Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-08
PUBLIC INTEREST GROWS.
Jerome Gathers in Chorus Girls to Re
flute Testimony,

flute Testimony.
NEW YORK, February S.-Public interest
in the Thaw trial grows with its progress
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw's ordeal has only be-
gun. Although she was on the witness stand
practically all of yesterdays session she had
only brought her narrative down to the
time when, after repeatedly refusing to
marry Thaw, she had returned to the stage.
This was in 1903.
Today she will take up the story where
she left of last night, and it is quite proba-
BILE that a great part of today's session, If
not all of 1t, will be taken up with the con-
tinuation of her testimony. Although the
story Mrs. Thaw told was simply the story
as she had told 1t to Thaw, and which Is
supposed to have unhinged his mind, Attor-
ney Delmas announced that the defense
would not take advantage Of the law which
would make 1t impossible for the district
attorney to attack the truth Of any state
ment in 1t. and would give the prosecution
every opportunity to refute it.
Terrific Ordeal.
It IL doubtful If any woman ever UNDER
went a more terrible ordeal than did Evelyn
Nesbit Thaw yesterday. She told her story
in the main without breaking down. al
though the mental strain under which she
is laboring was plainly marked, and her
fresh, resonant voice penetrated to
every corner of the court room and yet
trembled with emotion But when she
reached the crucial part of her tale she
wept bitterly, although she held up her head
and let her tears fall unheeded, 80 earnest
Is she in her effort to tell, no matter at what
cost to herself anything that may be of
value to the cause of the defendant, who
made her his wife in spite of all.
While today's testimony may lack the
dramatic and sensational features of yes
terday's 1t will be no less important, for
%hox F1~ h41,, xo1I
CURED before Thaw made Evelyn Nesbit
his wife, The defense will now try to show
that subsequent acts Of Stanford White so
infiamed the mind Of the young husband
that he became mentally unbalanced; that
while In this condition he fired the shots
which made him, as he believed, the instru-
ment Of Providence in avenging these
wrongs. This Is the theory Of the defense,
and this must be established on the testi-
mony of Harry Thaw's wife, If at all.
Does Not Look to Be Twenty-Five.
AS she appears in court Evelyn Nesbit
Thaw does not look even her twenty-five
years. She is dressed in a plain dark blue
gown with a long coat and wears broad
white linen collar. Her hat is dark and
brim, and Is trimmed with a small bunch Of
violets. She wears her hair, in loose
knot low on her neck, tied with large
black ribbon. Her face is marked with
delicate eyebrows and long lashes. Her
eyes are large and dark and appealing and
her hair requires frequent brushing back
from her eyes. Her slender figure is tense
with excitement and her voice Is usually
firm and clear. Her story has evidently
been we'll rehearsed, for she tells it clearly
and effectively. Her manner Is sincere and
apparently unaffected, and If Harry Thaw
escapes the death chair he will largely have
his wife to thank for 1t.
No court case that has ever been tried
in New York has attracted the attention
given to the Thaw trial. The prominence
Of the defendant and the victim and the
wide publicity given to the tragedy have
made it the most talked-of case Of the dec
ade. More than fifty newspaper writers.
including representatives of many European
journals are present at every session, and
keep order in the criminal courts building.
Court Room Small
The court room is small, and for every
one who secures admission hundreds are
disappointed. These disappointed ones
throng the corridors, hoping to catch a
glimpse of the defendant or of one of the
women in the case, until they are driven
out by the police. The ratings of the three
upper galleries of the great stone court in
the center of the building are crowded
whenever there ia a chance that Thaw may
pass along that gallery on the second floor
of the building or. on his E way between S;S nth, the
connects the criminal court building with
the Tombs across the street.
In an effort to offset the effect of the
testimony given by Mrs. Thaw yesterday by
attacks on her credibility, since he will
have no opportunity Of more direct refuta-
ton, the district attorney searched the city
last night for those chorus girls whose
names he has long had as being able to
throw light on the relations that existed
between Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White.
Nine of the county detective stan were sent
to the Tenderloin last night and told to
'bring in the witnesses. Two hours after
midnight three young women had been
found, and, under watch, spent the night
in an uptown hotel.