Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-04
BAD DAY FOR HARRY THAW
Alienists Declare that He is "Degen.
crate Paranoiac."
TESTIMONY DIsTURBs I
HIM
jerome Gives Him GrillInE, which
Greatly Disturbs Hts EauAnimity
-DisInterested Doctor H.
Against Him.

WHITE PLAINS, n. Y, Aug. 3-Three
nlienists, united In the supreme court today
TO make It unpleasant for Harry X. Thaw,
who killed Stanford white and was adj
judged insane. but now demands release
from the Matteawan asylum as a mentally
normal man.
All three testified that he was insane
and when Thaw took the stand briefly,
after some disconcertlnR testimony he was
plainly ruff1ed and nervous, but Mr..
jerome dismissed him after a few compar-
aively unimportant questions.
OF the alienists who testified was DR..
Austin Flint. Dr. william Hirsch and DR..
Amos r. Baker, the last named gave testl-
mony OF the most Importance. He is act
ing superintendent OF Matteawan, and APP
pears as a witness without compensation,
the only alienist in the case with this dis
%tinction. Justice Mills called attention to
this fact and took a hand in questioning
him. Or. Baker said that in his opinion
Thaw was insane now, and a dangerous
person to be at large.
Thaw BADLY Ratified.
II was shortly after this declaration that
Mr.. Jerome called Thaw to the stand. He
was pale and apparently shaken, and kept
moving and wiping his eye glasses. The
district attorney put some rather incoher-
ent notes written by the prisoner in evil
dence and asked him to explain them.
After parties back and forth and laborious
explanations by Thaw as TO the meaning
Of certain writings he said:
Il want you to know, Mr.. Perome, that
many OF these notes you call suggestions
were written at the request Of my law
yers."
MIR. Jerome pointed his finger at the
witness and said:
you 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 Thaw's quick reply.
You were nice and docile all the time?'
Il think behaved myself"
Never discharged any lawyers?'
"Oh, yes; / discharged some lawyers"
And yet you did not interfere at ALP
only when | thought 1t was absolutely
necessary"
Then you did offer some suggestions,
I take it?" said the district attorney,
sarcastically.
"Oh. yes some" was the reply.
Thaw was excused after a bit more of
this ordeal, and Or. Austin Flint was
called. DIR. Flint described a paranoIac as
a person dominated by certain decisions.
whose mental and physical state might not
otherwise he affected, except insofar as
these delusions influence him.
The progress of the disease was usually
very slow, ne said. 1t rarely caused
death, and except In the last stages, the
patient might retain faculties unimpaired.
"Paranoiacs," he concluded impressively,
never recover"
Says Thaw il P~aranoIac.
DR.. Hirsch varied the general verdict by
declaring Thaw a degenerate paranoiac."
Charles Morschauser, Thaw's attorney.
attacked this testimony with every legal
expedient. In DR.. Flint's case he en-
deavored to show that he had given
contradictory testimony in two previous
cases where he appeared as an expert. He
caused DR.. Hirsch some unhappy moments
by inquiring about a book he Is writing.
ID you, in this book, claim that Jesus
Christ was a paranolac?" he asked.
The alienist's reply was that he would
not like to give any opinion on the sub
ject. The alienists today delivered their
opinions of Thaw in answer to Jsrome's
hypothetical question, only a small part of
which was read. 1t dealt mainly with
Thaw's family history and his early life.
The states alienists will probably oo-
cupy the center of the stage for two DAYS
more. Mr.. Morschauser will continue to-
morrow his cross-examination of either
DR.. Flint or DR.. Hirsch, both of which
are left unfinished. DIR. Carlos f. Mac
Donald has yet to testify. lie will be
called by Mr.. Jerome.