New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-13
THAW HAS PARANOIA
DANGEROUS TO FREE HIM
SAYS JUSTICE MILLS.
Must 60 Back to Uattea1can-
Mother Bitterly attacks Jerome
Hill Try 4gain.

Harry Kendall Thaw must return to Mattea-
| wan Asylum for the Criminal Insane Justice
Mills. Of the Supreme Court handed down a
| decision yesterday in which he declares that the
| slayer of Stanford White is stiH insane He
/ dismissed the writ of habeas corpus under
| which Thaw endeavored to secure his freedom,
! Thaw spent the night in the White Plains TAIL
D'strlct Attorney Winslow has drawn an order
committing him to Matteawan, and this will be
submitted to Justice Mills for his signature I'm
chambers at Mount Vernon this morning Thaw's
sister the former Countess of Yarmouth visited
her brother in his cell Yesterday morning Her
only comment on tine decision was that it was
complete surprise TO the members OF her FAM
| ily Thaw received the decision with apparent
calmness.
Mrs Mary COpley Thaw issued statement
IN which she said she was deeply disappointed
| at the failure Of her son TO obtain his freedom
She bitterly arraigned District Attorney Jerome.
and denounced him as that arrogant, vindictivs
| prosecutor" She referred TO Justice Mils's
| opinion as a cruel decision
/ The decision contained about five Thousand
words After discussing the evidence Justice
Mills drew the following conclusion:
The insanity with which Harry X Thaw was
d am leu on June 20 1896. at the time he Committed
uesve insanity or paranoia This conclusion rests
| clearly proven. ~ 'Ne " 20
| INSANITY IN FAMILY
| There in his ancestral stock a s,bs,.n,t,t
Jul VaS not very strong trace of insanity. BY mot
direct ancestors was ever ins ast no one o.
n l Hai side TWO uncIes of unsound mind
t-,ner SIDE an aunt a least an epIIeptic and
| brtnaps insane; and some remote relatives
/ evidence ~ no. 'c INSANE atnoush as 10 them the
he was physically weak and 9nny y exesd Gnl
nervous anu abnornaly wakeftL Older he was
| rnr subject OF violent spells amounting almost TO
/ t suns OF excitement without any naturally
%lequdle cause. lie attended various schools for
made hrre pr@gre sS 1ls s 9Se OF SIX upward bgr
bTs sIls'y ~ ms earlier years ne had freqeunt
's Gt ~, sPpesrsnce was wild and staring
now neh e MAS at the age OF ten years The being
atta OF violence ar school. wrote to the head
/ pressed her apprehension that his mind is more
there IL danger Of that? Inc uncIe 10 yrhorn
/ refer as having become weak minded was. when
/ dread older he sftempfei spseisi str sins OF
/ Thereafter he made two separte attempts 10 study
/ lowed period Of some ten years. in which he
seems 70 haze attempted no business but 10 have
Two attacks Of At leas, great nervous outbreaks.
l carlo. in 1884,. and another in. London IN 1Sea
each atts"dsnt UPON illness About lef he became
he sfterwsrd married. She Was then nv common
/ tress or a mistress OF stanford White she s5Glr
maj Kim T sT 6sr fore S and to
Sgq e'm Various wid and grossly mpr'eaSi DE
| though he Thaw. evidently was himself far trom
a moral man. and was then engaged or soon there-
ShSracter as revealed BY the testimony othe Ner.
riU which. with the corroboratioTs afforded
by other evidence in the case. appears credible.
gave absolute eredence 70 The tales told him by Miss
ton as t. Whites conduct With few other yeuIls
women ether aEey t{ from them or tngoHsh MISS
Nssou an OF Whltn l0tornlaton was or me same
Wild and improbable character. evidently to any
he gave Implicit Sse lis mind became S Absolutely
possessed With those stories He not only believed
conclusions as To the practices of White far beyond
From the charges separately made by those few ad
mitted3y immoral Women he concluded that White
he accomplished. ty force or by drugs. the ruin OF
respectable young American girls. as ii were. BY
the wholesale
UNSOUND BEFORE MARRIAGE
Justice Mills plainly states his conviction that
Thaw was insane prior 10 his marriage to Evelyn
Nesbt, After setting down decisions Thaw's
belief in Whites alleged practices. the justice
says:
Such belief to such extreme extent was plainly
deus%n With ., II there same to his mind the
These decisions had become established. fixed and
April 1906 and continued. At least until after
the homicide. on the day of his marriage he exc
Cuted MS VIII ana cQdiciE The provisions OF the
latter were the product Of those decisions and
strenuous 10 execute his mission to destroy White
by attempting institute legal proceedings against
him, and 70 that end employed detectives and ap-
peaed for aid TO public authorities that every
EFFORT along that line proved abOrtiVe. the sim
pie reason, as he was clearly informed, that in
no one of the alleged cases of Whites criminal
wrongdong could any substantial evidence TO cor
robOTate the claimed TO have been wrongaf
be obtained, the law in its wisdom based I,Don ~.
general experience of mankind, demanding iropera-
lively some such corrobOrative evidence
Ills decisions as 70 the practices of White were
made by the detectives and public aurhorifiss 49,
his delusive belief in his special mission Continues,
20 possess nIs nlhq In that mental condition at
lne hooI GARDEN ne came into the presence oe+
White. doubtless, unexpectedly and ptIhiclv sbor
MN 70 deatn IN a spectacuar and theatrical man
uetL IN 50 tlolltS ne beileVed that he acting
the agent of Providence and performing a nrsise-
worthy act like that Of David in shaving Goliath
or 81 George In killing the Dragon
shortly thereafter when his prosecution was
entered upon and his counsel Mr.. Delaheld Mr.
Olcott and Ex-Governor Black among the noo.r
reputable and able called i'm reputable a1ienists -
examine him and upon their report thar he vss
insane designed 20 submit him To the examination
OF other reputable alieniStS employed by he
cution, with the view that. n the latter agreed
with the former, they, the counsel, would ask the
mitted 10 asylum as insane he al once became
possessed with the belief that his counsel and
District Attorney and certain friends OF White
railroad him to Matteawan avoid a trial.
for the sole purpose OF protecting Whites memory
pcsure of their infamous practices. Such belief.
that Is TO the purpose was utterly without ths
least foundation and a clear delusion
All this. according to the weight OF expert tssti-
mony is plainly the history of a paranoiac. The
Court concludes. therefore, that Thaw's insanity
al the commission OF the homicide was OF the kind
known paranOia, and not at all OF the brain
storn'-sane half minute before and sane half
minute after-Variety II any Sueh variety really
exists
The verdict of the jury plainly warranted by
the evidence not merely expression OF rea-
sonabIe doubt. but affirmative nndin<
OF the fact of insanity.