Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-10
that occasion the instrument Of Gods provi-
dence, he was in error?

Goods Promise Redeemed"
Against the great wrong that had been
done, against the infamy that was being
daily and nightly perpetrated. he had ap-
pealed to man. he had appealed to Com
stock, he had appealed to the district attor-
ney, he had appealed to the Pinkertons.> and
he could find no relief. He could build with
them no bulwark against this invading tide
of corruption. And on that night he raised
his eyes to God, and God at last answered
the cry Of the poor, fatherless child, as He
had promised thousands Of years ago to the
children Of Israel that He would hear and
He would answer that cry. And God re-
deemed the promise that He had then made,
that those who afflicted the fatherless child,
II they cried unto Him, would surely be
heard, and He would smite them and kill
them with the sword, and He would bring
desolation unto their own homes and He
would make their wives widows and their
children fatherless.
All. gentlemen, what was his condition
OF mind at that time? Men, Judge your
fellow-man as We would be judged. And In
order SO to judge him, place yourselves,
as far as in your power lies, in the spot
where he stood, surround yourselves with
the thoughts and the circumstances that
surrounded him then. And thus only will
you be able to do him that justice which
you under your oaths have promised to do
Cites Eye-Witnesses' Testimony.
Gentlemen, three witnesses have testified
who were present at that time-one Of
whom knew Harry X. Thaw well. The
other two, though strangers comparatively
or absolutely to him, men of intelligence
Mr. Martin Green. a gentleman engaged In
responsible newspaper work. who saw the
tragedy, saw the acts of the defendant at
that time, and Mr.. Lionel Strauss, an art
list, who also saw him; Mr.. Thomas Nc
Caleb. friend, who was accompanying
the wife. and who also saw, concurrently
testified that at that time, judging from
his looks, his actions and his appearance,
Mr. Thaw was irrational.
You have the testimony Of the prison
guard who spent the rest of the night
with him, who tells you-and this is a most
important circumstance that l call to your
mind that even when he was shut up in a
cell in that prison, where no sound could
reach him from the floor above, at the
dead hour Of night, at 2 or o'clock in the
morning, he insisted to the guard that he
heard the voices of young girls crying for
help. The guard did not hear them. No
human ear could hear them. But in the
excitement of the moment, in the per-
turbed condition of his mind, In the agita-
ton which the images of these then
brought upon him, these same children, to
whose rescue he had devoted his time,
seemed to be heard by him appealing for
protection
What other evidence have you, gentle
men, of the condition of mind of Mr.. Thaw
at that time? On August 10, and again a
short time thereafter, Mr.. Thaw, then in
the Tombs prison, was visited by DR.. Bin
gaman Now, DR.. Bingaman had been his
physician from infancy. He knew what
manner of man he was. He knew his pecu-
liarities. his temperament. his physical a 9
we'll as his mental constitution. And what
does DR.. Bingaman tell you of his condi
ton? DR.. Bingaman found him laboring
under delusions: found him, in his opinion,
irrational; and among the decisions under
yy-p irn thn1 Lob t. x70;~
he had done he had acted as :he agent Of
Providence. The doctor had noted the
strange change that had come over Mr..
Thaw in November, 1903. He had noted
guine temperament to that of detection and
gloom: and he tells you and repeats that
on the occasion Of three visits to the Tombs,
in his opinion as physician, with this ex-
perience, Mr.. Thaw was irrational-that is,
out of his mind. Upon the especial value
OF this worthy and estimable physician l
shall have occasion in a few moments to
comment. l pass it by at the present mo-
ment.
Then. gentleman, about the same
time that DR.. Bingaman visited Mr..
Thaw you have him visited by DR.. Evans
and by DR.. Wagner-gentlemen who it is
not too much to say stand without supe-
rior in that particular branch of learning
In which long experience has enabled them
to form judgments which ordinary men
could not so accurately form to the
mental cONulllON OIL perSOnS-lOr Iney eacn
have under their care from one years end
to the other, and have had for ten or fifteen
years past, from 1850 to $50 unfortunates
thus afflicted with mental alteration. DR..
Wagner and DR.. Evans made repeated visits
to NJ Thaw and they found him unmis-
takably at that time of unsound mind
DR.. Hamilton had visited Mr.. Thaw at an
earlier period-as early as the 9th of June
but had made four visits, beginning the
first that day, and the last ending on
the 10th of July. During the examination
of DR.. Evans, you will recall, the learned
district attorney called upon him to express
his opinion as to DR.. Allan McLane Haml-
toms rank, standing and ability as an alien
list. DR.. Evans naturally shrank from ex-
pressing an opinion about brother prac-
titioner who might be called in hostility to
him upon the stand, and demurred to the
question. And thereupon substantially the
following dialogue took place: When the
learned district attorney insisted that the
question was proper and that similar
question had been allowed in a case that
had been tried in the northern part Of the
state, where one physician called as an ex-
pert had been forced to give his opinion
about another physician equally called as an
expert, his honor asked the district attor-
ney, DO you intend to call Dr. Hamilton
as witness?" and thereupon the learned
district attorney, who intended to get
favorable ruling from the court upon the
precedent in the Preusser case, said, Yes.
l will call him II the other side do not" l
am stating the incident with absolute &C
curacy l am certain, gentlemen. And sure
enough when this row of experts Cndcat-
ing) was strung along here dndicating) to
uphold the case of the learned district at
torney Allan McLane Hamilton appeared
among the rest, and he had been subpoenaed
by the learned district attorney as one of
his witnesses, as the man whom he was
going to call, as the man whom he had
pledged himself under the sanction of his
official obligation and official oath, pledged
himself in his promise to the court that he
would call as a witness for the people,
And the other learned gentlemen were
called, and one by one testified and one
by one were very briefly disposed Of And
DIR. Allan McLane Hamilton sat in his
chair, and the learned district attorneys
promise was not fulfilled, and the learned
district attorneys official pledge was not
redeemed, and DR.. Allan McLane Hamil-
ton was not called by him.
Why DR.. Hamilton Was Not Called
And you have right to infer why he
was not called upon. And you have
right to bolster your inference by the fact
that when we called him to the stand the
learned district attorney objected to his
testifying. What is the logical, what is
the inevitable, what is the memorable infer
ence? That If DIR. Allan McLane Hamil-
ton had been called by the learned district
attorney and then placed upon the stand
he the physician who had seen Harry K