Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-01
JUDGE FITZGERALD BORED.
Tedious Cross7Examination Of Evans
Telling on Court.

NEW YORK, March Court was not
reconvened until fifteen minutes later than
usual yesterday afternoon. as the adjourn
ment for luncheon was not taken until
quarter past 1. DR.. Evans, who sat In the
witness chair all the morning, occupied
that place all the afternoon as well. and
when the afternoons questions and answers
were all in he still sat there. He Will be
the first witness this morning.
All through the afternoon little evidences
kept cropping out that indicated that Justice
Fitzgerald was as much bored by the tedi-
BUSINESS of the cross-examination as any
one of the spectators could possibly be,
and that he was Of the opinion that good
deal of time was being wasted. Just before
the noon recess was ordered ne saio SOME
thing about the probability that court
would hereafter sit later In the AFTERNOON
than 1t had been doing.
The only reason that he did not carry
out this threat was because Mr. Jerome
convinced him that time would be wasted
instead Of saved by SO doing. inasmuch as
the witness had to read again the hypo-
thet:cal question upon which he had pro-
nounced Thaw insane Of June %. 1905. so
that he might be thoroughly cross-examined
upon 1t.
Judge is Festive.
There were other indications that the
court was getting FESTIVE. One of them
was that when Mr.. Delmas bobbed up with
objections to the line of inquiry Mr.. Jerome
was pursuing Justice Fitzgerald ruled
against the prosecutor almost invariably.
On one occasion this disposition of the
court appeared to come in most conven-
iently for the defense. This was when the
district attorney began to ask DR.. Evans
about things he had testified to In murder
trial in New Jersey. This trial involved
some medical testimony about the mental
condition of the defendant when he wrote
certain letters. Mr.. Jerome got as far 40
asking the witness II he gave certain testf-
mony when Mr. Delmas headed of the in
quiry by the usual formal appeal. to which
the court gave its unreserved support
Still at the Letters.
Practically all the afternoon was taken
I'D with questions by Mr.. Jerome about the
state of the defendant when he wrote those
letters which the defense had offered as
evidence of his mental condition. These
letters included those In which he was con-
tinually talking about that blackguard,' -
meaning White. and referring to that poor
ili-advised angel" meaning Evelyn Nesbit.
as she was at that time. One of them also
speaks of her being poisoned at 10 and
u" and the general spirit Of them breathes
hatred of White and suspicion that the
architect. Most of these letters were writ
ten to Frederick w. Longfellow. who was
at that time Thaw's lawyer.
Mr.. Jerome took up these letters one at q
time and his stereotyped form of inquiry
was whether, taking this particular letter
entirely by itself. there was anything in 1t
that showed that the writer was sane or
insane. In the entire afternoon Mr.. Jerome
failed to PROFOUND single question that
was answered by either yes or no. There
always had to be some qualification. some
explanation
This seemed frequently to anger the dis
trict attorney, so tfIat he spent a good deal
of time fruitlessly in 1he endeavor to make
the witness answer to his liking. 1t was
no use The witness proposed to answer as
he pleased, and for the most part he suc-
ceeded in doing SO. On most of the letters
shown to him he was unable to form any
opinion that he would class as a scientific
one or as one that had any value. One or
two of them. he said. were extremely sug-
gestiye of mental irregularity or instability.
Mr. Jerome wanted to know II by those