The Girl on the Velvet Swing

by Simon Baatz

  10. Ibid., 12–14.

  11. Ibid., 15–16; “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, to Save Husband,” New York Herald, February 8, 1907; Barbara J. Mitnick and Thomas Folk, “The Artist and His Model: J. Carroll Beckwith and Evelyn Nesbit,” Arts & Crafts Quarterly 5 (1992): 12–15.

  12. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 15–16, 18.

  13. “Evelyn Florence Nesbit, a Beautiful Sixteen-Year-Old Model of the New York Studios,” Broadway Magazine, March 1901.

  14. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 19–21; “Evelyn Thaw Tells Her Story,” New York Times, February 8, 1907.

  15. “‘Floradora’ a Success,” New York Times, November 10, 1900; “Casino—Florodora,” New York Dramatic Mirror, November 17, 1900.

  16. “‘Floradora’ a Success,” New York Times, November 10, 1900.

  17. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 1, 21–22.

  18. Ibid., 28–29.

  19. [Margaret Chanler], Roman Spring: Memoirs (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1935), 256; Elsie de Wolfe, After All (London: Heineman, 1935), 51–52; Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 29; Leland M. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, Architects (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 62.

  20. Edward Simmons, From Seven to Seventy: Memories of a Painter and a Yankee (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922), 238–40.

  21. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 29–30.

  22. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, 29–32.

  23. Mosette Broderick, Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), 199–201.

  24. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, 53–54, 56.

  25. Ibid., 65–66, 83–88, 94–95.

  26. Ibid., 115.

  27. “Amended Plans for a Great Building,” New-York Tribune, August 17, 1889; M. G. Van Rensselaer, “The Madison Square Garden,” Century Magazine 47 (March 1894): 742–43; Roth, McKim, Mead & White, 161.

  28. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, 159.

  29. “Madison Square Garden,” New York Times, January 21, 1893; Van Rensselaer, “The Madison Square Garden,” 745.

  30. “Among the Audience,” New York Press, June 17, 1890; Editorial, “The Madison Square Garden,” New York Press, June 17, 1890.

  31. “A Brilliant Audience,” New York Times, June 17, 1890.

  32. “The Big Garden Opened,” New-York Tribune, June 17, 1890.

  33. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, 171–72; “Settled in Its New Home,” New-York Tribune, August 21, 1893.

  34. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 37.

  35. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907.

  36. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 44–45; “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907.

  Chapter 2 Rape

  1. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand Says She Was Wronged at 16,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907; “Evelyn Thaw Collapses on Witness Stand,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907.

  2. “Mrs. Harry Thaw Tells Jury of Her Relations with Stanford White,” New York World, February 8, 1907.

  3. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, to Save Husband, Says Stanford White Caused Her Downfall When She Was Sixteen by Drugged Wine,” New York Herald, February 8, 1907.

  4. Charles Somerville, “Young Wife’s Awful Story Stuns Jurors,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907; “Evelyn Thaw Collapses,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907; Evelyn Nesbit, Prodigal Days: The Untold Story (New York: Julian Messner, 1934), 41.

  5. Somerville, “Young Wife’s Awful Story,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907.

  6. “The Story of Thaw’s Wife,” New York Sun, February 8, 1907.

  7. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 33–34.

  8. Ibid., 33–35; Ethel Barrymore, Memories: An Autobiography (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955), 116–20; Isaac F. Marcosson and Daniel Frohman, Charles Frohman: Manager and Man (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1916), 216–17; Parker Morell, Diamond Jim: The Life and Times of James Buchanan Brady (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1934), 126–27.

  9. Harry B. Smith, First Nights and First Editions (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1931), 212–13, 217–18; “Theatrical Gossip,” New York Times, February 23, 1898; “George Lederer, Producer, Is Dead,” New York Times, October 9, 1938.

  10. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 35; Mary Panzer, In My Studio: Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., and the Art of the Camera, 1885–1930 (Yonkers, N.Y.: Hudson River Museum, 1986), 72–75.

  11. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 34.

  12. Miriam Berman, Madison Square: The Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks (New York: Gibbs Smith, 2001), 130.

  13. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 47.

  14. Ibid., 55–56, 77–78.

  15. Ibid., 78; “Heads of Van Alen—Collier Houses Fail to Meet as Their Children Wed,” New York American Journal, July 27, 1902; Caroline Seebohm, The Man Who Was Vogue: The Life and Times of Condé Nast (New York: Viking Press, 1982), 54.

  16. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 56–57, 59, 62.

  17. John Kobler, Damned in Paradise, The Life of John Barrymore (New York: Atheneum, 1977), 41–42, 58–60.

  18. “White Pursued Her after Marriage, Says Evelyn,” New York Evening Telegram, February 8, 1907.

  19. Kobler, Damned in Paradise, 69; Gene Fowler, Good Night, Sweet Prince: The Life and Times of John Barrymore (Philadelphia: Blakiston Co., 1943), 91.

  20. Kobler, Damned in Paradise, 79–80; Lionel Barrymore, We Barrymores (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951), 69–70, 88–90.

  21. Samuel Hopkins Adams, “Mrs. Thaw Says White, Aided by Abe Hummel, Plotted against Harry,” New York World, February 9, 1907.

  22. Scott Eyman, Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 30–33.

  23. Jean L. De Forest, “School Life of Evelyn Nesbit Told by Teacher,” New York World, February 11, 1907; “Evelyn Thaw’s Life in School Described,” New York Evening Journal, February 11, 1907; Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 68–71.

  24. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 73–74.

  25. Ibid., 73–74.

  26. Harry K. Thaw, The Traitor (Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., 1926), 102–4.

  27. “William Thaw Dead,” Pittsburg Dispatch, August 18, 1889; “His Noble Charities,” Pittsburg Dispatch, August 18, 1889; “Coke Trust Is Very Rich Part of Thaw Estate,” Pittsburg Dispatch, April 30, 1903.

  28. “Mrs. William Thaw Now Says There Is Insanity in Her Family,” New York Herald, January 23, 1908.

  29. Thaw, The Traitor, 23–30.

  30. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 75.

  31. Ibid., 79–81.

  32. Ibid., 80.

  Chapter 3 Marriage

  1. Evelyn Nesbit, Prodigal Days: The Untold Story (New York: Julian Messner, 1934), 80–81.

  2. Ibid., 82.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid., 115.

  6. Ibid., 82, 117.

  7. Elisabeth Marbury, My Crystal Ball: Reminiscences (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1923), 69–70, 111–15, 156; Alfred Allan Lewis, Ladies and Not-So-Gentle Women: Elisabeth Marbury, Anne Morgan, Elsie de Wolfe, Anne Vanderbilt, and Their Times (New York: Penguin, 2001), 134–35.

  8. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 86–87.

  9. “Evelyn Thaw Collapses on Witness Stand,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907; “The Story of Thaw’s Wife,” New York Sun, February 8, 1907; Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 85–90.

  10. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, to Save Husband, Says Stanford White Caused Her Downfall When She Was Sixteen by Drugged Wine,” New York Herald, February 8, 1907; “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand Says She Was Wronged at 16,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907.

  11. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 93.

  12. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907.

  13. Harry K. Thaw, The Traitor (Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., 1926), 108–9.

  14. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 101–2.

  15. Thaw, The Traitor, 110.

  16. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 96.

  17. Ibid., 119–20.

  18. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, under Lash of Mr. Jerom
e’s Cross-Examination, Becomes a Stammering, Frightened, Faltering Witness,” New York Herald, February 20, 1907.

  19. “The Story of Thaw’s Wife,” New York Sun, February 8, 1907; “Evelyn Thaw, to Save Husband,” New York Herald, February 8, 1907.

  20. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 123–24.

  21. “White Pursued Her after Marriage,” New York Evening Telegram, February 8, 1907; Samuel Hopkins Adams, “Mrs. Thaw Says White, Aided by Abe Hummel, Plotted against Harry,” New York World, February 9, 1907.

  22. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907; “The Story of Thaw’s Wife,” New York Sun, February 8, 1907.

  23. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907; “The Story of Thaw’s Wife,” New York Sun, February 8, 1907.

  24. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 186–87.

  25. “The ‘Girl in the Pie’ at the Three Thousand Five Hundred Dollar Dinner in Artist Breese’s New York Studio,” New York World, October 13, 1895.

  26. Thaw, The Traitor, 129–31.

  27. “Mrs. William Thaw Now Says There Is Insanity in Her Family,” New York Herald, January 23, 1908; “Thaw’s Mother Kills Defense of Hereditary Taint,” New York World, January 23, 1908.

  28. “Mrs. William Thaw,” New York Herald, January 23, 1908; “Thaw’s Mother,” New York World, January 23, 1908.

  29. “Football Echoes,” New York World, November 18, 1889; “Football at Princeton,” New York Times, November 5, 1891.

  30. “The Marquess of Hertford,” The Times (London), February 17, 1940.

  31. “Ultimatum to Harry Thaw,” New York Times, November 6, 1904; “Harry Thaw Is Hurrying Home to Be Spanked,” New York Morning Telegraph, October 31, 1904.

  32. “Millionaire Weds Actress,” Pittsburg Press, April 5, 1905.

  33. Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 153–57; “Thaw and Bride Talk Right Out,” New York Morning Telegraph, April 7, 1905.

  34. “Pittsburgh Balks at Evelyn Nesbit,” New York Morning Telegraph, October 10, 1905; Nesbit, Prodigal Days, 163–64.

  35. “Thaw’s Artist-Model Bride to Leave Him, Friends Say,” New York World, December 6, 1905; “Wife Who Posed May Quit Thaw,” New York Evening Journal, December 6, 1905.

  36. “Evelyn Nesbit as Sausage Ad,” New York Morning Telegraph, December 26, 1905; “Picture on Sausage ‘Ad,’ Mrs. Harry Thaw Angry,” New York Evening Telegram, December 26, 1905.

  37. “Evelyn Nesbit Again on View,” New York Morning Telegraph, January 13, 1906; “The Thaws Annoyed Again,” New York Times, January 13, 1906.

  Chapter 4 Murder

  1. “White Wanted to Meet a Show Girl,” New York World, June 29, 1906.

  2. “Roof Garden Attractions—Seaside Amusements—Vaudeville,” New York Herald, June 24, 1906; “Another Roof Garden,” New-York Daily Tribune, June 24, 1906; “New Musical Play Opens Roof Garden,” New York Herald, June 26, 1906.

  3. “White Wanted to Meet a Show Girl,” New York World, June 29, 1906; “The Wages of Sin Paid in the Death of White,” New York American, June 27, 1906; “Harry Thaw Is Indicted for the Murder of White; Scandal Stories Loosed,” New York Herald, June 29, 1906.

  4. “White Borrowed Big Sum, but Left Little,” New York American, June 30, 1906; Mosette Broderick, Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), 489–90.

  5. “May Not Sell the Garden,” New York Times, May 12, 1897; “Madison Square Garden for Sale,” New York Times, November 12, 1908; Leland M. Roth, McKim, Mead & White, Architects (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 164.

  6. “Stanford White Loses Art Objects in Fire,” New York Times, February 14, 1905; “Fire Darkened Broadway,” New York Sun, February 14, 1905; “A Bad Tenderloin Blaze,” New-York Tribune, February 14, 1905; “Pictures a Total Loss,” New York Sun, February 15, 1905.

  7. “White Was Dying Slowly, When Shot,” New York American, June 29, 1906.

  8. “White Knew That Thaw Had Threatened Him,” New York World, June 27, 1906; “White Tracked by Thaw’s Sleuths for a Whole Year, Says Victim’s Bodyguard,” New York World, July 1, 1906.

  9. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand Says She Was Wronged at 16,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907; “Evelyn Thaw Collapses on Witness Stand,” New York Evening Journal, February 7, 1907.

  10. “Truxtun Beale Went to War,” New York Sun, July 1, 1906.

  11. “Saw Thaw, Lucid, Scan the Garden for His Victim,” New York Herald, March 13, 1907; Samuel Hopkins Adams, “Portrays Thaw Cool, Watchful and Calculating,” New York World, March 13, 1907.

  12. “Saw Thaw,” New York Herald, March 13, 1907; Adams, “Portrays Thaw Cool,” New York World, March 13, 1907.

  13. “Autopsy Shows One Bullet Was Fatal,” New York World, June 27, 1906; “Three Bullets Found,” New-York Tribune, June 27, 1906; “Autopsy on White Shows Where the 3 Bullets Hit Him,” New York American, June 27, 1906.

  14. “Thaw Kills Stanford White,” New-York Tribune, June 26, 1906.

  15. “Harry Thaw Kills Stanford White on Roof Garden!” New York American, June 26, 1906; “Stanford White Murdered,” New York Sun, June 26, 1906.

  16. “Harry Thaw Kills Stanford White on Roof Garden!” New York American, June 26, 1906.

  17. Samuel Hopkins Adams, “State Quickly Puts in Its Case against Thaw: Defense Has Many Forms,” New York World, February 5, 1907.

  18. “Evelyn Nesbit Thaw on Stand Says She Was Wronged at 16,” New York Evening Telegram, February 7, 1907; “Thaw Murders Stanford White,” New York Times, June 26, 1906; “Harry Thaw Kills Stanford White on Roof Garden!” New York American, June 26, 1906.

  19. “Stanford White Murdered,” New York Sun, June 26, 1906; “Murderers’ Row Gets Harry Thaw,” New York Times, June 27, 1906.

  20. “Thaw Lodged in Tombs,” New-York Tribune, June 27, 1906.

  21. “Insults Goaded Thaw to Kill; Millions Ready for Defence,” New York American, June 27, 1906.

  22. Bertram Reinitz, “The Old Tombs Prison under Criticism Again,” New York Times, June 30, 1929.

  23. “Thaw Declared Sane,” New-York Tribune, June 28, 1906; “Thaw May Plead He Was Justified,” New York Times, June 28, 1906.

  24. “Thaw Indictment In,” New-York Tribune, June 29, 1906; “Insane When He Shot White but Sane Now, Will Be Thaw’s Plea,” New York World, June 29, 1906; “Harry Thaw Is Indicted for the Murder of White; Scandal Stories Loosed,” New York Herald, June 29, 1906.

  25. “Emotional Insanity,” New York Sun, June 29, 1906.

  26. “Pleads Not Guilty,” New-York Tribune, June 30, 1906; “Wife Comes to Thaw’s Aid,” New York Sun, June 30, 1906.

  27. “Mrs. White Calm at News of Death,” New York American, June 27, 1906; “Stanford White Stretched at the Feet of Venus,” New York World, June 27, 1906.

  28. “Thaw’s Victim, Stanford White, Is in His Grave,” New York World, June 29, 1906; “Stanford White Buried,” New York Sun, June 29, 1906; “Harry Thaw Is Indicted,” New York Herald, June 29, 1906.

  29. “No Funeral Service Here,” New York Times, June 28, 1906; “White’s Aged Mother Not at His Funeral,” New York American, June 29, 1906.

  30. “White’s Alleged Victims Come to Thaw’s Defense,” New York World, June 30, 1906.

  31. “‘The Rich Moral Pervert Must Go,’ Says Anthony Comstock,” New York American, June 28, 1906.

  32. “Comstock Starts Crusade on White’s Companions,” New York American, July 1, 1906.

  33. “‘White Tragedy a Warning to the Nation,’” New York American, July 2, 1906.

  34. “Evangelist R. A. Torrey Sees Good in Tragedy,” New York American, July 2, 1906; “‘Thaw Fulfilled a Law as Old as the World,’ Says Dr. Gregory,” New York American, July 3, 1906.

  35. “Thaw Put Comstock on White’s Trail,” New York World, June 29, 1906; “Charges Untrue, Says a Friend,” New York World, June 30, 1906.

  36. “Stanford White Stretched at the Feet of Venus,” New York World, Jun
e 27, 1906.

  37. “Pays Tribute to White,” New-York Tribune, June 29, 1906; “Mr. White as an Architect,” New York Times, June 27, 1906.

  38. “School Girls Alleged to Be His Victims,” New York World, July 2, 1906; “Rich Clubman Arrested on Little Girls’ Charges,” New York American, July 2, 1906; “Henry Short Held, Accused by Girls,” New York Herald, July 2, 1906.

  39. “‘Transients Taken’: A ‘Red-Light’ Guide,” New York American, July 4, 1906.

  40. “The Herald Summoned to Court,” New York American, July 8, 1906.

  41. “Say White Drugged Thaw’s Wife,” New York American, June 29, 1906.

  42. “Harry Thaw in Anger Turns Off His Counsel,” New York Times, July 15, 1906.

  43. “Was Thaw Justified?” New York Evening Journal, July 27, 1906.

  44. “Asylum or Trial; Mrs. Thaw to Say!” New York American, July 10, 1906.

  45. “Thaw Changes Lawyers on Short Notice,” New York World, July 15, 1906; “Thaw Bars Great Law Firm Out of Case,” New York American, July 15, 1906.

  46. “Thaw Changes His Lawyers,” New York Sun, July 15, 1906; “Long Wireless Quest for Thaw’s Mother,” New York American, June 27, 1906.

  47. “Mrs. Thaw Sticks to Olcott,” New York Sun, July 17, 1906; “Cell’s Gate Flies Open for Thaw’s Mother,” New York American, July 17, 1906; “Thaw’s Mother to Decide on Son’s Defense,” New York World, July 17, 1906.

  48. “Mother Yields to Thaw!” New York Evening Journal, July 21, 1906.

  Chapter 5 First Trial

  1. Charles Somerville, “Thaw’s Face Softens with Pity as White’s Young Son Testifies,” New York Evening Journal, February 4, 1907; “Hereditary Insanity, with Epilepsy, Is the Defence Set Up for Harry Thaw,” New York Herald, February 5, 1907.

  2. Samuel Hopkins Adams, “State Quickly Puts in Its Case against Thaw; Defense Has Many Forms,” New York World, February 5, 1907.

  3. Emma H. de Zouche, “Prosecution Play Young White as a Trump Card,” New York World, February 5, 1907; “Thaw’s Defence Is Insanity,” New York Sun, February 5, 1907.

  4. “State Rests!” New York Evening Journal, February 4, 1907; Adams, “State Quickly Puts in Its Case,” New York World, February 5, 1907.