Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1911-07-07
THE
NEMESIS
OF THE
THAW
CASE

q N& convict's brand upon him,
IA y cried out in the Tombs,
H w \N the other day that he
XS1WV9SSS never has had day Of
: luck since he was mixed
ly In the Thaw case. The crime for
which O'Reilly was sentenced to pris-
on. and which disbars him as q
lawyer, had nothing in the world
to do with the Thaw tragedy, but
O'Reilly thinks. and many other per-
sons will think, 1t was the Nemesis of
the Thaw case that worked his undo
Ing.
So far the lives of 10 persons mixed
up in one way or another in the trag-
edy have been blighted. And the end
is ont yet.
Never in the history of New York
was there a criminal case that gain
ed the international notoriety of the
Thaw trials. More lawyers were re-
tanned, greater efforts were put forth
and more money spent in the defense
of the man who shot Stanford White
than in any case New York has known.
And no criminal case has had a more
remarkable aftermath.
Millions of people in this and other
countries read the expurgated &C.
counts of the testimony and shuddered
at the noisome details. Nobody read
them without a feeling of thankful
ness that they need not be mixed up
in such horrid mess" And people
there were who fed from the country
for fear they might be called to tes-
tify.
Sad Ending Of Bright Career.
The hand of Nemesis has been laid
heavily upon Dan O'Reilly, once AS
sistant District Attorney Of New York,
now sentenced to a prison term.
O'Reilly was a clever man and a nim-
ble-minded lawyer. with a fat If ques-
tionable practice. He had the abil-
ity to do a lot of fancy skating on
very thin legal ice. He had wide &C.
quaintance in criminal circles, and
when Thaw killed White, O'Reilly was
one of the lawyers retained. The part
he played in the defense Of the mil
uonaire brought him international no
tOriety and lot Of money. But today
his career is ended SO far as the hon.
orable regard of men is concerned.
He is an outcast The Thaw case was
not the direct cause of his undoing.
yet, taken in connection with the Sc
ries of misfortunes that have visited
others connected with it, it is not
strange If superstitious persons wag
their heads slowly and say to them
selves: Il thought as much-it had
to come"
And Of the other lawyers who ap-
peared in the trials, there is Clifford
w. Hartridge, retained as personal
counsel to Thaw, and who, after Sc
ries of domestic troubles, now is fac
ing disbarment proceedings growing
out of his statements of what he did
in the case. Hartridge presented a
bill of gigantic proportions for his
services. The bill was questioned.
He thereupoa brought suit against the
mother of Thaw. A bill of particulars,
setting forth in detail the items for
which he sought reimbursement, was
demanded. Hartridge told of trips he
had made seeking witnesses, of ex-
cursions 70 various resorts entailing
large expenditures, of sums of money
paid out to buy the silence of certain
persons in possession OF knowledge
that would damage Thaw's case.
His confessions brought upon him
the wrath and scorn and the lash Of
the New York Bar association. Steps
have been taken that will end his ca
reer Of law practice in this state
and elsewhere. unless the appellate d.
vision Of the supreme court Of the
State of New York is more kindly to
him than Is expected.
The shallow of Nemesis is over Cliff
ford Hartridge.
Death Also Takes Hand.
A Russell Peabody, who was asso-
ciated in Thaw's defense, is dead. So
are two other lawyers who played
parts of less importance. John Lee
and George Lee, both members of an
old southern family, who lie together
in the chu.chyard a short way out of
Fairview, Tenn
Again Nemesis, in the guise of
death.
After ths first Thaw trial was I'M
der way out of the west came a man
who was seralded as a modern De-
mosthenes. He was Dolphin Michael
Delmas ard he was placed in the le-
gal limelight over all the others. He
looked, or Thought he looked, like Ma
poleon, ans his oratory flowed and
Powered sud filled the court room
with resourding phrases. 1t was he
who made the famous plea of "Demen-
tia Americana" and received for 1t
$4,000. His name was upon the lips
Of lot OF people for months. but he
subsequently returned to his Califor-
MIA home. He has come back to