Page:The Great Harry Thaw Case.djvu/291

 CHAPTER XXV.

Deliberations of the Jury.

TWELVE MEN UNABLE TO REST OR SLEEP, HAVE HARD TIME—ANY ONE OF SIX VERDICTS COULD BE GIVEN, SAID LAWYERS—THAW GLOOMY—VISITED BY WIFE—MOTHER WORN OUT BY ANXIETY—JURORS HAVE PART OF EVIDENCE READ AND RETURN FOR MORE BALLOTING—EVELYN ALMOST MOBBED BY CROWD—VARIOUS RUMORS AFLOAT.

From the moment they left the court room, the jurors had a hard task before them. The situation was complex. According to legal experts there were six verdicts from which a logical choice could be made, as follows:

1. Murder in the first degree, the penalty for which is death.

2. Murder in the second degree, the penalty for which is life imprisonment.

3. Manslaughter in the first degree, the penalty for which is imprisonment for twenty years.

4. Manslaughter in the second degree, punishable by fifteen years' imprisonment.

5. Not guilty, on the ground that the defendant was insane at the time of the shooting.

6. Not guilty, without any explanation.

When the jury went out. Justice Fitzgerald ex