Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-04-04
COUNTING THE COST.
Expenses of the Thnw Trial Have
Been Extraordinarily Heavy.


Estimates of the cost of the Thaw trial
cannot be accurate, but approximate fig
ures are o5tainable. While some of the
sums are exaggerated, the lawyers fees
and sums spent for expert testimony
amount to small fortunes. The estimate
that about S225.000 has been spent by
Thaw and his relatives is regarded as
conservative
A favorite topic for exagseration is
the size of the fees that will be paid TO
Ihaw's SIX lawyers. An attorney who is
in position to know said a few DAYS
ago that the fee of Dolphin NJ. Delmas.
leading counsel for Thaw. would proba
bly, be about $4,000 The payments TO
the five lawyers and the retainers of the
attorneys engaged after the killing of
Stanford White and subsequently dismiss
ed would. according to the lawyer quoted,
be covered by q check for 100000.
Four experts for the defense have been
attending the sessions constantly. Four
others were in the court room for a few
days. 1t is said that the court expenses
for these experts would not be more than
81, 800. The fees. however represent only
a small part of the sums spent for ex-
pert opinions regarding Harry Thaw's
mental condition. Noted physicians were
consulted in Pittsburg and other cities.
They were brought to New York from
distant points to examine the defendant.
Their statements practically covered
Thaw's life since boyhood and the his
tories of his relatives. An allowance of
$4,000 is considered ample for this
branch of the case. The expenses of the
preliminary investigation and preparation
of the case are fixed at about $4,000.
An expense of more than $4,000 will
fall upon the court. Justice Fitzgerald's
salary is $1,000. He will receive 81
1916 for the two months he has been pre-
siding at the trial. The fifteen court
clerks and officers receive on an average
81, 800 a year. In the two luonths they
have earned at least $3.50. The fees
of the stenographers engaged in the trial
will be $1,000.
The twelve jurors will receive about
$1,000. The estimate of 1924 for each
juror is conservative. 1t consists only
of actual service. and does not include
the fees of the other men on the panel
called for the Thaw trial The cost of
boarding the twelve jurors will amount to
another $1,000 at least, allowing 81 day
for each man. Public interest in the trial
has been intense, and all sorts of excuses
have been used by the unprivileged to
gain admittance to the court room. 1t
was therefore thought necessary to detail
fifty policemen to guard the stairways and
corridors. Each is paid S14O0 q year
on an average. Their service for two
months will therefore cost S11 $50
The expenses of the prosecution will
be at least $4,000 District Attorney
Jerome's salary is $4,000 year. Allow
ing him merely for the time he has spent
IN court, he has earned $1,000 in the
two months. Assistant District Attor-
ney Frank p. Garvan has earned $3.50,
his salary being $1,000 a year. The ex-
perts cost the people $15 a day. Three
of them have been in court continuously.
them for five days in a week
the average number of sessions-each will
draw $615, or $15 day for 45 days. The
three experts will therefore cost the peo-
pie S2,O25. Four other experts were in
court for four or five days. Their COM
bined fees will be $50 day, or at least
S24O. The single item of experts fees
therefore means an expense of at least
1926 to the people. District Attorney
Jerome summoned fully a dozen other wit
nesses. They will be paid 80 cents a day.
An attache of the district attorneys Of
fee said that $3.50 would probably cover
their expenses and fees.
In all great trials the proceedings in
court represent the results of weeks of
by the district attorney. This
outside investigation before and during
the Thaw trial meant detective work in
New York, visits of attaches of the dis
trict attorneys Office to other towns, end
less examinations, piles of affidavits, rail-
road fares, hotel bills, stenographers' fees,
and the cost of cablegrams, kilograms and
similar expenses. Assistant District At
torney Caravan, who had most of this
work in charge, said that the cost of the
outside of the court room
would be about $4,000. Thus the lowest
estimate of expenses of the Thaw trial
will therefore aggregate about $266,000.