Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1908-01-23
'THAW's DEFENSE
His Attorneys Continue to Bring
Testimony Proving Him
Insane.
TO AT LEAST CREATE DOUBT
A. Present He Seems Headed
Straight for Martrewan Asy.
lum for the Criminal.
Insane.

New York, Jan 16.-Adhering strict
~ to their promise to interpose nj
other defense than that Of insanity II
behalf Of their client, the attorney
representing Harry X. Thaw at hiI
trial Wednesday continued the exam
ination OF witnesses who swore tina
young Thaw at various times In bill
life appeared to them as irrational ant
mentally unsound. Practically all o.
the testimony was entirely new to the
case and to do with acts down to the
day Of the tragedy itself. Then came
the declaration Of the ten men who
sat on the coroner's Jury during the
inquiry into Stanford Whites death
all Of whom declared that the defend
ant the day following the shooting
acted irrationally. His manner and
appearance were such as to cause the
inquest Jury to discuss his state OF
mind after their formal verdict had
been rendered.
In the days testimony there w's
more delying into the history of the
, Thaw family, Alfred Lee Thaw Of
Richmond, Va, a third cousin of the
defendant taking the stand and tell
ing OF the faint of insanity which had
caused his father and brother to die in
state asylums. Some OF Thaw's al
legged eccentricities, revealed for the
first time, were related Wednesday by
Christopher Baggan, steward of the
New York Whist club; by Miss Ma
tilda Stein, a telephone operator, and
by Per August Weber, former butler
in the Thaw household. Thaw spent
portion Of the afternoon Of June 2b,
1905, at the Whist club and at that
time-a few hours before the trag-
edy-was pictured by the stewart as
being highly nervous and frequently
exclaiming: This IL awful" He asked
the stewart to have a valuable pack
age put into the SAFE After the sho0t-
ing, the package was opened and found
to contain three cigarettes wrapped in
tinfoil. District Attorney Jerome in
cross-examining the club steward
brought out the fact that Thaw played
bridge there with many prominent
men. The witness declared he was
not supposed to know what Mr.. Thaw,
Mr.. Gates, Mr.. Schwab and the others
played for. but he was sure nothing
but mineral water was ever served at
the tables.
The telephone operator told Of Thaw
putting In rs calls one morning at
Grand hotel and then forgetting all
about them. The butler told many
details OF Thaw's life at home in 1903
and was still under examination when
adjournment was taken. The separate
incidents OF alleged irrational conduct
on the part Of the defendant was being
put in evidence by Mr.. Littleton as
the foundation for the expert testi-
mony that is to come. He also hopes |
to accumulate such a mass Of testi'
mony as to Thaw's erratic conduct as
to make 1t impossible for the district |
attorney to fulfil the task the law
places upon him Of proving Thaw sane,
beyond every reasonable doubt"
Criminal lawyers Of prominence who
are following the case outlined by the
defense and who are taking into cnu.
alteration the fact that a specific plea
Of insanity has been entered this
year, declare that acquittal under the
circumstances can come only with
the added clause ION account Of the
insanity Of the defendant at the time
the act was committed" This, It is
declared, would compel the presiding
Judge to commit Thaw to Matrewan
asylum, from whence a fight to prove
his present sanity and thus gain free
through babeas corpus proceedings.