{"id":31513,"date":"2018-05-24T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=31513"},"modified":"2021-04-19T09:50:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T13:50:14","slug":"trial-of-the-century-jealous-millionaire-murders-famous-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/trial-of-the-century-jealous-millionaire-murders-famous-architect.html","title":{"rendered":"Trial of the Century: Jealous Millionaire Murders Famous Architect!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn about a sensational murder and trial early in the 20th<\/sup> century that captured the public\u2019s attention. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trial of the Century!\u201d Headlines seem to scream that phrase more than once in a century \u2013 yet it\u2019s only a matter of time before that trial is forgotten and a more infamous trial takes its place. The first \u201cTrial of the Century\u201d for the 20th century was that of the June 1906 murder of noted architect Stanford White by millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw in revenge for the \u201chonor\u201d of his bride, Evelyn Nesbit.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Evelyn Nesbit about 1900, at a time when she was brought to the studio by Stanford White. Credit: Gertrude K\u00e4sebier; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s an age-old story of sex, jealousy, excess, money, and of course, murder.<\/p>\n

The Gibson Girl: Evelyn Nesbit<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evelyn Nesbit was the supermodel of the early 20th century, with a modeling career that started when she was a teenager. Readers of the era saw Nesbit\u2019s familiar face on the covers of popular magazines and advertisements for everything from insurance to Coca-Cola. Her career eventually included work as a chorus girl and an actress. Memorialized by the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, Nesbit was known as one of the very popular \u201cGibson Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cThe Eternal Question\u201d by Charles Dana Gibson, using Evelyn Nesbit as a model, c. 1901. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is a Gibson Girl? Gary W. Clark, author of Lessons From The Gibson Girl \u2013 Her Quest for Equality, Justice, and Love<\/em>, explains:*<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gibson Girl was an iconic, though fictional, young woman of the early 20th century. Charles Dana Gibson drew her for weekly illustrations in popular magazines of the time. She was beautiful, stylish, and the model that young women around the world admired, copied, and emulated. The illustrated Gibson Girl was a composite of many models over a dozen years yet Evelyn Nesbit is the most recognized as the typical Gibson Girl.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While she achieved a great deal of fame in her younger years, Nesbit\u2019s life wasn\u2019t easy. According to Clark:<\/p>\n

\u201cShe lived a tumultuous life, riddled by tragedies, including\u2026 suicide attempts, and a failed stage career\u2026This success-driven life at any cost left her vulnerable to many unfortunate encounters with people of questionable motives, including a jealous husband and a rich lover.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Nesbit was not starved for the attention of male suiters, she eventually settled for a marriage to the troubled millionaire Harry Thaw. That decision, possibly fueled by the hope for lasting financial security amongst other things, would profoundly affect her life.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina), 17 February 1907, section 2, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lothario: Stanford White<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stanford White was well-known, respected, and a partner in an architectural firm that designed public buildings as well as homes for wealthy clients. His legacy can still be viewed today in the New York Palace Hotel, the Tiffany and Co. building, and the Washington Square Arch. He was also the designer of the building where he would meet his demise on 25 June 1906: Madison Square Garden II.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Stanford White, c. 1892. Credit: George Cox; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Stanford White was not an innocent victim; he had a dark side. Though married, he preferred the company of a steady stream of much younger women whom he wined and dined until he got what he wanted \u2013 at which point he would move on to the next young beauty.<\/p>\n

White kept a special apartment just for these purposes (called \u201cWhite\u2019s Den\u201d in the below newspaper article) and was known for the underage company he kept.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 8 February 1907, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evelyn Nesbit was just one of many of those conquests. White assisted Nesbit and her mother, earning their trust, and then one day he assaulted Evelyn while she was unconscious.<\/p>\n

The Husband: Harry Thaw<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harry Thaw of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is not as well-known as other millionaires from the Gilded Age like Rockefeller or Vanderbilt, but his family was once one of the 100 wealthiest families in the United States. Thaw\u2019s parents were William and Mary Sibbet Copley Thaw.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Harry Kendall Thaw, c. 1905. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Thaw family faced their own demons, especially in the form of Harry\u2019s mental problems and scandalous (sometimes public) behavior which his mother covered up using the family\u2019s great wealth. He was persistent in his desire to marry Evelyn Nesbit; after four years she finally agreed, and the couple tied the knot on 4 April 1905.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Thaw\u2019s instability and obsession with White would lead him to shoot and kill his imagined rival.<\/p>\n

The Crime: 25 June 1906<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thaw bought tickets to the play Mam\u2019zelle Champagne<\/em> at the rooftop theatre of the Madison Square Garden. White not only designed the second version of Madison Square Garden, he had an apartment there and a reserved table in the theatre, facts that Thaw would have known.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, the play\u2019s final song, \u201cI Could Love a Million Girls,\u201d probably seemed to Thaw an appropriate time to kill a man that he believed \u201c\u2026ruined my wife and I got him.\u201d Thaw approached White from behind, shooting him three times in the back of his head. White never saw the attack coming.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Belleville News Democrat (Belleville, Illinois), 26 June 1906, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thaw murdered White in cold blood in front of witnesses who knew him either by name or reputation. He was detained and incarcerated in the Tombs, Manhattan\u2019s Detention Complex, where he waited for his fate in a manner unlike any of his fellow prisoners. He dined on food from the exclusive New York restaurant Delmonico\u2019s, wore his own clothes, and slept in a non-prison-issue bed. Though he had murdered a well-known and respected architect, he was treated in a manner that was afforded a man from one of the richest families in America.<\/p>\n

The Trials of 1907 and 1908<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why was this the trial of (a very new) century?<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), 15 January 1908, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lessons From The Gibson Girl <\/em>author Clark postulates:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case had everything. A murder during the production of a play on the roof of Madison Square Garden with socialites as witnesses. It involved the jealousy around the \u201cit\u201d girl [Evelyn Nesbit], a killer who was a member of one of the richest families in the United States, and a famous architect\u2026.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The trial of the century was really the two trials of the century. Thaw\u2019s first trial in early 1907 ended in a deadlock, so he was re-tried in 1908 and found guilty by reason of insanity. Although he was given a life sentence to the Mattewan State Hospital in New York, he eventually was released in 1915.<\/p>\n

The Aftermath<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, what happened to those involved in this early 20th century \u201cTrial of the Century\u201d?<\/p>\n

Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to her son Russell Thaw in 1910. Though she insisted that her husband was the child\u2019s father, a result of his having conjugal visits while incarcerated, Harry Thaw always denied paternity. Nesbit eventually divorced Thaw in 1915 and went on to star in films with her son, as well as consult on a 1955 fictionalized account of her life in the Joan Collins\u2019 movie, The Girl in The Red Velvet Swing<\/em>. Unfortunately, she never regained the fame she once enjoyed. Her brush with scandal tarnished her reputation and she fell from the nation\u2019s graces. She died in Southern California in 1967. Only 31 people attended her funeral.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Traveler (Boston, Massachusetts), 18 January 1967, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the trials and his eventual release from the State Hospital, Harry Kendall Thaw found himself the center of other controversies and crimes. He moved to Virginia where he worked as a firefighter, eventually dabbling in motion pictures, and then spent the last of his years living in Florida. When he died on 22 February 1947 he left a will that provided $10,000 to Evelyn and her son Russell.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 30 March 1947, page 64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since he was murdered, Stanford White had no aftermath. But what happened following his death? His architectural partner Charles F. McKim died in 1909 reportedly from the accumulation of stress starting with White\u2019s murder. Mrs. Stanford White (Bessie Springs Smith White) suffered additional hardships, including the selling of her home and possessions to pay her husband\u2019s debts, and later the tragic death of her brother Robert Clinch Smith aboard the Titanic<\/em>. Mrs. White died in 1950.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, Utah), 19 July 1912, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This sensational murder and trial, which once powerfully captured the public\u2019s attention, has been largely forgotten now. Fortunately, it has been preserved in the pages of old newspapers.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors \u2013 the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers.<\/p>\n

—————————-<\/p>\n

* Clark, Gary W. Lessons From The Gibson Girl \u2013 Her Quest for Equality, Justice, and Love. 2016. page 79.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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