Soon after it was announced that the jury was to be shut up for the night. Thaw was taken from the pen back to his cell. As he left the pen he handed out to the reporters this note:
“It is a great satisfaction that all of my family continue well. I regret that so many officials and others have so much extra work.”
On the morning of Friday, April 12, rumor had it that nine of the jurors had agreed to find Thaw guilty of one in these three degrees:
Murder in the second degree; penalty, life imprisonment.
Manslaughter, first degree; penalty, twenty years’ imprisonment.
Manslaughter, in the second degree; penalty, fifteen years’ imprisonment.
The nine, it was reported, were veering most strongly to manslaughter in the first degree and the three holding out for acquittal.
At noon the crowd about the courthouse was so great that traffic was practically stopped. More than 5,000 people gathered about the building and when a rumor that any member of the Thaw family was about to leave the building they surged from one corner to another, sweeping the few policemen who were trying to preserve order almost off their feet.
A call for reserves from several nearby precinct stations was responded to by half a hundred men, who were distributed on both of the streets on all four sides of the building.
Inspector McClusky issued orders that no crowd was to be permitted to congregate. No one was allowed to stand on the sidewalks, all of the curious being obliged to keep moving.