1906. Famed architect Stanford White is shot on the roof of Madison Square Garden by jealous millionaire maniac Harry Thaw. Pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. And a red velvet swing.
The first trial to be called the “trial of the century” was in 1907 when Harry K. Thaw was tried for the murder of Stanford White. Irvin S. Cobb, a contemporary reporter, explained why the trial fascinated the country so much:
“You see, it had in it wealth, degeneracy, rich old wasters, delectable young chorus girls and adolescent artists’ models; the behind-the-scenes of Theatredom and the Underworld, and the Great White Way.... the abnormal pastimes and weird orgies of overly aesthetic artists and jaded debauchees. In the cast of the motley show were Bowery toughs, Harlem gangsters, Tenderloin panderers, Broadway leading men, Fifth Avenue clubmen, Wall Street manipulators, uptown voluptuaries and downtown thugs.
Evelyn Nesbit.
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