The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-04-09
DECLARE HARRY THAW SANE
Commission Say Whites Slayer
is Competent to Stand Trial.
Prisoner Made No Attempt to Dis
guise That He Was Pleased
With Decision.

New York City-The insanity
Commission, consisting of David Nc
Clure, Peter B. Olney and DR.. Leo
pold Putzel, appointed by Justice
Fitzgerald to inquire into the pres
ent mental condition of Harry K
Thaw, who stands charged with the
murder of Stanford White, reported
to the court, finding the defendant
sane for purposes of trial and capa-
BILE of comforting with his counsel
When court opened in the morning
the jurors were there ready to go on
with the case. All the members of
the Thaw family who have been at
tending the trial were in their accus-
toned seats Mrs William Thaw,
young Mrs. Thaw and the Countess
of Yarmouth sat together. The men
of the family, Edward and Josiah
Thaw, sat together.
When Justice Fitzgerald took his
seat on the bench he called Jerome
and Hartridge, the lawyer of record
for Thaw, inside the rail. The mem
bers of the Thaw family leaned for
ward in their seats trying to hear
what the justice was saying. 1t
meant much to them - almost as
much as the other verdict which can
not now be greatly delayed Accord
ingly, when from the lips of Justice
Fitzgerald fell the announcement
that unanimous decision had been
reached by the commission, and he
handed copies of the decision to Jer-
ONE and Hartridge, Mrs. William
Thaw and Evelyn Nesbit Thaw
gripped the chairs in which they
were seated, their faces were drawn
and painful to look upon, and their
eyes hungrily gazed on the two
sheets of paper which f1uttered in the
nervous fingers of Hartridge.
Every eye in the court room was
conferred upon the lawyer by this
time, and it seemed to take him
spelled the fate of the defendant
face relaxed, he released the paper
quickly, with a smile and a nod of
his head, to the party of ladies.
Little Mrs. Thaw fell back into her
chair limp with joy, COMPRISING her
lips at the same time in an effort to
faction. Mrs. William Thaw sighed
and whispered into the ear of the
Countess of Yarmouth. A clerk from
Hartridge's Office confirmed what
they had read in the lawyers smile
and then sped back to the prisoners
pen, where Thaw was awaiting the
tidings
On the strength of Hartridge's
smile alone the silent court room
was instantly buzing with strange
sound wave that always follows
tense moment. Newspaper messen-
gers fastened from the room, and be-
fore the clerk had reached Thaw's
cell in the pen this cry was ringing
through the outer corridors;
Sane! Sane! Sane!"
The messengers carried it to wait
ing reporters, who carried it along
as they hurried to the telephones,
communicating it to spectators who
had been crowded out of the trial
chamber, and soon all through the
Criminal Courts Building the word
was being echoed by hundreds. Tel
egraph wires flashed it out over the
country, the cable carried it to Lon
don. Within five minutes the whole
world had been informed that Harry
Thaw's judges had declared him sane
that the young millionaire had es-
capped the madhouse and would now
face only one of his twin perils--
death in the electric chair
Thaw made no attempt to dis
guise that he was pleased with the
commissions decision.