The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1908-01-17
INSANITY IN FAMILY
Doctors Testify Regarding Rela'
tives Of Harry K. Thaw.
TEACHER A WITNESS
Winona (Minn.) Man Declares De-
PENDANT in Stanford White Murder
Case Acted in an Irrational Manner
as Long Ago az 1886.

as Long Ago az 1886.
New York, Jan. 15.-The defense
has begun the presentation of it's case
at the trial of Harry X. Thaw. Physi-
clans who had attended the insane
members of the defendants family
were called upon, but by invoking the
rule of confidential relations between
doctor and patient District Attorney
Jerome succeeded in blocking some
Of the intended testimony. One of
the witnesses was a former teacher
OF Thaw at Wooster university, who
declared the boys conduct so long
ago as 1885 was irrational.
DR.. John T. Deemar of Kittaning,
Pa, the Thaw family physician, was
the first witness called to the stand.
DR.. Deemar testified that he treated
Harry Thaw for St. Vitus dance and
measles. lie repeated this testimony
and told also of attending members
of the Copley family, the mothers
branch OF the defendants ~antecedents.
DR.. Deemar said a brother Of the older
Mrs. 1haw turned an imbecile.
DR.. Deemar was asked as to the
present mental condition and where
abouts of John Ross, a paternal cousin
OF the defendant, but District Attor-
ney jerome objected on the grounds
that the doctor obtained his informa-
tion while acting in a professional
capacity and it would require a waiver
from his client before he could testify.
Justice bowling sustained the objec-
ton over the protest of MI. Littleton.
DR.. William S. Butler of Roanoke,
Va. former assistant physician at the
Western lunatic asylum, Stanton,
Va, where Horace X. Thaw, a pater-
nal cousin of Harry Thaw, was con-
fined, was the next witness. When
he was asked as to Horace Thaw's
condition up to the time Of his death
Mr.. jerome again objected and was
sustained. The district attorney also
successfully objected to the introduce
ton in evidence of the commitment
papers prepared when Horace Thaw
was admitted to the asylum on the
ground that the evidence was hear
shy. Mr.. Littleton took an exception
to this ruling.
Defendants Cousin insane.
nr. l.. III. Foster Of Norfolk, Va,
formerly of the Eastern state hospital
for the insane at Williamsburg, Va,
where William S. Thaw, another
cousin of the defendant, was confined,
next was called TO the stand. DR..
Foster was asked to identify the rec
ords Of the asylum as to the admit
lance of William S. Thaw and did so.
When the record was offered in evil
dence Mr.. Jerome objected on the
ground that it was incompetent testl-
mony and was sustained. Il
Mr.. Littleton here recalled Mr.. Dee
mar and succeeded in c~ircumventing
the former objections of the district
attorney as to the case of John Ross.
DR.. Deemar said he ceased to be Ross
physician after the latter had been
committed to the Hope institution of
feeble minded. He was allowed to
tell of Ross mental condition and
declared it %unsound, the symptoms be-
ing maniacal.
Charles Koehler of Winona, Mimi,
who was a teacher at Wooster univer-
sity, Wooster, o., in 1886, when Harry
Thaw was a student there, took the
stand and was asked to tell his i'm
pressions of Thaw as a boy of sixteen
or seventeen years. Mr.. Jerome OBJ
jected, but the witness was allowed
to proceed. Harry Thaw always had
a nervous gait and walked jerkily, he
said. "His eyes were striking, his
complexion anaemic. His manner in
the classroom was distracted and in
different. His eyes usually had a
fixed, staring gaze. There was never
any warmth in his eyes, no illumina-
ton.
Mr.. Koehler said he set down many
Of Thaw's eccentricities in q diary
which he destroyed ten years ago.
Thaw's mind always worked slowly.
His mind was irrational. Cross-exam.
ined by District Attorney Jerome Mr..