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 would do. When Mr. Hartridge came out he declared:

"The fortitude of the boy [meaning Thaw] astonishes me sometimes, and it certainly did today."

Later in the afternoon Thaw sent out a statement, in which he said:

"Everything is perfectly satisfactory to me. I am sure I will be able to satisfy the commission that I am sane at the present time. Anything Justice Fitzgerald does is all right. He has always acted in a fair and impartial manner."

The brothers of the defendant did not go to the Tombs, but hurried uptown with the news of the commission to their mother and sisters, who were waiting in their apartments. Thaw had divined the result of the conference with Justice Fitzgerald and was not in the least surprised.

The personnel of the commission lent a new distinction to the already notable case.

Morgan J. O'Brien, a former justice of the Appellate division of the Supreme Court, was one of the trustees, with Grover Cleveland, of the Hyde stock in the Equitable Life Assurance Society purchased by Thomas F. Ryan just prior to the insurance investigation. When he was a candidate for re-election to the bench in 1901 as a Democrat, Justice O'Brien was unopposed. President Roosevelt made a trip from Washington to Oyster Bay to cast his ballot for him.