The National tribune., 1908-01-23
PEOPLE.

Harry Thaw's second trial is very diff
ferent from his first Half the seats in
the court room are empty, and there
Is no crowd of pushing, curious women
about; in fact, not a woman, except
those members of the prisoners fam
lily, is to be seen. All this must be
very gratifying to Mrs. William Thaw.
who came from her sick room on Fri
day to testify in her sons behalf. Mrs
Thaw looked very pale, showing plainly
in her face her mental and physical
suffering, and had to be supported as
she made her way to the witness chair.
There was nothing new in her testi-
mony, which referred to her sons men,
tai condition after his return from Eu-
rope in 1903, and after Evelyn Nesbit
had told him her astonishing and ter
rible story. The defense is doing every
thing possible to prove that Harry Thaw
has never been mentally sound. Old
family servants, acquaintances. friends
and the teachers of his youth have tes-
tilted to his strange, erratic conduct.
Apropos of this bit of pathos was in
troduced the oher day when a note
from Mrs. Thaw to the now aged Mr..
Peck, one of her sons early instructors,
was read in court. The note was a
pathetic plea for the teacher to bear
with her sons idiosyncrasies a little
longer IL possible, confessing her fear
that his mind might be unbalanced. A
former butler of the Thaws, testifying
to the eccentric conduct of the prison.
er, told of his troubles; how Harry
would say he wasn't coming home to
dinner, and then hours after the meal
was over would come in and demand
an elaborate repast. He also told of
his young master frequently giving him
IS for some very trif1ing service-no
very uncommon occurrence among the
foolish, recklessly eXtravagant class to
which Harry Thaw belonged, and
which In this particular instance must
have gone good long way in soothing
the buffers irritation for what he then
regarded as merely selfish inconsidera-
tion. Many strange letters have been re-
ceived by the Thaws with stranger pro-
posals to save the life of the prisoner.
One man, who said he bore a striking
resemblance to Harry Thaw, offered to
take his place and die for him if nee
essary on consideration that his family
be paid $3,00G,000 Another, a ven
triloquist, proposed for a certain sum
OF money to fool everybody and at least
make mistrial. and hypnotist offered
to hypnotize the jury and thus get the
prisoner off. Young Mrs. Thaw, bloom
ing and beautiful, looking about 16
years old, took the stand the same day
her mother-in-law did, and was about
to repeat her story, which last year
threw two continents into spasms of
excitement, but was stopped by Mr.
Jerome, who arose and suggested that
IL the horrible tale" was to be told
again the court room should be clear
ed; public morals demanded that the
newspapers should not spread that over
the country a second time. So say We
Ill Of us.
Everything that has appeared in print
about Miss Gladys Vanderbilt lately has
been eagerly read by the majority of
the women of the country at least, even
those strong minded sisters who pro-
Tess great contempt for the doings of
the fashionable and wealthy class. We
have been told how she and her Count
slipped into the City Hall and obtained
the marriage license without being rec
ognied; We know that the Counts full
name is Laszlo Jeno Maria Henrik ST.
mon Szechenyi, and are surprised that
there are so many pronouncable ones in
the list, and we are possessors of the
thrilling bit of information that neither
he nor Miss Gladys have ever been mar
ried before. We have followed the ar
rival of the Hungarian wedding party,
containing four Counts and their Coun-
tesses. with beating heart, drinking I'm
eagerly all the little items they have
thrown to greedy public regarding the
sterling qualities of the prospective
bridegroom. the sincerity and disinter-
estedness OF his love for Miss Wander
bilt, the magnificent gifts that await the
bride in her future home, and the open
armed reception she will receive fro.,,
the entire dual empire, etc. And now
comes the announcement that the we'd
ding cards are actually out, and the plot
thickens. so to speak. Eight hundred
invitations were sent out, and Mrs. VAN
derbilt personally superintended the
mailing herself, for well she knows the
tragedies which follow careless posting
on such occasions. The wedding will
take place at IL o'clock noon, in the
beautiful ball room of the Vanderbilt
town house, which would easily accom-
modate 1000 persons. There will be
but one ceremony, and that will be per
formed by Father Lavelle, the rector Of
st. Patrick's Cathedral. Miss Gladys will
be attended by three young relatives,
ne-of whom little Miss Flora Whitney,
her niece, will be flower girl. These
will all be gowned in pure white, but
in creations of wonderful texture
trimmed with the fiimsiest of creamy
toned lace. A description of the exQuis-
Sfe bridal dress has so far been kept
cut of the papers. but to compensate
Tor this cruelty We are told exactly what
the Count will wear, and grim envy fills
the hearts of all those who realize they
will not be present to see him. On this
highly momentous occasion Count Lasz-