Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-12
homicide trials, and to NY mind d mo-
entirely succeed in so doing"
Thaw Made Bad Impression.

and of the witness StdHu. me opliiioA
calls particular attention to Thaw's facial
appearance. especially during the last
afternoon of his testimony. when for
twenty minutes he spoke in justification
of his extravagant belief as to White
conduct with a certain woman.
IN unusual paragraph in Justice Mills
opinion is devoted to Mrs. Mary CopleS
Thaw, the prisoners mother. The court
SAYS:
while paving this high regard to Dr.;
Baker the court is by no means satlS!led
with the treatment which Thaw has re-
Ceived at Matteawan since his return
there in October last, after his unsucceSs-
full attempt in the courts then 10 OBTAIN
his freedom
No one could help bein. greatly
moved by the deep and manifestly I'M
feigned distress of the mother when as
a witness, she narrated that treatment,
telling how, after his return III October
last 10 the institution, he was refused
his former comfortably furnished room.
compelled nightly TO undress in the ward
in the presence of fifty or more unqueS-
toned luna tics, to pass then through the
infirmary between rows of cots W tn the
sick in HEM to his room, with the bed
as its sole article of furniture, and re-
main there in darkness for ten hours
from pm.
Pity for Mother.
In considering this narrative doubtless
allowance must be made for the effect Of
the mothers feelings. 1t must be under
stood that Thaw is no. at the hospital as
criminal to undergo punishment
The jury, the supreme authority in
the matter, has by its verdict declared
him innocent of any crime in the matter
Of the homicide. | verdict must be re-
spected. at least by all public officials
In the hospital he must be regarded as
an unfortunate person afflicted with
mental arrangement; there not to be pun
ished for any crime, but solely TO be
cared for, pro ected and guarded so that
he may not injure another or himself.
but always with the stinct hope that
he may ultimately be cured, however
great or small that hope may really be.
1t is well. doubtless, that care should
be exercised by the authorities that Thaw
he not favored because of the wealth
and social position of his family. 1t Is
equally well, however. that care be eX-
upon those accounts.
1T may we'll be that this court. in the
exercise of its plenary chancery powers,
has the authority by order to make spe-
ciiic directions to the treatment OF
any inmate in such an institution.
Leniency for Prisoner.
However that may be. | venture to
suggest TO the authorities there that
when he is returned to their custody the
privileges 50 called, which he was per-
mitted TO enjoy in his first three months
stay there be restored to him If such
procedure be not found to be clearly in
compatible with due discipline: and, fur
Their, that his venerable and most esti
mablc mother be at all times treated
with the utmost possible consideration.
He. sorrowful condition commands the
profound sympathy of every normal
mind.
mo of cor cij fp--, fn,- l,o
mothers feelings" continues Justice Mills,
permitted her witness to make al
will her plea for her son. and in SO doing
to give certain incompetent testimony
which embraced criticisms of Mr. jerome.
! deem ii my duty 10 say that these crit
lcisns seem 10 me to be mistaken and I'M
warranted although doubtless sincere. In
The very complete record before me find
no evidence of any heartlessness or undue
zeal upon his part.
IF he made the remark remembered by
Mrs. Thaw to the effect that he hoped her
son would never be released from Mattea-
wan, ! am confident that il was made as
the expression not of hope but of a
conviction that he would not recover
Courts Opinion as to Sanity.
After discussing the evidence Justice
Mills draws the following conclusions:
THE insanity with which Harry *.
Thaw afflicted on June %. 1906, at
the time lie committed the homicide. was
of the kind known as chronic. delusive in
sanity, or paranoia. This conclusion rests
upon the following facts, which appear to
me to be clearly proven:
There was in his ancestral stock a
substantial but not very strong trace Of
insanity. BY not very strong is meant
the fact that no one of his direct anceS-
tors was ever insane. Upon the maternal
side two uncles were of unsound mind.
each AT least for Il portion of his life;
and on his father side, an aunt was at
least an epileptc and perhaps insane;
aud some more remote relatives were un-
doubtedly insane. though as to them the
evidence is not clear. but there had been
insanity in one of their ancestral lines
not common 10 the prisoners own de-
scent
~ . soung child he was physically
weak and puny. exceedingly nervous and
ahncrmally Wakeful Older he was sub
jet 10 vloien. spells amounting almost
to paroxysms of excitement without any
naturally adequate cause. He attended
various schools fer different periods from
the age of six upward, but made little
prngrdSS IL study.
y lille 1T school, especially in his ear
lier years, lie had frequent outbreaks of
uncomfortable excitement in which his
facial appearance was wild and staring"
Insane Credence in Evelyn Nesbit.
Continuing his history of Thaw's life,
justice Mills says:
About 1901 he became enamored of a
young woman. Miss Nesbit, whom he aft
erward married. She was then, bv COM
mon reputation we'll known to him, the
IN stress or a mistress of Stanford White
She soon assumed that relation to Thaw.
ann. obviously to account 10 him for her
former position with White. told him
various wild and grossly Improbable
sto1 es Of the inception of that relation
Although he ThaRb evidently was
himself far from Il moral man and was
tnen engaged or soon therea fter became
engaged In practices of a perverted char
acter, as revealed by the testimony of
the Merrill woman, which. with the cor
rnoorat!on afforded by other evidence in
the case, appears credible, he gave abso-
lutte credence TO the tales told him by
Mis- Nesbit about White.
He obtained similar information as
10 White conduct with a few other
young women, either directly from them
or through Miss Nesbit all of which in
formation was OF the same wild and i'm
probable character. evidently. to any
normal mind, grossly exaggerated To
all. however, he gave implicit belief
His mind became absolutely possess
cd with these stories. He not oulv be.
deduced from them conclusions AS to
the practices of White far beyond what
such belief i'll normal mind would war
rant.
From the charges separately made by
those few admittedly immoral women
he concluded that White maintained sew
erai places in New York city where he
accomplished, by force or by drugs the
rum OF respectable young American girls.