Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-14

as a .'premedltated. deliberate and cow
ardly murder
Calls First Witness
w. H. Yolkening. draughtsman, was
the first witness called. His description
of the scene of the killing which the
prosecution used through the first tria
was introduced in evidence today. A
! year ago this witness was not cross
| examined Today Mr.. Littleton for the
defense questioned him at length at tc
| all the physical details of Madison Square
| garden at the time of the drawing.
| No motion to exclude witnesses was
made today. and young Mrs. Thaw and
/ the other members of the defendants
| family listened to the evidence for the
| first time.
| Immediately after the first witness had
concluded his testimony all witnesses ex-
cept medical experts were excluded. DR..
John 4. Deemer, the Thaw family physi-
clan, was in the courtroom and will be
/ one Of the first witnesses of the defense.
| AS the second witness of the prosecution,
Mr.. Caravan examined James Clinch
Smith, who last year testified In rebuttal,
/ having been abroad when the state pre-
scented its direct case.
In detail Smith described the entry of
Thaw and his party. With the defendant
was hTb. ENtiNu 4Adng IhtAiido AASOoANb
and Truxton Beale. Mr.. Smith repeated
his conversation with Thaw, his testi-
mony following that given at the first
| trial almost 4dentically. Thaw asked him
| If he was doing anything in Wall street
and that certain stocks were very good.
He asked Smith If he was going abroad
in the summer and discussed with him
the accommodations on several we'll
known steamers.
La. I'D I a
members of his party" said Mr.. Smith,
land wanted to know IL l remembered a
case in California in which Truxton
Beale figured with another man and two
women"
Describes Killing
The witness described what he saw Of
the killing, saying he tried to get to Thaw
but a fireman had thrown his arms about
the defendant. Three shots were fired
The witness did not know until he had
left the garden that the victim was his
brother-in-law.
Mr.. Smiths direct testimony was con-
cluded in half an hour and then Mr..
Iittleton undertook his cross-examina-
ton. The witness said Stanford White
married his sister, but he did not see the
architect very often,
He had never gone to the roof garden
| with him. He had written down his con-?
versatIon with Thaw after the shooting
and had repeated it from memory.
The witness said Thaw did not wear an
| overcoat while he was talking to him,
but had one thrown over his arm as he
entered the garden.
| Smith testified at one time that as soon
soon as Thaw left him on the garden roof
| he looked In the direction where STAN
ford White sat Later he said he did not
know White was on the roof until some
time after the shooting.
| Mr.. Littleton demanded to know why
the witness had sworn Thaw was look
| ing at White when he did not know White
was in the place.
Mr.. Smith shouted in response that he
was testifying to the best of his ability
and in view of subsequent events.
After saying he had Immediately formed
| mentel note as to where Thaw was
looking the witness said later he had not
reached that conclusion until after he
knew who the victim was.
Mr. Smith slid that previous TO the
night of the tragedy hs had never heard
of any difficulty or strained relations be-
tween Thaw and White. Mr.. Littleton
referred frequently to the transcript of
the witness testimony at the first trial
and asked impeaching questions based
upon it. At one point Mr.. Smith said the
record was in error.
Smith was still under cross examina-
! tion when the luncheon recess was or
dered
With the beginning of the afternoon
session Mr.. Littleton continued to ques-
tion the witness about the details of
his conversation with Thaw and then
| suddenly asked: did not it occur 70
| you at the time, or has it not occurred
since. that Thaw may have mistaken
| YOU for some one elSe?"
Certainly not" replied Mr.. Smith,
HE knew who / was"
Paxton Testifies Again
Warner Paxton, the engineer of the
Madison Square garden, who was an
eye witness to the tragedy, followed
Mr.. Smith on the stand, and repeated
| his testimony of a year ago. Paxton
| said that after Thaw was arrested he
requested to be taken down in the
elevator as he did not want to appear
before any of the people on the root
garden.
Going down in the lift Thaw said;
HE ruined my wife" Young Mrs
| Thaw said: Yes Harry but look at the
! fix you're in now" Never mind
dearie,' Thaw replied, Il have prob
ably saved your life"
Cross-eXamined Paxton said he sat
near the center aisle of the garden all
| evening. He contradicted the testi-
mony of Smith as to Thaw's walking
| impatiently up and down the aisle, and
declared he saw Thaw go up the aisle
DR.. Timothy Lehan. coroner's physi-
clan, was called at this point to tell OF
the wounds which Thaw inflicted on
Stanford White and from which his
death resulted. The pistol which Thaw
used was admitted in evidence and Jer-
ONE quietly remarked:
THE people rest"
A fifteen minutes recess was taker
| to allow a consultation of the attorneys
for the defense.
LittIeton Begins
Mr. Littleton in his statement for the
defense, declared that Mr.. Caravan hao
misused the term insanity when he SAID
1t was the duty of the jury to take tht
definition of it as laid down by the legis
lature.
"ae meant responsibility, said MIR
Littleton. For the definition of insanity
is too elusive a thing for your mind oil
| mine. 1t eludes even the trained mindi
of those who have given many years o.
their life to its study
The only excuse for a crime of thu
character charged in the indictment de
clared Mr.. Littleton, Is one OF insanity
but he denied that any condition of in
| sanity had been invented for the ext
| gencies of the moment
il The human mind was described by Mr.
Il Littieton as a thing inscrutinable. M
man could fathom it, no man could sa.
why one man should be gifted above an
other, no man could set himself up a