.
The district attorney then drew
from the alienist the opinion that
Thaws acts on the Madison Square
roof garden. when he killed Stanford
White. were not acts Of insanity when
taken singly but constituted evidence
of insanity when considered collec-
lively. At times Dr. Wiley seemed en-
tirely bafied by the questions. He
hesitated at each. and before he could
answer Mr. Jerome had framed an
other query replete with impressive
sounding technical terms and appar-
entity offering a problem no less diff
cult than its predecessor. The witness
admitted that many Of the tests to
which the district attorney referred,
snch as the Romberg test and the
Argyll Robertson pupil test were IN
known to him, and when he was asked
to quote from any accepted work on
insanity. declared he could not give
the exact language from any book.
Thaw's counsel sat silent and with
out protest as Mr. Jerome grilled the
first witness for the defense. Thaw
himself seemed TO take but little in
terest in the cross-examinatiOn at the
outset. but later began to take notes
and was often in earnest conversation
with those of his counsel who sat near
est him. At times Thaw could not al
together suppress the suggestion OF q
grin at the keenness of some OF Mr..
Jerome's questions and the subtle hui
NOR they so thinly concealed. But be
fore the close of the day Thaw seemed
to worry. He bit his finger nails and
seemed anxious for the doctors ordeal
to end. His attorneys appeared a bit
puzzled at first, but evidently deter
mined to give the district attorney the
widest liberty.
Tried TO Show Strain Of Insanity.
II was at the close of Mr. Jerome's
cross examination of DR.. Wiley that
the attempt was made to introduce
testimony tending to show the strain
of insanity said to have existed in GER
tain branches of the Thaw family.
Among the witnesses called to the
stand was Albert Lee Thaw, OF Rich
mond. Va. who said that his father
and Harry Thaw's father were first
cousins. The defense stated its pur-
nose to draw from the witness the fact
that his father died in an asylum for
the insane, when Mr.. Jerome objected
He declared that the relationship oil
hnth the Witness and his father was
too lar removed from the defendant To
be competent
"And the law" he added, is not
satisfied that a man is insane merely
because he died in an asylum or re
treat for persons suffering from men
tai disorders. The fact that a man
dies in an institution such as that con
Quoted by DR.. Wiley. the eminent spe
cialist we had upon the stand today
for instance, is no proof that he was
insane. There must be competent ties
timony to the fact"
Justice Fitzgerald upheld this vie"
of the matter. saying, however, that his
ruling was subject to revision If the
ATTORNEYS for the defense could cite