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Show DID WHITE CROSS THE DEADLINE Of HONOR? THAT ISJHE QUESTION ! (BY PAUL TIIIEMAX) Public interest in Mrs. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw's testi-1 testi-1 mony is not along any line of Thaw's alleged insanity, but along the line of whether or not Stanford White had been ! her lover, and if he stepped across the dead line after her I marriage with Thaw. It is 'isy to understand that Thaw niifjit have heen jeal.nis of White, and that- he might have hated White he-1 cause of the relationship, or the stories, told hy his wife, I ahout her relations or aequaintance with White." but a kill- ing was not justified, according to the unwritten law, unless un-less White, after the marriage of the woman to Thaw, stepped across the deadline of her marriage. It does not matter, under the unwritten law. how ; White heeame her lover, hefore her marriage, hut the point j at stake, in the killing, is whether or not White stopped j across the deadline of her marriage to Thaw with stories and sneers, in public, or with attempts on her fidelity to Thaw. And Mrs. Kvelyn Xesl)it Thaw's testimony cannot le : tested ly any sueh attack, on District Attorney Jerome's part, as his attack that made a monkey of Dr. Wiley, the insanity expert. It can only lie tested hy a decent and fail-endeavor fail-endeavor to determine if Kvelyn Xeshit Thaw tells the truth. Witnesses are liable to stage fright. A woman publicly confessing her lapse from virtue is in a position whereof the cruelty transcends any stage fright, and, therefore, to get at the truth. District Attorney Attor-ney .Jerome must put aside1 the artifices of the lawyer and iiestion this young woman as a man and brother. It mav ' lie said that of course she will lie for Thaw. It may he said ; that she will confess to a lapse of virtue to save her husband's hus-band's life. j Rut that act merits respect, according to our code, and : the District Attorney should not exact the pound of rlesh ! of a practiced and brilliant cross-examiner confusing a woman in mental travail, but he should strive gently to learn the truth. j Did Stanford White step across the deadline, or did ' the girl tell her husband that White did transgress the stern line of marriage where the former lover, the libertine, liber-tine, the gossiper must pause or else take his chances of a bullet fired by the husband? That is the issue of Harry Thaw's insanity. Was he merely obsessed by jealousy and hate, or did Stanford White cross the deadline? |