The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-11
SERVE PAPERS On
MILLIONAIRE IN
ANNULMENT SUIT
In Wife's Complaint She Simply
Declares Her husband Was
Mentally Irresponsible.
MAKES NO REFERENCE
TO PRESENT CONDITION
She Is Said TO be in Mortal Fear
af Him-FaniIy FayOrs
| Her Move. as
Special to the Eveninr stsr.l


NEW YORK, March lin the pap
ers served upon Harry K Thaw in
Matteawan Asylum today and on his
mother Mrs. William Thaw, at the
Hotel Lorraine, in this city, young Mrs.
Thaw makes specific allegation that her
husbs I'D was insane at the time of their
marriage, and on this ground asks
that the tie be dissolved,
Tho complete text of the Evelyn Mes
bit Thaw complaint foliowss
Evelyn Nesbit T'haw, pfafntfn. W.
Harry Tspdadl Thaw and Mary Copley
Tnaw defendants.
1.-The plaintiff in the above action
complains of the defendant and al
leges:
First. That on the fourth day OF
April, 1905, in the city of Pittsburg.
Evelyn Florence Nesbit Ihaw, then
Evelyn Florence Nesbit. and Harry
Kendall Thaw, the defendant, inter-
married, and
.9rhnt at time of said marriage of
plaintiff to defendant, the said defend
ant eas Il Iunatlc and of unsOund mind
and incapable of making valid con-
tract and incapable of contracting mar
riagej and
sffhHf the cfluSe or tHe dBHuIAEcAt %
this marrIngc is that the lunacy OF
said Harry Kendall Thaw existed ut
the time of the said marriage; and
"1,hat Mary Copley Thaw, named IN
this complaint, is the mother OF said
Harry Kendall Thaw and
! THAT both parties to this action are
at this time residents of this State
! (New York;. and
"That there has been no issue OF
the marriage of said Evelyn Nesbit
Thaw to Harry Kendall Thaw, and
Therefore, the plaintiff prays and
asks that said marriage be annulled
on the grounds set forth.
| (Signed)
EVELYN NESB1r THAW.
"Daniel O'Reilly."
BY the papers flied with this COM
plant Evelyn Nesbit Thaw is shown
TO have been a martyr who barred the
shame of her soul 10 save the man
who had slain White. who had been
her friend, 1t is said. 1t Is now
positively known that the estrange-
Iment between Thaw and his wife began
on the night he shot down the archi-
teet on the Madison Square Roof Gar
den Her affidavit in the actions 1T Is said,
goes into the details of Thaw's brutali-
ties to her 1t recites the contents OF
the crazy will he wrote and tells OF
several attempts he made to assault
her while he was i'm the Tombs, both
befope and after his first trial Her
troubles with Alice, Countess OF Var
Inouth, sister of her husband, are also
related.
Thaw went into a terrible rage at
Matteawan today when informed that
he would be served with papers in the
action for annulment of marriage by
his wife, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, for love
Of whom he committed murder.
sends for Counsel Post Haste.
He summoned his personal counsel,
A. Russell Peabody, post-haste from
New York. and demanded that The ac-
ton be bitterly contested.
II want you to fight this suit to the
bitter end" ne said. II love my wife,
and she has undoubtedly been badly
advised. l was not insane when I mar
ried nv wife, and am not insane now.
She cannot gain her freedom from me
on that ground. 1t / were only out
of this awful place this would never
have happened
An unusual feature of the action Is
that both Harry Kendall Thaw and his
mother. Mary Copley Thaw are made
Joint defendants in the action. While
the mother Is anxious that the mar
IrIaee should be annulled, her son will
Violently oppose it. The reason that
both are made defendants is that, as
inext of kin, Mrs. William Thaw. tho
. slayer's mother. is technically the real
defendant as the law presumes her
son to be insane, and therefore, legally
dead.
II is understood that the elder Mrs.
Thaw looks with favor upon her
laughter-in- laws suit, and that she u
argeIy. responsible for seeing that the
! young woman's future is well pro-
iSrided for. Sllv believes that the young