Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-01-31
CAUSES COMM NT
Jerome Eliminatesn Expert Tes-
timony From Rebuttal
THAW EVIDENCE;IS ALLIIN
Prosecution BaIks Plan of afense
to Call In Sur-rebu ia Experts Who
Previous Test fi.u Against Thaw
--Trial Is Near,y Ended

IS weary EnQ5
New York, Jan. 29.-With no at.
tempt on the part of the state to combat
with scientific testimony the claim of
insanity urged in behalf of Harry X.
Thaw, the taking of evidence in the
second hearing of the famous Madison
Square garden murder trial ended YES
terday.
Contrary to his policy of last wear.
when he called nine experts in insanity
to the witness chair, Jerome this wear
utterly ignored the scientific phase of
the rebuttal case. He produced sew.
eral eye-witnesses to the tragedy and
several police officers who handled
Ihaw the night of the homicide and
placed on record their opinion that the
defendants acts and manner were ra-
tional
Mr. Jerome's elimination of expert
testimony from the rebuttal case occa-
stoned much talk. Based upon his as
sertions of last year that Thaw was
an incurable paranoiac, rumor had it
that the prosecutor might not be dis
pleased with a verdict of not guilty
on the ground of insanity with an en-
suing committal of Harry Thaw to the
asylum for the criminal insane at Mat
teawan.
Throughout the trial however. Je-
rome has attempted to belittle and dis
credit all testimony having to do with
Thaw's irrationalty. He has at
tempted to show that the youthful
outbursts of the defendant were fits of
temper which deserved a spanking"
as he expressed it, rather than scientific
discussion. He has ATTEMPTED to dis
credit the outbreaks in later life with
the suggestion that they were the re
suit of too much drink and nothing
more That the prosecutor will ridl-
cule the expert testimony is generally
agreed. Having no experts of his own.
he has a free hand in that direction
this year.
Mr.. Jerome's move yesterday also
frustrated plan of the defense to call
in sur-rebuttal several of the experts
who testified against Thaw at his last
trial, but who, when Jerome switched
to the appointment of a unacy com
mission. made affidavits setting forth
the opinion that Thaw was so insane
as to be incapable of Understanding
the nature OF the proceedings against
him or Of intellgently advising with
counsel.
Thaw's defense closed Monday with
manic-depressive insanity .as ex
planning the death of Stanford White
at the hands of the young Pittsburg
millionaire.
An English physician. one of three
foreign doctors who testified Monday.
first applied the term manic depres
sive" or "sub-acute mania" to Thaw's
mental condition. DR.. Wells Of London
made the diagnosis during an outbreak
by Thaw in London in 1899 when.
with normal temperature, Thaw de.
manded that the walls of his rooms in n
nursing home be torn down so that he
might have air and that twenty tons
Of Ice be put in the apartment to cool if
MT Littleton's hypothetical question.
which was answered by the three ex-
perts, was complete resume of the
evidence except, as Jerome pointed out.
the testimony Of James C. Smith
brother-in-law of Stanford White, who
talked with Thaw for fifteen minutes
just before the shooting on the roof of
Madison Square garden. The question
contained some 10000 words.
DR.. Wagner of Binghamton. n. Y.
and DR.. Evans of Morris Plains, n. J..
both superintendent of state institu-
tons for the insane, were on the stand
Thursday. In detailing their converse
tons with Thaw in the Tombs they
brought out more clearly two points
which were CLOSED over last year.
The first of these was that Thaw told
them In 1900 or 1901 he was a guest of
Stanford White at dinner party in
the Madison Square garden tower. He
left early and was accused OF breaking
up the party. Some of the guests did
not eat much, Thaw declared, and the
young woman who sat next to him de-
clared the food was bad
Thaw also told the physicians about
the first time he saw Evelyn Nesbit. II
was in 1901 in front Of theatre. "A
pure-looking girl" he described her
When he asked who she was he was
told her name was Nesbit and that "she
belongs to Stanford White" Thaw
managed subsequently to meet the girl
at an after-theatre supper in company
with several other stage persons.
Mrs. William Thaw, still unable tc
walk unassisted because of her recent
illness, was on the stand Wednesday.
She told OF Thaw's early life, Of infiu-
snces before his birth and of the mental
unsoundness of two of her brothers.
lnvo untary Dive to Death