Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-20

| bit Thaw today entered upon the or
deal of her cross examination and be-
| fore District Attorney jerome had had
| the witness in charge half an hour he
| had secured from the court Il ruling
which apparently opens the way for
| bringing into the trial OF Harry ~
| Thaw all manner Of evidence which
| may tend to discredit the. defendants
| " lie. Heretofore il has been held that
| the rule Of evidence projected young
| Mrs. Thaw and that regardless of
| whether her story was true or false
the fact that she had told it to her hu5-
band was the one essential point. Mrs
| ThaW had been allowed to repeat the
story 50 that the jury might judge as
| to its effect in Infringing the mind of
| the man on the stand to answer for the
murder Of Stanford White.
Nh Jerome by 4 simple question.
opcncd the way for the introduction Of
| testimony tending to show the truth
or falsity of Mrs. ThaW's story. ii"
| asked the witness:
Was the story you told Mr.. Thaw
| true"
1T was" she replied firmly
Mir. Delmas. ThaW leading counsel,
objected strongly 20 the question but
Justice Fitzgerald held it t. he COM
| pntrnt as tending to show the credi-
biIity Of the witness. Whether NJ
| jerome intends to take advantage OF
| the ruling i'll IN attempt 70 throw
doubt upon the truth Of the story or
| whether Justice Fitzgerald intended
| his ruling to cover the whole subject
of Mrs ThawS evidence, the future
conduct Of the case alone can deter
mine.
The district attorney seemed rcluc-
| tant to begin the cross examination OF
| Mrs. Thaw today, desiring to have tn"
| matter postponed until Thursday
| morning in order that he might deter
| mine whether or not Il further cX-
| animation of the witness was neceS-
| sary on the issues involved in the case.
| after have looked further into the
| matter | may decide to crOsS-"Xamlne
| Mrs. Thaw." Mr.. Jerome stated to the
| court. "Or I may waive my right II
| when all the testimony as to the in
| sanity of this defendant is in | shall be
honestly of the opinion that he was in
| sane at the time this act was COM
| mitted | do not care to take up the
time Of the jury ana this court con-
tending
| Mr.. Dclmas here Interrupted Mr.
Jerome. He wanted to know if the
district attorney meant that if he was
honestly convinced that Thaw was in
sane when he shot Stanford White he
would abandon prosecution.
Il promise nothing" retorted the
prosecutor
| \ wordy conflict ensued. during
which Mr. Jerome limited at broken
condolences and evasion of Stipula-
tions. He declared he did not wish to
humiliate the witness with a cross
examination which he might deem I'M
necessary.
} However. if l am forced to 10 it. I
: WILL" said Mr.. Jerome with something
of 4 menace in his tone.
You may proceed" replied Mr.. Del
mas.
: Mrs. Thaw appearing more than
} ever like a school girl in the simple
; little blue suit and black velvet hat
} she has worn ever since the trial be-
; gan. moved bit nervously in the big
witness chair ana awaited Mr.. Jcrome's
| opening questions. They had to do
with her signatures to certain papers.
some of which the prosecutor declared
l
had drawn from the Mercantile Trust
/, Co., in 1902-S25 a week.
Fl Mr.. Delmas protested against the
/ district attorney making these state
t ments and noted an exception. Mrs
r Thaw said she was not sure that all
| of the signatures were not her own
I they looked very much her writing she
= added. Who provided the money for
. the girl at the Mercantile Trust Co
I was not developed.
/, Mrs. Thaw's confidence grew as the
cross-cxamination went on and she
was always ready with an answer. Mr.
Jerome jumped from point to point in
her story and under the Plea Of testing
9 lhcr credibility was allowed to ask many
ipertinent questions.
. Mr.. Jerome brought our that Mrs
Thaw had written to Stanford White
. from Bologne after Thaw had proposed
| to her in Paris.
/ ..D;d ,-a,, uISo anbIe Mr. Whiteo" he