Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1909-08-28
Woodstock, VT. August %, 1909
The Case of Thaw.

Of techniaaitiGs, the sensible and
necessary thimg to do.
The. question arises, however,
whether il Fhaw had not committed
murder, If he had missed his aim, or
had done on,y some harm less wanton
thing, how many persons expect or
not would think him now insane?
Thaw's action and speech on the
witness stand and his general con-
duct during the trial must give the
lay world new conception OF WhaU
is insanity Perhaps for this reason
the educational value Of the case may
be worth some consideration. For
surely to be unusually active in adj
vising counsel and to have once had
a wild look in the eye " are not very
serious Indications Of mental I'M
soundness. Nor does his expressed
opinion of White, considering his
natural character, habits and environ
ment, constitute an insane delusion.
AS matter of fact there has been
little evidence presented to show that
Thaw has paranoia" or delusional
insanity now, any more than he had
the mania-melancholia insanity at the
time of his second trial and the
attempt to get Thaw's case into any
type of recognized mental disease
must be regarded as a failure 1t is
to be remembered that in the course
Of fifteen years of dissolute and
perverted life isolated instances OF
temporary excitement and irration-
atty would be likely to occur in
any one who had the disposition
and opportunity to live such life. !
The disease known as paranoia, to
be sure, has some variations of mean-
ing and the term can be stretched ny
the conscientious alienist to apply to
a somewhat wide range of mental
defects. But as the term is now
usually used, it does not fit the case
of Thaw and those alienists were
wise who denied it's existence or
failed to find signs of it,
1t is equally true that no other rec
ognized. major type of insanity has
feature. which correspond with the
symptoms shown by Thaw But there
are abnormal meptal conditions de
scribed by,rsychiatrists which Hbun-
, dainty explain the mature of lhaw's
troubles. lie belongs to the type of
= abnormal men. witt, hereditary in
F. feriority land instability of constitu-
tioii. az -
Thaw was Il man of violent and I'm
controlled passions, pervert in hab-
it's, jealuue Incorporate, self ,indul-
gent, fatuonoly weak in Judgment,
vain and tgetistical. lie. was also
what is termed now pay dlras !henic,
i. e., with a tendency to i@xed' IDEAS,
morbid impulses and otsessipns.
Such persons, are classed ,among the
superior or inferior degeAierattes &C
cordingly as their intelligence's stifis
cient or not to keep them from being
utterly silly and foolish and even
criminal .:
Such people often, live relatively.
harmless lives and are not regarded
as Irresponsible rinsane. They are
the hi-fous, or half crazy mem
bers of society and they are-here
is the point-not entirely responsible
And Thaw as demi-rous should be
punished according to tile measure
of his responsibility Now in fact,
after infinite trouble and expense and
scandal he is being so punished.
To have sent him to the chair
would have been wrong to have sci
him free would have heon wrong.
The mechanism Of the law in its
clumsy way has recognized this.
But can we not learn from the ex-
, perience so us to do better in the
future? TIE law as 1T is now has ny
means of doing differently from what
it has done The law says man is
either insane and irresponsible or
sane and responsible
But the world is full of the demi-
fous, the unstable, obsesseh, half
crazy who are to an extent RESPONSE
BILE for their acts and Thaw is one
of these His hereditary defects, were
greatly increased by his vicious hab
its and his long career of self-indul-
gence and intemperance, using the
latter word in it's largest sense. ..