A Rooftop Murder: Stanford White, Henry Thaw, and the Trial of the Century
On June 25th, 1906, many New York City socialites were attending the theatrical premier of “Mam’zelle Champagne” at Madison Square Garden. One member of the audience was Stanford White, a prolific and famous architect. During the show’s final number White was approached by Henry Thaw, a multi-millionaire and son of a coal and railroad baron. The events that happened next would dominate national headlines and shock the public.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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This sounds exactly like what's happening today. MSM blowing things out of proportion making up lies, and the rich getting by with molesting young kids, and all while being expectable within their "Circle of Friends" Sounds like Hollywood and the Politicians that are protected by the Deep State doesn't it
What an ugly little story. Sex, depravity, drugs, murder. Words from my favorite lit professor come to mind. "The two great themes in all literature are sex and death."
A wonderful tale with an echo of a tale that has been used in various literature through the ages.
Just west of Cresson, Pennsylvania in the Allegheny Mountains is small estate called Elmhurst. It was once the Thaw family summer home. Over the years many people claim to have seen the apparition of a young woman on the grounds and most frequently on the porch of the house. The locals believe that it is the ghost of Evelyn Nesbit - even though of course Evelyn lived for many years long after she would have occupied the house. Just two miles away stands the Cambria County Courthouse - a grand structure coincidentally designed by Stanford White.
Civil war..the great train chase...
Not one of your best, too bad. Tawdry subject, not worthy to be remembered.
I used to give tours in one of Stanford White's remodels (Kingscote, in Newport, RI). At least once a week someone would ask about the murder. I don't think it's as forgotten as you make it out to be. Then again, I don't think it was that important, though it was interesting.
Poor Evelyn...
It certainly should remembered that Hollywood, the fashion industry, and entertainment industry as a whole is run by psychopathic pedophiles.
Sad.
Jeffery Epstein anyone??? (by the way he didn't kill himself).
I'd only ever heard or read that the assailant's name was Harry Thaw. Nesbit's beauty was extraordinary and timeless.
So basically you're saying he was Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein and Co of the Golden Age.
What a sad, sad story.
Well done sir, I think your wrap up at the end precisely and eerily summarizes the congruities between that age and our own.
One of your best videos. I had heard of her, but I always get her confused with Audrey Munson, who is pretty much the model for every Beaux Arts monument in New York.
GREAT episode! Thank you.
I really admire your work.
Every guy in this story is a POS. Geez.
3:10 The Gibson Girl.
A Pretty woman, but obviously very stupid with loose morals.
At 9:18 there is the news story "5 ice trust heads sent to jail for a year". I think that would make an interesting episode.
There is a street in San Jose, CA., named after Thaw's lawyer, Delphin Delmas. His was the 'Brain Fog' defense for Thaw. According to Delmas, Thaw was protecting his wife and the happiness of his home. Delmas' father was the French imagrae who brought snails to California.
So easily could be today as well.
In 1955 I saw the movie "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" starring Joan Collins. It depicted the White murder in graphic detail, not to mention the allure of Ms. Collins.
Was the movie The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing based on this event? II would think that it would have been.
Nesbit was born in Tarentum, Pa. Not Natrona. The house pictured in H. G.'s video no longer exists.
The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing is my cousin, three times removed.
It sounds as if Thaw was a legend in his own mind.
When I was in Architectural School, we studied the architecture of McKim, Mead, and White. We also heard all the details about that early "Scandal of the Century". You can see the killing recreated in Milos Forman's movie "Ragtime". White was played by author Norman Mailer.
White must of drugged her with the champagne. For her to remember taking a drink and the next thing to be waking up in a bed naked. The poor girl hearing about these events is absolutely sickening. These guys must of thought that there actions were justified do to their positions in society.
Well reported as usual. Fine work.
Recommend everybody watch ALL of THG's videos with dispatch as some of the events will be replaced by the revisionist historians of today. Wake up America, you are losing your history!
Amazing story. Reverbrates even today, for sure.
Arrest fauci and gates !
It's one of those cases where you can't muster up any emotions because both parties deserve to be dead. Edit: Oh, and their lawyers too.
make one on the molineux trial of 1899
Sounds much like Epstein & his entourage of celebrity!!!
So one evil bastard shot and killed another evil bastard.
Not well known, except to people who have seen the musical "Ragtime"
Let's see. Rich and powerful men. Run pedophile rings. Protected by the rich and powerful.
Can we say Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz?
I was first introduced to this story from the musical Ragtime. Love all the details here.
These men & their egos. The women that they used & abused meant absolutely nothing to them. They used them as toys for their own sick amusements. Pity the women!
Have you done a history of Telephone numbers? I came across one that is on an old picture (2621 - J). Somebody gave it for me to research. I just thought it would be an interesting video
Thank you for sharing history and humanity with such passion.
Attractive young woman abused sexually by powerful men? That will never change.
I think it's about time for a Clement Vallandigham episode!
History is full of echoes.
Beaux Arts is elided and pronounced, "Boze Are".
I don't think this history deserves to be remembered. What horrible people.
See also the 1981 movie Ragtime
Changed the names and specific details and rewrite the story of current events.
Sounds like BILL CLINTON to me!
..I do enjoy your hard work here THG, and I know all about needing to make a living, but when the ad interrupts and a woman comes on talking about "shaving your balls"....? Really?
Hmmm, people with too much money who think they can do whatever they like. Seems things don't change much...
Sounds like they would fit right in with the liberals of today.
1981 film Ragtime, kind of, includes this subject matter as part of the story of various people during the time in history.
Thaw famous for being very wild child before that was common in the English Language.
" T'was Beauty that killed the Beast[s]". And beastly they, Thaw and White, most certainly were.
Just think: if Gloria Allred had been around back then Evelyn might have lived out her days living in luxury in Palm Beach.
Nothings changed re. wealth, then.
Hey- I’ve actually heard of this before. Nice video (as always)
I learned about his case when I was young watching a show on HBO. Something about famous criminal cases. It's very well portrayed in the movie Ragtime too. Elizabeth McGovern plays Nesbit in the film. Does play her as kind of a dingbat. But the whole story is pretty well done.
Love your channel, Great episode. please post more world war 1 aviation stories.
Stanford White didn't kill himself.
Dang bro slow down speaking lol had to check to see if I had accidentally changed the playback speed
Thanks again...!
Please History Guy. Can you do a video on Irena Sendler!? She was a true heroine ❤️
Have you ever covered the circumstances surrounding the death of Meriwether Lewis?
Boy talk about history repeating itself
Nothing has changed. Just look at Hollywood and the music industry today.
Facts would be nice as you generally provide. Not speculation. Sorry history guy, this ones a no go.
Greetings from Clay County, Missouri! I
So I'm guessing the reason there was no evidence of graffiti from the period proclaiming "Stanford White didn't kill himself" was because his murder was actually reported in the papers instead of covered up by the murderer's fellow perverts. What if THIS is the real Gilded Age but they don't want you to know it?
Thank you.
Insanity ran in the Thaw Family and some of them were committed to mental institutions. You were right to say that Harry Kendal l Thaw was sadistic. You get a real idea of the whole affair from the novel and the movie, RAGTIME. The whole thing about Stanford White was fabricated by Thaw's defense lawyer with the help of the yellow press. This was all well known in Pittsburgh.
amazing how little changes over time. Great episode.
Miss Nesbitt was , indeed, a stunning beauty. Seems like every era has a "Lolita" and a nefarious suitor or two. "The Golden Age" had a dramatic turn of events with its version of this timeless classic. Thank you, THG, for your take on this sordid affair-- you gave it the passionate voice it deserves.
The 80s movie Ragtime is based on this event.
I know these names. The event was described by "Nikola Tesla" in a book by Spider Robinson. He described White being the architect to Wardenclyffe, though I don't know how accurate that is: the book is a well-written work of fiction after all.
sounds like today. the real victim was Mz Nesbit first w White drugging and raping her and Thaw locking her in a stateroom on a ship and abusing her. what men wont do is shameless
"The curse of beauty!"💔💔💔🌹🌹🌹🙏
The amazing but also almost forgotten movie, Ragtime, dramatized this as part of its sprawling narrative.
Nothing has changed!
History may not repeat itself.... but it sure does rhyme!
This is an excellent companion piece to Obsolete Oddity's coverage of this sensational story!
Everyone wanted something from her. Nobody wanted anything for her.
The more things change the more they stay the same. Same song, same verse, just different words.
Do the poisoning of Jane Stanford, wife of Lealand Stanford (of Stanford University fame). To this day, her murder has never been solved: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Stanford
Thanks 😊
Guarantee you it hasn’t gotten any better in this age. It has worsened!
I am actually very familiar with this story. I read a biography on Evelyn Nesbit.
A little secret that the History Guy doesn't know or is pretending he doesn't: A lot of people are familiar with the story.
You MUST do a segment on the PIRATE Benjamin Hornigold. From WIkipedia: ..."Hornigold is recorded as having attacked a sloop off the coast of Honduras, but as one of the passengers of the captured vessel recounted, "they did us no further injury than the taking most of our hats from us, having got drunk the night before, as they told us, and toss'd theirs overboard".[9].."
@The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered Thanks, I'll see if I missed it....wow, yea, I'd seen this one but hadn't marked it as 'liked' so I was prob distracted while it was playing. Thank you.
We talk about Hornigold in this epsiode: mnthe.info/bill/video/aqiTyZuUmmefcG8
Sounds like Hollywood today.....
Butt boyish???
You are definitely right about how the crimes of the past are still be committed today THG. Specifically, pertaining to the way that young, pretty and poor females and males are sought after by those with money or in positions of power or trust, then manipulated, offered false promises or guarantees of a better life for them and/or their families. Then their worst nightmares become their reality. Some of the worst crimes are not relegated to the past, as they should be, but continue to be committed, sometimes in plain sight, while we turn our heads and tell ourselves that it can't really happen today. That's exactly what they told themselves back then.
The crime and trial of the century. Until the next one comes along.
You think it was just the Gilded Age? Epstein Island, anyone? If anything, it is worse today.