The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-02-07
Trial OF HARRY K. THAN
Trial of Harry X. Thaw is Now
Well Begun
THE CASE FOR THE STATE GIVEN
The Thaw Case Fully Before the
Court-Plea of Insanity the Prin-
cipal Defense.

New York, Special.-The State
laid its case against Harry K. Thaw
Ia plain unemotionl story of the
shooting on the Madison Square Gar
den roof, leaving the malice and the
motive to be inferred from the act
and the defense replied with a plea of
hereditary insanity. 1t was asserted
that Thaw, in staying Stanford White
believed2h Re was acting as an agent of
Providence, that real or fancied
wrongs committed against him by the
architect and former friend Of his
wife had boiled and dubbed In his
brain until at last there came the
explosive impulse to kill. When the
deed was done, Thaw made no move
to escape its consequences, but hold
ing the fatal revolver aloft, he stood
mutely proclaiming to the world:
"The deed is done; it was right; it
was not wrong,
Thus Thaw's counsel outlined his
case to the jury, after the prosecu-
ton had occupied less than two hours
of the morning sitting of the court
in relating through eye-witnesses the
narrative Of the tragedy. When the
defense had i~nterposed its plea and
outlined its case, an adjournment
was taken.
Will Hear Story Of Insanity.
"You will hear the story of this
mans insanity" Attorney John B.
Gleason, for the defense, promised
the jury, "from his mother, from his
wife, from relatives and from his
physicians You will judge him by
his acts, by the heredity and stress
which entered into his madness, and
when you come to judge him you will
say to yourself that his act may have
been one of insanity, but it was not
one of crime"
That Thaw's wife was to be one of
his most important witnesses has
long been known; that his mother,
Mrs. William Thaw, of Pittsburg, was
to take the stand only became known
positively when the court enforced
the rule excluding from the court
room all witnesses save experts.
Thaw's mother, at the command, left
the room after a moment hesitation.
She seemed unwilling to be parted
from her son In the hour of his need.
His wife, too, reluctantly left the
room, bestowing a last radiant smile
of courage and hope upon her pris-
oner-husband. May Mackenzie vas
the third of the women, who have
been daily included in the Thaw par
ty, to leave the court room. Thaw
seemed detected. Many times last
week during the dull days of jury
selection he turned to his wife for
comfort and found her ever ready
with a quick responsive smile. Now
that the serious work of the trial
was to begin he was to be denied her
!, presence.
The Jury Completed.
The jury, as completed follows:
Foreman, Deming B. Smith, 55,
retired manufacturer, married.
; No. 2, George Pfaff, "a, hardware,
married.
No. 8, Chales H. Feicke, 45, ship
, ping agent, married.
No. 4, Oscar A. Pink, 46, sales
: man, married.
E No. 5, Henry C. Harvey, so, pianos
: married.
No. 6, Harry c. Brearley, 35, ad'
vertising agent, married.
q No. Z, Malcolm Fraser, 40, sales
man, married.
No. s, Charles D. Newton, IS, re
tired railway official, married.
e No. 9, Wilbur S. Steele, 60, manu-
n facturer, married.
No. 10, John S.. Dennee, 38, rail
e way freight agent, married.
e No. IL, Joseph B. Bolton, 81, clerk
married.
81 No. II, Bernard Gresham, st
manufacturers agent, married.