The Washington herald., 1907-03-17


by DeImas, chief counsel for the defense,
that there was no sense in making a stub
born effort TO have the affidavit excluded.
Delmas will make the usual technical oh
jections To cover himself on the record,
but it is said that he does not intend TO
go beyond that
The Thaw lawyers say that they have
very little evidence to put in against Je-
rOme's rebuttal Six witnesses will be
called. There viii be four experts. Two
of them will be Drs Hammond and Jel-
life Who the other two are the defense
is trying to keep a secret.
The fate of the .brainstorm hangs in
the balance. Just as the public had made
up it's mind that it knew ali about this
newest discovery of science. and had
adopted it into the language, along comes
another man of medicine and swears that
there is not any such thing known to
scientists.
Depends Upon BrainstOrm.
The position of the Thaw jury is get
ting more and more lamentable with the
passage of every day. 1t is easily seen
that good deal in this case depends
upon the brainstorm, because if Harry
Thaw had a brainstorm when he killed
Stanford White. it would manifestly be
unjust TO send him to the electric chair.
But if there is. not any such thing as q
brainstorm. he certainly could not have
had one when he shot White
The jury heard DR.. Evans and DIR. Wag-
ner give it Us their opinion. as scientific
men, that Thaw was insane when he did
the shooting. That was a long time ago,
and this week they heard six more doc
tors give it as their opinion, as scientific
men. that Thaw was sane VIXEN the killing
was done. Monday or the next day more
doctors viii take the stand and tell the
jury that the defendant was, in their
opinion. as scientific men, insane at that
time
It is pretty hard to see how the jury
can do anything but shake dice to see
which view they viii accept, and il also
appears as if this direct issue between the
scientists would do more TO create in the
minds of the jurors that reasonable doubt
which the law says calls for an acquittal
than any other testimony heard In the
case. The unanimity with which the ex-
perts called by the prosecution swear TO
one thing. while the experts called by the
hNAIAiCt CmEcL -D ullttllt4s III a ttluu4lg
perfect chorus, is most impressive.
DR.. Hamilton stands Alone.
AS Il matter of fact the only aIienist
who seems to be in a position TO give
convincing testimony regarding the state
OF mind OF Harry ThaW at the time he shot
White and II the present time. as we'll
as the only medical man not retained by
either side in the trial. is Dr. Allan Nc
Lane Hamilton. DR.. Hamilton sat in the
courtroom for two days and heard the
others testify. He is understood 10 have
made a thorough examination of Harry
Thaw in the Tombs last fall. and is said
to entertain at the present time positive
ideas regarding the present and past and
future state Of mind of the defendant.
When DR.. Hamilton made his examination
OF Thaw he did so at the request Of
Thaw's lawyers. The counsel then acting
for Thaw retired from the case and Dr.
Hamilton quit at the same time.
The failure Of the prosecution to call
him as q witness is probably based upon
Dr.. Hamilton's belief that it would not
be in accordance with professional ethics
for a physician to testify for the prOsecu-
tiOn as TO facts learned while acting as
medical adviser for the defense. The rea-
sons Dr. Hamilton had for Withdrawing
from the case have not appeared IN court
but they have been freely specUlated
upon.
As Juror May View Il.
It is true that nobody is able to tell
what the jury viii do, but it seems hard
TO imagine that. In the face of the abso-
Lutte contradictions of the expert testi-
mony. the jurors viii do anything but set
it all aside. Thaw's responsibility. in that
case, VIII have 10 be determined upon
other evidence. As that evidence is now
practically all in. perhaps it is possible to
trump up some sort of a picture Of it as
it may very well appear TO a juror.
Thaw shot White. the juror may reason.
Something made him do it. What was it?
What evidence is there on that point ?
The most potent evidence on that matter.
because it is entirely undispUted. is fur
nished by the various letters that Thaw
wrote at different times to Frederick W.
LongfellOw. his then lawyer, and to Miss
Nesbit and other persons. A number of
these are il evidence. No impartial per-
son can read them without being con-
WINGED that they show Thaw to have be-
lieved that White had inflicted a grievous
injury of some kind upon Miss Nesbit
The references TO an occurrence of some
such character as this are too frequent
and too emphatic TO leave the slightest
room for doubt.
The same letters, too, show indubitably
that Thaw was deeply impressed with the
belief that this injury was a hideous
thing. and that its prepaUator deserved
the severest punishment that could pos
sibly be inflicted upon him.
Plans Legal Procedure.
Still later. letters. together with the
viii Thaw drew on the day of his mar
riage. prove that Thaw had gone so far
as to devise means for infIicting this pun
ishment through legal means, while the
letter to Anthony Comstock shows that
he had vainly tried TO have White prose
cuted for the offenses toward young
women which Thaw believed him to have
committed
Despite the attack the district attorney
has made upon the story that young Mrs.
Thaw told upon the witness stand it
seems doubtful if there is any good rea-
son why the jury should not believe that
~she told her husband about White. They
must surely be convinced that Thaw be-
lieved White guilty. Why should ne have
believed il had she not told him? Certain
Il is that the architect was shot because
Of this belief that Thaw entertained. The
case is full of documentary evidence To
that effect. and the defendant. when he
was arrested. before the architects body
had grown cold. declared that that was
Why he had killed him
This preliminary conclusion seems to be
the one that the jury viii be forced TO.
first Of all. The motive of the killing can