The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-02-28
EXPERTS ONLY.
Day in ThaW Trial GivCn Up to
Doctors.
DR.. Wagner to Follow DIR. Evans
OH the Stand.
OTHERS TAKE NOTES.
Jerome Has Three Noted Alien
lists by His Side.
Case Is Likely to End I'm About
Two Weeks.
OTHERS TAKE NOTES.

New York, Feb. 2S.-District Attor-
torney Jerome today continued his
cross-exa nination of DIR. Britton ID
Evans. one of the alienists for the de-
tense in the trial of Harry K. Thaw
for the murder of Stanford White. The
entire morning was taken up with
questions concerning details of certain
of Thaw's letters which have been ad-
mitted in evidence. DR.. Evans would
examine the letters closely from time
to time, and Mr.. Jerome was obliged
TO repeat some of his interrogations
many times before securing what he
considered A definite answer. In the
end Dr. Evans said the letters con-
vinced him the writer was insane at
the time of the writing, but not in
sane in the sense that he would al
ways remain insane the expert
added.
There were only half a hundred
spectators in the court room when the
proceedings began today, and half or
these had left by the time the lunch
con recess was ordered.
The long drawn out cross-eXam1na-
tion of DR.. Evans precludes the posi-
bility of the defense concluding its
case this week.
Other Doctors Present.
Perhaps the most Interested man in
the court room yesterday was DR..
Charles G. Wagner, superintendent of
the insane hospital at Binghamton. n.
Y, whose crOss-eXa mination Will fol-
low that of DIR. Evans. He occupied
seat as close to the rail as he could
get and listened intently to every
question and every answer. DIR. Wag-
ner is very different man from DR..
Evans and his cross-examination will
be different. In personal appearance
Dr. Evans is short and thick set with
a florid face, smooth shaven. He talks
fiuently and enters into long explana-
tons in answer to every question
asked him. instead of giving the short,
simple answers which the district at
torney desires. So marked is this that
Mr.. Jerome is often forced to repeat
the question two or three times.
On the other hand, DIR. Wagner is
tall and athletic in n-build and wears a
',@nvy sandy mustache. He is calm
and dignified and SO far on the stand
briefly concisely and decidedly.
Behind Mr.. Jerome during the
crOSs-eXa animation sit three noted
alienists-Dr. Carlos Mcdonald, DR..
They make voluminous notes of the
testimony and Mr.. Jerome confers
with them constantly. 1t is said that
all three of these aIienists will go on
the stand in rebuttal.
While the district attorney has
stated that he would call DR.. AIexan-
der Mclean Hamilton to the witness
stand. there is little chance that he
probable that the rule of physician
and patient will be invoked by the de-
fense. DR.. Hamilton was retained by
the defense soon after the killing of
Stanford White and saw Thaw in the
TOmbS at the request of Thaw's law
yers. When he examined Thaw it was
as a physician in Thaw's employ
There is little chance that the court
viii now allow him to testify for the
prosecution without a specific waver
on the part of the defense. Under the
law relations between physician and
patient are privileged and a physician
not only can not be compelled to
testify regarding them but without
permission of the patient will not be
allowed to do so.
If Mr. Jerome calls DR.. Hamilton
and questions him. the defense. will
without doubt object and the court
probably will uphold the objection
Probably the only thing that Mr..
jerome can gain by calling DR.. Ham
ilton will be the possible effect on the
minds of the jury of the defense's eff
fort to keep him from testifying.
Mr. Delmas stated yesterday that he
expected to finish the defense's direct |
case this week. the sixth of the trial |
If this is done it is likely the case will |
go to the jury within two weeks there. |
after.
DR.. Evans Recalled
New York, Feb. 2S.-When the
Thaw trial was resumed today. DIR. !
Evans was IeC3tleQ ana mis- cross Y /
animation was continued by Mr.. Je-
rome When court adjourned last eve
ming. Dr. Evans was given copies of !
the letters which are in evidence as /
well as the viii and codicil that he |
might be prepared for cross examina-
tion on his theory that the documents |
contain evidence of an unsound mind. |
Mr.. Jerome spent twenty minutes in /
an endeaVor to have DR.. Evans say he /
had carefully read the documents
10 4 60
had done the best he could. Mr.. Je-
rome told him to go ahead and read !
them again and the witness proceeded |
to do so.
DR.. Evans finally stated that several
Of the letters bore no addresses and
Eere therefore of little use in his at
tempt to discover whether the writer
was of sound mind.
DO any of those letters show that
the writer was insane?" asked the dis
trict attorney.
Some of them, in my opinion, show
signs of mental instability
by mental instability do you mean
Not insanity in the sense that he
would remain permanently insane"
DR.. Evans went into a long explana-
ion of the reasons for his theory that
he letters showed mental instability.
Thaw's Letter to Miss Nesbit.
A letter written with a lead pencil
20 Evelyn NeSDlt, ne said. showed lack
II sense of the prOprieties. loss of
he aesthetic sense and various other
hings, from which the doctor believed
he writer was of unsound mind in
Tiew of the environment of wealth and
luxury in which he had been reared
Dr.. Evans also said some of the letters
we're addressed to the girl for whose
land the writer was suing.
Would the fact that the writer had