Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-25
Counsel for Accused Slayer of
John E. Peck MarshaIs
His Witnesses.
WILL ATTEMPT TO SHOW
DENTISTS MIND DISEASED
Brother First to Testify-Father
and Alienists to Follow-Pris.
oner Also to Take Stand,

NEW YORK, MAY 25.-The
fight to save DR.. Arthur Warren
Waite from the electric chair be-
gan today before Justice Shearn
IN the criminal branch of the
supreme court The prosecution
closed its case yesterday. and this
morning counsel for the defense
marshaled alienists and relatives
of the accused man to prove that
he was insane when he killed his
wealthy father-in-law. John z.
Peck of Grand Rapids, Mich, bv
giving him repeated doses of
arsenic.
Walter R. Deuel.. counsel for DR..
| Waite. began his opening address for
the defense when the hearing was re-
sumed this morning. Mr.. Deuel. said he
expected to finish the case for the de-
tense by Friday night.
Attendance at the trial was somewhat
decreased today. Mrs. Clara Peck
Waite. the prisoners wife, sat near the
| jury box partly hidden from the gaze
of the spectators. Miss Elizabeth B.
Hardwick, who sent the *. Adams"
message giving Percy Peck warning of
| suspicious of murder, in the court
I room, as were also Warren W. Waite,
| father of the young dentist. and Frank
| A Waite, his brother.
Prisoner to Take Stand.
! In beginning his address. Mr.. Deuel.
| told the jurors it would be shown that
DR.. Waite was of unsound mind He
also announced that the prisoner would
| take the stand.
| Waite's history. the attorney added,
| would show his mental weakness. while
his father and two brothers would tes-
tify as to the prisoners condition and
! concerning circumstances in his early
| life. Counsel promised to produce alien
fists to show that Waite's mind is dis
| eased.
1t is understood that the defense
will make no claim that Waite is in
sane at the present time. An effort
will be made to show that he was in a
| highly nervous state for several months
preceding the death of Mr.. Peck: that
| he was subject to ''obsessions" and the
| victim of mental suggestions coming
| from another self, which the defend
ant called the man from Egypt"
Frank A. Waite. the dentists broth
| er. was the first witness for the de-
| fense. He said that because Dr. Waite
| had a large head the other members of
the Waite family "poked fun at him."
Waite a Wayward Boy.
Frank Waite said his brother Jagged on
the way to school when a child and was
always getting into trouble with other
boys. Arthur eighteen years old
when he entered the University of Michi-
gan He sent back $1,000 from South
Africa and brought $500 more when he
| returned. the witness said.
The brother described visits to Waite's
apartment whe- ray in a stuper from
narcotics and said the dentist then talked
at random and in his lucid intervals acted
far differently than when normal.
Cross examined. Waite said he re-
membered telling a physician al Belle
vue Hospital there was no epilepsy.
| mental deficiency nor criminality in the
| Waite family.
Waite as a boy was cruel to animals.
developed habit of lying, and used
to steal from boarders in his home and
from classmates at school and college,
according to Clyde Waite of Grand
Ra apids. another brother.
Insanity in the Family.
Warren W. Waite. the dentists father
who next testified, said Miles Waite the
prisoners andfather. disappeared
from his home in 1871 and was never
seen again by his family one of the
witness aunts died in insane asy-
lum; one of her sons is now in an asy-
lum and another was for time in a
psychopathic hospital in Ann Arbor. the
witness said. adding that a cousin was
deaf and dumb.
+ Just before the birth of Arthur W.
Waite mis- mother was in a weakened
condition, the father testified. Arthur
gave him more trouble than the other
children.
He was a liar and thief in his
school days. and once took 5000 from
his Schoolmate" said Mr.. Waite
Arthur was always disobedient and in
later years morose at times, said the
witness. Mr.. Waite said that on his
arrival in New York he had stated
there was no insanity in his immediate
family.
Describes Prisoners Dual Character
Mrs. Margaret Weaver Horton. the
young woman with whom Dr. Waite
studied languages and music and
shared a studio in a fashionable New
York hotel. described late yesterday after
noon what she considered the dual
character of the prisoner This alleged
nature of Waite, the evil
side of which he has asserted manifest
ed itself in the form of little man
from Egypt" gave the first inkling of
the theory upon which Waite's LAWYERS
will proceed in their efforts to prove he
was insane at the time he Killed John
E. Peck. and thereby save him from
the electric chair.
Mrs. Horton, who cast Sorrowing
glances at Waite he sat pale and
outwardly ill at ease. not more than
twenty feet from her. followed Mrs.
Clara Louise Peck Waite, wife of the
prisoner. on the stand. Mrs Horton
told her story slowly. directly. and gave
the impression that she cared little for
subjected. 1t appeared to those who
watched her closely that she was try
ing to convey to the prisoner something
Of the sympathy she felt for him.
Although called as a witness for the
state, Mrs. Horton seemed to be much
when Walter R. Deuel., counsel
for Waite. began to cross-examine her .
Waite, who had sat almost motion1ess
the long direct examination
by Assistant District Attorney George
n. Brothers, dropped his hand from his
chin and raised his eyes toward the
witness. The wife OF tha.1prisoAers