Reason First: Henry “Harry” Kendall Thaw’s Descent into Depravity

Worse than a ne’er-do-well and lower than a playboy, Henry “Harry” Kendall Thaw shot architect Stanford White in the face thrice in 1906 in New York City.

The makings of a killer

A recipient of a mine and railroad fortune from his father, William Thaw Sr, the young man dribbled on silver. Thaw felt like he could do anything, no matter how despicable his character had grown to be. Actually, his character and morality had not grown but stunted like a shrub that barely makes it past the development phase.

At first, he attended the University of Pittsburgh and then transferred to Harvard College. Thaw played off his less than stellar academic performance as having studied “poker” during his time at the school.

He continued his worthless existence by chasing after women and becoming involved in all sorts of mayhem and vice. Soon, he would set his eyes on one fair woman model named Evelyn Nesbit.

An invitation to the White apartment

She had received an endowment from White. A red velvet swing became affixed to the ceiling of his apartment by White. He wanted comely young women to swing from it from time to time. In exchange, he paid for their dental work, and showered them with presents.

White called for Nesbit to accompany him at his apartment. In time she accepted and he proceeded to rape her. Thaw also raped Nesbit. This came before their wedding. On the rooftop theater of Madison Square Garden, Thaw did his worst. Evelyn’s fame would be boosted along with Thaw’s infamy as she took on the title The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing.

While awaiting trial, Thaw slept in a brass bed, possessed a tailor to outfit him in designer clothes, dined on lavish meals, and a doctor afforded him wine and champagne.

The Trials

First, the jury remained hung. In a second trial he was found not guilty because of his mental instability. He spent time in the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Fishkill, New York. The state let him go seven years later. In just four years, the law wanted Thaw for allegedly sexually assaulting a male teenager. Again, he skated the electric chair by means of being insane. He died years later at the age of seventy-six. His will granted Nesbit his considerable fortune.

Now, if this had been not just a white man but someone of lesser means would this have been a different case altogether? For someone who didn’t even earn his fortune and frittered it away like a prostitute offering her wares for free, Thaw should have been treated like the most destitute man alive at the time. Thaw wouldn't have survived as a black man, especially. The judge, after a guilty verdict, would’ve looked and said, “Oh, so you shot a man in the face three times? We’re going to give you three life sentences.” And even a white man without the money would’ve been treated with the same kind of punishment as a black.

Thaw’s story does not represent privilege, however. There are and have been scores of wealthy individuals who have inherited their riches and did not squander their dollars or shoot a man in the face. And the fact that he was white has little bearing in relation to the other white men of the time who did not commit heinous crimes.

One last example

To further demonstrate that Thaw knew what he was doing, he chased a cab driver through Cambridge, Massachusetts during his stint in Harvard. He toted a shotgun. Though the firearm was unloaded, this continues to show just how aware Thaw was in all of his dealings. Upon learning of this incident, the venerated institution expelled Thaw on the grounds of “immoral practices.” And this cuts deep. His immorality should have shone through in his trial(s). Any mental unrest should have been identified and at the least he should have been locked away for the rest of his life in a psychiatric ward for those who had run afoul of the law.

Thaw should be remembered as beneath a reckless playboy. He should be thought of as a rapist and a murderer. For Evelyn, a victim of rape by White and Thaw, she will maintain the moniker regarding the velvet swing. With Thaw, his mentally unsound lifestyle warranted life in a hospital for the mentally unsound...at least.