Thaw, HK

One of the most formidable lawyers of the age, he was selected as the defense attorney for the 1907 New York trial of Harry K. Thaw, wealthy playboy, for the murder of Stanford White, renowned architect. Witnessed by scores of onlookers at the Madison Square Garden roof theater, Thaw fired three shots into White's face, instantly killing him. The motive was Thaw's fury over the earlier, long term dalliance between White and Thaw's new wife Evelyn Nesbit, artists' model and Floradora girl, who became known in the tabloids as the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," named for the device installed in White's opulent apartment and used by Evelyn starting at age 16. This reference to her became the title of the 1955 motion picture detailing the crime and the trial. Delmas's defense of Thaw was temporary insanity and was supported by medical testimony claiming that Thaw's fulmination was the result of a "brain storm," thought to be the first time that expression had been used. It became an instant catch word during the trial and ever thereafter, although the meaning has morphed from violence to whimsy. The trial ended with a hung jury; in the second trial Delmas got his client acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw</a>

Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-thaw-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[3]</a> was the son of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh" title="Pittsburgh" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Pittsburgh</a> coal and railroad baron <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thaw,_Sr." title="William Thaw, Sr." style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">William Thaw, Sr.</a> Heir to a multi-million dollar mine and railroad fortune, Harry Thaw had a history of severe<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_instability" title="Mental instability" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">mental instability</a> and led a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profligate" title="Profligate" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">profligate</a> life. His historical legacy rests on one notorious act: on June 25, 1906, on the rooftop of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden" title="Madison Square Garden" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Madison Square Garden</a>, Thaw murdered renowned architect <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_White" title="Stanford White" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Stanford White</a> who had been the lover of Thaw's wife, model/chorus girl <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Nesbit" title="Evelyn Nesbit" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Evelyn Nesbit</a>.

Plagued by mental illness since childhood, Thaw spent money lavishly to fund his obsessive partying, drug addiction, and the gratification of his sexual appetites.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-4" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[4]</a> It is alleged that it was at this time that the term "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playboy_(lifestyle)" title="Playboy (lifestyle)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">playboy</a>" entered the popular vocabulary coined to describe the lifestyle that Thaw so energetically pursued. The Thaw family wealth allowed them to buy the silence of those individuals who threatened to make public the worst of Thaw’s reckless behavior and licentious transgressions. Throughout his life, however, he had several serious confrontations with the criminal justice system, which resulted in his incarceration in mental institutions.

Thaw shot and killed Stanford White as a result of his jealousy over the relationship between his wife, Evelyn Nesbit, and White. After one hung jury, he was found not guilty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense" title="Insanity defense" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">by reason of insanity</a>. Years later, Stanford's son Lawrence Grant White would write, "On the night of June 25th, 1906, while attending a performance at Madison Square Garden, Stanford White was shot from behind [by] a crazed profligate whose great wealth was used to besmirch his victim's memory during the series of notorious trials that ensued."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu193-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[5]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; background-image: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 12px; display: inline; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Early_life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1 Early life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Obsession_with_Stanford_White" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2 Obsession with Stanford White</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Evelyn_Nesbit" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4 Evelyn Nesbit</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Relationship" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.1 Relationship</a>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Marriage" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4.1.1 Marriage</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Murder_of_Stanford_White" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">5 Murder of Stanford White</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Trial" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6 Trial</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#The_.22Trial_of_the_Century.22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6.1 The "Trial of the Century"</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Defense_strategy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6.2 Defense strategy</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#The_two_trials" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6.3 The two trials</a>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Legal_maneuvers:_Push_for_freedom" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6.3.1 Legal maneuvers: Push for freedom</a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Arrest_for_assault" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7 Arrest for assault</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Children" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">8 Children</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Later_life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">9 Later life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#Death" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">10 Death</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#In_popular_culture" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">11 In popular culture</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#References" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">13 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#External_links" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">14 External links</a></li>

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<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Early life<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Early life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<p style=" margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Thaw was born on February 12, 1871 to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania" title="Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Pittsburgh</a> coal and railroad baron <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thaw,Sr." title="William Thaw, Sr." style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">William Thaw, Sr.</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-thaw-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[3]</a> and his second wife, Mary Sibbet (Copley) Thaw. The elder Thaw fathered eleven children from his two marriages.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a> Thaw had five siblings, Margaret (born 1877), Alice Cornelia (born 1880), Edward (born 1873) and Josiah (born 1874).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-6" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[6]</a> A brother born a year before Harry, died an accidental death in infancy, smothered by his mother’s breast while he lay in her bed.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu193-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[5]</a> There was a history of insanity on his mother’s side of the family, and Thaw’s mother herself was known for her abuse of the servants, and episodes of ungovernable temper.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[7]</a>

In childhood Thaw was subject to bouts of insomnia, temper tantrums, incoherent babbling and, notably <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk" title="Baby talk" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">baby talk</a>, a form of expression which he retained in adulthood. His chosen form of amusement was appropriating heavy household objects as weaponry to hurl at the heads of servants. The misfortune of others brought on fits of giggling. He spent his childhood bouncing from private school to private school in Pittsburgh, never doing well and described by teachers as unintelligent and a troublemaker. A teacher at the Wooster Prep School described the sixteen-year-old Harry as having an "erratic kind of ziz-zag" walk, "which seemed to involuntarily mimic his brain patterns." Still, as the son of William Thaw, he was granted admission to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Pittsburgh" title="University of Pittsburgh" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">University of Pittsburgh</a>, where he was to study law, though he apparently did little studying. After a few years he used his name and social status to transfer to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University" title="Harvard University" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Harvard University</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-8" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[8]</a>

Thaw later bragged that he had studied <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker" title="Poker" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">poker</a> at Harvard. He reportedly lit his cigars with hundred dollar bills. He also went on long drinking binges, attended cockfights, and spent much of his time romancing young women. In 1894, he chased a cab driver down a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts" title="Cambridge, Massachusetts" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Cambridge</a> street with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun" title="Shotgun" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">shotgun</a>, believing he had been cheated out of ten cents change. He claimed the shotgun was unloaded.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu189-9" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[9]</a> Thaw ultimately was expelled from Harvard for "immoral practices," and intimidating and threatening fellow students and teachers. His expulsion was immediate; he was given three hours to pack up and move out.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-10" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[10]</a>

Thaw’s father, in an attempt to curb his son’s narcissistic excesses, limited his monthly allowance to $2,500. This still was a great deal of money in an era when the average workingman earned $500 a year and a lavish dinner at the famed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmonico%27s" title="Delmonico's" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Delmonico's</a> restaurant cost $1.50. The elder Thaw died in 1893, leaving his 22 year-old son three million dollars in his will.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a> Upon the death of her husband, Thaw's mother increased his allowance to $8,000 enabling him to indulge his every whim, however outrageous, and gratify his sadistic sexual impulses. Thaw was the beneficiary of this monthly income for the next eighteen years. In addition, he held the distinction of being heir to a fortune estimated at some forty million dollars.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu189-9" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[9]</a>

Early on and for years into the future, his mother and a cadre of lawyers dedicated themselves to the business of damage control, shielding Thaw’s transgressions from any public scandal that would dishonor the family name. Monetary pay-offs became the customary method of assuring the required silence. One such notorious example occurred in Thaw’s London hotel room, where he purportedly devised a lure for an unsuspecting bellboy, whom Thaw proceeded to restrain naked in a bathtub, brutalizing him with beatings from a riding whip. Thaw had to pay out five thousand dollars to keep the incident quiet.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-11" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[11]</a>

With an enormous amount of cash at his disposal, and reserves of energy to match, Thaw repeatedly tore through Europe at a frenetic pace, frequenting<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordello" title="Bordello" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">bordellos</a> where his pleasure involved restraining his partners with handcuffs and other devices of bondage. In Paris in 1895, Thaw threw an extravagant party, reputedly costing $50,000, which drew wide publicity. Thaw had reserved an entire floor in the luxurious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_George-V" title="Hôtel George-V" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Hôtel George-V</a>. The attendees were Thaw himself and twenty-five of the most beautiful showgirls/bordello prostitutes he could assemble. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philip_Sousa" title="John Philip Sousa" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">John Philip Sousa</a> and his famed band were hired to provide musical entertainment. For Thaw, Sousa’s military marches were the favored party music as "they lifted the roof off the place." Each of the Parisian beauties found a unique party favor at the end of the meal. The dessert course was a $1,000 piece of jewelry wrapped around the stem of a liqueur glass.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-12" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[12]</a>

Exhibiting the classic characteristics of the skilled, manipulative <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder" title="Antisocial personality disorder" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">sociopath</a>, Thaw was able to keep the more sinister side of his personality in check when it suited his purposes and furthered his current agenda. He had the facility, when required, to impress upon others that he was a gentle, caring soul. "He was part gentleman, part boor, part prude, part playboy." The term "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playboy_(lifestyle)" title="Playboy (lifestyle)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">playboy</a>" entered the popular vernacular, it is alleged, inspired by Thaw himself— a vivid encapsulation of the lifestyle he so vigorously pursued.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu193-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[5]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Obsession with Stanford White<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Obsession with Stanford White" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

Stanford White</div>

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A second incident subsequently occurred furthering Thaw’s paranoiac obsession with White. A disgruntled showgirl whom Thaw had publicly insulted reaped revenge when she sabotaged a lavish party Thaw had planned—by hijacking all the female invitees and transplanting the festivities to Stanford White’s infamous Tower room. Thaw, stubbornly ignorant of the real cause of the train of events, once again blamed White for single-handedly destroying his revelries. Thaw’s social humiliation was complete when the episode was reported in the gossip columns; Thaw left with a stag group of guests, and a glaring absence of "doe-eyed girlies."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu180181-13" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[13]</a>

The reality was that Thaw both admired and resented White’s social stature. More significantly, he recognized that he and White shared a passion for similar life styles. However, unlike Thaw, who had to operate in the shadows, White could carry on without censure, and seemingly, with impunity.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-14" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[14]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Evelyn Nesbit<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Evelyn Nesbit" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

"I should like to kiss you." Evelyn Nesbit souvenir card</div>

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<h3 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Relationship<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Relationship" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>

Candid about his dislike of Thaw, Stanford White warned Nesbit to stay away from him. His cautions were generalizations, lacking the sordid specifics that would have alerted Nesbit to Thaw’s all too real, aberrant proclivities. A bout of presumed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendicitis" title="Appendicitis" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">appendicitis</a> put Nesbit in the hospital and provided Thaw with an opportunity to insert himself emphatically into her life. Thaw came in bearing gifts and praise, managing to impress both Nesbit's mother and the headmistress at the boarding school she attended. Later, under Stanford White's orders, Nesbit was moved to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatorium" title="Sanatorium" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">sanatorium</a> in upstate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York" title="New York" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">New York</a>, where both White and Thaw visited often, though never at the same time.

Nesbit had undergone an emergency appendectomy, at which time the kind-hearted side of Thaw came into play. He solicitously promoted a European trip, convincing mother and daughter that such a pleasure excursion would hasten Nesbit's recovery from surgery. The trip proved to be anything but recuperative. Thaw’s usual hectic mode of travel escalated into a non-stop itinerary, calculated to weaken Nesbit's emotional resilience, compound her physical frailty, and unnerve and exhaust Mrs. Nesbit. As tensions mounted, mother and daughter began to bicker and quarrel, leading to Mrs. Nesbit’s insistence on returning to America. Having effectively alienated her from her mother, Thaw then took Nesbit to Paris, leaving Mrs. Nesbit in London.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-18" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[18]</a>

In Paris, Thaw continued to press Nesbit to become his wife; she again refused. Aware of Thaw’s obsession with female <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity" title="Chastity" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">chastity</a>, she could not in good conscience accept his marriage proposal without revealing to him the truth of her relationship with Stanford White. What transpired next was a marathon session of inquisition, during which time Thaw managed to extract every detail of that night —how— when plied with champagne— Nesbit lay intoxicated, unconscious— and White "had his way with her." Throughout the grueling question and answer ordeal, Nesbit was tearful and hysterical; Thaw by turns was agitated, and gratified by her responses. He further drove the wedge between mother and daughter, condemning Mrs. Nesbit as an unfit parent. Nesbit blamed the outcome of events due to her own willful defiance of her mother’s cautionary advice and defended her mother as naïve and unwitting.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-19" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[19]</a>

Thaw and Nesbit traveled through Europe. Thaw, as guide, chose a bizarre agenda, a tour of sites devoted to the cult of virgin martyrdom. In Domrémy, France, the birthplace of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc" title="Joan of Arc" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Joan of Arc</a> Thaw left a telling inscription in the visitor’s book: "she would not have been a virgin if Stanford White had been around."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[20]</a>

Thaw took Nesbit to a castle, the Schloss Katzenstein in the Austrian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrol_(state)" title="Tyrol (state)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Tyrol</a>, the foreboding, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture" title="Gothic architecture" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">gothic</a> structure sitting near a high mountaintop. Thaw segregated the three servants in residence, butler, cook and maid in one end of the castle; he and Nesbit taking quarters isolating them in the opposite end.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-21" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[21]</a> This was where Nesbit, to her horror, became Thaw's prisoner. She was locked in her room by Thaw, whose persona took on a dimension she had never before seen. Manic and violent, he beat her with a whip and sexually assaulted her over a two-week period. After his reign of terror had been expended, he was apologetic, and incongruously, after what had just transpired, was in an upbeat mood.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[22]</a>

<h4 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Marriage<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Marriage" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h4>

The two took up residence in the Thaw family home, Lyndhurst, in Pittsburgh. In later years Nesbit took measure of life in the Thaw household. The Thaws were anything but intellectuals. Their value system was shallow, and self-serving, "the plane of materialism which finds joy in the little things that do not matter—theappearance of …[things]."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-24" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[24]</a>

Envisioning a life of travel and entertaining, Nesbit was rudely awakened to a reality markedly different; a household, ruled over by the sanctimonious propriety of "Mother Thaw". Thaw himself entered into his mother’s sphere of influence, seemingly without protest, taking on the pose of pious son and husband. It was at this time that Thaw instituted a zealous campaign to expose Stanford White, corresponding with the reformer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock" title="Anthony Comstock" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Anthony Comstock</a>, the infamous crusader for moral probity and the expulsion of vice. Because of this activity, Thaw became convinced that he was being stalked by members of the notorious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_Eastman_Gang" title="Monk Eastman Gang" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Monk Eastman Gang</a>, hired by White to kill him. Thaw started to carry a gun. Nesbit later corroborated his mind-set: "[Thaw] imagined his life was in danger because of the work he was doing in connection with the vigilance societies and the exposures he had made to those societies of the happenings in White’s flat."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-25" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[25]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Murder of Stanford White<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Murder of Stanford White" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_American" title="New York American" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">New York American</a> on June 26th, 1906</div>

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June 25, 1906 was an inordinately hot day. Thaw and Nesbit were stopping in New York briefly before boarding a luxury liner bound for a European holiday.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-27" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[27]</a> Thaw had purchased tickets for himself, two of his male friends and his wife for a new show, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mam%27zelle_Champagne" title="Mam'zelle Champagne" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Mam'zelle Champagne</a>, playing on the rooftop theatre of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden" title="Madison Square Garden" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Madison Square Garden</a>. In spite of the suffocating heat, which did not abate as night fell, Thaw inappropriately wore a long black overcoat over his tuxedo, which he refused to take off throughout the entire evening.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-28" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[28]</a>

At 11:00pm, as the stage show was coming to a close, Stanford White appeared, taking his place at the table that was customarily reserved for him.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-29" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[29]</a> Thaw had been agitated all evening, and abruptly bounced back and forth from his own table throughout the performance. Spotting White’s arrival, Thaw tentatively approached him several times, each time withdrawing in hesitation. During the finale, "I Could Love A Million Girls", Thaw produced a pistol, and standing some two feet from his target, fired three shots at Stanford White killing him instantly. Part of White’s blood-covered face was torn away and the rest of his features were unrecognizable, blackened by gunpowder.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-thaw-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu282-30" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[30]</a> Thaw remained standing over White’s fallen body, displaying the gun aloft in the air, resoundingly proclaiming, according to witness reports, "I did it because he ruined my wife! He had it coming to him. He took advantage of the girl and then abandoned her!"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-Uruburu282-30" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[30]</a>

The crowd initially suspected the shooting might be part of the show, as elaborate practical jokes were popular in high society at the time. Soon, however, it became apparent that Stanford White was dead. Thaw, still brandishing the gun high above his head, walked through the crowd and met Evelyn at the elevator. When she asked what he'd done, Thaw purportedly replied, "It's all right, I probably saved your life."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-duke-31" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[31]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Trial<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Trial" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

Thaw in jail cell on "Murderers' Row," Tombs Prison</div>

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<h3 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The "Trial of the Century"<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=9" title='Edit section: The "Trial of the Century"' style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>

Only one week after the murder, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_(movie_theater)" title="Nickelodeon (movie theater)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">nickelodeon</a> film, Rooftop Murder was released for public viewing, rushed into production by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison" title="Thomas Edison" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Thomas Edison</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-37" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[37]</a>

<h3 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Defense strategy<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Defense strategy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>

Thaw’s mother, however, was adamant that her son not be stigmatized by clinical insanity. She pressed for the defense to follow a compromise strategy; one of temporary insanity, or what in that era was referred to as a "brainstorm". Acutely conscious of the insanity in her side of the family, and after years of protecting her son’s hidden life, she feared her son’s past would be dragged out into the open ripe for public scrutiny. Protecting the Thaw family reputation had become nothing less than a vigilant crusade for Thaw’s mother. She proceeded to hire a team of doctors, at a cost of some one-half million dollars to substantiate that her son’s act of murder constituted a single aberrant act.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-39" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[39]</a>

Possibly concocted by the yellow press in concert with Thaw’s attorneys, the temporary insanity defense, in Thaw’s case, was dramatized as a uniquely American phenomenon. Branded "dementia Americana", this catch phrase encompassed the male prerogative to revenge any woman whose sacred chastity had been violated. In essence, murder motivated by such a circumstance was the act of a man justifiably unbalanced.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-40" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[40]</a>

<h3 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 17px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The two trials<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: The two trials" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h3>

<p style=" margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Harry Thaw was tried twice for the murder of Stanford White. Due to the unusual amount of publicity the case had garnered, it was ordered that the jury members be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_sequestration" title="Jury sequestration" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">sequestered</a>—the first time in the history of American jurisprudence that such a restriction was ordered.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-41" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[41]</a> The trial proceedings began on January 23, 1907, and the jury went into deliberation on April 11. After forty-seven hours, the twelve jurors emerged <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_jury" title="Hung jury" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">deadlocked</a>. Seven had voted guilty, and five deemed Henry Kendall Thaw not guilty. Thaw was outraged that the trial had not vindicated the murder; that the jurors had not recognized it was the act of one chivalrous man defending innocent womanhood. He went into fits of physical flailing and crying when he considered the very real possibility that he would be labeled a madman and imprisoned in an asylum.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-42" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[42]</a> The second trial took place from January, 1908 through February 1, 1908.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-43" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[43]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-44" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[44]</a> At the second trial Thaw had pleaded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_insanity" title="Temporary insanity" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">temporary insanity</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-45" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[45]</a> He was found <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_guilty_by_reason_of_insanity" title="Not guilty by reason of insanity" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">not guilty by reason of insanity</a>, and sentenced to incarceration for life at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteawan_State_Hospital_for_the_Criminally_Insane" title="Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishkill,_New_York" title="Fishkill, New York" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Fishkill, New York</a>. His wealth allowed him to arrange accommodations for his comfort and be granted privileges not given to the general Matteawan population.

Nesbit had testified at both trials. It is conjectured the Thaws promised Nesbit a comfortable financial future if she provided testimony at trial favorable to Thaw’s case. It was a conditional agreement; if the outcome proved negative, she would receive nothing. The rumored amount of money the Thaws pledged for her cooperation ranged from twenty-five thousand dollars to one million dollars.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-46" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[46]</a> Nesbit was now well aware that any solicitude or kindness shown her by the Thaw enclave was predicated on her pivotal performance on the witness stand. She was to present a pitiful portrait of innocence betrayed by the lascivious Stanford White. Thaw was to be the white knight whose noble, courageous act had avenged his wife’s ruin. Throughout the prolonged court proceedings, Nesbit had received financial support from the Thaws. These payments, made to her through the Thaw attorneys, had been inconsistent and far from generous. After the close of the second trial, the Thaws virtually abandoned Nesbit, cutting off all funds.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-47" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[47]</a> However, in an interview Nesbit’s grandson, Russell Thaw gave to<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_Times" title="The Los Angeles Times" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Los Angeles Times</a> in 2005, it is his belief that Nesbit received the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars from the Thaw family after the end of the second trial.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-flee-48" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[48]</a> Evelyn and Thaw were divorced in 1915.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-49" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[49]</a>

<h4 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-size: 15px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Legal maneuvers: Push for freedom<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Legal maneuvers: Push for freedom" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h4>

In July 1909, Thaw lawyers attempted to have their client released from Matteawan on a writ of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus" title="Habeas corpus" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">habeas corpus</a>. Two key witnesses for the state gave testimony at the hearing detrimental to the defense. A Susan ("Susie") Merrill recounted a chronology of Thaw’s activities during the period of 1902 through 1905. Merrill, no ordinary landlady, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame" title="Madame" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">madame</a> of deluxe Manhattan <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothels" title="Brothels" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">brothels</a>, had rented apartments at two separate locations to Thaw, who presented himself under an alias. Using a false name and representing himself as a theatrical agent, Thaw then proceeded to bring girls into the premises where he physically abused and emotionally terrorized them. Newspaper reports speculated on an item brought into evidence by Mrs. Merrill. The "jeweled whip" was insinuated into the proceedings, a graphic element suggesting the scenarios played out in Thaw's rooms. Money was paid to keep the women silent. A Thaw attorney, Clifford Hartridge, corroborated Merrill’s story, identifying himself as the intermediary who handled the monetary payoffs, some thirty thousand dollars, between Merrill, the various women and Thaw. On August 12, 1910, the court dismissed the writ and Thaw was returned to Matteawan. The presiding judge wrote: "..the petitioner would be dangerous to public safety and was afflicted with chronic delusion insanity."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-duke-31" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[31]</a>

Determined to escape confinement, in 1913 Thaw walked out of the asylum and was driven over the border to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbrooke" title="Sherbrooke" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Sherbrooke, Quebec</a>. It is believed Thaw’s mother, who had years of practice extricating her son from dire situations, orchestrated and financed her son’s escape from Matteawan. His attorney, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lewis_Shurtleff" title="William Lewis Shurtleff" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">William Lewis Shurtleff</a>, fought <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition" title="Extradition" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">extradition</a> back to the United States. Thaw was taken to Mt. Madison House in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorham,_New_Hampshire" title="Gorham, New Hampshire" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Gorham, New Hampshire</a> for the summer under the watch of Sheriff Holman Drew, but in December 1914, Thaw was finally extradited to New York where he was able to secure a new trial. On July 16, 1915 the jury found Thaw not guilty, no longer insane, and set him free.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-51" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[51]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-newyorkcity100yearsago.blogspot.com-52" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[52]</a>

Throughout the two murder trials, as well as after Thaw's escape from Matteawan, a contingent of the public seduced by the publicity cant, had become defenders of what they deemed Thaw's justifiable murder of Stanford White. Letters were written in support of Thaw lauding him as a defender of "American womanhood." Sheet music was published for a musical piece titled: "For My Wife and Home."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-flee-48" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[48]</a>

Soon after the court decision, The Sun, in July, 1915, weighed in with its own estimation of the justice system in the Thaw matter: "In all this nauseous business, we don't know which makes the gorge rise more, the pervert buying his way out, or the perverted idiots that hail him with huzzas."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-53" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[53]</a>

After Thaw’s escape from Matteawan, Evelyn Nesbit had expressed her own feelings about her husband’s most recent imbroglio: "He hid behind my skirts through two trials and I won’t stand for it again. I won’t let lawyers throw any more mud at me."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-54" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[54]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Arrest for assault<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Arrest for assault" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times" title="New York Times" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">New York Times</a>, January 12, 1917</div>

</div>

<p style=" margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 1916, Thaw was charged with the kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of nineteen-year old Frederick Gump of Kansas City. His acquaintance with Gump dated to December 1915, and Thaw had worked to gain the trust of the Gump family. Thaw had enticed Gump to come to New York under the pretense of underwriting the teenager’s enrollment at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Institute" title="Carnegie Institute" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Carnegie Institute</a>. Thaw reserved rooms at the Hotel McAlpin awaiting Gump’s arrival. In a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times" title="New York Times" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">New York Times</a> article titled "Whipping of Boy Starts Hunt for Harry K. Thaw", dated January 12, 1917, it was reported that Gump in the hotel room was confronted by "Thaw, armed with a short, stocky whip rushing for him." After his assault of Gump, Thaw fled to Philadelphia with the police in pursuit. When apprehended he was found to have attempted suicide by slashing his throat. Initially, Thaw tried to bribe the Gump family, offering to pay them one-half million dollars if they would drop all criminal charges against him. Ultimately, Thaw was arrested, jailed and tried. Found insane, he was confined to Kirkbride Asylum in Philadelphia where he was held under tight security.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-newyorkcity100yearsago.blogspot.com-52" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[52]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-55" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[55]</a> He was ultimately judged sane and regained his freedom in April, 1924. Thaw's obituary printed in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times" title="New York Times" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">New York Times</a> the day after his death in 1947, implies that Thaw's mother and the Gump family arrived at a monetary settlement.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Children<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Children" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Later life<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Later life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

In 1926, Thaw published a book of memoirs titled "The Traitor," written to vindicate his murder of Stanford White. Thaw never regretted what he had done. Twenty years after having taken White's life Thaw said: "Under the same circumstances, I’d kill him tomorrow."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-obit-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[2]</a>

In the late 1920s, Thaw went into the film production business, based on Long Island. His initial plan was to make short comedies and stories about bogus spiritualists. In 1927, he contracted with John S. Lopez and detective-story author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_B._Reeve" title="Arthur B. Reeve" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Arthur B. Reeve</a> for a batch of scenarios focused on the theme of fraudulent spiritualism. This association generated a lawsuit against Thaw who refused to pay his collaborators for the script work they had done. Thaw, rejecting the original concept, now conceived of a project to film the story of his own life. He asserted, therefore, the original agreement was no longer valid and he had no financial obligation to his partners. Ultimately, in 1935, a legal judgment ruled against Thaw and in Lopez’s favor in the amount of thirty-five thousand dollars.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kendall_Thaw#cite_note-57" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[57]</a>

In 1944, Thaw sold the Kenilworth home and moved to Florida.

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Death<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Death" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">In popular culture<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: In popular culture" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_in_the_Red_Velvet_Swing_(movie)" title="The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (movie)" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing</a> (1955 movie)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The 1975 historical fiction novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime(novel)" title="Ragtime (novel)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ragtime</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.L._Doctorow" title="E. L. Doctorow" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">E. L. Doctorow</a> was adapted into:

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(movie)" title="Ragtime (movie)" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ragtime</a> (1981)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The musical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_(musical)" title="Ragtime (musical)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ragtime</a> (1998)</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Dementia Americana – A long narrative poem by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Maillard" title="Keith Maillard" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Keith Maillard</a>, which won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Lampert_Award" title="Gerald Lampert Award" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Gerald Lampert Award</a> for the best first book of poetry published in 1994</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon – play by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Nigro" title="Don Nigro" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Don Nigro</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_fille_coup%C3%A9e_en_deux" title="La fille coupée en deux" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">La fille coupée en deux</a> – movie by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Chabrol" title="Claude Chabrol" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Claude Chabrol</a> (2007)</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">A fictionalized Thaw also appears in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_Rubenfeld" title="Jed Rubenfeld" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Jed Rubenfeld</a>'s 2006 novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Interpretation_of_Murder" title="The Interpretation of Murder" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Interpretation of Murder</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_century" title="Trial of the century" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Trial of the century</a></li>

</ul>

<h2 style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 19px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">References<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Kendall_Thaw&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: References" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">edit</a>]</h2>

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Thaw, HK

Attachments