Commission Finds Thaw Sane.
CRISIS IN CASE IS REACHED--BLOW TO JEROME--EVELYN CARRIES GLAD
TIDINGS TO PRISONER--THAW EXPRESSES NO SURPRISE--PROSECUTOR
THREATENS TO APPEAL, BUT BOWS TO FINDING.
One of the most dramatic phases of the great trial was at hand. The
defense suddenly announced it had closed its case before the lunacy
commission, and after a private examination of Thaw by the board Dr.
Allen R. Diefendorf told the members that Thaw was a paranoic and had
not recovered his sanity. “Thaw is insane now,” he swore.
The crisis came on the morning of April 4, 1907. After a session lasting
nearly all night the commissioners filed into court and Chairman McClure
handed the following report to Justice Fitzgerald:
“After careful examination of the defendant personally and of all the
evidence we find the following facts:
“In the frequent and in some cases daily--during the several months last
past--intercourse had by the defendant with the Tombs physicians,
chaplains, keepers, other attendants, and the probation officer these
persons failed to discover anything irrational in his conduct or speech.
“The defendant has taken an active part in the conduct of the trial, has
made numerous suggestions orally in court and by letter as to the
selection of jurors and the examination of witnesses. Many of these
suggestions were deemed valuable and were adopted by his counsel, and
examination of the letters referred to shows that generally the
suggestions contained in them were material, sensible, and apparently
the product of a sane mind.
“While the testimony of numerous experts called by the district attorney
and the defendant’s counsel is irreconcilable, that given by certain
experts who personally examined the defendant during the trial and since
the appointment of the commission, and who of all the alienists examined
had greatest opportunity of observing, disclosed the fact that no
indication of insanity at the present could be found in the speech,
conduct, or physical condition of the defendant.
“The direct oral and physical examination of the defendant by the
commissioners themselves disclosed no insanity in the defendant at the
present time. Upon all of the facts it is our opinion that at the time
of our examination the said Harry K. Thaw was and is sane and was not
and is not in a state of idiocy, imbecility, lunacy, or insanity so as
to be incapable of rightly understanding his own condition, the nature
of the charges against him, and of conducting his defense in a rational
manner.
“DAVID MCCLURE,
“PETER B. OLNEY,
“LEOPOLD PUTZEL.”
This was a staggering blow to Jerome, who protested loudly. The defense
was elated. Thaw was not in court to hear the decision, and the jurors
also were barred. All the members of the prisoner’s family, however,
were present, and Evelyn Thaw herself conveyed the glad news to her
husband. Harry was not surprised at the finding.
“It is only what I expected,” he declared. “I am as sane as any man on
earth.”
The district attorney, who had been threatening to “appeal to the
Appellate court and have the trial stopped,” suddenly decided to yield
to the inevitable.