The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-03-28

Thaw murder trial came yesterday
when commission was appointed to
examine the mental condition of the
defendant, This step had been dread
ed by Thaw, 9pt when It came the
young millionaire met the announce
ment Of the grave news vita courage.
and, smiling, endeayored to rcassure
his fearful wife. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw.
saying "Dout worry dearie: It viii
come all right
Thaw through his counsel. has sta
ted that he viii grant the commission
every possible facility to carry on its
work so that no trouble Is expected
when the commissioners seek to make
personal examination OF the prison
err. II will be remembered that .Thaw
rebutfed the medical men, both those
selected BY his own friends and' those
CHOSEN Dy NuS statcs "hNh N'ANS A'Ns'
TO examine him subsequent TO the
shooting of Stanford white. Thaw
now has evidently decided 10 bow to
the inevitable.
A formal adjournment OF the trial
for week or ten days viii be an
nounced today when the jury as
sembles In Justice Fitzgerald's court.
pending the report OF the commission
Whether the trial win be resumed
depends Of course In part on the COM
mission which Is composed OF Ex-Jus-
tice Morgan J. o'Brien. Ex- District
Attorney Peter b. olney. and Or. Leo
pold Putzel. an authority on mental
diseases. II the commission finds that
Tnaw Is insane the prisoner will be
sent TO the asylum, fate which he
has apparently dreaded ever since the
shooting OF white. II II Is believed
Thaw Is now sane toe trial Will now
proceed and Thaw's fate will be de-
cidei by the jury.
The three appointees to the commits
sion nave agreed TO serve and will
meet Justice Fitzgerald today and will
be sworn in They will then be In
troduced to District Attorney Jerome
and to his assistant Mr.. Garyan, rep
resenting the prosecution, and to Mes
srs. Delmas, McPike. Hartridge, Pea
body, Gleason and o'Reilly, counsel for
the defense. II will then be decided
whether the sessions OF the commits
sioners are to be conducted In open
court or In secret. They are ready 10
begin work without delay.
Just how long the sessions will last
cannot be guessed at. Much will de-
pend on whether the commissioners
decide to go into the history Of the
case or hear only witnesses who can
swear as to the present mental condi-
tlon Of the defendant.
The Justice appointing commission
OF lunacy has power TO reject itt
decision. Thaw will be present al
every session of the commission. HI
must submit to a physical examina-
tion by the doctor on the commission
but may refuse to subject himself Il
an oral examination. II he should dt
so however. 1t might be construed al
an acknowledgment that the Distric
Attorneys contention is correct.
While all three members Of the lu
macy commission said last night they
had consented to serve, they would
| give no opinion as to the course o
their procedure, saying they would
have 10 wait until after their informa
| conference To-Day
T readily accepted the appoint
ment,' said Peter B. Olney, because
| believed 1t to be In the nature Of I
public duty"
He expressed the opinion tina
the meetings Of the commission woult
be public.
"Yes, l have accepted the appoint
ment on the commission" said Ex
Justice O'Brien." We shall get dow
to business at once and considerlni
the natufe Of the work, will hasten !
as much as possible"
IT think the work of the commission
should not take longer than few days
Of course II Harry Thaw appears be
fore the commission Where we can Sc
him for ourselves and form our owl
conclusions, rather than accept de
scriptions Of him, 1t will help facilitat
our work. IF in our judgment we con
slider II best to hold some executiv
sessions we shall do so. II may b