The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-01-29
SECOND THAW TRIAL
STARTS WITH A RUSH
Insanity Again His Plea For SIay.
ing Stanford White.
COURT HOLDS NIGHT SESSIONS

PRISONER changed fhan-ar OI
Wild-Eyed Defiance Has Disap-
peared-His Mother, Ill in Pitts.
burg, Not Present.
New York City.-On the drama OF
gilded vice and sordid passions that
reached climax in the killing Of
Stanford White on the Madison
Square Roof Garden on June 25.
1906, the curtain began to unfold
for the second time, when Harry
K. Thaw stood before the bar In the
Criminal Branch Of the Supreme
Court to defend the charge OF mur-
der in the first degree.
There were many indications when
the work Of getting jury began that
an effort will be made to make the
trial move more rapidly than the
irst, which took almost three months.
There were night sessions until the
jury box was filled and maybe night
sessions while the testimony is being
taken if the lawyers do not hasten
matters of their own accord. Justice
Bowling, who is presiding at this trial
in the Supreme Court, Criminal
Branch, showed that he is averse to
any unnecessary delay or long drawn
out arguments and speeches which
characterized the first trial.
The court setting was Identical
with that which witnessed the re-
markable confession of Evelyn Nesbit
Thaw, to avenge whose degradation
at the hands of the New York archi-
tect 1t was held by the defense that
Thaw had been lashed to the fury
that cried for blood. The personnel
was practically the same that filled
the court room that never-to-be-for-
gotten afternoon when young girl,
barely out of her teens, in sweetly
modulated and emotionless voice, told
that amazing tale Of murdered iRno-
ce1ce.
Thaw has changed little. His
straight black hair Is as wild as ever
and accentuates the natural pallor of
his face. His queer smile Is still In
evidence, and he did as much talking
to his lawyers as ever, although Mar
tin w. Littleton paid no attention to
him. Thaw's mannerisms, so notice
able at the first trial. seemed bit
more pronounced and he strode into
the court room with the same upward
tilt to his left shoulder.
Thaw did not walk through the
sourt room but around it by rallied
passageway on the White street side
of the court room. He sat inside OF
the clerks rail, few feet away from
Prosecuting Attorney Jerome and his
assistant, Francis P. Garvan.-
Those of the Thaw family who we're
present had their old seats at the
end of the jury box. Evelyn Thaw
came early. She was escorted to the
court room by Detective Moore, who
is employed by her husbands law
yers, and she went to lunch with him,
although Mrs. George Lauder Carne-
gle, ThaW's sister, and Josiah Thaw,
Thaw's half brother, were present.
They were the only other members
of the Thaw family in court. The
Countess of Yarmouth Is having her
own troubles in Europe, but perhaps
the most noticeable absentee was the
stern faced, black robed Mrs. Mary
C. Thaw, the defendants mother,
who is sick in Pittsburg.
Unusual efforts were made by the
courts to make service on the jury
attractive. The first Thaw jury was
kept in the Broadway Central Hotel,
but Justice Bowling decided to pro-
vide a more modern house for the
present jury.
Not only will the twelve men eat
most of their meals in the swell
Knickerbocker Hotel, but by press
ing button they will be able to sum-
mon a bellboy and order whatever
they desire in the way Of refresh
ments. Perfectos Of an expensive
brand also will be provided, and the
only drawback to the full enjoyment
of the accommodations the State
gives will be that the jurors will not
be permitted to mingle with the other
guests of the hotel. They will have
to remain in their rooms, and their
meals will be served in a private din
ing room.
it is estimated that it will cost the
county $500 a week to care for the
Jurors and their guards. Should the
trial last two months the expense OF
locking up the jury will be S75,OO0,
which will be the largest amount,
probably, ever spent Oh jury in this
country.
The trial formally opened when
Mr.. Jerome, addressing the court, an
nounced that an indictment for MUIR
der in the first degree rested against
the prisoner at the bar, and asked
that the trial proceed.
Martin w. Littleton, chief counsel
for Thaw, then read an amendment
to the plea of "Not guilty" which his
client will enter when he faces the
completed jury. This consisted of the
simple statement that his client was
insane at the time Of the killing OF
Stanford White.