New-York tribune., 1907-04-13
TIE THAW CASE.

The failure of the Thaw jury to reach YER
dict is Il disappointing result. Though the dis
agreement will be generally regarded as far less
lamentable than an acquittal would have been,
the trial has been so extremely protracted ana
so expensive to the community and SO full OF
obnoxious features that every one will regret the
necessity of rehearslng it in public again.
vulgar Tenderloin tragedy. as Mr.. Jerome justly
called il, with heroine and hero" who
lived the life Of the Tenderloln from their
teens. it cost the life of a man of genius, whose
reckless diversions brought him into contact
with women of the neither world like Evelyn
Nesbit. a shocking charge against the slain
man was the most painful feature of this sor-
did trial, and to this no opportunity of con-
tradiction lay open. True or false, 1t was
equally valid evidence. Even if false, 1t went
before the court not TO be questioned, not TO
be assailed, not to be disproved, a triumphant
bit Of malignity.
No incident in the whole trial, revolving as
much of it was to the moral sense, produced so
disagreeable an impression on the community
as the lmpOssibility under the rules Of evidence
Of defending a dead mans character against
charge Of the basest villany. There certainly
Justice failed. If that charge was a foul as
persion upon the slain mans memory, Justice
demanded its disproof We are entering into
no apology for the private life of Stanford
White, but the exagGeratlOn of sinner, If ne
was one. into the vilest monster, the Staying
Of the character after the Staying of the man.
for the defence of the slayer, with the aid and
sanction of the law. whose rules Of evidence
afforded no protection 70 the dead mans men,
ory, offends the public sense of justice. In say
ing this we have no disposition to criticise
the court Far from II, for We commend its
patience, learning and impartlality. Evelyn
ThaW's testimony as to the shocking story which
she swOre she told her husband raised an
usual question Of law and undoubtedly logic
made 1t Of value as evidence whether false or
true. and thence arose the imnateriality Of its
disprOof
Unquestionably this incident has caused a
public feeling Of impatience with the technical
rules of evidence. The general sentiment is that
they have broken down In this case, working a
substantial injustice, and that the jury had
right TO know In the interests OF justice in its
brOadest sense by other modes than innuendo
and insnuatiOn that White was elsewhere than
in the oath street house the night of the
alleged outrage, and that no known drug could
produce the remarkable effects sworn to by
Evelyn Thaw. The knowledge of these facts,
which the public has through the newspapers,
would have helped the jury to reach verdict.
as it has. indeed, enabled the public TO make up
its mind regarding this sensational case.
Inc OAStIiCl attorney peFIOrI0eU genuine
public service in his hard-headed riddllng Of that
new and wonderful defence, dementid amer
icdnG. Without reference 10 the real question
Of the prisoners sanity at the time Of his deed,
there was no excuse for the Introduction in this
case Of the unwritten law dressed up as denlen-
tia Americana. There are cases in which the
sympathy Of rightminded, law-abiding citizens
goes out TO the man who takes the law into his
own hands; and the decisive expression OF that
sentiment Ia q verdict Of acquttal In such a
case, though 1t may be deprecated on grounds OF
public policy, can be understood. But Thaws
career IS notorious. He belongs 70 what EVELYN
In her sophisticated teens called the "Tenderloin
bunch" and this outburst OF uncomfortable
passion" this "dementiG Americana" as 1t was
called, against man charged with having had
Evelyn Nesbit as a mistress, came only after he
himself had Haunted her about Europe as his
own mistress. That, in the general opinion
makes poor case for the "unwrltten law"
We recognize in this, thank heaven nothing of
the typically American defence Of womanly
virtue and repute. There is moreover nothing
OF American chiValry in the sacrifice of the
wife's character on the witness stand OF her
life in the Tenderloin Of this city and the sim
liar section Of Paris only vague rumOrs had
reached the public before the trial Now in all
Its shame 1t is revealed. and the higher law"
cuts sorry figure, as Mr. jerome well put it,
hiding behind a wOmans petticoats"
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