The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1913-08-28
By DOROTHY DIX.

much written about, so much read
about, so much discussed as the
Thaw case. II all that has beef,
printed about 1t were spread out up
on the earth, 1t would blanket the
United States from Canada to the
Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean.
And every printed word OF It all
has been eagerly devoured, not only
by people to whom their daily news
paper sensation is as necessary as
pepper and salt in their food. but b,
quiet. conservative folks who as a
rule reiigiousiy skip all accounts OF
murders and scandals in their pa
pers and eonfine their attention to
the tariff and the editorials.
But there was something in the
Thaw case that took hold Of the pop
ular imagination and stirred the
dullest fancy so that the remotest
hamlets and the loneliest farmhous-
es were just as much interested in
it as was Broadway. Every move in
it was followed with the breathiess
interest with which an audience
watches a gripping melodrama. and.
no matter what the real merits of
the case are, or what the law, it IL
idle to deny that popular sympathy
went with Thaw.
Appears as a Hero.
In New York we were close to the
magnitude Of the crime, and we
knew few things about Harry
T'haw that did not seem to make him
Just the ideal avenger of youth and
Innocence. Also there were circum-
stances connected with Evelyn's past
history that dimmed her halo as d
victim Of mans dcpravity, but away
from New York these slight blurs
on the picture were not perceived.
Harry Thaw was the noble hero. who
rescued the prosecuted heroine and
slew the dcspoiler of virtue. and
most people hoped that the law
would deal lenicntly with him. He
killed to avcnge the woman he loved
his wife-and that theory of JUS
tifiable homicide still goes in the
south and west.
At matter of fact, popular SYM
patty has always been with Thaw
In Nnu. Nnrly nni u iC itt n
csting to note that. in his present at
tempt to escape from Matteawan,
practically everyone that discusses
1t expresses the hope that he will
succeed in his efforts to get free.
For underneath it all Is the feel
ing that Thaw committed n crime
that needed to be committed, that
he rid the world of Il man who was
a monster of vice and an influence
for evil whose power was beyond
computing, and who had preyed Oh
dcfcnseless young girls. This mans
social and professional position and
the wealth of the men who were his
associates put him almost beyond
the reach of the law. Probably only
such n bullet as Thaw's could have
stopped the iniQuitous career, and
for that reason the man in the street
and the woman in the home have
never judged Thaw hardly. and have
always felt that he was nnduly pun
ishcd--which isn't law nor logic.
but is very human.
Interest Still Alive.
Nor has the general interest in
the Thaw case abated. although It Is
now seven years and more since
1'haw shot Stanford White dead in
Madison Square Garden. Thousands;
so nightly to see Evelyn Nesbit do
foolish little dance on n roof gar
den, simply because she was the
heroine OF that scandal. and millions
of readers are watching Thaw's at
tempt to escape from Matteawan
with an interest they are not bcstow-
, ing upon what Hucrta is doing in
Mexico, or Congress Is doing 20 them
iii Wash ington.
This underlying interest in the
rhaw case is easily explained IL
many ways. For one thing, 1t was
great human drama that swept ev-
cry chord of emotion. 1t had In II
love, and jealousy. and bitter hate
and revenge, every passion that
sways the heart. Moreover. it Went
back to the very foundation stone OF
romance, and told the tale. in real
life, that has been the basic idea OF
| every novel from pamela down to
! William Dean Howells. It's heroine
was the poor. pretty country girl
who comes to the great city to seek
her fortune. and whose beauty Is hei
undoing. She meets with the ricu
/ william who substitutes silks ana
satins for her lomespun. who plays
his knowledge of the world agains,
her unsCphistication and so beGuiles
her into the primrose path.
Then comes the rich young prince
who falls in love with her. who mag.
unanimously marrics her in spite OF
her past, and who takes her by tao