He made the jurors regard Stanford White as a fiend whose slaying was a noble deed.
He made the jurors thrill with sympathy for the fragile, pale-faced little Evelyn.
He showed cause enough ten times over for the dethronement of reason in the brain of Harry Thaw.
What more could any lawyer do?
CHAPTER X.
White on Verge of Arrest When Shot.
REV. ANTHONY COMSTOCK, THE FAMOUS REFORMER, TOLD HOW HARRY THAW HAD HIRED HIM TO GATHER EVIDENCE AGAINST ARCHITECT—PROOF OF ORGIES IN MIRRORED DEN FOUND BY DETECTIVES—HARRY WANTED TO PREVENT THE MAN FROM SEIZING IN HIS CLUTCHES OTHER YOUNG AND INNOCENT GIRLS LIKE EVELYN NESBIT—CASE OF CHILD ONLY 15 YEARS OLD LIKE MRS. THAW’S—HUSBAND MADE DESPERATE—ATTORNEY DELMAS TELLS HOW EVELYN’S STORY SHOCKED HIM—GREATER DISCLOSURES AHEAD.
Another blow to the prosecution, almost as great as that dealt by Evelyn in her testimony, came when Jerome learned that Thaw held in reserve the startling story of Stanford White’s entire past, and was ready to produce it at any moment. Anthony Comstock, famous head of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, had the documents. Mr. Comstock prepared a statement for the defense, part of which is substantially as follows:
“I know that much of what Mrs. Harry Thaw has stated on the witness stand is true. I know that Stanford White’s den in the tower of Madison Square garden was arranged as she described it, and that it was the scene of revelries. I know of at least one specific instance. And what I know I learned after I had been given the first clews by Harry Kendall Thaw himself.
“My first knowledge of this case dates from the summer of 1905—about a year before the killing, I should say. One afternoon a tall, well-dressed, well-bred young man came to me in my office in the Temple Bar building. He seemed to be laboring under excitement, and it was evident that he was desperately in earnest. He opened the conversation by asking me if I were interested in the suppression of vice. Then he wanted to know if my society gave special attention to the arrest and punishment of men who preyed upon young girls. I told him that we did. He jumped up abruptly, said he would see me again, and left without telling me his name. At the door he stopped long enough to say he would see me again.
“A few days later he came back, still laboring under strong emotion. He then introduced himself. As nearly as I can recall he said: