“Now, while this party of four were seated at the table, Stanford White, by accident or design, came into the room in which they were seated. He came in through such an entrance that Harry Thaw himself could not see him. After White went out on the veranda on the Fifth avenue side and remained there a considerable time.
“The wife, seeing him, forbore at the time to call her husband’s attention to him, and only when he was gone did she call his attention on paper. She wrote upon it, ‘The B——’ (meaning blackguard) ‘was there, but has gone out again.’
“As denoting the condition of mind of the defendant at that time, he turned to his wife and said to her, ‘Are you all right?’ and her answer that she was mastered every emotion he had in that public place and the incident had no further consequence. Now, you will remember that during the afternoon Thaw had procured four tickets for the performance that was to take place that night at the garden. He took with him his party and on the way took along another friend to whom he gave his own seat. He went about with his busy, nervous activity which characterizes him until he found a seat beside the witness Smith.
“He sat by Mr. Smith for half an hour engaging in such idle conversation as so-called men of the world indulge in—men whose minds are not seriously engaged in the serious problems of life.
“When Thaw saw White he walked quietly and slowly down the aisle until he faced White and then fired three shots.
“He then slowly and deliberately turned away—and I wish to call your attention especially to this circumstance, apparently slight, but to my mind of the utmost importance, and testified to by the defense. Mr. Meyer Cohen, one of the witnesses, said that as soon as he heard the shots he looked and saw Thaw standing facing the audience with his arms spread out in the form of a cross, a circumstance which has not been dwelt upon by any of the learned experts for the State.
“Mr. Thaw stood as a priest might have stood after some ceremony of sacrificial offering, saying, ‘All is over,’ and dismissing the congregation. He turned his pistol barrel down to indicate to the audience that there was no danger to them.
“He then walked slowly to where his wife stood, and when she said, ‘Oh, Harry, what have you done?’ he replied: ‘It is all right, dearie, I have probably saved your life.’ As he said this he stooped and kissed her. When he was disarmed he said, ‘He has ruined my wife.’ When the policeman came he said: ‘He has ruined my wife.’
“I have dwelt upon these acts and declarations of Mr. Thaw at that time to call your attention to the fact that the safety of his wife was menaced by the man who had followed her to the garden, the same man who had followed her to Dr. Delavan, the same man who had said to Mae MacKenzie he would get this young wife away from Thaw.
“What condition of mind must Harry K. Thaw have been in when walking down the aisle he turned and suddenly saw the form—the hideous form—of the man who had caused so much unhappiness.