The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-10
JEROMt'S TURN.

! JER0ME'S TURN.
Continued from Page Oneo
| and words after the killing and said
| that there was not one thing that did
1 not show absolute calmness, GOODNESS
and nationality.
Rational and Calm.
He was rational, he was calm and
| COOL, went on the district attorney.
He walks up to his enemy, after
carefully locating him and carefully
| takes aim. He does not take any
chances of hitting any one else. You
| are told his face was white. Here was
a man who had nursed an enmity for
| three years. who for three years had
glared at his enemy until, after good
1 dinner and hearing the story of two
| men and woman in which Truxton
Beale.. had figured. deliberately shoots
| down his enemy. Is it any wonder he
was white? Is the killing of a human
| being thing SO common that a man
| can do it without turning pale?
| You locate your enemy, you locate
| the man who blackballed you at clubs,
\ who, you say, raVished your wife who
spreads stories of perversion about
you, you shoot him down, and then
come here with your -dementia
| Americana
| 1T is absurd. Why the crime bristles
with generalization. Unexplained it is
| murder in the first degree A man
| shoots down his enemy, who, no matter
! how bad he may be- is entitled to the
protection of the law. Let him be
blacker than the cloak of midnight
which counsel yesterday threw about
| his memory and I say he still has d
right to believe that the laws of this
| community would protect
Who made this man the executioner
| of Stanford White? Had he no right
| to Dut his faith n IA of
| state? Must man go armed here as in
| mining camp? There is nothing in
| this direct case, gentlemen, that does
not show cold blooded premeditated
murder. And to this what answer is
made? L was insane when 1 went
| thirty feet across that room and fired
| three shots into mans head, did not
know 1t was pistol 1 held in my
hands; did not know it was Stanford
White, my enemy, was shooting; did
not know the nature and quality of my
act and 1 did not know that it was
wrong
Gentlemen, when the law says that
when man does not know any act is
wrong he is excusable, it does not mean
that in his opinion it is not wrong, but
that his mental condition is such that
he does not know the act is legally
wrong. When the anarchists in the
Chicago Haymarket threw the bombs
they had nothing against the policeman
whom they killed; they were simply de-
luded men who believed it was their
duty to kill all the representatives of
law and order; but they knew that I'M
der the law the act was wrong
''The Angel Child"
When Mr.. Jerome took up the testi-
mony of Evelyn Thaw he was very eff
fective. He spoke with much vehem-
ence in defense of Stanford White and
his words fairly briStled with sarcasm
when he had occasion to refer to
ThaW c the ftCt n
Evelyn as "tf1e angel child
White, he designated as a man of
position in the community and a
genius. He pointed out that there is
not a particle of evidence to show that
White made any. insidious advances
toward Evelyn after coming into her
life, that he dazzled her childish mind
with rich gifts: out on. the contrary he
helped her only by presents of neces-
sary wearing apparel. White, he de-
clared.. never piled the girl with wine,
for she herself admitted that he never
permitted her to drink more than one
glass.
Mr. Jerome rounded out his defense
of White with the declaration that "a
man may not be virtuous. he may be
unchaste. but it does not follow that
he is a brute"
Then District Attorney Jerome
dwelt at length upon the occurrences
in the Twenty-fourth street studio as
related by Evelyn Thaw on the wit
AANSo oee@AAN anu k'OAAANCo Jul what lie uO-
clared were many serious discrepan-
cies in her narrative. He laid great
stress upon the fact that although the
girl could remember what transpired
during her Journeys through Europe
she could not fix the time within three
months, when as she claimed, she was
outraged by Stanford White. He
characterized the. occurrence in the
studio as most extraordinary, par
ticularly as she. the victim. was a
member of the 'Florodora' chorus"