EVELYN NESBIT ,FIRST SUPER MODEL , MYSTERY CRIME OF 20 TH CENTURYY BORN DECEMBER 25,1884

EVELYN NESBIT ,FIRST SUPER MODEL ,

MYSTERY CRIME OF 20 TH CENTURYY

BORN DECEMBER 25,1884

She was only sixteen, only sixteen, when he deceived her so. She was too young to fall in love, and when he, Stanford White, famed Gilded Age architect drugged and raped Evelyn Nesbit, he was old enough to be her grandfather.

The designer of the original Madison Square Garden and the Washington Memorial Arch in Greenwich Village, Stanford White was at the peak of his creativity in the early 20th century. He was, prior to her marriage in 1905, involved with the beautiful Evelyn Nesbit, America’s first supermodel and modern celebrity. She was the most photographed woman of her era, an iconic figure who set the standard for female beauty becoming the model for the famed Gibson Girl. Evelyn became one of the most in-demand artists’ models of that time, posing for the top artists of the day including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and Rudolf Eickmeyer, Jr.

When she was introduced to the 47-year-old Stanford White in 1901, Evelyn was a Floradora girl on Broadway. She was “Kittens” to White, “Evie” to John Barrymore and finally, “Boofuls” to her mad as a hatter husband Harry Thaw. As Paula Uruburu notes in her biography of Evelyn, American Eve, (2008) such was Evelyn’s beauty and popularity that she was selling everything from Fairy Soap to fur coats, Oleo margarine to sewing machines, toothpaste to subscriptions to Woman’s Home Companion. Her likeness appeared on tobacco cards, playing cards, pocket mirrors, and beer trays.

White had a loft apartment above, of all places, FAO Schwarz on 24th street. In her memoir Prodigal Days, Nesbit remembers her introduction to White at the apartment as he poured her a glass of champagne and led her upstairs to a studio with a red velvet swing hanging from the ceiling. She had come to trust him, saying, in her autobiography of that fateful night that she felt an overwhelming “sense of security and well being.” It was in that very apartment that White gave Nesbit drugged champagne and raped her. She was led to a room in which the walls and ceiling were covered with mirrors and the floor with imitation glass. After drugging and raping her, Evelyn remembers White saying to her “Don’t cry, Kittens. Please don’t cry. It’s all over. Now you belong to me,” adding “Don’t talk, Evelyn” about this to anyone. Evelyn would come to realize that White had dominated her by “his kindness and by his authority.” She came to call him the “benevolent vampire.”

Evelyn became White’s mistress until she married millionaire Henry Kendall Thaw who had pursued her relentlessly. But Evelyn was not safe with Thaw. He was a sadistic madman, and on their wedding night he beat her with a riding crop and raped her. Evelyn had gone from one hell to another, but there was more to come. She was also at the center of the crime of the century. In 1906, Henry Kendall Thaw’s drug addiction and mental illness led to his false belief that Stanford White was still involved with his Evelyn. On June 25, 1906, Thaw found White at Madison Square Garden’s rooftop theatre. There, he shot three bullets into White, killing him. The resulting court case was among the most sensational murder trials in the annals of American court cases. Many miniature red velvet swings were sold. Thaw was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

Thaw was eventually freed from his asylum, but Evelyn never caught a break. Thaw refused to acknowledge their son and Evelyn Nesbit, the most beautiful girl in the world, died in penury.






Evelyn Nesbit and the Murder of the Century

It was called the Murder of the Century. Eighty years before the trial of OJ Simpson captured the attention of the nation and the world, there was the murder of architect Stanford White by Harry K. Thaw at the entertainment complex that he created Madison Square Garden. The story had everything, society -- money, rage, lust, envy. Within a week of the murder, the Biograph Company had produced a motion picture dramatization.

And at the center of this love triangle gone wrong was a young copper haired beauty named Evelyn Nesbit.

She was born Florence Evelyn Nesbit on Christmas Day in 1884 in Tarentum, a small town near Pittsburgh, PA, the same city that her future husband, Harry K. Thaw hailed from. But while Harry grew up in the lap of luxury living on the big hill, Evelyn and her family were barely scraping above the poverty line after the untimely death of her father when she was 8. Her mother tried to turn their home into a boarding house with minimal success. They often had so little money that they were reduced to eating mustard sandwiches. A dreamy child, Evelyn spend her time imaginging an existence where she was a princess in a castle, or rescued by a handsome prince from the poverty of her existence. But the reality was that there was only one person who could save the family and that was Evelyn.

From the time she was born it was clear that Evelyn was going to turn into a great beauty. When she was fourteen, her mother moved the family to Philadelphia, where Evelyn and her mother soon took jobs at Wanamaker’s department store. However, Evelyn was soon discovered by a local artist, Mrs. Darragh who was taken by her beauty. While she didn’t have the voluptuous figure that was popular during the Gilded Age, Evelyn was willowy, with the type of figure and face that artists adored sketching. Soon Evelyn found she was being sought out by artists such as Carl Blender and F.S. Church.

Modeling in the 19th century was not the career aspiration that it is today. It was considered, like acting, one step above prostitution. Well brought up young ladies didn’t model. In Evelyn’s case, despite her mother’s misgivings, she was able to earn enough to keep the family intact, fed and clothed. Soon Evelyn decided that the family should move to New York, where she could make even more money as an artist’s model. They took rooms in a boarding house on 22nd Street, and Evelyn using a letter of recommendation from an artist in Philadelphia, began making the rounds of the studios of famous artists.

Soon Evelyn had met and posed for Carroll Beckwith, who introduced her to other New York artists, among them Charles Dana Gibson, Frederick S. Church and photographer Rudolf Eickemeyer. Before she knew it, she was one of the most sought after artist models in the city. Sculptor George Grey Barnard used her for his famous piece “Innocence” which is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photographic fashion modeling, while in its infancy, was becoming more and more popular in the fifteen daily newspapers, and paid more as well. Evelyn learned that she could make up to $5 for a half-day shot or $10 for a full day shoot (that’s about $40 per hour in 2008 dollars). With this kind of money, she was able to bring her younger brother Howard to New York to live with them.

The minute her pictures began to appear in the paper, Evelyn was famous, and theatrical producers began to come around wanting to feature her, not caring whether or not she had any actual talent. Evelyn was cast as one of the Spanish dancers in the hit musical Floradora, but what she really wanted to be was part of the Floradora Sextette, 6 girls who were the show piece the show. Stage Door Johnnies flocked to escort the Floradora girls out to parties and to dinner at restaurants like Delmonico’s and Rectors. Often they send around flowers backstage with money attached. One of these Stage Door Johnnies was Stanford White, the most famous architect in New York if not the entire country. At the time that they met, Evelyn was 16 years old and ‘Stanny’ as he was known was 47, and married with a wife and son conveniently spending most of their time out on Long Island.

Stanford stood over 6 feet tall, with red hair and a moustache. He had incredible energy, often working on 40 and 50 projects at the same time. The architectural firm which he helped to co-found, McKim, Mead & White was responsible for the Arch in Washington Square Park, The Players Club, the Metropolitan Club and various other landmarks around New York City, including the magnificent Madison Square Garden (the second building on the spot and the last to actually be on Madison Square). He also spent more than he earned, entertaining lavishly. He was not only the architect but he also furnished the houses that he built, taking buying trips to Europe where he would return laden down with furniture and art work.

He also had a reputation for ‘befriending’ teenage girls, luring them to his lavish private tower apartment at Madison Square Garden, or to a little studio hideway on West 24th Street (now sadly demolished) that came complete with a red velvet swing. Stanford would push his darlings on the swing, sometimes while they were naked, Evelyn later wrote how he would push her higher while she kicked a hole in the Japanese parasols that were hung from the ceiling. Evelyn’s mother however chose to overlook his dubious reputation for his patronage. White had Evelyn’s teeth fixed, and took her and her mother out shopping. Eventually, money was found to send her brother to military school, and to move her and her mother to a better apartment in the city.

When Evelyn’s mother had to go out of town, Stanford promised to look after her daughter. He looked after her alright. According to the story she told Thaw and then later on in court, White brought her back to his private apartment, plied her with champagne that was drugged, and then took her virginity. However, at the end of her life, Evelyn claimed that Stanford White was the only man she had ever loved. Despite the dubious beginnings of their relationship, Evelyn was White’s mistress for about a year. She soon learned that she wasn’t the only one enjoying the attentions of Stanford White.

Evelyn was soon being courted by other men, including the young and extremely gorgeous John Barrymore who was 22 at the time. However, at the time that they were together, Barrymore was not the matinee idol and movie star that he became later on. He was broke and dabbling as an artist and photographer. Still he was madly in love with her and proposed to her at least twice. She also became pregnant with his child. White swooped in to fix the situation, sending Evelyn off to a boarding school run by Cecil B. DeMille’s mother in New Jersey, where she was treated for ‘appendicitis’ for the first time (apparently she later on had a second attack of ‘appendicitis.’ Who knew you could have more than one?)

Her fortunes took a turn for the better or worse, depending on how one looks at it, when she made the acquaintance of Harry K. Thaw of Pittsburgh as he was fond of introducing himself. Harry Kendall Thaw was the heir to a multi-million dollar mining and railroad fortune. While Evelyn and her family moved from place to place, trying to stay one step of ahead of abject poverty, Harry’s life was one of privilege with mansions, servants, ponies, luxurious coaches and private schools. He also, from birth, was subject to temper tantrums, fits, and violent outbursts. Still he managed to somehow get into Harvard, where he spent his time playing poker. When Harry’s father passed away, his will left him a trust that would allow him a measly $200 per month. Harry’s indulgent mother, known to everyone as Mother Thaw, immediately raised his yearly allowance to $80,000 a year.

Thaw was obsessed with the theater, and he was a regular attendee at Broadway shows. He squired chorus girls around town, but there were darker rumors that Thaw had a penchant for dog whips. Harry was a huge fan of the show Floradora, and a particular fan of a certain copper-haired beauty named Evelyn Nesbit. He first approached Evelyn under an assumed name, “Mr. Monroe,” before finally revealing himself. Evelyn, at first, wanted nothing to do with him, but Thaw was persistent. He even managed to find out where she was in New Jersey, pursuing her with a vengeance. Finally Evelyn agreed to go out with him.

Harry worked his charm on her mother as well, persuading her mother that a trip to Europe was just what Evelyn needed to recover from her ‘appendicitis.’ They spend several weeks traveling around France, but before they left Stanford White gave Evelyn a line of credit for $500 just in case. It was while in Europe that Thaw first revealed his true colors. He would fly into rages on the slightest provocation, or disappear for a day or two, finally returning with a manic gleam in his eye. Finally, Evelyn learned that Thaw was addicted to cocaine and morphine. After her mother had had enough of Thaw’s behavior, she returned to the States. Thaw had promised to hire a chaperone to watch over Evelyn but that somehow never materialized.

Having finally gotten the object of his desire alone, Thaw pressed Evelyn about her relationship with Stanford White, who he hated with a passion bordering on obsession. There are various theories for Thaw’s unwavering animosity for White. One story has it that Thaw had invited a show girl Frances Belmont and her friends to huge party with all his male cronies. On the night before the party, Frances walked in to Sherry’s restaurant with her beau, Frank Crowninshield, the future editor of Vanity Fair. Thaw was there also and snubbed her. Furious, Frances decided to take all her friends to a party at White’s tower instead, leaving Thaw waiting without entertainment for his male friends. Thaw blamed his humiliation on White.

Thaw pressed Evelyn for details of her ‘seduction’ by Stanford White. When he discovered what White had supposedly done to her, he flew into a rage, beating Evelyn with a whip until she begged for mercy. When Evelyn returned to New York, she went straight to Stanford and told him what Thaw had done. White had Evelyn give her statement to his lawyer, and Thaw was forbidden to see Evelyn until she came of age, even though she’d already turned 18. If Evelyn had hoped that telling White about Thaw would rekindle his feelings for her, she was sadly mistaken. White had moved onto to another pretty young thing. He would always have a fondness for Evelyn but their relationship as lovers was now over.

Although she had previously told Harry that she could never marry him because she planned on devoting her life to the stage, Evelyn now changed her mind. Her mother had remarried a Mr. Holman, Stanny was no longer available to her, and perhaps after seeing what a life of luxury could be like, decided to make the best of it and marry Thaw. She’d seen how contrite he could be after one of his rages. Perhaps she felt that in some strange way, marrying Thaw kept her close to Stanny given Thaw’s feelings towards him. Harry had already informed her that he had detectives following White’s every move. His hatred of White was so complete that he even went to Anthony Comstock, head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and reported that White had debauched over three hundred young girls. He also kept a pistol on his person, claiming that the Monk Eastman gang, on White’s orders was after him. Thaw and Evelyn were wed on April 4, 1905 in Pittsburgh when she was 20 and Thaw was 33.

After their marriage, Evelyn and Thaw moved in with his mother at the family estate in Lyndhurst. Although living with her mother-in-law was not how Evelyn envisaged her marriage, she decided to stick it out. She could always convince Thaw to take her to every play, opera, ballet and musical that played Pittsburgh. Her free time was spent redecorating her rooms in the gloomy house. For all their money, the Thaws apparently had no idea how to furnish a house.

Matters finally came to a head on June 25, 1906. Evelyn and Thaw were in New York staying at the hotel Lorraine, preparing to spend the summer in Europe. That night they had plans to see the first night of a new show Mam’zelle Champagne at the roof theatre at Madison Square Garden, which Evelyn found curious, given Thaw’s hatred of White. Before they left for the theatre, Thaw had left Evelyn at the hotel to have a few drinks down at Sherry’s, where the hat check girl noted that despite the June weather, Thaw refused to take off his overcoat. While they were at dinner at Cafe Martin, Evelyn passed Harry a note saying that the Beast, Thaw's preferred nickname for White, had been in the restaurant.

During the song, ‘I Could Love a Million Girls,’ Thaw went up to White and fired three shots at close range into White’s face, killing him instantly. He then immediately emptied the barrel of the gun and held it over his head to show that he had no intentions of firing again. Various people reported that Thaw either shouted, “You’ll never see that woman again!” or “You ruined my wife,” before firing his gun. Thaw was arrested and taken to the county jail where he had his meals catered by Delmonico’s while he awaited trial.

There were two trials. At the first Thaw plead temporary insanity, claiming that he had the moral right to kill White because of what he did to Evelyn. Evelyn showed up every day at the trial wearing a white blouse, dark skirt, and a charming black hat, looking more like a school girl than the 22 year old wife. Evelyn knew that she had a part to play, and she was ready. It was her greatest acting performance ever. Her outfit soon became a fashion statement due to drawings in the daily papers. When she took the stand, the district attorney, William Travers Jerome, couldn't shake Evelyn's story since she was telling the jury what she told Thaw, not what might have really happened concerning her relationship with Shaw. Instead he tried to smear her character, hammering her on the witness. His strategy had the reverse effect, he just looked like he was bullying a sweet, young girl.

In the meantime a smear campaign was waged against the character of Stanford White. Newspapers dug up all kinds of stories concerning White's debauched behavior with models and showgirls. Other girls came forward and claimed that he was a perfect gentleman. Conspicuously silent where White's friends. Mother Thaw paid not only for a film to be made but also an Off-Broadway play that painted White as a degenerate and debaucher of young girls. It was one of the first cases where the defense went all out to smear the victim (a practice that has become de rigueur since then). In a shocking move, Evelyn's mother came forward to defend Stanford White's character, claiming that she had letters from White that proved that his intentions towards Evelyn had been honorable. However, Mother Thaw took care of the problem, paying her $25,000 for her silence.

The first jury was deadlocked, ending in a hung jury. At the second trial, his lawyers now pleaded that Thaw was definitely insane. Thaw’s mother, always referred to as Mother Thaw, offered to pay Evelyn $1,000,000 to testify that White had raped her and that the thought send Thaw around the bend. After the verdict came in that Thaw was found innocent by reason of insanity, he was treated like a hero. Many felt that the verdict was a miscarriage of justice that was bought by a great deal of money. It was clear from the testimony given that Thaw had suffered from severe mental delusions for years compounded by an addiction to cocaine and morphine. It was also clear that Thaw knew exactly what he was doing when he killed Stanford White.

After Thaw was sent to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in upstate New York, he and Evelyn were divorced but she never received the $1,000,000 from Mother Thaw. Evelyn had initially tried to obtain an annulment from Thaw, until she found out it meant that she would have no claim to his estate if anything happened to him. Mother Thaw, however, was a shrewd woman and she'd had Evelyn tailed by detectives who discovered that Evelyn had not

been the adoring wife except in public while Thaw was in jail awaiting trial or while he was incacerated at Matteawan.




Thaw meanwhile enjoyed almost total freedom at Matteawan. While there, he spent his time trying to get the verdict of insanity appealed. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court but was upheld. Thaw managed to escape temporarily to Canada in 1913. He was extradited back to the States, but was finally released in 1915 after being judged sane. But that wasn't the end of Thaw's trouble's. Thaw was accused of sexually assaulting and horsewhipping a young boy and was sent back to a mental hospital until 1924. After his release, he moved to Virginia where he bought a historic home called Kenilworth, ingratiating himself with the locals. When he died in Florida in 1947, he left Evelyn $10,000 in his will.

The years were not kind to Evelyn after White’s death. She gave birth to a son, Russell Thaw, in 1910 that she claimed was Thaw’s child but he denied it, and Evelyn eventually admitted that Russell was not Thaw’s although she refused to say who was. She went into vaudeville, with a partner Jack Clifford who she later married, demonstrating the new dances like the fox-trot. She attempted suicide several times, and miraculously she and Thaw apparently attempted to reconcile but nothing came of it. She lived quietly for many years in New Jersey, where she taught ceramics, after overcoming an addiction to morphine (an addiction she was introduced to by Thaw), and alcoholism.

When the film The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing was in production starring Farley Granger, Joan Collins and Ray Milland, Evelyn acted as a technical advisor. She also published two memoirs, The Story of My Life and Prodigal Days. In recent years, her story has entered the national consciousness through E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime and the movie and musical based on the book. Evelyn died in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California at the age of 82 in 1967.

The real victim in all this is Stanford White. Not only was his life tragically cut short, but his reputation blackened to such a degree that his name was spoken in hushed whispers after his death, to the point that even his own family were ashamed to be related to him. The unholy trinity of scandal, violence and sexual impropriety still haunt the memory of a brilliant architect who should be remembered for the brilliant buildings he gave the world, not his sex life.

These three people from disparate backgrounds are now intertwined in the history of New York’s Gilded Age, as symbols of the decadence that symbolized the city. Could White’s death have been prevented if Evelyn had never married Thaw? No one will ever know for sure. Thaw clearly had it in for the man he called “The Beast” but his relationship with Evelyn spurred his obsession to unnatural heights. Evelyn, for her part, never seems to have gotten over her relationship with White. Having lost her father at such a young age, White was both lover and father substitute. Her relationship with Thaw in some way kept her connected to Stanford White, and even in death, her name will always be coupled with his as part of the “Murder of the Century.”

Inside the Crime of the 20th Century: 

The 'mad millionaire' who shot dead New York architect as revenge for sexually assaulting his teenage model wife – before continuing his life of luxury behind bars
Harry Thaw, a railroad heir worth $40million, assassinated revered architect and socialite Stanford White on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden in 1906
Thaw said he did it because White 'ruined his wife' - the 'first supermodel' Evelyn Nesbit, who was the 'it-girl' of the early 1900s 
Nesbit had revealed to her  husband that White sexually assaulted her when she was 16-years-old in his West 24th Street playhouse
Despite this, she and White went on to have a years-long affair and just before she died at the age of 82 in 1967 she described him as 'the most wonderful man I ever knew'
Thaw was found to be criminally insane after two trials, due to the high profile nature of the case
It was the first trial in United States history that a jury was sequestered for, and became known as the 'Trial of the Century'

Evelyn Nesbit, the 'it-girl' of the early 1900s, was sexually
 assaulted by architect and socialite Stanford White when she was 16-years-old

On a blazing hot summer night in 1906 on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden, Harry Thaw, heir to a $40 million railroad fortune, crept up behind Stanford White – a revered New York City architect and socialite. As a choir sang the closing notes to Mam'zelle Champagne on the venue's rooftop, Thaw raised a pistol inches from White's head, and fired three shots.

The bullets went straight through his left eye, killing him. When asked by police why he did it, Thaw's answer was simple: 'He deserved it. He ruined my wife.'

In the investigation that ensued, a tragic and bizarre 'love triangle' was revealed between the architect, the millionaire, and his model wife – New York City's first 'it-girl' Evelyn Nesbit. She was the crux of the conflict, a stupefying young beauty, whose tragic story was the backbone of what became known as the Trial of the Century.

Evelyn's husband, multi-millionaire Harry Thaw (left) shot dead
Stanford White (right) by assassinating him on the roof of
Madison Square Garden in 1906

Evelyn's husband, multi-millionaire Harry Thaw (left) shot dead
Stanford White (right) by assassinating him
on the roof of Madison Square Garden in 1906

Evelyn was just 15 when she began modelling in New York City, and she looked even younger. She quickly skyrocketed to popularity in the magazine industry, and graced the covers of Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, and Harper's Bazaar in the early 1900s.

The image of her copper-brown tresses and pale skin were plastered on postcards, beer trays and tobacco cards.

Her often sexual poses earned her the title of the world's first pin-up girl, and she later worked with one of the first fashion photographers, Joel Feder as a live model – staged in various costumes, such as a wood nymph, gypsy, geisha, and Grecian goddess.

Evelyn's father passed away when she was young, she became the sole breadwinner for her family. Even though she was making $10 a day in the early 20th century - the equivalent of about $275 today - she and her mother and younger brother lived together in a single room in the back of a building on 22nd street and apparently struggled to make ends meet despite Evelyn's income.

When she made her debut into the Broadway circuit as a chorus girl in the play Florodora, her graduation into the New York City elite was cemented. 

Thaw was arrested after the murder,
and when asked why he did it, said
White deserved it because he 'ruined' Evelyn 

Thaw was arrested after the murder, and when asked why he did it, said White deserved it because he 'ruined' Evelyn +22
Thaw was arrested after the murder, and when asked why he did it, said White deserved it because he 'ruined' Evelyn 

As the chorus sang the final notes of Mam'zelle Champagne, Thaw  approached White and shot him three times in the head. An artist's rendering of the crime was used in court +22

As the chorus sang the final notes of Mam'zelle Champagne, Thaw  approached White and shot him three times in the head. An artist's rendering of the crime was used in court 

Thaw was held in the Manhattan Detention Center, better known as 'The Tombs', through the duration of the trial where he had meals catered by Delmonico's, slept in a brass bed, and was allowed wine and champagne +22

No one was more invested in Evelyn's success than Stanford White, an architect whose firm constructed the second Madison Square Garden, Washington Square Arch, and mansions for the Vanderbilts.

White met for the first time Evelyn in 1901 – she was 16 and he was 47, with a known proclivity for young women. 

Evelyn had become close friends with a mother-daughter duo she worked with on Florodora – Edna Goodrich and Nell King. In August of 1901, Edna invited Evelyn along to a lunch at Stanford White's West 24th street apartment, which sat above FAO Schwarz. Nell King, Edna's mother, convinced Evelyn's mother that the girls would be safe.

Evelyn wrote in one of her two memoirs: 'Mama dressed me in a little homemade black and white dress. I wore my best hat, my copper brown curls hanging down my back tied with a taffeta ribbon.'

The dingy door they arrived at was the stark opposite of what awaited them inside: red velvet curtains, tapestries hanging on the walls, nude artwork, and champagne. 

White was introduced to Evelyn by another chorus girl during her time on Broadway - he invited her to his West 24th Street playhouse where he gave her champagne that made her lose consciousness, then assaulted her in 1901. The two then went on to have a years-long affair while White remained married












Evelyn was 16 at the time

She had recently skyrocketed to fame and graced the covers of Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Cosmopolitan

After lunch, Stanford gave Evelyn and Edna a tour of his luxurious apartment. He pushed the two girls on a giant red velvet swing he had installed in one room – which later became the inspiration for a 1955 movie about Evelyn's life, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.

Evelyn didn't tour the entire apartment that day. A few weeks after their first meeting, she was introduced to the 'Mirror Room'.

White convinced Evelyn's mother that it would be a good idea for her to visit friends back in Philadelphia. While her mother was away, Evelyn came back to White's West 24th Street flat.

Again, the two made the tour of the apartment drinking champagne, and this time adjourning to the 10x10ft room with mirrors installed entirely around the walls and on the ceiling. This time, the alcohol made her lose consciousness. 


The last thing she remembered was changing into a yellow kimono, and when she regained consciousness, she was naked in his bed and no longer a virgin.

The last thing Evelyn said she remembered from the evening was changing into a yellow kimono in White's 'Mirror Room' - which was 10x10 feet of walled and ceiling mirrors










When Evelyn awoke, she was naked in White's bed and realized she was no longer a virgin

White's great-granddaughter later wrote that Evelyn had no choice but to fall 'head over heels' for the architect - who was very powerful and influential in New York City +22


Suzannah Lessard, the great-granddaughter of Stanford White, wrote of what happened after that day in her book The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family.

'Evelyn had two choices,' she wrote. 'She could repudiate Stanford, on whom her family depended, or she could gloss over the violative aspects of what had happened.

'What footing did this sixteen-year-old have from which to reject one of the most powerful men in New York? Evelyn chose to fall 'head over heels in love' with Mr White.'

Thus began the teenager's years-long affair with the architect, who had a wife, Bessie, and son Lawrence. At the time, Evelyn was still 16, and White's son was just a year older than her.

However, Evelyn was not White's only mistress, and she was after all, a beautiful bachelorette born to a poor widow. Choosing a husband out of love wasn't a luxury she could afford. At the age of 17, she had already turned down several proposals, including that of a budding illustrator John Barrymore, whose baby she was rumored to have aborted. 

Evelyn's affair with White (who was married with a son) lasted for years. When it ceased, he still remained a strong figure in her life as a beneficiary and father figure to her younger brother

Eventually, Evelyn began to meet other men who vied for her attention and hand in marriage - including Harry Thaw

Six millionaires vied to have her as a wife, but despite her affair with White coming to a devastating close, he remained a significant influence in her life and continued to serve as her benefactor.

In her memoir, Evelyn wrote: 'When I was robbed of my illusions by Stanford's continued interest in other women, love had died in my heart. And I did resolutely put him out of my mind too. I went on adoring Stanford for his kindness, his thoughtfulness, no more.'






Eventually Evelyn met Harry Thaw, the multi-million dollar railroad heir who was known to be mentally ill – but piqued Evelyn's interests by delivering her roses encased in $50 bills.

While on a trip to Europe, Evelyn decided to come clean about her past with White, and told her husband to-be about being drugged and raped in the Mirror Room. After the scandalous revelation, the couple made a stop at the Katzenstein Castle in Austria – where the severity of Thaw's evil ways were revealed.

Over a two-week period, he kept Evelyn locked in one of the castle's rooms, and beat her repeatedly with a cowhide whip and sexually assaulted her. Despite the horrific abuse, the two were still married in April 1905.

'I was so sorry for him,' Evelyn reflected on her decision to accept his proposal. 'And…we'd been so terribly poor.'


While on a trip to Europe, Evelyn decided to come clean about her past with White, and told her husband to-be (Thaw, left) about being drugged and raped in the Mirror Room. Afterwards, he  kept Evelyn locked in a room, and beat her repeatedly with a cowhide whip and sexually assaulted her. Despite the horrific abuse, the two were still married in April 1905

Evelyn later said telling Thaw the truth about White was 'the costliest mistake of her life'.

The knowledge that his wife had been assaulted by White exacerbated Thaw's already rage-fuelled obsession with the architect, who had previously snubbed Thaw an elite Manhattan party and black-balled him from several upscale clubs.

On June 25, 1906, his hatred culminated on the rooftop theatre at Madison Square Garden, when Thaw shot White dead in front of the horrified crowd – in a twisted act of retribution for White stealing away his wife's virginity.

The show didn't immediately stop because the gunshot was thought to be a part of the act – elaborate pranks were standard in entertainment of the era. It was only when a few women noticed White's exposed skull and skin blackened from gunpowder and began to scream that the choir stopped singing.

A witness told the New York Times that Thaw, on his way out, asked him if White was dead. When the witness told him that he was, he said: 'Well I made a good job of it, and I'm glad.'

The man said he then saw Evelyn run to her husband, embrace and kiss him, and say: 'I didn't think you would do it in this way.'

Thus began 'the Trial of the Century' in February 1907.

On June 25, 1906, his hatred culminated on the rooftop theatre at Madison Square Garden, when Thaw shot White dead in front of the horrified crowd – in a twisted act of retribution for White stealing away his wife's virginity

A witness told the New York Times that Thaw, on his way out, asked him if White was dead. When the witness told him that he was, he said: 'Well I made a good job of it, and I'm glad'

A media frenzy quickly ensued, and gave way to the beginnings of tabloid journalism. The case covered the front of newspapers for weeks, and became common knowledge in most households, making jury selection difficult. It was the first time in United States history that the jury was sequestered, meaning they were kept together in a private location for the duration of the trial.

Evelyn became a star again on the stand – and testified that White had raped her years before. In exchange for her testimony defending her husband, she had been promised $1 million from Thaw's family, the LA Times reported. She was to receive support from them under the condition that her husband was found not guilty.

Meanwhile, countless witnesses came forward to tell shocking stories of evil at the hands of Thaw.

Other women testified that they experienced similar torture, much as Evelyn did during those petrifying weeks in Austria. Several chorus girls said on the stand that Thaw had beaten them with a 'pearl-handled dog whip' – and that his mother had paid them to keep quiet.

These allegations were furthered by Mrs Susan Merrill, a former housekeeper for Thaw, who testified that for three years from 1902-1905 she worked as a middleman between the railroad heir and two brothels in New York City. She said that she caught Thaw 'lashing girls on the bare arms and bodies with a whip' – and that Thaw paid at least one woman $7,000 (nearly $200,000 today) not to speak out about his perverse habits. Mrs Merrill pleaded with the judge to commit Thaw – who she said would continue to be a threat to society. 

Other women testified that they experienced similar torture, much as Evelyn did during those petrifying weeks in Austria. Several chorus girls said on the stand that Thaw had beaten them with a 'pearl-handled dog whip' ¿ and that his mother had paid them to keep quiet +22
Other women testified that they experienced similar torture, much as Evelyn did during those petrifying weeks in Austria. Several chorus girls said on the stand that Thaw had beaten them with a 'pearl-handled dog whip' – and that his mother had paid them to keep quiet

As the trial continued, it was revealed that Thaw had employed a number of detectives to badger White, out of fear and jealousy that he was still having an affair with Evelyn.

White had bankrolled a body guard whom he paid $6,000 over the course of four months out of fear for his own safety, and had planned to file charges against Thaw on the day he was shot and killed, according to a 1908 report in the Los Angeles Herald.

Through the duration of the case, Thaw was charged with first degree murder, denied bail and confined to The Tombs, a nickname for the Manhattan Detention Complex, which still stands today.

During his time there he was granted special treatment because of his multi-millionaire status. Though he sat on 'Murderers Row,' he had white-tablecloth dinners catered to his cell from Delmonico's restaurant, was provided a steady stream of champagne and wine, was permitted to wear his own tailored clothes rather than a prison uniform, and slept in a brass bed.

The first trying of his case ended in a deadlocked jury in April 1907 – something Thaw did not take in his stride. He erupted into a fit of screams when the news was delivered.

Following a retrial the following winter, Thaw entered a plea of temporary insanity. In February 1908, the defense was successful - he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but was ordered to spend the rest of his life in the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in New York.

His expensive and dedicate legal team, however, weren't going down without a fight. 

When an attempt to have Thaw freed under habeus corpus failed, the prisoner simply walked straight out of his detention center and fled to Ottowa, Canada in 1913. It was believed that his mother orchestrated his escape.

He was later extradited back to the United States, but was granted his much desired release in July 1915, when he was granted a retrial, deemed to no longer be insane, and freed from the asylum.

The asylum, however, did little to cure Thaw of his mental illness. Six months after his release, on Christmas Eve 1915, he was arrested again for kidnapping and whipping a nineteen-year-old schoolboy named Frederick Gump nearly to unconsciousness. Thaw led police on a wild chase to Philadelphia – and when he was finally apprehended, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his own throat. He was committed to the Kirkbride Asylum in Philadelphia until April 1924.

For Evelyn Nesbit, widely considered to be the world's first supermodel, her life only continued to spiral even after Thaw was removed from it. She had a child in 1910, whom she named Russell Thaw and claimed her murderous ex-husband was the father, a point he vehemently denied. The two were divorced in 1916, and when he died in 1947, he left her one per cent of his fortune ($10,000 – the equivalent of $112,000 today).


She went on to act in a series of silent films, but over time, faded from the limelight.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4906724/Trial-20th-Century-Evelyn-Nesbit-supermodel.html