The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1907-02-14
HARRY THAW'S DEFENSE OUTLINED

The defense which Harry Thaw,
shot and killed Stanford White, the
well known architect on the Madison
Square roof garden in New York last
summer, remained in doubt until the
past week, when one of his counsel
outlined their case after the jury had
been completed. Subsequent devel-
opments in the case go to show that
counsel for defense are taking adj
vantage of every plea possible, the
plea of insanity being augmented by
the .sunwritten law" self-defense, ETC.
The case is one of the most sensa-
tional which has ever been tried in
the criminal courts of this country,
and is attracting universal attention.
In referring to the case a special has
the following to say:
| 1t was 2:05 when Mr.. Gleason be-
gan the opening address for the de-
fense. The character of the defense
TO be offered in Thaw's behalf was
not dfvulged in his first remarks
You disabuse your minds, gentle
men of the jury he began, "of any
idea or impression that the defense
in the case will rely on anything but
the constitution and the laws of the
imperial State of New York. On
these laws we alone will rely. You
must dismiss all idea that we are to
import into this case any so-called
hi oh 10
rely on all the defenses that the law
allows.
'One of the laws on trial here is
the law as to insanity
The purpose of the defense at last
was disclosed and Mr. Gleason began
to dwell on the subject. He declared
that it would be shown that Thaw
believed that he was acting as an
agent of providence when he killed
White. 1t would also be shown that
the defendant had suffered from tenn
porary or emotional insanity for
years. Mr.. Gleason declared further
that that 1t would be shown that
Thaw acted in self-defense and with
out malice, believing threats had
been made against him by Stanford
White. Mr.. Gleason said Thaw did
not know the nature or quality of his
act at the time he committed it.
1T lies with you and you alone"
continued the attorney addressing the
jury, ''to decide whether or not Thaw
was sane when he killed Stanford
White. You must apply to yourselves
the best of your ability to decide tru-
ly and wisely. 1t is for you to reach
out with that human spirit which
says to any man, no matter how de-
graded, look up and be of good
cheer 1, too, am man, and would
placed in your position.
when you have heard all of the
testimony IN this case and come to
Judge this defendant, I am sure you
will be of the opinion that the de-
fendant's attitude was of insanity and
not one of crime
'Thaw believed that White had
wronged him. The defendant was
from an hereditary insanity
which we find existed in his family
When we show this insanity in the
family, and then show you this mans
an insane man. You gentlemen viii
this. You will under
stand it better than the experts. You
will put yourselves in his position,
and then you have it within your
selves to say what you would have
done You Will understand the stress.
The heredity will be proved.
"Heredfty and stress are the two ;
great causes of insanity. This de- /
fendant suffered from a great stress ,
Of mind. Certain things kept revolv-
ng over and over again in his mind
until his brain was in a whirl of
madness and he felt impe1led by
providence to act in the way he did.
I'VE will not rest the evidence of
insanity on any single act, though
eminent specialists on brain disease
have long held that insanity may be
defined by single act.
IAN insane man." continued Mr..
may express the utmost alb
horrence of all crime, and admit that
murder is wrong, yet when the in
sane impulse comes il separates the ;
act contemplated from the general
idea of crime, and the general con-
sciousness that murder is wrong does ,
not enter into the act at all.
s'Our law declares that a killing is
murder when the man who commits
the act is of sound mind-of sound
mind remember-and when there is ;
malice aforethought, either expressed