The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-27

New York, Feb. 26.-Eyelyn Nesbit Thaw
left the witness stand this afternoon, no
more TO be recalled, after carrying to the
end and without faltering the heavy bur
den imposed upon her by the lawyers, who
are trying 10 save the life of her husband.
She had spent more than four days and a
half in the witness stand, more than half
of this time being spent under the relent-
less fire of District Attorney Jerome's
cross-examination.
When in response to her look of inquiry
Delmas said that's all" and the frail
little figure rose and passed lightly from
the courtroom. everybody in the court
room who had watched her from day to
day since she first took The witness stand.
was conscious that he had seen the end
of an extraordinary performance.
There are a good many views regarding
the substance Of her testimony, but there
is no difference Of opinion about the man
ner Of its delivery. Perhaps. after all
there is still no possibility of differing
from the man who said. on the first day of
her testimony. she is perfectly simple
and simply perfect.
jerome Digs Deep.
In his searching cross-examination
Jerome had gone deeply into The life that
Mrs. Evelyn Thaw had led in that circle
of acquaintances TO whom Broadway and
the theaterS are all well acquainted. The
purpose OF the cross examination was, Of
course, to tear her story TO pieces. bit by
bit, until the whole Of il stood discredited.
and few. If any. of those who heard her
testimony from start 10 finish believe that
this purpose was achieved.
It must never be forgotten, to be sure.
that the rules Of evidence forbid. for the
most part. the introduction OF direct evil
.dence 10 discredit her story The only
point legally deemed material is whether
she told all these things to Harry Thaw,
some features Of young Mrs ThaWs tes-
timony stand well proven already.
It is well established for example. that
Stanford White knew her we'll aud was
frequently with her Documentary evi-
dence had demonstrated that he paid CON
siderable Sims OF money 10 her and 70 her
mother But the truth or falsity OF many
of the charges ahe made against the archI-
tcct canpot be established az this trial
Jerome's last effort TO discredit that
part Of her testimony relating to the
paper she signed for White and which
the defense contends was an affidavit
making charges OF cruelty and abduction
against ThaW. was the principal feature
OF the trial to-day II failed slgnally.
Abc HummeI Called.
Jerome started the day With this effort.
When court opened he called Abe Hum
mel to the stand. and there was presented
forthwith an unusual spectacle. Il ex-
hibitcd a prosecuting officer calling to the
witness stand a man who not long ago
was convicted of conspiracy as the result
of a prosecution engineered by that same
prosecuting officer.
Young Mrs. Thaw testified that she
had never signed any affidavit for Hum
mel The district attorney called Hum
mel and a clerk employed in his Office
in 1903 to testify that she had furnished
the material for that affidavit and mad
signed ii freely and Of her own accord.
Hummel appeared happy and self-pos-
sessed when he took the witness stand
in the same courtroom where he was
convicted He answered JerOme's ques-
tIOns, so far as he was allowed to answer
in Il crisp voice that everybody could
hear But he was not allowed to answer
very many of them. He got so far as
tesufying that Miss Nesbit came 70 his
office on October p. 1903. Jerome then
worked up 20 the subject of the affidavit
by asking If he dictated a statement In
Miss Nesbits presence. when Delmas
arose with his first objection. He said
that the rules Of evidence forbade any
such effort TO discredit the statement Of
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw-
Jerome tried 10 meet the objection b.
saying that he was not making any such
direct effort, but was merely trying 30
establish the eKactness of a certain paper
in order that he might cross-examine the
witness upon it. But the court held that
Harry Thaw's wife, havinb testified that
there was no such paper; that If it
ever existed, il had been destroyed: it
was not in order, at that time, to try to
prove its former existence.
HummeI AccompIishes Nothing.
So the district attorney gave it up. and
Hummel left the stand without having
contributed much to the undoing of the
defense. IS the few remaining questions
that Jerome had to put to Mrs Thaw
ELECTED little OF consequence, she left the
witness stand for the last time with the
story she told IN her direct examination
still standing intact in nearly every ma
teTial point She had stood the strain
splendidly. and appeared in no way ia
tigued by her long examination
A good deal of attention has been at
tracted by the stand that Mrs Holman.
young Mrs Thaws mother has taken in
furnishing TO the district attorney a good
deal Of the material BY which he prepared
his cross-eXamination Of Harry Thaw's
wife. 1t was probably this fact that in
duced Delmas 10 ask the young witness
to-day about money that White con-
tributed. He got her to identify a num-
Der Of checks which showed that Miss
Nesbit's mother received from Stanford
White between May, 1902. and May, 1858.
about S3,325.
Reads from Little Book.
While the questions Jerome asked Eve
lyn Thaw to-day bore very lightly on the
subject Of her relations with White. they
added several Illuminating touches to the
picture of her own life and nature that
the district attorney has painted for the
benefit of the jury. Most of them were
contributed by extracts from a little.