The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-03-07
THROUGH WITH ONE
INSANITY EXPERT
JEROME RELEASES DR.. EvANe
FROM cRoss-ExAMlNATIoN.
DR.. WAGNER TAKES STAND
Both Alienists Admit Thaw Had In
sane knowledge of What He
Was Doing When He
Shot White.


torney Jerome announced that his ex
haustive cross-examination of DR.,
Britton d. Evans, one of the alienists
for the defense, had been concluded.
DR.. Evans had been under fire since
| Wednesday morning last. He was
Immediately succeeded on the stand
by DR.. Charles G. Wagner, of Bling.
hamton, N. Y, who accompanied DR..
Evans on most of his visits to Thaw
In the Tombs. Mr.. Jerome indicated
by his questioning of DR.. Wagner that
he may conclude with the witness
| Tuesday.
Mrs. William Thaw is expected to
be the next figure in the witness chair.
With Mrs. Thaw's testimony in, the
defense will practically have complet-
ed its case, and it seems likely that
the states case in rebuttal may be
begun before the end Of the week.
jerome Feels Rampered.
Just what District Attorney Jerome
will be able to prove on rebuttal re-
mains quite as much of a mystery as
ever. He complained Monday, in seek
ing broad Interpretation of the rules
| of evidence by Justice Fitzgerald,
that if he should call any of the de-
fense's alienists in rebuttal they might
refuse on the ground of professional
privilege to answer any questions put
| to them. This seems to indicate that
| Mr.. Jerome's threat to- call Allan Nc
| Lane Hamilton in rebuttal carries
with it the possibility that DR.. Hamil-
ton may not testify, for at the time. he
made the examination of Thaw in the
| Tombs he was in the employ of the
prisoners counsel.
1t is not yet exactly clear to the lay
mind to what extent the district attor-
ney can go in disproving Mrs. Evelyn
Nesbit Thaw's testimony. He has adj
mitted that even if he could show
| Stanford White was out of the coun-
try at the time of the alleged expert
ence with Evelyn Nesbit in the TWEEN
| ty-fourth street studio, he would not
be allowed to do so on the ground that
1t would be a collateral fact. 1t APP
pears, however, that the prosecutor
|
| Thaw in cases where she said she
made certain statements to a third
party. In this connection Mr.. Jerome
has indicated that he will call Howard
Nesbit to testify that his sister told
him Thaw had treated her cruelty be-
cause she would not tell lies about
Stanford White.
Says Thaw Knew What He Was Doing.
Dr. Evans left the witness stand
subject to recall for redirect examina-
ton. The witness protected the inter
ests of the defense quite keenly
throughout his cross-eXamination, and
at all times appeared a match for the
district attorney. He, however, admit
ted that Thaw had an insane knowl-
edge of what he was doing on Madi-
son Square roof garden the night he
shot and killed Stanford White. The
New York statutes provide that to be
exempt from punishment for crime an
insane person must be so demented
as not to know the nature or quality
Of his act, or to know that the act is
wrong. "
In explaining Thaw's actions subse-
quert to the shooting-his quiet de
mealor, his directions as to what
should be done with his wife and who
should be sent for-Dr. Evans de-
clared that as soon as the defendant
shot Stanford White the brain storm
subsidized and his senses began to re-
organize themselves so that the man
knew quite we'll what he was about.
He also knew he was attacking Stan
ford White when he shot, DR.. Evans
admitted, but the knowledge was that
of an insane man and the act was the
result of insane reasoning.
Dr. Wagner Admits Same.
DR.. Wagner also declared that Thaw
had irrational knowledge of what was
transpiring on the roof garden. He
believed the mans insanity dated
from the time Evelyn Nesbit told him
her story in Paris in 1898. DR.. Wag.
ner created quite stir in court by
using the present tense in responding
to question by District Attorney
Jerome as to what form Of insanity
/ Thaw "has or had" DR.. Wagner de-
calred Thaw us suffering from symp-
toms which lead toward melancholic
state and state of dementia praecox.
When asked to describe the latter
phase. DR.. Wagner said it covered
such wide field Of dementia as to be
| difficult of strict definition DR.. Wag-
| ner declared Thaw's condition OF miad
at the time of the shooting was the
result of one Of the insanlties of ado.
lescence. He would not go further
than this in an attempt to classify the
exact form.
The district attorney continued his
somewhat puzzling tactics. His ques-
tioning of Dr. Evans seemed to have
the purpose Of showing that Thaw
never was insane to the extent CON
templated by the criminal statutes of
this state Again. with Or. Wagner,
he pointed toward the same end at
one time and at another seemed de-
sirous OF having DR.. Wagner admit
that Thaw was suffering from forms
of Insanity which might be incurablc,