Page:The Great Harry Thaw Case.djvu/74

 CHAPTER VI.

"I Swear Harry K. Thaw Was Insane."

DEFENSE BEGINS TERRIFIC FIGHT TO PROVE YOUNG MILLIONAIRE WAS CRAZED BY WHITE'S ACTS—DR. WILEY, THAW'S FAMILY PHYSICIAN, DECLARES HARRY DID NOT REALIZE WHAT HE WAS DOING—THEATER EMPLOYE PROVED IMPORTANT POINT THAT WHITE HAD THREATENED YOUNG THAW—ANOTHER PHYSICIAN ASSERTED THE SLAYER, WHILE YOUNG, HAD ST. VITUS DANCE, A DREAD MALADY THAT MIGHT HAVE AFFECTED HIS BRAIN—EVELYN PALE AND WORRIED—PRISONER RAGING IN HIS CELL—THE CRISIS AHEAD.

Experts on the subject of insanity—famous physicians whose testimony cost from $100 to $500 a day each, and whose services required an expenditure of more than a half million dollars—were the central figures in the early part of this celebrated trial. The defense began by forging the links in the chain of circumstances which, it was asserted, had disordered the brain of Harry Thaw and caused him to kill White.

The first witness for the defense was Dr. C. C. Wiley of Pittsburg, the Thaws' family physician, who was connected with the Dixmont Insane Asylum. During Dr. Wiley's examination, the young prisoner sat with paper and pencil, taking notes and consulting con