Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-02-01
PROSECUTOR IN ADDRESSING
THAW JURY SIGNIFIES THAT
HE WOULD BE SATISFIED WITH
. -
MANsLAUGHTER VERDICT.
NOT SO VINDICTIVE
AS AT LAST TRIAL
THERE WAS NO DENUNclATIoN
OF EVELYN NEsBIT AND NO
DEFENSE OF WATERBURY
CHARGED TOMORROW.

New York, Jan 80. = There was
another great crush today in the Grim
NAL courts building to hear District
attorney Jerome make the closing ad-
dress for the people in the Thaw case.
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw and Josiah
Ihaw were the only members of the
defendants family present when Je-
rome began his argument.
He declared the case had been
handled by him with some difficulty
as he had many other matters of inn
portance to attend to at the same
time
IF at any time lacked in the dig.
nifty that attaches to my Office CON
tlnued the prosecutor, 'if have
shown any asperity or lack of ccnsid-
Grafton. | can only say now l regret
1T. ANY personal impression have
made or have not made should have
no part whatever in your verdict
You are not trying the district attor-
ney for any sneers he may have
made. There was no evidence that
Thaw was insane when he killed
White.
AS to the woman, if m manner was
one OF disapprobation, that is not evi.
dence. Neither l nor the woman is
beng tried here. Harry Thaw is on
trial for the murder Of White and the
defense is that he was insane on the
night of June %, 1906 and that he was
not generally insane or is he insane
now. All you or l have to deal with
is whether or not at the particular
time and place the defendant was in.
sane and whether when he killed
White the act was wrong and against
the laws of the land
Jerome Satisfied With Lighter Verdict
Jerome signifed very plainly that
he believe6ssss.stice would be served If
defendant were to be found guilty of
some lesser degree of criminal re-
sponsibility than murder in the first
degree He explained carefully all the
elements that entered into the verdict
or hrst degree murder and then point
ed the way to two other possible find
lngs, murder in the second degree or
manslaugnter in the first.
No Vindictiveness in Argument.
jerome surprised his hearers today
by striking contrast with his argu-
ment with that of year ago. The
vindictiveness was gone, the passion
ate defense of White was gone, the
denunciation of Evelyn Nesbit had no
place in his remarks. Instead there
was a calm, analytic presentation of
the evidence, concession of possible
weakness, both mental and physical
In the defendant, but always the re-
currence to the hard and fast rule of
law that a man to be excused must
be SO insane as not to know what he
was about
Admits Thaw Had Motive.
jerome declared dramatically that
there was no doubt White had done
Evelyn Nesbit great wrong and that
Thaw had every motive for revenge.
full murder upon the man he killed
This motive, he asserted, forever
swept away any claim of Insanity
which knows not what it does.
Il shall endeavor,'', Jerome added,
"coldly to dissect the evidence in this
case, to trace it step by step, to
show the burden the Jaw places upon
defense proving that the insanity
OF this defendant has not been met"
He declared that Thaw plainly had
motive for killing White and that
every act of his for two or three
weeks before the tragedy pointed to
his deadly and consuming hate of the
man he killed.
1T matters not whether you be.
lieve the girls story or not" declared
Jerome. "the relations this moiddle
aged married man had with girl of
fifteen cry out to heaven and no de-
cent man can say a word in defense.
| certainly have no intention of doing
so. But with all things 1 have pointed
out to you, If there was no motive in
the heart of this defendant. can
imagine nothing that can create a
motive"
The prosecutor took UP one by one
the acts of Thaw on the roof garden
and Immediately following the trag-
edy and asserted that they all point
ed to a full knowledge of what he
was doing.
Justice Bowling announced before
the luncheon recess that he would
not charge the jury until tomorrow
morning.