The Washington herald., 1908-01-31
JEROME SUMS UP IN THE THAW CASE

| feSofnnk 70 drugs, ana you VIII remember
that she testified that up 10 the time OF
her ravishment White was very nice and
kind.
Relieves Her Story.
But that she was wronged-and gross
| Iy wronged-n0 matter what her past may
have been-is as true as that you sit
! there and stand here. That there was
/ in West Twenty-fourth street such
place ss she described, maintained by
miserable group Of degenerates-a low,
! gross place for orgies~is as true as that
you sit there and I stand here. Some Of
those denegates are still living in this
| city, and If the issue were whether Stan
ford White deserved death or not, that
would be quite another matter than we
have here to determine. But you cannot
90 into that"
The district attorney contended that
there was nothing 70 show that the story
Evelyn Nesbit told Thaw made him in
sane. It merely made him angry and
highly indignant. There followed a ter
rife denunciation Of the defendant. which
Mr.. Jerome pronounced in his most scath-
Ing manner
Well" he said "she was one Of the
hunted and the pursued She never had
chance in life for the higher, sweeter
things Of life. Yet she refused him, as
| she says, because Of her love for him,
and you have no doubt that at alt events
she tried 20 persuade him that that was
the reason. Yet he. for whom she makes
this unparalleled pronunciation, this man
at once proceeds TO make her his mis-
! tress. and TO haunt her as such in all
the capitals Of Europe"
| He traced Thaw's travels through
Europe with Miss Nesbit. and asked
/ where in all that trip. was any sign o.
anything excepting deprayity. Where,
he said lis there anything that shows
| him less sane than he was the night he
slew another, into whose class he had
put himself By the way in which he
treated this girl? And yet they come
here with all this rot and nonsense
dragged from the four corners Of The
earth to show him insane"
I Mr.. Jerome told how Miss Nesbit had
come back from Europe and within three
days was again in the hands OF her
ravisher, who filed her up with scanda-
lous tales about Thaws perversions, and
then he added;
Nay Have Been Justified.
IF this defendant had then and there
gone and killed his enemy and the cor
rupter Of the girl he loved he might not
have been justified in the forum Of the
law. but he might have found justification
ia a still higher law. But ne waited for
three years-for three long yeaTs-until
one night when he had had cocktails and
champagne. Wouldn't a real man have
done II earlier if he were going to do it
al all? But. said the district attorney
turning savageiy upon Thaw. and shsk-
ieg denunciatory foreinger at him.
what sort OF man must he be who
not once, but twice, allowed the story Of
his wife's shame to be spread upon the
public records OF a court?
Mr.. Littleton was right We are a
generous people, and We allow the mantle
OF marriage 70 cover the past. whatever
it may have been. But what shall We
think Of a man who deliberately piucks
OF that mantle and permits that past 10
be seen in all its hideousness. not once,
but tWice-to save his own miserable life
by exposing the shame Of his wife? We
might, perhaps. forgive a man for killing
for such a cause as this man thought he
had, but how shall We forgive a man
who has done the thing that I have lust
described 10 your
IL was a savage excoriation, but Il
didn't seem 10 shake Thaw much lie sat
up straight and rested his chin on his
lclasped hands. but his eyes did not IA.
and be returned the stern look OF the
district attorney.
But though he let young Mrs Thaw
down easily, Mr.. Jerome did not let her
escape entirely. He declared that she was
playing Thaw against White. This was
indicated. he thought. by the fact tnat
she told what May Mckenzie had said
about Whites saying he would stiH get
her away from Thaw. even though they
were married Thaw's letters 10 Comstock
we're all Of them sane, he declared. and
Comstock acted as II he thought they
were sane. As for Thaws belief in prison
that Whites friends We're couspiring 20
send him 20 an insane asylum, he said.
JerOme's Closing Words.
when the Court Of Appeals report Of
"a case describes il as that Of Blank VS..
! Blank. because the defendant is a prom
inent man accused Of fraud is il in
| credible thst friends Of White should
have been glad to see Thaw in an asylum
SO as 10 protect the memory OF White?
When We all know of trial IN New
Jersey in which it was testified that the
Monk Eastman gang was hired to beat
a man up, is it so incredible that the
same gang should have been hired 70 beat
Tbaw?
Does such a belief on his part indi-
icate insanity? Didn't White carry a pis-
tol and say he'd kill Thaw with it?
Hasn't one Of the witnesses for the de-
fense testified 10 that effect?'
Mr.. Jerome didn't close without a last
rap at the alienists. He said that the
shame thrown on science and the law by
the testimony OF experts in a number Of
eases had induced him 10 close the case
without adducing any expert testimony.
He declared finally that everything lead
ing up 10 the killing of Stanford White
indicated not insanity. but motive Of the
strongest kind. His closing words ind
/ Gated TO some Of his hearers that he was
trying for a compromise verdict. for he
carefully outlined the different degrees
in which the jury could find Thaw guilty
But" he continued. quietly. "if YOU
believe that the killing of White was a
deliberate, premeditated murder OF one
man by another who had the strongest
motives-if YOU believe that Thaw knew
he had a pistol in his hand and was
firing It at Stanford White and that he
knew the act was wrong, you must find
him guilty Of murder in the first degree.
If you don't. you are foTesworn."
RESTS IN GLENW00D.