A NEW THAW TRIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 83, 24 August 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

A NEW THAW TRIAL.

HOMICIDE'S EFFORT TO PROVE HIS SANITY. WIFE'S BITTER HOSTILITY. For the past week Harry T. Thaw, the slayer of Stanford White (says the London Daily Telegraph), has been once again trying to prove that he lias now regained his reason and is entitled to be liberated from the Matteawan State Asylum for the insane, where he has been confined since February, 1908, when the second jury acquitted him of the murder of the famous architect on the ground that he was insane at the time 'of the shooting. What will be outcome of the present (trial before Mr. Justice Keogh, in the ; County Courthouse at White Plains, Xew York State, is problematical, but the trial will undoubtedly last a month, perhaps all the summer, and the longer it lasts the better Thaw will like it, because he enjoys a greater amount of liberty, and finds in the Courthouse proceedings a welcome change from the dull Routine of the asylum.

ONE TRIAL EACH YEAE. That Thaw intends, in the event of the present trial going against him, to make a fight every year, until either his great fortune is exhausted or he gains liis liberty, was made evident when a letter written by the homicide to Governor Dix, of New York, several months ago, was introduced as evidence by the State Attorney, Mr. Jerome. Thaw complained in the letter that he has been obliged to wait two years for the present hearing, and declares "even those who have spoken most venomously against me grant me the right of one trial of sanity each year." It is estimated tliat the young millionaire has already spent about £200,000 in lawyers' fees and a thousand other details connected with the various trials, and each trial costs the taxpayers of the State anything from £6OOO to £IO,OOO.

A CHANGED MAN. The present Thaw trial is very similar to the previous ones, and the testimony is practically a repetition of what has already been said and printed many times 'before. The Court is crowded every day to suffocation, and there is very little change in the principal characters of this morbid real life drama. The biggest change is noticed in Thaw himself. He is very different from the Thaw of 1008. In those days he was alert, active, and at times fairly brilliant. He conferred continually with counsel, and made endless suggestions; in fact, conducted his own case. All this alertness seems to have evaporated, and Thaw to-day is quiet, undemonstrative, dull. ITe seems stupid when in the witness box, and does not seem to grasp at once the questions asked him.

HfS WIFE'S HOSTILITY. The other chief attendants in the Court are Thaws' loyal mother, his sister, his brother .Josiah, and Evelyn .Xesbit, the homicides' wife. The latter is now a witness against her husband, and for the last two days she has been giving testimony for the State. She is no longer the demure-looking '"pallid child" of the former trial, but a fully developed, languid woman of the world. Kvelyn Xesbit's testimony has supplied the only real excitement since the present trial began. Every movement of Thaw and his wife, say observers in Court, indicates hostility between them. Evelyn enters the Court through the door most remote from her husband's seat, and neither 'by any chance catches the eye of the other, while the testimony which the former artist's model has been giving is all adverse to her husband.

"TWO DIRTY MURDER TRIALS." On Saturday the spectators received their great thrill when Evelyn Xesbit, while being cross-examined by Mr. Clarence Shearn, Thaw's chief counsel, suddenly blazed forth with the remark that she did not intend that Thaw should again "hide behind her skirts," as he did, to use her own words, "in his two dirty murder trials." At the time Mr. Sheam. was evidently trying to draw from the witness the oft-told story of Stanford White's relations with her, and he put to hor the same questions as had been put to her in the murder trials. Mr. Shearn got to the part of the record of the murder trial where Mrs. Thaw tolcl of her visit to Whites' apartment, she having gone there supposedly to attend a party, but instead of a partv found White alone. "Was White alone?" asked Mr. Shearn. "Yes," Mrs. Thaw answered slowly.

WITNESS DEFIANT. In the middle of the next question ill's. Thaw leaned forward with blazing eyes and 'bloodless face, and looking straight at ill - . Sliearn said: "Thaw stood behind 1113' skirts in his two dirty murder trials, and I don't intend to go through it again. Yon may examine me as much as you like, but I won't answer." The defiant attitude of the witness took Mr. Sliearn by surprise. Mr. Justice lveogh looked at her, but rlid not make any remark. Thaw's big eyes showed more'plainly than words how utterly surprised he was at the turn affairs had taken. Mr. Shearn took the witness at her word, and did not question her further along that line.

Public interest in the trial in New York still refuses to wane, but as a rule it is treated somewhat as a joke, with the laugh against the taxpayers of New York State. Several alcoholic drinks named after Thaw are in great demand, and many bets are being made on the outcome of the trial.

(Our cables have since informed lis that Thaw failed to prove his sanity, and was re-committed to the asylum).