Harry Kendall Thaw

Early life

Harry Thaw was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on February 12, 1871, to Pittsburgh businessman William Thaw Sr., and his second wife, Mary Sibbet Thaw (née Copley). Thaw's father fathered 11 children from his two marriages. Thaw had five siblings: Edward (born 1873), Josiah (born 1874), Margaret (born 1877) and Alice Cornelia (born 1880). 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. Thaw's mother was known for her episodes of ungovernable temper and her abusive treatment of the family's servants.

In childhood, Thaw was subject to bouts of insomnia, temper tantrums, incoherent babbling and baby talk, a form of expression which he retained in adulthood. His chosen form of amusement was hurling heavy household objects at the heads of servants. Thaw spent his childhood bouncing among private schools in Pittsburgh, never doing well and described by teachers as a troublemaker. One teacher at the Wooster Prep School described Thaw, then aged 16, as having an "erratic kind of zig-zag" walk, "which seemed to involuntarily mimic his brain patterns." Thaw was granted admission to the University of Pittsburgh, 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 Harvard College.

Thaw later bragged that he had studied poker at Harvard. He reportedly lit cigars with hundred-dollar bills, went on long drinking binges, attended cockfights and spent much of his time romancing young women. In 1894, Thaw chased a cab driver down a street with a shotgun, believing he had been cheated out of 10 cents change. He later claimed the shotgun was unloaded. Thaw was ultimately expelled from Harvard for "immoral practices", as well as intimidating and threatening students and teachers. His expulsion was immediate; he was given three hours to pack up and move out of the premises.

Thaw's father, in an attempt to curb his son's excesses, limited his monthly allowance to $2,500. This was a great deal of money in an era when lower-class workers earned $500 a year and a lavish dinner at Delmonico's restaurant cost $1.50. After the 1893 death of Thaw's father, who left his 22-year-old son $3 million (equivalent to $107,000,000 in 2025) in his will, Thaw's mother increased the monthly allowance to $8,000 (equivalent to $287,000 in 2025), enabling him to indulge his every whim. Thaw was the beneficiary of this monthly income for the next 18 years. He was heir to a fortune estimated at some $40 million.

Motivations for the shooting

After his expulsion from Harvard, Thaw's sphere of activity alternated between Pittsburgh and New York City. In New York, he was determined to place himself amongst those privileged to occupy the summit of social prominence. His applications for membership in the city's elite men's club (the Metropolitan Club, the Century Club, the Knickerbocker Club and the Players' Club) were rejected. His membership in the Union League Club was revoked when he rode a horse up the steps into the club's entrance way, a "behavior unbefitting a gentleman."Thaw was convinced were the direct or indirect result of the intervention of the city's social lion, the architect Stanford White.

Another incident furthered Thaw's paranoid obsession with White. A disgruntled showgirl whom Thaw had publicly snubbed got her revenge by sabotaging a lavish party he had planned by hijacking all the female invitees and moved the festivities to White's Tower Room at Madison Square Garden. For this, Thaw blamed White for sabotaging him. The former's lack of attention by "doe-eyed girlies" was remarked upon by the press.

Thaw admired and resented White's social stature. He recognized that he and White shared a passion for similar lifestyles. White, unlike Thaw, could carry on without censure and impunity.

Drug use

Various sources document Thaw's drug addiction, which became habitual after his expulsion from Harvard. He reportedly injected large amounts of cocaine and morphine, either together or at the same time in one injection. He was also known to use laudanum (tincture of opium), and on at least one occasion he drank a full bottle in a single swallow. Thaw's drug addiction was verified by his wife, Evelyn Nesbit. In a sworn statement she made before their marriage, she said that "One day...I found a little silver box oblong in shape, about two-and-one-half inches in length, containing a hypodermic syringe ... I asked Thaw what it was for, and he stated to me that he had been ill, and had to make some excuse. He said he had been compelled to take cocaine."

Evelyn Nesbit

Relationship

Thaw had been in the audience of The Wild Rose, a show in which Nesbit, a popular artist's model and chorus girl about 17 years old, was a featured player. The smitten Thaw attended some forty performances over the better part of a year. Through an intermediary, he ultimately arranged a meeting with Nesbit, introducing himself as "Mr. Munroe". Even in their first personal encounter, Thaw revealed he was already extremely concerned about White – suddenly bringing him up in the conversation and warning her to stay away from him. Nesbit and her mother were, at the time, living in an apartment suite arranged by White, who was acting as Nesbit's benefactor and had conducted a sexual affair with her (despite being married with children and about three times her age). Nesbit found Thaw overly infatuated and recoiled from his attentions. He then visited her mother the next day and revealed his true identity to her. She was shocked, having read of his wealth and his antics in the newspapers of Pittsburgh, but she did not immediately tell her daughter about the visit. About a week later he arranged to sit near Nesbit at a restaurant, and after the dinner he announced to her with self-important bravado, "I am not Munroe...I am Henry Kendall Thaw, of Pittsburgh!" She too recognized his name from her Pittsburgh background, but she found his behavior bewildering and bordering on comical at the time.

Later, White and Nesbit's mother moved Nesbit to a boarding school in upstate New York in November 1902, where both White and Thaw visited often, with Thaw bearing gifts and praise, managing to impress both Nesbit's mother and the headmistress at the school. She was partly sent there to separate her from her recent romantic relationship with John Barrymore, who at the time was an irresponsible struggling artist who both her mother and White thought unsuitable as a potential husband, although he was a member of a prominent family and had proposed to her. Not long after their affair was cut off by the intervention, Barrymore would begin his rise to fame and fortune as a major acting star in theater and film.

While staying at the boarding school, Nesbit developed acute appendicitis in January 1903 when Thaw happened to be there for a visit. Nesbit underwent an emergency appendectomy arranged with the help of White and Thaw. While she was recuperating, Thaw suggested a European trip, convincing Nesbit and her mother that it would hasten Nesbit's recovery from the surgery. However, the trip they took a few months later 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 her mother. As tensions mounted, mother and daughter began to argue, leading to Mrs. Nesbit's insistence on returning to the U.S. Having effectively alienated Nesbit from her mother, Thaw then took her to Paris, leaving Mrs. Nesbit in London.

The killing of Stanford White

It is conjectured that White was unaware of Thaw's long-standing vendetta against him. White considered Thaw a poseur of little consequence, categorized him as a clown, and most tellingly, called him the "Pennsylvania pug"—a reference to Thaw's baby-faced features.

On June 25, 1906, Thaw and Nesbit were stopping in New York briefly before boarding a luxury liner bound for a European holiday. Thaw had purchased tickets for himself, his wife and two of his male friends for the show Mam'zelle Champagne, playing on the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden. Despite suffocating heat, which did not abate as night fell, Thaw inappropriately wore over his tuxedo a long black overcoat, which he refused to take off throughout the evening.

At 11:00 p.m., as the show was coming to a close, White appeared, taking his place at the table that was customarily reserved for him. Thaw had been agitated all evening, and abruptly bounced back and forth from his own table throughout the performance. Spotting White's arrival, he 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 White, killing him instantly. Thaw gave police a false name, "John Smith", with an address of 180 Lafayette Place, Washington D.C.; his true identity was established through cards found in his pocket reading "Harry Kendall Thaw, Pittsburg." Nesbit rushed to his side as he was taken to the station and declared "I'll stand by you, Harry." Part of White's blood-covered face was torn away and the rest of his features were unrecognizable, blackened by gunpowder. Thaw remained standing over White's 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!" (The key witness allowed that he wasn't completely sure he heard Thaw correctly—that he might have said "he ruined my life" rather than "he ruined my wife".)

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 White was dead. Thaw, still brandishing the gun high above his head, walked through the crowd and met Nesbit at the elevator. When she asked what he had done, Thaw purportedly replied, "It's all right, I probably saved your life."

Trial

Thaw was charged with first-degree murder and denied bail. A newspaper photo shows Thaw in The Tombs prison seated at a formal table setting, dining on a meal catered for him by Delmonico's restaurant. In the background is further evidence of the preferential treatment provided to him. Conspicuously absent is the standard issue jail cell cot; during his confinement Thaw slept in a brass bed. Exempted from wearing prisoner's garb, he was allowed to wear his own custom-tailored clothes. The jail's doctor was induced to allow Thaw a daily ration of champagne and wine. Contemporary reports confirmed that on his first night in custody, Thaw slept soundly and rose refreshed; the prison physician visited his cell before lights-out and noted that Thaw was accustomed to a stimulant before retiring, leaving liquor at his disposal should he need it. It went untouched. By the following morning, seventeen letters had arrived at the Tombs for Thaw, nearly all from women. In his jail cell, it was reported that Thaw heard the heavenly voices of young girls calling to him, which he interpreted as a sign of divine approval. He was in a euphoric mood, unshakable in his belief that the public would applaud the man who had rid the world of the menace of Stanford White.

The "Trial of the Century"

There was extensive and widespread news coverage following the morning of the shooting. Any person, place or event, no matter how peripheral to the incident, was seized on by reporters and hyped as newsworthy copy. The sensationalist reportage was an example of yellow journalism. News reporters were opposed by "Sob Sisters", who used sentimental tropes and melodrama in their reportage.

The rampant interest in the White murder and its key players were used by both the defense and prosecution to feed malleable reporters any "scoops" that would give their respective sides an advantage in the public forum. Thaw's mother, as was her custom, primed her own publicity machine through monetary pay-offs. The district attorney's office took on the services of a Pittsburgh public relations firm, McChesney and Carson, backing a print smear campaign aimed at discrediting Thaw and Nesbit. Pittsburgh newspapers displayed lurid headlines, a sample of which blared, "Woman Whose Beauty Spelled Death and Ruin".

Defense strategy

The main issue in the case was the question of premeditation. At the outset, the formidable District Attorney, William Travers Jerome, preferred not to take the case to trial by having Thaw declared legally insane. This was to serve a two-fold purpose. The approach would save time and money, and of equal if not greater consideration, it would avoid the unfavorable publicity that would no doubt be generated from disclosures made during testimony on the witness stand—revelations that threatened to discredit many of high social standing. Thaw's first defense attorney, Lewis Delafield, concurred with the prosecutorial position, seeing that an insanity plea was the only way to avoid a death sentence for their client. Thaw dismissed Delafield, who he was convinced wanted to "railroad [him] to Matteawan as the half-crazy tool of a dissolute woman".

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 half a million dollars, to substantiate that her son's act of murder constituted a single aberrant act.

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.

The two trials

Thaw was tried twice for the murder of White. Due to the unusual amount of publicity the case had received, it was ordered that the jury members be sequestered. 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 deadlocked. Seven had voted guilty, and five voted not guilty. Thaw was outraged that the trial had not vindicated the murder, that the jurors had not recognized it as the act of a 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. The second trial took place from January 1908 through February 1, 1908.

At the second trial, Thaw pleaded temporary insanity. This legal strategy was developed by Thaw's new chief defense counsel, Martin W. Littleton, whom Thaw and his mother had retained for $25,000 (equivalent to $896,000 in 2025). Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced to incarceration for life at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Fishkill, New York. 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 that the Thaws promised her a comfortable financial future if she provided testimony 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 $25,000 to $1 million. Throughout the prolonged court proceedings, Nesbit had received inconsistent financial support from the Thaws, made to her through their attorneys. After the close of the second trial, the Thaws virtually abandoned Nesbit, cutting off all funds. However, in an interview Nesbit's grandson, Russell Thaw, gave to the Los Angeles Times in 2005, it was his belief that Nesbit received $25,000 from the family after the end of the second trial. Nesbit and Thaw divorced in 1915.

Immediately after his commitment to Matteawan, Thaw marshaled the forces of a legal team charged with the mission of having him declared sane. The legal process was protracted.

In July 1909, Thaw's lawyers attempted to have their client released on a writ of habeas corpus. Two key witnesses for the state gave testimony at the hearing detrimental to the defense. Landlady Susan "Susie" Merrill recounted a chronology of Thaw's activities during the period of 1902 through 1905, in which he rented apartments at two separate locations from Merrill, brought girls into the premises, and physically and emotionally abused them. Newspaper reports speculated on an item brought into evidence by Merrill, a "jeweled whip" which graphically suggested 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 $30,000, between Merrill, the various women and Thaw. On August 12, 1910, the court dismissed the petition 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."

Arrest for assault

In 1916, Thaw was charged with the kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of nineteen-year-old Frederick Gump of Kansas City, Missouri. 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 Carnegie Institute, and reserved rooms for him at the Hotel McAlpin. The New York Times later reported that, upon his arrival, Gump was confronted by "Thaw, armed with a short, stocky whip rushing for him." After the assault, Thaw fled to Philadelphia with the police in pursuit. When apprehended, he was found to have attempted suicide by slashing his throat.

Thaw had attempted to bribe the Gump family with a half million dollars if they would drop all criminal charges against him. Once arrested, jailed and tried. Found insane, he was confined to Kirkbride Asylum in Philadelphia, where he was held under tight security. He was ultimately judged sane and regained his freedom in April 1924. Thaw's obituary, printed in the Times the day after his death in 1947, implies that Thaw's mother and the Gump family arrived at a monetary settlement.

Children

Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to a son, Russell William Thaw, on October 25, 1910, in Berlin. Nesbit always maintained he was Thaw's biological child, conceived during a conjugal visit to Thaw while he was confined at Matteawan. Thaw, throughout his life, denied paternity.

Later life

In 1924, Thaw purchased a historic home, known as Kenilworth, in Clearbrook, Virginia. While living there, he ingratiated himself with the locals, joined the Rouss Fire Company, and even marched in a few local parades in his fireman's uniform. He was regarded as an eccentric by the citizens of Clearbrook, but does not seem to have run into a great deal of additional legal trouble while living there. In 1926, he published a book of memoirs titled The Traitor, written to vindicate his murder of White. Thaw never regretted what he had done. Twenty years after taking White's life, he said: "Under the same circumstances, I'd kill him tomorrow."

During the late 1920s, Thaw went into the film production business, based on Long Island in New York. 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 Arthur B. Reeve 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 in Lopez's favor in the amount of $35,000.

Death

Thaw died of a heart attack in Miami, Florida, on February 22, 1947, ten days after his 76th birthday. At his death Thaw left an estate with an estimated value of $1 million (equivalent to $14 million as of 2025). In his will, he left Nesbit a bequest of $10,000 ($144,000 as of 2025), about 1% of his net worth. He was buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.