Page:The Great Harry Thaw Case.djvu/149

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Evelyn. He told the mother of his desire to send the girl to Europe and said if she would marry him he would settle enough on the mother and her son, Howard Nesbit, to keep them in comfort during their entire lives. (Later testimony indicated this amount was $200,000.)

Evelyn's mother said she would try to fix it so the seventeen-year-old girl would accept him. Mr. Thaw did not stay long, and when he left, Evelyn's mother said, "Now you see his intentions are honorable."

Thaw had never before known his conversation was overheard by an eavesdropper who would stand him in such good stead.

After Mrs. Caine left the stand Mrs. Evelyn Thaw was recalled for cross examination. For hours she sat before the merciless Jerome under a scathing cross fire of questions. Traps were laid and sprung, queries were hurled in volleys to carry her off her feet and overwhelm her in a tangle of contradictions, but all in vain; the mere slip of a girl met the skilled prosecutor with a calm and effective resistance.

Jerome's first step was to try to prove that Evelyn had posed in the nude. He first showed her a photograph of herself taken in 1904. It showed Evelyn in a kimono—the famous one given her by Stanford White. There was nothing offensive in the pose as disclosed by a view of the picture.

Mr. Jerome by his next few questions indicated that he did not intend to spare the feelings of the