New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-17
THAW HEARS APPEAL
FC2 HIS FREEDOM
Shearn Bitterly Attacks Jerome
and the AlienistS Who Testi-
fled Against Prisoner.
NATURAL TO KILL WHITE
Attorney Says That Homicide
Came from Awakening of
Every Primeval
Instinct"

Summing up the case IN favor Of Harry
II. Thsw at White Plains yesterday.
Clarence !. Shearn bitterly asssiled the
states alienists and William 7. Jerome.
special attorney general I'm the case, te-
! fore Justice Martin j. Keogh. DR.. Allan
McLane Hamilton he characterized as a
"faithless alienist, who had first taken
Mrs Thaws money and then betrayed
her" and OF DR.. Austin Flint he said
His testimony. like his alum baking
powder Inducements. are for sale TO the
highest bidder.
I jerome he described as Jerome the
| sensationalist who has followed on the
( trail of Thaw for six years like a human
! hyena, befouling and bespattering with
! irrevelant fifth and Gaping the climax
! by referring to Thaw's noble mother with
! characteristic chivalry as AN old woman
tottering TO the grave
| There was only small crowd present
, IN the courtroom TO witness the last scene
! in the present attempt TO free the slayer
OF Stanford White. Thaw himself was
present with his mother. his brother Jo-
siah, his sister Alice and Mr.. and Mrs.
! George Carnegie
| >
| we'll back In the courtroom and listened
tntently only once Jid he interrupt, that
was when Mr.. Shearn said that most OF
| his documentary evidence came through
tho soiled hands of Clifford W. Hart
ridge" Mr. Jerome arose and said some
what heatedly that he wished 1t distinct
| ~ understood that by sitting silently
while such statements were made he did
not concede their truth.
Justice Keogh assured him that that
was understood, and Mr. Shearn resumed.
| Mr. Shearn said he had gone further
| than TO establish a prima facie case If
sanity. for 1 not only called alienists,
! but also lay witnesses OF the highest
| character. trained observers OF men.
| Against this Mr.. Jerome presented A
mass Of testimony, much OF It from the
cutters ten years ago. which merely went
| to show that Thaw must have had para
noia then, and that, II being incurable,
| ne must have II now"
! He described the Thaw action In killing
White as the result Of natural human
motive When he saw White in Madison
Square Garden that night every primeval
instinct OF a man awoko in him. said
| Mr.. shearn.
! Mr.. Shearn denounced the testimony al
20 Thaw's peculiar mania as shown by
! the testimony Of the Merrill woman, and
| charged that Mr.. jerome knew that lie
could not corroborate her testimony and
knew also that this kind Of perversion had
! no relation TO psranols.
| 4 ~
| permit the perpetual Imprisonment OF 4
man because he has committed an act OF
| violence and II cannot be guaranteed
| that under unforeseen circumstances he
| would not do so again. AS matter OF
fact, II Is almost unheard OF I'm our Grim
inal annals that man who has com
United homicide has repeated the Of
| fence. II this be true Of the average
criminal who is turned into the gutter
with the stigma OF convict upon him
what reason to expect worse result
| from Thaw, who Will go from the asylum
10 the bosom OF loving family?
'In conclusion let me say that 7 max,
no appeal based on sympathy for his SIS
| ters, his brothers or his dear mother. II
her son must 60 back 10 Matteawan-
| that hell on carth-Mrs. Thsw will bear
the blow with the same noble fortitude
which has characterized her life. She
will 20 coura geously back to the littl'
cottage in sight OF the madhouse and her
many charities"
| Justice Keogh will receive Mr. Shearn's
brief on Saturday and Mr.. Jerome's or
Monday, and Il IS expected that his de
cision will follow within a week.