Page:The Great Harry Thaw Case.djvu/284

 "CHAPTER XXIV.

The Judge's Charge to the Jury—Thaw in Collapse.

JUSTICE FITZGERALD DEALS BLOW WHEN HE TELLS THE TWELVE "GOOD MEN AND TRUE" THEY MUST IGNORE THE "UNWRITTEN LAW"—READS THE STATUTE GOVERNING INSANITY AS A DEFENSE—BURDEN OF PROOF OF MADNESS PLACED ON THE DEFENDANT—TELLS WHAT VERDICTS MAY BE RENDERED—"YOU MUST BE GUIDED ENTIRELY ON THE EVIDENCE; CLAMOR, PREJUDICE, OR SYMPATHY MUST NOT PREVAIL."

Upon the heels of District Attorney Jerome's closing address, Justice Fitzgerald dealt a terrific blow to the defense in his charge to the jury. Every word that he uttered seemed to the lawyers attending the trial to be a plea that the jurors ignore the most telling points of Delmas' address and confine themselves strictly to the facts and the law on the statute books, ignoring the "unwritten law."

Thaw heard the charge with rapidly paling face, and he almost collapsed when the judge said that the defendant must prove his insanity before he could look for a verdict of acquittal. This charge and the bitter closing speech of Jerome so worked upon the feelings of Harry that he was in a sad condition when he was taken back to the prisoner's room. A call from his wife, however, cheered him up, and he said: