Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

TopAbies9056 OP t1_ixcw3vr wrote

This is the case for those who aren't aware...

Who was Evelyn Nesbit?

She was a model and in December 1900 she came to New York City with nothing but her looks, and became an overnight sensation in the city, she was absolutely everywhere.

While she dancing in a chorus, she regularly met men who offered her gifts and dinners. Being so young, she usually turned the men down, as they were often much older but eventually she got the attention of a much older wealthy socialite named Stanford White

Stanford White was an architect most notable for the arch in Washington Square Park which is still there today and the second iteration of Madison Square Garden.

After seeing her dance in the chorus, White convinced one of Nesbit’s fellow chorus girls to bring her to his apartment on West 24th Street for a drink. Nesbit happily agreed, tempted by the invitation as a socialite was interested in her.

Over the next few weeks, Stanford White, 47 at the time, courted the 16-year-old Evelyn Nesbit and even gained the trust of her overprotective mother. Then, as was destined to happen from the beginning, White took advantage of her

While her mother was away for the weekend, White invited Nesbit to his apartment by lying that there was a party. After drinking some champagne, Nesbit awoke naked in White’s bed with her legs covered in blood. When she cried out, White comforted her and told her not to tell anyone.

Enter Harry Thaw

He met Evelyn some years later and the two eventually got married, but he is said to have been physically and mentally abusive towards her, maybe more then White (poor girl couldn't catch a break) and he eventually learned what White had done to Evelyn.

Then one day Thaw and Evelyn went to a play together in Madison Square Garden. As everyone was settled in their seats Thaw stood up and made a beeline for White. Pulling a pistol from his coat, he fired three shots at White from less than two feet away. Two hit the back of his head, the third hit his shoulder.

White fell to the ground as Thaw stood over him holding the pistol.

At first, no one understood what had happened, as party tricks amongst high society playboys was a common occurrence at public gatherings. However, when audience members noticed that Stanford White was missing half of his face, they began to panic.

“I did it because he ruined my wife!” Harry Thaw yelled, brandishing his pistol. “He had it coming to him! He took advantage of the girl and then deserted her!”

There was a long trial afterwards that I won't go into detail about, but you get the gist of the situation.

554

PoopMobile9000 t1_ixd8ch4 wrote

>However, when audience members noticed that Stanford White was missing half of his face, they began to panic.

215

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixdszer wrote

“Wait a minute that’s not what a face is supposed to look like!”

95

Fetlocks_Glistening t1_ixdkzc9 wrote

they began to panic suspect something is amiss

FTFY

84

zoidy37 t1_ixfn27y wrote

*sees culprit with literal smoking gun in plain sight

Gentlemen, this man has died under the most mysterious circumstances and the murderer may be hiding among us like a wolf in sheep's clothing!

13

SCKR t1_ixgq1l6 wrote

Sounds like a "Among Us" Round I was part of.

2

EliteKnightOscar t1_ixd560o wrote

Up until the end, I was thinking he did it because White took his wife's virginity and he was upset he didn't get to. His lamenting White taking advantage of and then deserting her gives me pause, but it was probably just a way to get positive rather than negative publicity.

209

[deleted] t1_ixd85ip wrote

Yeah, the guy was obsessed with virgins. He also hated White beforehand.

He even left the following line in the visitor's book of the birthplace of Joan of Arc:

>She would not have been a virgin if Stanford White had been around.

Which is kind of tragically funny.

203

Dawnawaken92 t1_ixd6qi0 wrote

You never know with bastards back then. A few of them did have somewhat of a sense of honor.

31

EliteKnightOscar t1_ixd6wi4 wrote

I generally just assume they'll see women as property until I'm given a good amount of evidence to the contrary.

80

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixd73tb wrote

You hit the nail in the head

"she would still have been a virgin if Stanford White hadn’t been around."

-an actual quote of his according to Wikipedia

75

EliteKnightOscar t1_ixd7zjn wrote

Aaaaaand there it is. Batting 1.000 in misogynist identification.

32

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixd83th wrote

Oh and

“Thaw, whose persona took on a dimension she had never before seen. Manic and violent, locked her up and beat her with a whip and sexually assaulted her over a two-week period.”

Hypocrisy at it’s finest, killing someone who did the same shit you did.

69

EliteKnightOscar t1_ixd8d3a wrote

He didn't care about the sexual assault, he was upset he didn't get to take her virginity. Absolute rat fucking bastard.

66

ViolettaHunter t1_ixehppk wrote

He was actually way worse, considering the other guy drugged his victim, so she wasn't consciusly aware of what happened and he did it "only" once.

4

GreenJury9586 t1_ixh1hx8 wrote

Just chiming in as a reminder that there’s no “better rape” and being “drugged” doesn’t make being raped OK because you “don’t remember it”. Ignorance seems like bliss but no rape is bliss so let’s remember to not minimize victims or lead men to believe they’re “doing us a favor” by drugging us first.

−1

ViolettaHunter t1_ixh8d4z wrote

Well, duh! Of course no rape is good.

There is still a huge difference between waking up once from something you can't even remember and being subjected to psychological and physical terror and pain fully conscious for two weeks straight. Which is what her husband did to her.

The guy swho drug women are also not doing it a s favour, they are doing it because they are cowards who don't want a fight.

1

HPmoni t1_ixdnanp wrote

Virgin brides used to be a big deal.

But some guy raped your wife, you'd be mad about that too.

23

AdDisastrous6653 t1_ixfxwpn wrote

Opposite for me. Was excited thinking dude wanted justice for his wife. Nope, he thought of her rapist as his competition.

But people are saying they killed the wrong dude. You guys caught that white was a prolific child predator, right? Kind of a shame more people didn’t get a shot at him.

18

metsurf t1_ixdwl71 wrote

Ragtime by EL Doctrow has a fictionalization of this incident. Was she also the model for St Gaudens Diana which had been at the second iteration of Madison Square Garden?

35

Madame_Medusa_ t1_ixfkj52 wrote

Which was turned into an amazing musical that is well overdue for a revival, imho.

3

EarlGreyTea-Hawt t1_ixf20xm wrote

He shot him from the front, 2 bullets in the face not the back of the head. It was Stanford's rape apologist son who spread the common misconception that White shot him in the back in order to paint him with the brush of cowardice. But nope, he walked up to him said "you ruined my wife" and shot him in the face and shoulder, likely killing him instantly.

26

swelboy t1_ixdxpou wrote

How did Evelyn’s legs get covered in blood

−14

Nwcray t1_ixe10jj wrote

The violent rape while she was passed out. It made her bleed.

23

MotherSpirit t1_ixe1b37 wrote

Rapes can get very bloody, especially when it's someone very young who is not aroused at all.

21

brokefixfux t1_ixd2r7z wrote

Harvey Thaw was just as bad as the man he murdered:

"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."

197

ImperialSympathizer t1_ixerctr wrote

I know i shouldn't laugh, but i'm imagining this college kid riding on the train from Missouri all across this great country, getting to New York, awed by it all, going to a glamorous hotel, finding his room, then the instant he opens the door there's a crazed middle aged rich pervert rushing at him with a sex whip.

36

[deleted] t1_ixd55py wrote

[deleted]

30

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixd7hen wrote

“Thaw, whose persona took on a dimension she had never before seen. Manic and violent, locked her up and beat her with a whip and sexually assaulted her over a two-week period.”

Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

18

GreenStrong t1_ixcz7r9 wrote

With a mustache like that, no wonder she became a supermodel.

146

[deleted] t1_ixczec8 wrote

[deleted]

−18

MuthaPlucka t1_ixczyyi wrote

I nominate this poster as Reddit’s diplomatic representative to the UN. What’s the worst that could happen?

/blinding flash & mushroom cloud

13

brownliquid t1_ixd1tjk wrote

Are you trying to say that supermodels can’t have big, thick moustaches, you absolute imbecile?!?!

5

Imtypingthisnow t1_ixdldbw wrote

Harry Thaw was a murderous vile person. He brutally beat Evelyn as well as many other women and men.

98

Aerokii t1_ixdvkx0 wrote

Yup. One super shitty rich dude killed another super shitty rich dude.

82

Bekiala t1_ixexjte wrote

Wasn't he mentally ill?

From what I understand he deserted Nesbit and she received no help raising their son.

Ugh. Evelyn Nesbit's childhood and youth was so horrific.

18

Imtypingthisnow t1_ixfe3k5 wrote

Mentally ill? Maybe, but certainly bathed in the privilage of white wealth.Even after his overbearing and over indulgent mother died, his money kept him out of prisons and free to rape and beat both men and women.

6

Bekiala t1_ixfhxzp wrote

Ugh yes. Not a guy most of us would want to hang out with.

2

[deleted] t1_ixd0cbz wrote

[removed]

65

spoink74 t1_ixd529x wrote

Goldman knew that it was only 1906 And there were 94 years to go!

22

hkohne t1_ixd9xbp wrote

🎵 Crime of the century. Great, now that song's gonna be my earworm for the rest of the morning

15

Hrududu147 t1_ixf2e1c wrote

Stanny’s killed, but her mother’s thrilled

7

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixcykjo wrote

Stanford White was the Harvey Weinstein and Jeff Epstein of his day and maybe worse,

rich socialite ✅

protected by Hollywood ✅

Young women ✅

Everyone knew what he did but ignored it due to his influence ✅

a story as old as time.

and he’s said to have assaulted girls as young as 8 or 9 by promising them careers as entertainers he had a list of girls in a red book he kept next to his bed.

56

Johannes_P t1_ixf7qza wrote

And Harry Thaw, the killer, wasn't any better.

Both scumbags protected by their wealth.

3

ImpendingSenseOfDoom t1_ixdsbnj wrote

Stanford White actually was the architect of that version of Madison Square Garden, the location of his death.

edit: furthermore, he was the "white" in Mckim, Mead and White which was the most prominent architecture firm in NYC during that period. They designed the original Penn Station along with many other neoclassical Beaux Arts landmarks.

34

NavanFortNite t1_ixh5y96 wrote

My friend's great uncle got a job there after the murder. They were still working on White's projects, but without him.

1

Freedomisminewoot t1_ixd4d0o wrote

Is this who Buzz is talking about in Toy Story one when he's wearing the apron?

22

oced2001 t1_ixdczzx wrote

Buzz was Mrs. Nesbit. He was drinking Darjeeling with Marie Antonette and her little sister.

17

Freedomisminewoot t1_ixdhrzk wrote

Right, when he says, "I'm, MRS. NESBIT." This is who he was talking about?

7

oced2001 t1_ixdi7wy wrote

Sorry, misread your statement.

3

Freedomisminewoot t1_ixdimo9 wrote

No worries. Just seems dark for Disney/Pixar but then again... it's Disney/Pixar and stuff slides through, especially obscure references.

3

G-bone714 t1_ixd8r72 wrote

“Ragtime” is a great novel.

20

hkohne t1_ixda17h wrote

It's a cool musical, too

14

hymen_destroyer t1_ixec3wt wrote

I thought it had way too short of a run, but was lucky enough to see it on broadway.. It immediately came to mind when I saw this post

3

Space_Fanatic t1_ixegqy6 wrote

I love this show and I've really been wanting it to come back as a revival. Pretty much every storyline from rich car tycoons and unions to police violence and racial injustice are still relevant today. You could almost just swap out jewish immigrants for hispanic south americans and set it in modern day and not much would change.

4

usethe4th t1_ixftxjx wrote

I worked in theater for many years, and it’s easily my favorite musical of the last 30 years. The music is gorgeous, and the story and the characters are beautifully translated to the stage.

Sadly it hit Broadway at exactly the wrong time. It won Best Book, Best Score, and Best Orchestrations at the 1998 Tony Awards, but lost Best Musical to The Lion King. I’m still confused as to how the show with the best book, score, and orchestrations wasn’t the best musical of the year, but what do I know?

0

katfromjersey t1_ixe0mr5 wrote

The movie was well-done. Elizabeth McGovern plays Evelyn. Quite a stacked-cast movie: James Cagney, Mary Steenburgen, Brad Dourif, Debbie Allen, Mandy Patinkin, Harold E Rollins..

8

o2lsports t1_ixepsq6 wrote

Came here to say this. I have a tattoo on my wrist that’s based on a Doctorow quote.

2

Justme100001 t1_ixd8mry wrote

Netflix could easily turns this in an 8 season series....

17

DepthExternal6034 t1_ixd8zwm wrote

Funnily enough HBO is kind of doing that in a show called the gilded age which features White as a young architect in New York

14

GoBanana42 t1_ixdsl1l wrote

I would say "features" is a bit strong for his role in the show. But it's neat that the show has a lot real people and events in it. Historical fiction is fun.

5

Useful_Low_3669 t1_ixdn5um wrote

Currently reading a book called Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. Highly entertaining read if you’re into historical fiction. Mrs. Nesbit is a main character.

7

azorianmilk t1_ixei7os wrote

The crime of the century!! And it was only 1906!

Thanks Ragtime

15

Kamirama t1_ixd7q3k wrote

Thats MS. NESBIT, oooh she wouldve been pissed at you.

13

SufficientWish t1_ixe2nnp wrote

Madison Square THEATER. Not Madison Square Garden...

9

tomcat_tweaker t1_ixd2e4p wrote

Madison Square Theater. Madison Square Garden was opened in 1968.

6

apginge t1_ixdiswf wrote

The fourth MSG opened in 68. There were 3 before that.

> Two venues called Madison Square Garden were located just northeast of the square, the original Garden from 1879 to 1890, and the second Garden from 1890 to 1925. The first, leased to P. T. Barnum,[8] and was demolished in 1890 because of a leaky roof and dangerous balconies that had collapsed, resulting in deaths. The second was designed by noted architect Stanford White.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden

8

lilcheezzyy t1_ixddlfq wrote

I still don't understand why guys are obsessed with a woman being a virgin. -from a guy

4

HPmoni t1_ixdnr53 wrote

There were no treatment for STDs until the mid 20th century.

14

Toaster_bath13 t1_ixerf5o wrote

Property value.

It was a disgusting way to view another human.

Lots of guys still view it this way.

10

Johannes_P t1_ixf7vs4 wrote

STD and having the certainty of filiation.

3

PluralCohomology t1_ixgltdg wrote

For the latter point, wouldn't that only apply to the first child, and even then, only if it was concieved immediately after the wedding night?

2

Asdfaeou t1_ixd8u4q wrote

Was it not the Roof of MST? Or is that just Ragtime editing the truth for the sake of a better story?

3

GenXerHere t1_ixeyxo2 wrote

🎶And everything was Ragtime🎶

3

gza_liquidswords t1_ixf2wqt wrote

The Onion but out a book of fake historical front pages that I loved (probably came out at least 15 years ago). One of my favorite parts was that every five or ten pages or so would be a headline announcing a new "the trial of the century". I think this was one of them.

3

Binksyboo t1_ixfnp90 wrote

Now that’s how you deal with a rapist.

3

pabodie t1_ixemfrm wrote

She looks a lot like Rowan Atkinson.

2

lightninhopkins t1_ixev6uo wrote

Harry Thaw was a very mentally disturbed drug addict. Hard to know what is actually true in this case.

2

Tippacanoe t1_ixewzws wrote

Harry Thaw was fucking nuts. A very interesting Wikipedia to read.

2

Sqweegy-Nobbers t1_ixf9xvk wrote

These events are depicted in the book, film, and play “Ragtime” -I highly recommend the film.

2

crtclms666 t1_ixfg5cu wrote

This is an extremely famous murder. The OJ Simpson trial of the era. Or vice versa.

2

Soranic t1_ixfiudg wrote

Is this the origin of "American insanity?"

Supposedly a phrase to mean you're mad at the previous partners of your wife. (Regardless of whether it was rape or consensual.)

2

kambinks t1_ixfkgr4 wrote

Buzz: You see the hat? I am Mrs. Nes-bitt!

[laughs hysterically]

Woody: Snap out of it, Buzz!

Buzz: [calmly] I-I-I'm, I'm sorry, I am just a little depressed, that's all. I can get through this.

Buzz: Oh, I'm a sham!

2

mwsongz t1_ixdgnyp wrote

MS. Nesbit actually, she would have been pissed at you.

1

[deleted] t1_ixehk1e wrote

Mysteries at the Museum ep on this

1

Johnnytestikal t1_ixeiiob wrote

Toy story, buzz lightyear, tea party with miss nesbit lol. Im stoned sorry

1

FinnbarMcBride t1_ixelpuz wrote

This features prominently in the great movie Rag Time

1

Carb_Heavy t1_ixfdtup wrote

The podcast Most Notorious covers this in one of their episodes. I’m too lazy to look for the exact number but for anyone interested in a bit more in depth story.

1

Mondiaposa t1_ixfic4i wrote

I read that in racism as : an architect Stanford white (person) lmao

1

[deleted] t1_ixgtt24 wrote

I had a feeling there would be a catch about Thaw, and him being a violent and abusive misogynist was exactly what I expected.

I just feel awful for Nesbit.

1

GlennSeaborg t1_ixexic4 wrote

Not the last murder committed inside MSG.

Source: Me as a 90s Knick fan watching Jordan and Reggie Miller. 😭

0

angrwe t1_ixe7ixs wrote

People were fucking hardcore way back when

−5

TopAbies9056 OP t1_ixe8gdu wrote

Making fun of the brutal rape of a 16 year old girl? How nice of you

5

angrwe t1_ixe8xhj wrote

I think you may have picked up an extra chromosome during the time it took you to add that asterisk. Obviously this comment doesn’t make fun of a rape. It’s pointing out how insanely barbaric people were just over a hundred years ago. I would say go touch grass, but snowflakes tend to melt in heat.

−3