Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-14

good friends. We got over it as soon as
the weather cleared. 1t was a good deal so
while we were in session in the Thaw case.
We were tired and weary, and anxious to
do our duty We saw it, but it made
us Disguised that we could not induce
everybody to see the matter as We saw
it, This, under the strain of endless argu-
ment and bodily WEAKNESS, simply drove
everybody into a condition of obstinacy
which, 1 am afraid, was in some cases, I'M
Intelligent After twelve men have been
sitting in one small room for two days
arguing they not in the best condition
to be reasonable. Hence the bitterness that
developed between certain of the Thaw
jurors, a bitterness which, I am sorry to
say, remained to the end of our long vigil
Medical Commission.
The outcome of the Thaw case and the
news that came from the jurors after they
were dismissed is likely to furnish argu-
ments to back up the proposal of DIR. Allan
McLane Hamilton that all medical expert
testimony to insanity shall be given by
a state commission which shall hold Office
permanently and be paid entirely by the
state. The Thaw jurors seem to have paid
relatively little attention to the expert tes
| timony submitted by both sides during the
trial. Consequently they threw it out, and
each man made up his mind as to Thaws
sanity upon the basis of the defendants
acts and writings as they appeared to him.
1t now appears likely that ii will be many
year before any lawyer defending client
accused of murder will be so rash as to
throw overheard in his summing up all the
defenses that are made acceptable by the
law of the state and appeal instead to the
so-called higher or ''unwritten'' law. All
the accounts agree that the Thaw jury
voted from the start to finish upon their
respective beliefs to whether Thaw was
or was not insane when he shot Stanford
White and upon nothing else whatevo:.
Sane From One Viewpoint.
Public attention has been called by this
new celebrated case to the gross inconsis-
tencies existing between the medical and
the legal views of insanity. Off example,
it appears that Thaw might have been in
condition which alienists would call insane
when he shot White. and yet have been
perfectly sane from the laws point of view
A paranoiac, for example, is man who
suffers from more or less systematiZed de-
lusions. Such man might be perfectly
capable of knowing what he was doing and
that it was wrong. Yet no expert could
possibly call him sane man.
But still more curious state of affairs
IS revealed by considering the fact that
the law requires perfectly different stand
ards of sanity at the time of the commits
sion of the crime and at the time of the
trial. At the time a crime is committed
a sane man in the eyes of the law is one
who understands the nature and quality of
the act and that it is wrong. But the laws
view of a sane man at the time of his trial
Is merely that he shall be capable of ad-
vising his counsel properly in the conduct
of his trial. And that the scope of the
inquiry of the lunacy commission that de-
clared Thaw sane. By its finding this COM
mission declared only that the defendant
was capable of properly advising his coun-
sci in his trial.
Has One Delusion.
1t is well known that a paranoiac is often
perfectly and eminenty sane upon other
subjects but the one delusion that affiicts
him. So long as you do not start him on
that subject you will never discover that
he is not normal. So long as that is the
case the man is sane. but no man who is
likely, if conditions are right, to be sudden
ly transformed from cool, logical, normal
human being into homcdal maniac can
poSSipiS Dt Cdiltu SdHe ct tnlS, II Is as
serted on good authority, is the kind of
insanity Mr.. Jeromes experts believed
Thaw to be suffering from.
There is good ground for believing. even
now. that if the Thaw jury had returned a
verdict of murder in the first degree. as
seven of them desired to do, the prosecu-
tor, actuated by his belief of the experts
he employed would have done everything
he possibly could do to prevent the prison.
er from being put to death.
Clean Sweep of Lawyerc.
There is to be practically clean sweep
in the lawyers who have been represent
ing Harry X. Thaw. Both the members
of the Thaw family and the lawyers who
have been representing him are dissatis-
fed with the outcome of the trial. Thaw
thinks that he should have been acquitted
Some of his relatives of the opinion
that the lawyers who have been actively
engaged in the case bungled. AS a result
only one of the lawyers who have been
looking after Thaws affairs is now recog-
nized by the Thaws. He is Daniel O'Reilly
All of the Thaw lawyers deny that they
are out of the case, except O Reilly. He
says he is still in it, and has been re-
tanned for any proceedings that may de-
velop.
One thing is certain, Dolphin Michael
Delmas, the Pacific slope orator. will not
take part in a second trial, should there
be one. There will be a second trial some
time in the fall unless in the meantime
Thaw should convince the Tombs physi-
clans and others that he is insane.
Will Oppose Bond for Thaw.
There were many stories today as to how
the Thaw family and their lawyers felt
From the prosecution there was little. Dis
trict Attorney Jerome went to his home
at Lakeville, Conn, for a rest until We'd
nesday. He reiterated his statement that
he will oppose any application for bail
for Thaw, and he thinks his grounds for
doing so. based on the standing of the jury
and the way they reasoned, will convince
any supreme court justice that Thaw