The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-01-15
The Ihaw Victory
Over Society

The conclusion of commission appointed by
the federal court having custody of Harry ThaW
finds, ii was bound to find as honest body
that he Is sane and therefore not debarred from
bail as dangerous person. providing always
that It is conceivable that man who has once
killed another in cold blood can within the
bounds OF reason be held to be harmless a
free agent in mixed company.
Within the limits OF the investigation that
the committee called upon to make how
ever, It is probably right in it's deductions
The fault which results in holding UP
the United States and its courts to the ridicule
of the world, in cement to all would-be
murderers willing to pay for the privilege OF
murder. lies with that prime advertiser. William
Travers Jerome
1t was he who. to use a homely expression
played Smart Alex by suddenly shifting his
tactics and railroadng Thaw to an asylum as
"a lunatic, Thaw. by his defense of insanity
having effectively stopped his mouth from de-
nying the charge for which his lawyers had
contended
Now as the New York Tribune effectively
puts It.
IF he is dangerous at all. his being under
hail will not render him less SO; IL he is not
dangerous and is entitled to bail, he can
easily manage. with his clever lawyers and un-
limited funds, to find some point OF law to show
that he may so at large without bail. Bail for
Thaw is equivalent to his permanent release .
The state has never been sanguine Of the
return of Thaw to either prison asylum. Two
days after his release, said:
LAS it is--by legal presumption lunatic-he
is perfectly criminal at perfect enlarge
ment. and beyond the hope Of reauisition by
the one State in which his coldblooded act OF
murder located his residence"
Referring TO the absurd effort to extradfte
Thaw for attempt to escape. when he was
incarcerated as n lunatc. the State said on
September 25th;
so. it would appear that Thaws chances
are good for clean bill of health in New
Hampshire. We do not know just what stat
t;tes apply 70 the removal or a escaped Innatic
who has taken refuge in the State, but do
know that under generally existing law. such
lunatic demand the right to inquiry
as to his mental status Thaws position is,
that he plead forcefullv- his insanity. as
declared by the State OF New York, against
extraditon for the commission OF crime: he can
then turn around and plead with equal force
his present sanity bar 10 his delivery to the
New York authorities lunatic."
We take particular pride of prophecy in
these forecasts which. unfortunately. seem in
fair way to be fulfilled to the letter Thaw
is interesting TO every State as an example Of
how not to deal with criminals who have money.
He is warning of the crying need of more
simplicity and drectness in the trial Of criminal
cases of the folly and crime of a system OF
jurisdiction that admits to the befuddement
of court and jury fine-spun and har-trigger
defense like that of the famous .brainstorm"
of the need of recognition by iuries. and the
part Of the agencies of justice that provide
the jurcs themselves with the subject matter
for their decisions. that they plain men
charged with the duty of exercise of common
sense and trustees for the want of a better
imagined system, for the society of which every
jury is a part
Thaw seems at last the point of laughing
his way clear of the corpse of his victim. whose
memory he covered with filth. after a few
years of considerable confinement. The hope is
that the fact and its notoriety may cause a
rev,llsion of feeling which will he felt In every
State and in every court In which wealth and
corruption hold OUT similar temptation to de-
bauch that equality of the law. disregard Of
which is the most fruitful of all temptations
to lawlessness.