The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-08-08
Basis That Thaw
Had For His Belief.


Now il will be noted that in order to
disprove these conceptions as delusions
it is not necessary to prove them true.
1t is necessary only to prove that the
'.reIator' had sufficient ground for be-
lieving them TO be true. What ground
did rhaw have?
He mad the separate stories of four
women, two of whsm claimed TO have
heen. caught in Whites snare and two of
whom claimed 70 have escaped 1t. His
wife and one Of the latter women
were friends But the others volun-
teered their accounts to Thaw and wrote
him without COLLISION. He had, OF both
he and his wife claim that he had, Eve
lyn Nesbit's circumstantial story. He
has evidence which satisfied eight at
torneys. the chief OF police of Pittsburg,
the handwriting expert in the employ of
Jeromes own office. and Jerome him
SELF For the last-named stated eXplic-
itly to the jury at the summing up OF
the first trial that he did not doubt
Whites guilty connection with many
Young girls and Mr.. Jerome did not
qualify his belief then, as he does now,
so that it Included merely Illicit Teld-
tions with those young girls In the
case of the now famous mushroom
letter" Thaw's leading counsel told
him that alone would clear him of muir
der if it could be put before the jury.
And the mushroom letter was only a
link in a long chain Of Whites own
writings which gave more than color 10
the stories told by Evelyn Nesbit and
the three other women.
The word conspiracy is the only ques-
tionable factor in the second Ct Dr.
Macdonaid's counts. II was established
by Thaw's leading counsel, testifying in
the course of the hearing just ended
that all his attorneys save one, the dos-
tors retained by the defense, the district
attorney. and others were agreed that
the best way to settle the whole mat
ter of the White homicide was TO have
Thaw adjudged insane by a commission
it is a frequent practice-and have him
eon,.nitted 10 MatteaWan without i'm
paneIing a jury. II Thsw, being under
trial for his life and determined not 10
be adjudged insane. should term such
an agreement a conspiracy, surely no
one will be surprised Sane men make
such overstatements in every city in the
world every day in the year.
Ambition As
Sign of Paranoia
And if it be a sign Of paranois that a
/ man of Thaw's means and mental ca
pacity hoped some day 10 be a member
| of the United States Senate. how shall
we Justify similar ambitions in young
men throughout the country? Thaw
probably had no chance, even though
/ he hoped TO represent the State OF
| Pennsylvania. But other men with no
/ more Of an opening cherish such hopes
and no one suspects them OF insanity
Even Dr. Macdonald seemed TO appre-
! ciate that this was an unstable founda-
! ton for so damning finding. But we
/ must not forget that II this foundation
/ is too weak the whole case for paranoia
/ goes by the board. What the reader
viii think Of it. / cannot tell, Of course
/ But 10 me as I heard DIT. Macdonald, as
! 7 considered the probable reiteration u
/ Thaw OF the story told by his wife, as
! I remembered how that story was re-en-
/ forced by similar accounts sent 10 hin
/ from women unrelated. as / realized his
/ belief that the homicide was justifiable
while he heard from his own attorneys the
! proposition that he accept a finding OF
/ insanity. as / reflected on the ambitions
] cherished by other young men every
( where. ] could not agree that here were
/ characteristic, coherent and system
/ atized decisions OF persecution such as
/ the great DR. Karepehn and the lesser
DR.. Diefendorf had outlined. But Wha'
/ is more TO the point. there are alienistS
/ Of fame equal TO that Of Dr. Macdonald
/ and his associate experts for the de,
I Tense, whose support the state has
undertaken TO obtain, who haze ex-
/ pressed to those -psychiatrists the clear
conviction that in their Judgment No
( such system of decisions existed IN
/ Thaw-'s mind
Have Not Rested