The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1908-01-16

PSris In 1908 and "Drenched Him.
self With Poison - Prosecution
Rests Case.
New York, Jan. i4.-The Thaw trial
moved with a rush. After the state had
presented its cirect case and Assist.
ant District Attorney Caravan had
characterized the killing of Stanford
White as "a premeditated. deliberate
and cowardly murder" Martin w Lit.
Teton. for the defense. made the open
ing plea for the prisoner. His promise
OF new evidence was sensational and
held the supreme attention of all in
the courtroom. District Attorney Je-
rome. seemingly taken by surprise
seated himself in the witness chair
the better to hear the outline Of the
new defense. Mr.. 1ttleton promised
to forge a chain OF circumstances aud
TO produce a line OF testimony which
viii prove Harry h Thaw uudeniably
insane at the time of the homicide
Evidence Of hereditary insanity and
OF strange. unusual acts Of Thaw not
even limited at during the first trial
was told of by Mr.. Littleton. who said
that physicians and nurses who had
attended Thaw were hurrying here
from Europe; that teachers OF the de
PENDANT in childhood would be on hand
10 give their Impressions of the wide
eyed. distant boy In conclusion. Mr.
Littleton challenged the district at
torney TO produce a single reputable
physician who would say that Thaw
was not insane at the time he killed
the noted architect.
Mr.. Littleton's speech fairly b-isiles
with surprises. He startled the court
room by declaring that after Evelyn
Nes6it had told him her story in Paris
in 1913. Thaw "drenched himsel, with
poison. and would have died but
Tor the heroic work of three physicians
who labored over him all Of one night.
Mr. Jerome had his surprise 70 offer.
too. and when Mr.. Littleton started TO
launch into the relations OF stanford
White with the girl whom Thaw mar.
ried. the district attorney was on his
feet with an objection. Justice Dow
ling sustained him. and the name OF
the architect was not linked again
with that Of the Defendants wife.
Mr.. Littleton spared neither Thaw
nor his family In his recital of the de
PENDANTS life history. During the
speech Thaw sat wide-eyed and pallid
looking hxedly at his counsel.
Thaw's ancestry. marked by decided
taints OF insanity on both the fathers
and mothers side. according to his
chief counsel, was drawn with great
care. and then the defendant himself
M
insane as boy. who. oscillating be
tween "starship and madness. between
brilliance and darkness" fought IN.
availingly against the fever of insan.
ity which coursed in his blood at his
birth.
Mr.. Littleton told OF trip abroad
taken by Thaw In 1899. when he was
III and insane at Rome. Monte Carlo
and London, being under the care OF
physicians and nurses at each place
and declared he would produce these
physicians and nurses as far as pos
sible 10 tell their stories. Teachers
who kept diaries about the strange
child who sat 10 their classes also
will come. he said, TO tell the fury
about the early life and tendencies Of
the defendant Describing the killing
OF White. Mr.. Littleton said:
''Thaw's madness. born and bred in
him. had been set on IRE by the stor-
les he had heard. He had gone to the
district attorney with them and to
Mr.. Comstock. They ran in his head
until. staggering among the chairs Of
Madison Square Garden yet not
drunk-his eyes burning like two
great Goals of fire. unable intelligently
to answer questions put to him. ma
niacal In the last degree lost--lost as
he was In Rome. in Monte Carlo and
In Jondon-the blind confusion Of in
sanity overcame him and he fired.
The result was not a murder. but the
act of a mailman. who afterwards.
wild-eyed and irrational. cried out in
his cell that he heard the voices OF
little children calling and proclaimed
that he had but acted as an agent of
providence.
The outline Of the defense was gen
orally considered as rejecting a de-
termination on the part Of Thaw's at
torreys to prove him insane in 1906.
regardless Of all consequences.
Assistant District Attorney Garvan
made the address fer the prosecution,
and the calling Of witnesses followed.
First In order came an architect who
had drawn a dia gram of Madison
Square Roof Garden. where the trag-
edy occurred. and then came James
Cunch Smith. Whites brother-in-law.
who was OF the roof garden on the
night OF the shooting. and who talked
with Thaw Just before the killing.
Nothing new was developed.