The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1907-11-28
Attorneys Agree on Another
Continuance of Second
Hearing of ThaW Case.
CONFIDENCE OF AcoUITTAL
Is Still Entertained by Impatient
Prisoner Littletonto Take
Place of Delmas.


one week from tomorrow will be
postponed, ana there is little chance
that II win be called until some date
well along in January. The decis-
Ion to ask for postponement was
agreed to today by both sides due
70 various reasons.
Thaw. in his cell in the famous old
Tombs prison. which he has occupied
since the night of the tragedy ON
Madison Square Roof Garden June
20. 1906. Is planning for his second
trial with the same confidehce Of
acquitai thatshe prepared for the first
ordeal. He daily advises with his
counsel chafes at the delays already
4 encountered in getting his story be-
fore second Jury and is impatient
Tor Ills days In court to begin.
II Is nearly a year since the first
trial was begun. It covered per-
iod Of twelve weeks and after two
days and two nights Of deliberation
the jury could not agree. Seven Of the
twelve men who heard the dramatic
recital of Evelyn Nesbit Thaw-a
story OF alleged wrongful treatment at
the hands of the noted architect; a
story that was flashed by telegraph
and cable to every part of the civiliz-
ed world and read as one of the most
remarkable utterances ever heard in
a court room--failed to believe that
her confession to her husband justi-
fed him three years later in taking
the life Of the man charged with the
ruin of his chorus-girl wife. They
voted for guilty of murder in the first
degree. Five OF the jurors, on the
other hand, were ready to acquit,
most of them believing that Thaw's
mind had been so upset over the
story OF the girls downfall that he
was bereft of reason and was entitled
to that provision of the law which ex-
cuses a person SO insane as not to
know the nature or quality of his act
and not to know that the act is
wrong. At the police station the
night of the tragedy and afterward in
the city prison Harry Thaw contended
he was acting as an agent of Provi-
dence in sending Stamford White to
his grave.
Great interest centers In the course
OF the defense at the coming trial. 1t
is generally believed that despite any
ideas of justification which Thaw
may believe in, his present lawyers
will confine themselves to making out
a case of legal insanity. This may be
emotional" or hereditary. both of
these phases of the matter having
been gone into at the first trial Six
or seven alienists took the stand at
that hearing and testified that Thaw
had been driven insane by the story
told him when he and the girl who
was to become his wife were stopping
together in Paris. DIR. Britton d.
Evans. superintendent of the New
Jersey State Hospital for the Insane,
made a worldwide stir by expressing
Thaw's condition of mind the night
of the tragedy as "brainstorm"
The dark clouds had been gathering
for a year or more, he declared. and
when Thaw saw White "glowering''
at him on the roof garden, at the
first night of the summer extravagan-
"a known as Mile. Champagne" the
storm broke and Thaw fired.
District Attorney Jerome combatted
this plea with the testimony of seven
experts. all of whom declared that
Thaw's insanity was not such as to
deprive him of knowledge as to the
wrongful nature of his act. Not
withstanding this. however. they
agreed with District Attorney Jerome
that Thaw was medically insane not
only at the time of the shooting but
throughout the trial, during which,
they declared. he was unable intelli-
gently to advise with counsel or to
appreciate the character of the pro-
ceedings against him.
The trial was Interrupted, It will
be remembered, by the appointment
OF a commission at Mr.. Jerome's sug-
gestion to inquire into Thaw's mental
I condition. The commission agreed
unanimously that Thaw was able to
: advise intelligently with counsel and
to understand all OF the proceedings
in court They examined the young
m;llionaire both mentally and physic-
ally and he came out of the tests with
out the theory OF the defense that
Thaw had suffered from brain
4 storm and that his condition had
wonderfully improved during his stay
in jail. It was contended that with
s. the death of White the force which
had fomented the disorder was re.
moved and that the clouds of blind
2 insanity had broken away.
When the trial was resumed, how
ever. and the arguments were begun
Thaw's principal counsel, Dolphin NJ
Delmas. who came with brilliant
reputation from the Pacific Coast t.
take charge of the case. threw dowr
the substantial structure Of legal in,
= sanity which had been built up. toss
ed it literally out OF the window, and
made his plea unreservedly on the
"unwritten law" He pictured with