The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-08-04

That slayer OF Stanford White 10
| Insane at Present Time-Prisoner,
Plainly Disconnected by Turn Of
Affairs, ls Called to the stand by
rJeroms--Adnnits ,Dlscharging Law.
yers During Murder Trials.
White Plains, N. Y, Aug. 4.-Three
OF those medical men known as alien
lists, who have become such ia
miliar part of modern criminal court
procedure, united in the supreme
court to make 1t unpleasant for Har-
ry X. Thaw All three testified that
he, was insane. and when Thaw took
the stand briefly, after some discon-
| certing Testimony, he was plainly ruff
fed and nervous, but Mr.. jerome dis
missed him after a few comparative
ly unimportant questions.
or the alienists who testified. DR..
Austin Fine. DR.. william Hirsch. and
DR.. Amos, T. Baker. the last named
gave testimony OF the most impor-
tance. He Is acting superintendent
Of Matteawan, and appears as wit
ness without compensation, the only
alienist In the case with this distinc-
tion. Justice Mills called attention
to this fact and took hand in ques-
tioning him. Or. Baker said that in
his opinion Thaw was not only in
sane now. but a dangerous person to
be at large.
II was shortly after this declara-
tion that Mr.. Jerome quickly called
Thaw to the stand. He was pale and
and wiping his eye glasses. The dis
trict attorney put some rather inco-
herent notes written by the prisoner
In evidence and asked him to explain
them. After the parties back and
.aborious explanations by Thaw as to
the meaning Of certain writings, he
said: And want you to know. Mr..
Jerome, that many of these notes you
call suggestions were written at the
request Of my lawyers"
Mr.. Jerome pointed his finger at
the witness aid said: "Do yon mean
TO sit there and tell us, who observed
you in both homicide trials, that you
did not believe YOU knew more about
the case than your lawyers did?" II
do" was Tnaw's quick reply. ~
"You were nice and docile all the
timer" 81 think behaved myself"
"Never discharged any lawyers?"
"Oh, yes; ! discharged some law
yers"
And yet you did not interfere at
all7" only when J thought II was
absolutely necessary"
Then you did offer some sugges-
lions, take it?" said the district at
torney, saroastically. "Oh, yes,
some" was the reply,
Thaw was excused after bit more
of this ordeal, and Or. Austin Flint
was called. DR.. Flint described
paranoiac as person dominated by
certain decisions, whose mental and
physical state might not otherwise
be affected, except insofar as these
delusions influence him. The prog
ress of the disease was usually very
slow, he said. II rarely caused death,
and except In the last stages the pa
tient might retain his faculties unim-
paired. "Paranoiacs," he concluded.
lmpressively, never recover"
Dr. Hirsch varied the general yer.
dict by declaring Thaw degenerate
2aranoiac." 81
Charles Morschauser. Thaw's attor-
oey, attacked the testimony with
avery legal expedient. In DIR. Flints
case he endeavored to show that he
had given contrary testimony In two
previous cases where he appeared as
an expert. He caused DR.. Hirsch
some unhappy moments by inquiring
about book he Is writing.
DO you, in this book. claim that
Jesus Christ was paranoiac?" he
asked. The alienist's reply was that
he would not like 10 give any opinion
on the subject.