Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-01
THAN GIVES OUT STATEMENT
It Charges District Attorney With Unpro-
fsssional Conduct in Court
DR.. EVANS ON THE STAND ALL DAY
Eight Letters written ny Defendant,
when Taken Collectively, Indi-
cate Mental IrreguIarity
on Part of writer.

NEW YORK. Feb. 2s.--Harry K Thsw
enlivened an extremely dull session OF his
trial today by giving out a brief state
ment in which he accused District At
torney Jerome of having made unpro-
fessional- remarks in court, asserted that
his wife's testimony was absolute truth
and declared that Mrs. Thaw's natural
real goodness" was above the comprehen-
sion of the prosecuting officer.
1t was Just before adjournment and
after many! hours of expert testimony as
to the meaning of extracts from eight
letters written by the defendant with
their relation to the sanity or insahity
of the writer that Thaw' gave his state
ment TO the press This is Mr.. Thows
second Statement since August 10. 1t
follOws
with chances of millions to one
against her after the catastrophe in 1901,
Il ispwonderful that Mrs. II. K Thnw
prevailed IN the cross-examinatlon against
the prosecution backed by blacklegs.
Her testimony was absolute truth.
Our evidence was of conversations. The
Mr. Jsfefne finding his informants in
certain lines falsihers, concluded by more
usual methods which is to his credit.
However, from some of his questions
and some, of his unprofessional remarks
ural and real goodness of the witness
IL above comprehension.
History of Statement.
Thaw began to prepare his statement
yesterday afternoon. One of the news
paper tables adjoins the table occupied
by his counsel, and a reporter sitting
next to the defendant read over the lat
ter's shoulder the two opening para
graphs. When the papers appeared yes
terday with extracts from his statement
Z in display type Thaw was much cha
grined. Today in court he took the re-
porter to task. He said he had not in
tended to make the statement public until
the end of the trial He further asserted
7 that many mistakes appeared in the por-
ton of the statement that was published
and added that he might make a correc-
( tion later. Last night In his cell Thaw
: completed his statement and today he
handed the original draft to a reporter
he has known for years and in whom he
had confidence. He also handed the news
paper man a brown envelope.
Seal the statement up In this envelope
B said Thaw and write your name across the
flap. / am going to have some typewriter
copies made and when they are completed
want you to compare them with the
original and IL they are all right they will
be given out"
= Ddnlel " reilly, one OF InaWS lawyers,
said later that he also had copy OF
Thaw's statement. but would not give II
out until the defendant directed him to dc
so. Late this afternoon the typewriter
copies suddenly appeared in court. Atten-
ton was first attracted to them by Thaw
handing q carbon copy to his newspaper
friend and asking him to compare II with
the original. Four FIVE other copies lay
on the counsel table In front of the de-
PENDANT. One of the reporters reached over
: picked up the copies and hastily left the
court room. He was quickly followed by
/ other reporters and soon the statement
was being flashed into newspaper offices
throughout the country. The copies and
the original; were exact and, Thaw said
he was content to have the statement re-
I leased as a correction to the garbled state
: ment which appeared this morning.
Clifford Hartridge of Thaw's counsel and
Mr.. Delmas declared later they had nc
: knowledge of the statement being prepared
OF being given out.
DIT. Evans was in the witness chair all
day undergoing cross-examination by Dis
trict Attorney Jerome. The prosecutor
said he would probably keep DR.. Evans or
! the stand throughout tomorrow. This
makes indefinite the time when the defense
Will rest. DR.. Evans and Mr.. Jerome spent
the entire day in going over eight letters
written by Thaw and culling out some ex.
,cerpts on which Dr. Evans based his be.
lief that they were written by a person OF
unsound mind
{ DO you mean an insane person." asked
Jerome. 'ef -s''.
Yes" replied the witness. but not n
the sense that the person might Away,
remain insane"
. This was the essence of the DAVIS WORK
Mr.. Jerome seemed as interested as tn,
, expert in searching out the phrases in tn,
letters which might be construed as tn,
! writings OF an insane man and for IN,
nrst time the Jurors were permitted thor
oughly TO examine Photographic comics o
! the letters. As the witness and the pros
I ecutor pored tediously over the document
! the jurors were enabled to follow then
closely. The district attorney apparentl,
wanted the letters to be thoroughly scrut
inized and understood by the jury.
Expert is Cross-Examinea.
The first letter handed TO Dr. Evan
when court reconvened after the luncheo,
recess was one on which he declined q
express an opinion. saying Il was TO,
short 10 enable him, leaving all else ou
OF the question, to determine the menta
condition OF the writer.
The next letter, taken by itself the doc
tor said. would not enable him TO form
scientific opinion regarding the sanity o
the writer and the same thing applied I
the next.
There were indications OF mental irregu
larity in the next letter. the doctor said
but taking the letter alone he would no
say positively that the writer was insane
The letter was in parts incoherent. h
( thought
Letter Suggests Mental Irregularities
81 have examined all OF these letters 10
gether,s said DR.. Evans. "and Il is prac