The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (56 page)

Mrs Nesbit now considered that Mr White presented no threat to her daughter’s well-being and even entrusted her to him when she was to leave town on a trip to Pittsburgh with her new
fiancé – Charles Holman. White now had the perfect opportunity to spend time with Evelyn and more to the point she would be alone in his care, unchaperoned.

Evelyn performed on stage in the chorus line and was quite excited at the prospect of being made a fuss of by her benefactor. She said goodnight to her friend Edna and went to meet the car which
had been sent to collect her and take her to White’s apartment at Madison Square. She spent the evening feeling much older than her 16 years, chatting with White, who overlooked her
inexperience and her lack of social graces. If anything this endeared her to him all the more.

They were served a delicious meal, with an accompanying glass of champagne. Evelyn knew full well that her mother would not have approved of the alcohol, but decided not to let White know of her
reservations in case he decided that she should not have any more. The meal over, Evelyn accepted further glasses of champagne and was later invited to try on an expensive yellow silk kimono. Owing
to the effects of the champagne, Evelyn had by now lost many of her inhibitions and duly tried the garment on. The fabric was glossy and sensual, and she enjoyed the feeling of it against her skin.
White asked if she would like to have a good look at herself with it on and he showed her to his bedroom where he had large floor-to-ceiling mirrors. By now feeling the effects of the alcohol she
felt that she wasn’t fully in control of the situation; she was still aware enough to notice that White was very attentive and was sure that he trembled when she moved close to him.

When she complained to White that she was not used to drinking alcohol and that the effects were making her feel rather sleepy, he told her not to worry as the same thing had happened to him
when he had initially tried champagne. He advised her to rest on his bed until she started to feel better. Not long after lying down Evelyn seemingly passed out. Although she was suspicious later
that the drink had been drugged, she was never able to prove this. When she awoke she was immediately aware that she had been involved in some form of sexual activity as she could see evidence of
it on her thighs – she had arrived in White’s apartment a virgin and now her virtue had been stolen. White was unremorseful and scoffed at her anger, simply telling her that she was now
his as nobody else would be interested in her.

Evelyn’s outrage did not appear to last very long as she continued to see White. Perhaps she believed that nobody else would want her; or, quite possibly, she was rather attracted to him,
if not for his looks, certainly his power and wealth could well have been an adequate aphrodisiac. Her relationship with White could also have been as a result of her not having a father figure in
her life for such a long time, which he might have seemed.

As White was still a married man, he was not able to spend all of his time with Evelyn, so she found herself with evenings when she was free to meet with other gentlemen. She was still an
extremely beautiful young woman and had no end of admirers, some of whom proposed marriage to her. One such man who found her attractive was Henry K. Thaw, preferring to be called Harry by his
friends, from a very wealthy, influential American family. He was described as “smitten” with the young girl in the famous chorus line and interestingly Evelyn and Harry had one thing
in common – they both came from Pittsburgh, although owing to the huge gap in their social circles they would never have met if Evelyn had stayed in her home town. Thaw’s family were
multi-millionaires, making a vast proportion of their wealth in the railroad and mining businesses, to which Harry was sole heir.

His upbringing was the best that money could buy; he attended the best schools, had the highest qualified servants, lived in the largest, most expensive houses and had all the luxuries that any
spoilt child could wish for. With all these worldly goods bestowed upon him, Harry was rather unruly and expected to get his own way – if he did not he was renowned for having famous temper
tantrums. No amount of persuasion would work and once Harry had started there was no stopping him, much to the embarrassment of his parents. Even his mother, known to all as Mother Thaw, a strict
disciplinarian and a formidable character by anybody’s reckonings, was unable to control her unruly son’s alarming outbursts. In fact she went so far as to state that he was a problem
child even before childbirth who showed no sign of mellowing with age.

At school Harry was constantly reprimanded for his behaviour and was branded a troublemaker, being passed from school to school. This fact was overlooked when his parents applied for a place for
him at the prestigious and handy University of Pittsburgh to study Law, his name alone enough to grant him a place. Harry concluded his education, for what it was worth, at Harvard University. He
was not an easy scholar and spent the vast majority of his time socializing, drinking and spending much of his allowance entertaining young women, and gambling. He was eventually expelled after an
incident in which Harry was described as chasing a taxi driver with a firearm, albeit unloaded.

After his education was deemed over, little changed for the multi-millionaire, who continued to spend his time socialising and frequently getting into sticky situations, which were terribly
embarrassing for his friends who were at a loss to explain his unusual behaviour. For some reason, Harry was either unwilling or unable to change his behaviour and was far too headstrong to accept
offers of assistance.

On his many nights out, Harry would often enjoy going to the theatre, he was particularly interested in seeing Broadway shows and much admired the
Florodora
chorus line. He was soon
enchanted by a young auburn-haired beauty and made it his business to find out her name – Evelyn Nesbit. He introduced himself to Evelyn, but she had already been warned about him by White so
was respectful but kept her distance from him.

Another suitor to Evelyn was Mr John Barrymore, much younger than White and very good company to Evelyn, the two striking up quite a close relationship, so close that Evelyn found herself to be
in a delicate condition – Barrymore again proposed marriage to her but she declined his offer. Instead she turned to her other lover, Stanford White, who assisted her out of the predicament
by having her ensconced at the DeMille School for girls, taking its name from the school’s headmistress, mother of the famous Cecil B. DeMille, in out-of-town New Jersey. There she concluded
her schooling and enjoyed refining her singing abilities, but after around seven months of her stay there she suffered from “acute appendicitis” and was hospitalized for a short time
before being moved later to a sanatorium in New York City.

On her return to New York she was immediately aware of White’s change in feeling towards her. Although he continued to be interested in her, she sensed that his affections were dwindling
and suspected that he might have eyes set on another younger, more innocent young lady.

Whilst in the sanatorium she was regularly visited by both White and Thaw. Although she was careful that they should never arrive together, she met them both individually. Thaw was extremely
keen to make her stay at the sanatorium as pleasant as possible and made sure that she was provided with anything and everything she desired.

By the time that she was well enough to leave the hospital Thaw had convinced her to take a trip to Europe to aid her recovery. Mrs Nesbit was against the idea from the start, obviously unaware
of White’s waning interest in Evelyn and not wanting to risk offending him after he had been so generous to her and her family. Eventually she was talked round and was encouraged to take the
trip with her daughter and Thaw. She did take it upon herself to go and see White, supposedly to seek his approval, and also came away with a generous $500 letter of credit should she find herself
in financial difficulties.

She need not have bothered as Thaw was extremely lavish and spent freely on both women, buying them both several new outfits, jewellery and of course paying for the whole trip, throughout which
Thaw had one thing on his mind – he was set on proposing to Evelyn and was not prepared to take no for an answer.

Evelyn managed to hold off giving him her answer for several weeks, but Thaw could not wait for ever and when pushed she eventually offered him her explanation. She told him the shocking story
of being “raped” by White – having been robbed of her virginity, she wanted to clear the air before accepting his proposal. She no doubt elaborated for full effect and Thaw was so
enraged that he was more protective than ever of Evelyn. Evidently he had not been informed of the real nature of her stay in the sanatorium prior to their European tour.

As they continued on their trip Thaw continued to press Evelyn for more detailed information regarding the events which had occurred on the evening of the assault by White. He was entirely
committed to protecting his new love and was just as committed to gaining revenge on White when he next saw him, determined to make him pay for besmirching Evelyn.

Whilst in London Mrs Nesbit decided to use some of White’s money to treat her daughter and herself – she bought them new lingerie, apparently not wanting to embarrass herself by
having to ask Thaw for money for such a personal purchase. Once Thaw found out he enquired where she had got the money from. She told him that it was part of a gift from White and Thaw was furious,
so much so that he could stand Mrs Nesbit’s company no longer and duly sent her packing back to New York.

Evelyn now found herself alone in Europe with Thaw and was alarmed to discover that he had some secret habits – he was an intravenous drug user, probably cocaine and/or morphine, which
appeared to have an unpleasant effect on his moods. The couple continued their tour and moved on to Germany, where Thaw arranged for them to stay at an isolated small castle, Schloss Katzenstein.
Evelyn endured a frightful night in the castle when Thaw turned violent and attacked her whilst she was in bed, beating her with what she described as a whip. After the ordeal Thaw was apologetic
and begged her forgiveness; Evelyn wasted no time in telling him that he had behaved like a monster and that he had treated her terribly. As she was at his mercy she continued the trip, but
encouraged him to return to New York earlier than they had originally planned.

When she was finally back in New York she didn’t have to wait for long before she was visited by White. She told him of her trip but eventually broke down into sobs and described
Thaw’s strange behaviour, and of how he had beaten her in the castle in Germany. White, no longer romantically involved with Evelyn, offered support in the form of a good lawyer, as he
believed that she could protect herself from Thaw if she had everything recorded officially.

White’s interest in Evelyn diminished, and it was now common knowledge that he had turned his affection to another younger member of the chorus line, but continued to show a fatherly
consideration toward Evelyn. Thaw on the other hand was still besotted and continued to woo her to gain her trust once again. As she was now “spoilt” goods Evelyn decided to take what
she could get – to marry a multimillionaire, if somewhat strange, was in her eyes still a good deal.

Strangely Evelyn was stricken with appendicitis again – seemingly Thaw did not grasp that this was impossible – was hospitalized and spent a long time recovering. It was during this
time that Mrs Thaw decided that she should have her say and called on her “would be” daughter-in-law to encourage her to marry her love-struck son. She was of the opinion that her son
would settle down if he married, and that she could share the burden of his tantrums with another woman.

The wedding was confirmed and the ceremony took place in their home town of Pittsburgh. After a honeymoon, Mr and Mrs Harry K. Thaw moved into the palatial Thaw family mansion, joining Mother
Thaw. Mrs Thaw senior made her best efforts to introduce her new daughter-in-law to the local upper cut of society, but her reputation had preceded her and she was politely given the cold shoulder.
She found herself to have no close friends, her husband would go missing for days on end and she soon started to yearn to return to New York.

After some persuasion Thaw relented and in the summer of 1906 the couple returned to the city which Evelyn felt was her home. This was to prove a terrible decision, as Thaw was still harbouring
a terrible grudge against White and was merely biding his time before he confronted him.

On the evening of 25 June 1906, White was in the garden at the top of the building which he had designed – Madison Square Garden – where he was enjoying the premiere of a musical
review and clearly had a keen interest in one of the young lady performers. He had a table in front of the stage and did not want to miss any of the routine, unaware that a young man was making his
way towards him. The young man in question was Harry Thaw; unusually for the time of year he had turned up in a long black overcoat, although his clothing went unnoticed by other people as they
were either too busy watching the show or were engrossed in their own conversations.

Thaw stood and watched the 50-year-old man whilst he applauded the young dancers. Then, quite deliberately, he took a pistol from his coat and fired three shots into White’s face. White
slumped over the table, which collapsed and he fell to the floor. People nearby were not sure whether this was in some way a bizarre part of the act, as it was the opening night and it could have
been an unusual “extra” to the show. The mood suddenly changed when Thaw then held his weapon above his head and made his way to the door. The shocked onlookers quickly rallied to aid
the victim, but it was soon evident that he was past their help.

Outside the room Thaw walked towards his wife, still holding the gun above his head. “Good God, Harry, what have you done?” she asked. “All right, dearie,” replied Harry.
“I have probably saved your life.” He made no attempt to leave the scene and was soon arrested by the police as they arrived at the theatre.