New-York tribune., 1907-04-11

Shortly after ; o'clock last night the fate Of
Harry X. Thaw was committed into the hands
Of the jury by Justice FftzGerald. At IL o'clock
they were locked up until 1880 this morning
not having reached a verdict.
A rumor had it that the jury stood 10 to for
acquittal the two men standing out for con-
viction for manslaughter
Events quickly succeeded one another yester-
day It seemed to he in the air that the end of
the long trial. which had been begun as far back
January 23 would be reached. District At
torney Jermoe began his summing up at 1880
BY $40 in the afternoon he had finished, and at
5:l1 Justice FitzGeraId had completed his in
structions To the twelve who are To say
whether Thaw shall go forth free man or be
imprisoned OF die More rapid progress had
been made than at any other period of the trial
Justice FftzGeraId's charge much briefer
than had been expected. He spoke less than an
hour. but in that time covered the points of law
involved thoroughly II was generally thought
that he had ruled somewhat adversely to the de-
fendant THE law does not recognize per-
sonaI avenger." he had said. a person is not
excused from criminal liability unless he does
not know that his act Is wrong. The law pre-
sumes sanity and delusion in defendants
mind does not excuse a homicide unless the de-
lusion. If true. would have constituted proper
seemed to those who heard them to be adverse
10 Thaw.
Both sides professed TO be satisfied with the
courts charge and the defendants counsel. who
have never wanted confidence. were still more
certain OF acquittaI.
After the jury had been in consultation they
were taken out to dinner at the Broadway Cen
trail Hotel They returned shortly before 3
o'clock. Meanwhile Justice FitzGeraId had gone
up to the Manhattan Club. where he had din
ner. Three Of the jurors took satcheIs with
them into the jury room. and this Immediately
gave rise TO the report of a disagreement. as 1t
was figured that those three men. at least. ex-
pected lengtheneG session
Thaw waited upstairs the mezzanine floor
with his wife The rest of the family went up
town to the Hotel Lorraine intending to stay
there until verdict was reached.
District Attorney Jerome and all the counsel
for the defence went across the street and hob
nobbed together. When news came shortly
after IL o'clock that the jury could not agree
they filed away 10 their homes. The principal
topic of conversation had been Mr.. Jerome's ad-
dress.
COMMON TENDERLOIN MURDER"
a mere. vulgar. everyday. common Tender
loin murder" Thus District Attorney Jerome
stripped the crime of all the false glamour that
has environed it since the night It COM
mitted Thus he put it its true plane and
thus he removed the last vestge of romance
that Mr. Delmas had so assiduously worked TO
cast about Harry n Thaw and Evelyn Nesbit.
In a summing up that was forceful as it
was brief Mr. Jerome spared not the lash OF
sarcasm. The defence. by its very nature. lent
itself to such an attack as the District Attorney
made. The whole fabric practically rested on
the word of young woman whose mode of
life and whose overwhelming interests In the
success of the defendant seemed to lend doubt
to her credibility. And in addition to the natu-
raj openings presented to the prosecutor Mr..
Demas had made others
While Mr. Demas had with many rhetorical
fourishes asseverated that the "unwritten law
should have place in his plea for Justice for
his client ne had IN fact. placed more depend
ence on that appeal to the sympathies of the
Jurors than on the whole mass of evidence. eX-
pert and otherwise. that he had offered. And in
doing so he had named the species of insanity
from which Thaw asserted 10 have been
suffering when no killed White "dementia
Americana" 1T is that species of insanity
which leads a man to protect his home. his wife
and his daughter he had said
..DEMENTIA AMERICANA A TARGET.
This "dementia Americana furnished the tar
get for Mr. Jerome's keenest darts Of satire
..yve have heard much of 'dementia Ameri-
cana he said "but this 'dementia Americana
doesn't walt three years before 1t strikes down
4 seducer and then only after waiting until 1t
had a. good dinner. Dementia Americana
doesn't faunt an unfortunate girl for two years
as its mistress 'Dementia Americana doesn't
take refuge in the terrible confession OF a poor
girl forced to tell her shame upon the stand
No gentlemen" he cried ''the 'dementia Aneri-
cana that moves men to strike for their homes
and their women is not that kind"
In those words the prosecutor practically pre-
sented his answer to- the contention of the de-
fence that Thaw was insane at the time of the
killing. He argued that it was pTemeditated
murder pure and simple, the result OF Il COM
Detition between two men for the possession Of
n girl who played Off against the
other. Thaw had been told of the wrong done
To Evelyn Nesbit by White-if he had ever been
told and If any such wrong had ever been done
in Paris in the summer Of 1908. Subsequently
Thaw had seen White several times and had
only glared at him. why did he wait three
long years?" was the prosecutors question
why If he was insane all that time. did he
wait so long before killing White? He killed
White because he feared White would again
take the girl from him." Mr.. Jerome declared.
In a lucid. convincing way the District At
torney described the events of the night OF
June 25 last and insisted that none Of them
suggested that Thaw was insane Thaw's long
sensible conversation with a Clinch Smith.
Stanford Whites brother-in-law. was cised as
showing he was absolutely calm and coll cted
His deliberation in watching for his victim and
in approaching and shooting him. and his self
, head and showed the pistol butt upward. wero