The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-31

! only If Thaw had the capacity to know he
had pistol in his pocket; if he knew It
was Stanford White toward whom he was
walking, and If he knew the act was
against the law. That is all.
The law specifically says that a weak
| or disordered mind is no defense for Grim
/ inal responsibility. Partial or incipient in
sanity is no excuse when the accused is
capable of forming a correct perception
of the nature or quality of his act. That
is all. Concede that Thaw WIS crazy on
the train, concede that he was crazy in
London, in Monte Carlo. in Paris in
| Pittsburg, where you will, but is there any
contention here that Thaw has been crazy
all of his sc years of life? is there any
! contention that he has been crazy during
the two years he has been In the Tombs
/ is there any contention that he has been
crazy as he sits here before your Then
why crazy when he calmly and deliberate
| ly shot Stanford Whittier"
Review of Evidence.
Mr.. Jerome reviewed in great detail the
! evidence presented of many alleged ir-
rational outbreaks by Thaw, and declared
he could find in them no trace of BRAIN
| storm or maniac Oppressive insanity.
But if you gentlemen cam" he added,
81 beg you to give the defendant the
benefit of it. We all have had tantrums
in our childhood when we were sighted,
but were we insane? No, we received that
best of medical treatment-a good, sound
spanking.
The day of the tragedy found Thaw
! playing bridge whist at the Whist club
with Captain Wharton, John A. Drake
and John B. Gleason. On other days in
| the immediate vicinity Of the crime he
played with Charles M. Sehwab.
Are these men who would gamble with
an insane or an irrational man, and win
! his money or lose theirs. to him? No.
They are not brought here to say he is
irrational. Why not?"
After speaking a little more than two
hours, District Attorney Jerome asked
that recess be taken. Justice Bowling an
nounced that having In view the comfort
of the Jurors. who would be kept in the
jury room until verdict was rendered, he
would not charge them as to the law I'M
til tomorrow.
Selected Testimony.
After recess Mr.. Jerome directed his
argument to calling attention to the re-
moteness of the occurrences the defense
had cited in their attempt to prove the
insanity of the defendant. He charged
that material witnesses who could have
been produced by the defense had not
been produced. and that the testimony
which was offered the jury was carefully
of disingenuousness. The district attor-
ney paid a tribute to DR.. Russell Wells
of London, one of the witnesses for the
defense, and said this witness was worthy
of every consideration.
DIR. Wells told YOU" he said, that
in London Thaw for five days was suf-
fering from acute mania-his mouth filled
with blasphemy and his conduct in every
way insane and that it took two days
ba IN oil Iq
any analogy, however, between that out
break and the cold, deliberate way In
which Thaw walked up to Stanford White
on the roof garden at Madison Square
and killed the man who had wronged
him in as deadly a way as one man can
wrong another?"
Take the evidence of that night with
you to your deliberations" continued Mr..
Jerome.
Remember the calm, the tender solicit
tude of Thaw when his wife rushed up
to him and asked him what he had done.
He leaned over and kissed her-the girl
whose wrong had led him to the hatred of
his victim-and said: It's all right,
dearie; have probably saved your life
There was the motive, gentlemen, there
was no mad raving in maniacal delirium
as Thaw raved in London. The analogy
does not exist
WIFE liHdW , WOidSs
Mr. Jerome. dwelt at length upon the
testimony of Mrs. William Thaw, the de-
PENDANTS mother, who, he said, of all
persons in the world could have told the
real history of the boy, who would have
been excused had she attempted to mag
iify any little Incidents she might have
recited. But" he pointed out, There
was nothing of conduct in the mother
testimony until Thaw came home in 1903,
after Evelyn Nesbit, the girl he loved
with a devotion that seems to me pre-
sented a strong contrast to the girl her
self, had been taken away from him and
was again in the hands of the man who
had wronged her. Is there anything UNI
usual in his depression? Was it not
natural? There is no doubt about his de-
votion to this young woman who had
been taken away from him through tales
which accused him of being an eccentric,
rickety pervert. What is there in the
mothers testimony to show the life in
sanity of this defendant? No. she gave
you no such evidence even at this time,
when her boys life may be In danger.
Question of Marriage.
Mr. Jerome also declared that a mother
| with the strength of character oe Mrs
| William Thaw never would have con-
| scented to her sons marriage had she be-
| lieved him insane. He read again to tho
| jury the affidavit made by Mrs. Tnaw last
| year, in which she declared that for
| four generations in the direct line of
| descent there had been no epilepsy or
| trace of insanity in the family of the
| defendant This affidavit, the district at
| torney asserted, swept forever out of the
case all the talk of heredty. Mr.. Jerome
finally entered upon a detailed consider
alton of the story told by Evelyn Mes
bit Thaw.
whether she was drugged or not is
not material" he said For my part
l do not believe it. But l am convinced
from the letters Thaw wrote in Paris
she told him the story she says she did.
Dragged or not that she was wronged-
grossly wronged--is wholly true. That
the places in Twenty-second and Twenty
fourt streets she has described to you ex-
listed is as true as that you are sitting
here. That they were maintained by a
miserable lot of degenerates-some of
whom still live in this city and whose
names have been mentioned here-is the
absolute truth That they were main
tanned for gross orgies is true. But the
issue is not whether Stanford White de-
served death. We cannot go into that
we have no right to consider it,
Surprise BY Jerome.
Mr.. Jerome here caused another deep
surprise by paying an unexpected
tribute to Evelyn Thaw and heaping
denunciation upon the man who sought
to shield his miserable life behind her
shame.
Poor little creature" he said ''shc
never had a chance in life for any of
the high, cleaner sweeter things. At
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