Other Juries Compared With That in the Thaw Trial.
_Trial._ _Jury was out_ _Verdict._
Thaw 47 hours 8 minutes Disagreement.
William J. Koerner 59 hours 10 minutes First degree.
Nan Patterson (first) Mistrial.
Nan Patterson (second) 24 hours Disagreement.
Nan Patterson (third) 11 hours 35 minutes Disagreement.
Roland B. Molineux (first) 8 hours First degree.
Roland B. Molineux (second) 25 minutes Not guilty.
Albert T. Patrick 2 hours First degree.
Guldensuppe case 3 hours First degree.
Boscchieter case 4 hours Second degree
Carlisle W. Harris 1 hour 10 minutes First degree.
Dr. Buchanan 28 hours First degree.
Dr. S. J. Kennedy (first) 3 hours 13 minutes First degree.
Dr. S. J. Kennedy (second) 6 hours 35 minutes Disagreement.
Dr. S. J. Kennedy (third) 22 hours 5 minutes Disagreement.
Burton C. Webster (first) 19 hours Disagreement.
Burton C. Webster (second) 4 hours Manslaughter.
David Hannigan 6 hours 20 minutes Not guilty.
[Illustration: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
The Scene of the Thaw-White Tragedy.]
[Illustration: THE TOMBS PRISON
Window in Circle Marks Thaw’s Cell.]
THE GREAT
HARRY THAW CASE
OR
A Woman’s Sacrifice
BY
BENJ. H. ATWELL
A graphic and truthful narrative of the most sensational
case in modern jurisprudence. A thrilling account of
a young girl’s struggles in her battle for fame and
fortune, and the unconquered love of the man
who has baffled the world’s greatest alienists;
with portraits of many leading characters,
famous society leaders and noted
actresses who have made this case
the talk of America and Europe
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1907,
By WILLIAM H. LEE,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington, D. C.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
PAGE
Chronology of the Case, 6
CHAPTER
I. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, the Woman in the Case, 11
II. Harry Thaw’s Courtship and Marriage, 19
III. The Story that Startled the World, 28
IV. Stanford White, Creator and Destroyer, 41
V. Greatest Legal Battle of the Age Opens, 53
VI. “I swear Harry K. Thaw was Insane,” 68
VII. A Human Sacrifice on the Altar of Love, 78
VIII. Evelyn Reveals White as a Fearful Monster, 87
IX. Intrigue like those in Days of Nero, 102
X. White on Verge of Arrest when Shot, 120
XI. Thaw’s Will Disclosed Fear of Assassination, 128
XII. The Hidden Witness to the Proposal, 142
XIII. Lived on Bounty of Stanford White, 158
XIV. Thaw’s Mother on the Stand, 164
XV. Scathing Denunciation by Jerome, 182
XVI. Shocking Disclosures in Famous Affidavit, 193
XVII. Jerome Calls Thaw Madman, 201
XVIII. Lunacy Commission is Appointed, 213
XIX. Commission Finds Thaw Sane, 220
XX. Delmas, “The Napoleon of the Bar”, 223
XXI. Delmas’ Speech Moves Jurors, 228
XXII. “The Unwritten Law”--The Defense Ends, 244
XXIII. “Thou Shall Not Kill,” Quotes Jerome, 262
XXIV. The Judge’s Charge to the Jury--Thaw in Collapse, 278
XXV. Deliberations of the Jury, 285
XXVI. Ending of the Trial--Jury Disagrees, 293
PREFACE.
A great trial has come to a close. It has attracted the attention of the
entire civilized world for three widely separated and distinctly defined
reasons--the unusual degree of heart interest underlying the tragedy
that brought it about; the startling and sensational disclosures of life
in the great metropolis, and the legal precedents established,
particularly in relation to the universal, unwritten law.
Realizing that this remarkable case is destined to be more than a
passing sensation of the hour or the year; that it will exercise a wide
influence on the thought and lives of uncounted thousands, it has seemed
meet that a carefully prepared, clean and accurate record should be
given the world in permanent form.
This, because its eloquent sermon cost too great a price to be lost, and
its awful warning against a vicious life is of too great value to the
world to trust it to fitful memory.
Men standing on the brink of the precipice hewn by unbridled passion,
may read in the terrible fate that overtook Stanford White at the hands
of an avenging husband, an injunction against the worst in their nature
and reflect before it is too late.
Mothers, tempted by the pressing, material needs of the day to permit
tender daughters to aid in the family support by entering occupations,
which, while not vicious, are beset by pitfalls, may think twice before
reaching a decision after contemplating the sufferings and humiliations
suffered by Evelyn Nesbit.
Young women in the exuberance of youth, hungering for the empty bubble
known as a career, may recall the pathetic picture presented by the same
girl when on the witness stand as Mrs. Thaw, and recoil from thought of
a butterfly life after viewing that crushed, unhappy figure.
Even more exalted personages may find profit in taking inventory of the
Thaw case. Prosecuting attorneys are found in every county in this broad
land. Let them observe the attitude of District Attorney Jerome in this
case and search out their minds to determine if they are ever guilty of
persecution in the name of prosecution, or inflict unnecessary torture
on the innocent, to vindicate an immaterial theory, of interest only to
the occupants of the grandstand.
Modern times reveal no parallel to the Thaw case in its various phases.
Shakespeare’s wonderful creations of fancy contain no more thrilling
features nor more humanizing passages in their philosophic application
than have been disclosed by this life tragedy of love, hate, villainy,
perfidy and outraged innocence.
All the emotions known to the human heart enter into it, ranging from
boundless, mercenary cupidity and indescribable cruelty to self
sacrificing love that has found no test too severe.
Preachments covering the scope of every sermon life’s experiences
produce abound in its every development in such blunt, powerful form
that he who runs may read and he who reads may bring them home to
himself.
Precedents in medical jurisprudence have been established, medical and
legal reputations made and lost.
To the student of human nature, then, this volume will carry a message.
Also, to the moralist and the teacher, the physician and the lawyer. Nor
will this list exhaust the field of those who may find something of
interest and benefit within its pages, for the field is as broad as
mankind.
If it is received in the spirit in which it is given to the public, free
from any disposition to pander to mere morbid curiosity or to exploit
that which is reprehensible in moral makeup, it shall have accomplished
the purpose of
THE AUTHOR.
[Illustration: EVELYN NESBIT AS “AN AMERICAN BEAUTY” when she was 18
years old.]
CHAPTER I.
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, the “Woman in the Case.”
FAMED FOR BEAUTY EVEN AS A LITTLE CHILD--BORN IN LITTLE
PENNSYLVANIA TOWN--WHEN ONLY 13 YEARS OLD SHE BEGAN AS AN ARTIST’S
MODEL--SOUGHT OUT BY FAMOUS PAINTERS--ENGAGED AS A CHORUS GIRL
BECAUSE OF HER BEAUTY--LURED FROM INNOCENT CHILDHOOD BY STANFORD
WHITE, MILLIONAIRE ARCHITECT--FORMED THE ACQUAINTANCE OF HARRY
THAW, RICH YOUNG PITTSBURGH MAN--SENT AWAY TO SCHOOL BY
WHITE--SNUBBED BY FELLOW STUDENTS--FORCED TO QUIT SCHOOL.
Evelyn Nesbit, later to be known as “the most beautiful artists’ model
in the world,” was born in Tarentum, Pa., a little village near
Pittsburg, in 1884. Even as a baby she was surpassingly pretty, and her
face, like that of a dark-haired cherub, attracted hundreds of visitors
to her parents’ humble home, a little two story frame cottage worth less
than $2,000.
Evelyn’s life was like that of most young girls in country towns. She
went to Sunday school regularly, and at the age of five made her first
public appearance in a Sunday school entertainment.
The family moved to Pittsburg, and Evelyn was still a schoolgirl when
the death of her father, Winfield Scott Nesbit, a struggling lawyer,
left her mother and herself almost destitute. Incumbrances on the
little property left by her father shut off almost every source of
income. The schoolgirl had to face a more serious problem than usually
falls to the lot of a girl in short skirts.
When Evelyn was only thirteen years old, a Mrs. Darragh, a portrait
painter and miniature artist of Philadelphia, discovered her rare beauty
and painted her head. Later Phillips, a photographer of Philadelphia,
asked the Pittsburg child to sit for several photographic studies. The
pictures were printed in an art magazine and attracted attention. Before
her father had been dead long Evelyn Nesbit found that she was being
sought by such artists as Carroll Beckwith, F. S. Church, Carl Blenner,
and J. Wells Champney.
Demand for the privilege of photographing her beautiful face or
portraying it on canvas became so great that the money earned by the
little girl by posing became the mainstay of the family. With her mother
she moved to New York, took rooms in a low-priced boarding house, and
began frequenting studios of famous artists. Her work was in constant
demand.
It was while she was posing that she met the man whose acts toward her
resulted in his killing by Harry Kendall Thaw. It was when her mother,
modest, yet proud of her wonderfully beautiful little daughter just
budding into girlhood, took her to a photographer’s that Evelyn Nesbit
flashed into public view as a famous beauty. The pictures were so
remarkable, so perfect in feature, so graceful in every outline that the
artist exhibited them in his studio.
Little wonder it was that every one who passed the show case stopped
spell-bound by the youthful beauty of the subject; little wonder that
Charles Dana Gibson, then in the zenith of his success, with his studies
of the American girl, looked upon Evelyn’s photographs in rapture and
wished immediately to meet the original and arrange to have her pose for
him.
One day as the little model was about to leave the studio she was met by
a man about to enter the door.
“By jove! Gibson, who is this little vision of the empyrean blue? Tell
me. I must know the little sprite, whether she is of this earth or just
a fairy from out of wonderland,” the man added, lightly, as he held the
girl a shy and pretty captive at the door.
The usual unconventional studio introduction followed. The man who
gasped in admiration of the exquisite flower-like beauty of the young
girl was Stanford White, the renowned architect; the girl was Florence
Evelyn Nesbit, artist’s model.
The man of the world saw in the innocent young thing an easy victim to
his wiles, and opportunities were made for him to meet the girl, whom he
planned to make his puppet, his plaything, his slave.
His efforts were not long in being crowned by success. The pretty
trinkets which the girl loved so well were hers with the first
expression of her desire; she was flattered when she realized from whom
she was receiving adulation, the subtle, crafty methods of the
connoisseur of beauty, of art, the epicure in all his fleshly wants, the
polished manner, the refined taste that were his by birth, all added a
charm new and irresistible to the ingenuous, luxury-loving little model
with the eyes of a Madonna and the smile of a siren.
Soon the beautiful, innocent Evelyn Nesbit was ensconced in a high class
apartment house and Stanford White, who paid the bills, became a
constant visitor to the magnificently appointed suite.
There she lived in ease and the artist-architect brought his men friends
to see this girl, and boasted that she was his “by right of discovery.”
She was taken to the restaurants frequented by the men and women about
town. Evelyn Nesbit became the toast of the companions of White.
Finally a stage career was mapped out for her. White managed it, and
Evelyn Nesbit’s fame spread as she flaunted her lithe form and graceful
beauty in “Florodora” and “The Wild Rose.”
It was at this time that Harry Thaw made her acquaintance. The late
hours and the endless, restless round of pleasure had told upon the
fragile girl and she fell ill.
A European trip was planned for her and Stanford White was one of the
party. In a few weeks they returned to New York, but Evelyn Nesbit could
never dance again. Instead she was sent to a boarding school where White
hoped that she would regain her health sufficiently to reappear upon
the stage and, incidentally, learn better how to spell and write.
At this time Evelyn Nesbit was a mere slip of a girl, just sixteen, with
a wealth of brown hair and great brown eyes. It was in Mrs. Henry C. De
Mille’s school that White chose to have his “ward” educated, at
“Pimlico,” N. J. Stanford White’s checks were forwarded with great
regularity and the girl, known in the school to be the “ward” of the
great and prosperous architect, became a favorite among the girls--girls
of the most exclusive of families.
It began soon to be whispered that Evelyn Nesbit was a soubrette and
exceptions were taken to the visits of Stanford White and of Harry Thaw
and other men of their types.
One day Stanford White went to the school in a big touring car and
invited some of the pupils for a ride. During that ride his conversation
was of such a nature that three of the girls insisted upon being
permitted to alight and they returned to the school on foot.
This caused such an uproar in the school that Evelyn was asked to leave,
but she was prevented from going by a sudden illness. During this
illness, Harry Thaw, who had made her acquaintance in New York while she
was on the stage, was in constant attendance upon her and when the girl
was finally forced to leave, Thaw was there to defray all her expenses.
Stanford White meanwhile had deserted the beautiful girl and refused to
pay her tuition, which amounted to $3,000. He declared he was Evelyn’s
“guardian” by courtesy only. His failure to keep his word to defray the
girl’s expenses was a severe blow to Mrs. De Mille, whose school had
become so depleted through the notoriety that he had brought upon it
that it was forced to disband.
Meanwhile Thaw became desperately in love with the girl and took her
back to her mother and told her of his love and begged her to take
Evelyn to Europe as his guest. It was in Pittsburg sometime later that
he married the girl who had been spurned and repudiated and left
friendless by the man who claimed her “by right of discovery.”
Evelyn’s stage career was brief but brilliant. While an actress in
musical comedies she was pronounced by all “The most beautiful woman
behind the footlights,” but her natural beauty was destined to become
fatal--fatal to Stanford White--fatal to her own good name--fatal to her
husband’s hope of happiness.
[Illustration: “The most beautiful woman behind the footlights.”
PICTURE OF EVELYN NESBIT
taken just before her marriage, and considered her best likeness.]