Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1908-01-06
Case Opened in New York This
Morning Effort TO Get a
Jury Has Begun.
HOLD NIGHT SESSIONS
Prisoners Mother Unable to be
Present Owing 10 Illness
Wife on Hand.
ALL CJNFiOEMT OF ACQUlTTAL
Effort to be Made to Rush the
Trial-Some Surprises are
Anticipated.
ALL C]NFIDExT OF AC0UlTTAL
Special By United Press Wire i:

opectdt " CUltSu ff6SS WWe.
NEW YORK, Jan. 6:-The first
venire of one hundred jurymen in
the Harry K. Thaw trial was dis
missed at the opening of the court
today because the names, through an
error, had been published Friday.
The second list of one hundred were
at once summoned by Justice Dowl-
ing and they began arriving soon
after.
The grand jury for the January
term was charged in the meantime.
This delayed the proceedings until
after IL o'clock.
When the doors were opened there
was the usual rush for seats, but the
clamor was quelied by Justice Dowl-
ing, who warned all persons that he
would not tolerate a disturbance of
any character.
AS Thaw entered the court room
his wife, Evelyn, and his sister-in-
law, Mrs. Carnegie, and brother,
Josiah Thaw, came into court. Evelyn
was dressed much the same as at the
first trial.
Thaw was attired in a well-ftted
blue suit and appeared cheerful. He
walked with brisk step and waved
a CHEEKY greeting with his hand to
his wife.
The justice decided to keep the
jury under surveillance. He fixed
the sessions court at from 1915 to
l O'Clock, from to O'Clock in the
afternoon, and from s to 10 o'clock
at night.
Twenty failed to respond when the
jury was summoned and the justice
fined them $3.50.
William F. Miller, Solon B. Sum-
merfield and Edward j. McCabe were
the first veniremen called. They
were excused for bias cause and
opinion, respectively.
Shortly before the noon recess
Charles e. Gremmels, broker,
qualified as the first juror.
District Attolstey Jerome, it Is said.
will attempt this time to bar the tesu-
mony of Mrs. Evelyn Nesbit Tfaw,
wife of the accused man. At the
first trial her testimony was. allowed
to go before the jury with the consent
of the district attorney, who said the
precedent set in the case of the state
against Wood seemed to cover the
matter. Several criminal lawyers of
prominence in their profession have
argued the point with Mr.. Jerome
since the close of the first hearing and
have urged him to oppose this line of
testimony at the present trial.
Young Mrs. Thaw was allowed to
testify at the first trial upon the the
ory that it was her story, told to Thaw
in Paris in 1903, two years before
their marriage, that planted the seeds
Of temporary insanity in his brain
The prosecution was not allowed to
test the truth or falsity of the story,
the court rule being that, regardless Of
It's truth, the issue had to do solely
with the effect upon the defendants
mind. Mr.. Jerome offered witnesses
who, he declared, would contradict GER
tain of the girl wife's statements, but
they were not allowed to be heard.
The prosecution had It's only recourse
in severe cross examination, but even
this was allowed only on the ground
of testing the credibility of the wit
ness in general way.
District Attorney Jerome has con-
declined to discuss the Thaw
case for publication. His course as re-
CARDS the all important testimony of
young Mrs. Thaw Is watched, however,
with the keenest interest.
Thaw's attorneys base their defense
solely upon the ground that Thaw was
legally insane at the time he shot Stan
ford White and that he has since re-
covered his mental balance. They say
their client is ready and willing to
stand any test that can be devised as
to his present mental condition and be-
lieve he will make an even better
than before the commission
which during the first trial declared
him capable of intelligently advising
with his counsel and of understanding
the nature of the proceedings against
him. The former commissions work
was limited to these two points, and
Thaw convinced his examiners in
striking manner.
Many witnesses will be called to
show that Thaw considered White a
thoroughly bad man and menace to
he community and that It was his
luty to execute Judgment on him. The
lefense will be that these matters so
worked on Thaw as to unsettle his
mind temporarily, in which condition
lie shot White.
Justice Bowling is anxious that the
rial shall proceed as rapidly as posi-
,le. To that end he has decided to hold |
light sessions.