THE TRIAL OF HARRY THAW.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3750, 12 February 1907, Page 3

THE TRIAL OF HARRY THAW.

And Affecting Scene. New York, February 8 At Thaw’s trial yesterday his wife gave evidence, and was subsequently subjected to a painful interrogatory. She testified how White, the murdered millionaire, had ensnared and ruined her before she was sixteen years of age. Hence at first she had retused to marry Thaw when he proposed to her, but when pressed for her reason she informed Thaw of the whole of the circumstances. Thaw, she said, was greatly distressed at her story, and declared that any decent person would know it was not her fault. Witness testified impressively throughout. She described the tragedy and the scene immediately preceding it. She also testified that White drugged her prior to ruining her. London, February 8.

Reuter reports that everybody in court was moved by the spectacle of a beautiful } r oung wife sacrificing all that was dearer to her than life to save her husband. Her bearing was timid and almost childlike. The effect on the jury was very marked. The harrowing recital seemed adressed directly to them. During the evidence of his wife Thaw sobbed.

The romantic story of the marriage of Mr and Mrs Thaw and the circumstances surrounding the shooting ot White by Thaw is thus referred to by an American journal;— It is charged that Stanford White pursued Mrs Thaw with attentions, and that Harry Thaw was practically insane with jealousy. Thaw declares his defence will not be insanity, but so far he has made no statement as to what his defence will be. Thaw was prominent among the gilded youth of the land before his marriage, and had long been desperately infatuated with Evelyn Nesbit. He followed the girl to Europe, and travelled about with her for some time. Returning to New York, the couple were denied hospitality at the leading hotels. Finally Harry Thaw’s mother wired them to come to Pittsburg, where the couple were married in her presence. There is no charge that Mrs Thaw has been unfaithful, but there are endless rumours as to the bad behaviour of Stanford White.

This man, a prince in his profession. designed many of the most famous buildings of the present day. It appears that Thaw has had him shadowed by detectives constantly for the past year, and private detectives and actresses have vied with each other in reporting for publication, scandalous conduct in the architect’s private life.

It is impossible to establish the truth of half that has been told. Conservative opinion is that although White was not a moral man, he was not the moral monster he had been depicted. The Society for the Prevention of Vice received reports as to orgies carried on in his rooms, but was not able to obtain sufficient evidence to warrant arrest.