TRAGIC "ANGEL GIRL"

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1920, Page 11

TRAGIC "ANGEL GIRL"

EVELYN NESBIT AND HER HUSBAND. THAW CASE RECALLED. The tragic history of Evelyn Nesbit, the "beautiful girl for love of whom Harry Thaw shot Stanford White on the roof of the Madison Square Gardens, has now had another chapter added to it. Jealousy of the girl he had married caused her first husband to commit the crime which resulted in a lurid light being thrown on the orgies in which a certain section of New York society indulged, and after the murder trial Evelyn Nesbit crossed to England and also appeared on the screen, eventually marrying Mr. Jack Clifford, her former dancing partner. In recent months Mrs. Clifford has been appearing on the screen with her son, Russell Thaw, to whose interests her whole life, since the murder, has been devoted. EVELYN NESBIT'S STORY. Although the murder of Stanford White took place on June 20, 1900, it was not until January 23 of the next year that the process of choosing the jury was commenced, This lasted until February 2, and the case for the prosecution began on February 4. The story was quickly told, and the defence was opened, a doctor being called with a view to. proving Thaw's insanity. Mrs. Thaw went into the box on the fourth. day. She told of the meeting with Stanford White, and luncheons she had with him in a room luxurious "with rugs and pillows." Many parties she described "all entirely improper." There was the supper in the house In 24th Street, New York, after which, Mrs. Thaw alleged, White dragged her; and she awoke in a room with mirrors all round the walls and upon the ceiling. She told of the distress of her husband when she related the story to him years afterwards. ARTIST'S MODEL AND ACTRESS. On Mareh 26, 190T, a Lunacy Commission was appointed, and on April 4 tiny declared Thaw to be sane.' But the jury, however, could not agree, and, after the trial had lasted eleven weeks, they were discharged. Mrs, Thaftr had to re-tell her story at the second trial, which commenced in January, 1908. This was much more brief than the previous one. On February ], the jury returned a verdict of "Not guilty", on the ground of insanity, and Thaw was committed to the Mattawas Asylum for the criminally insane. 1 During his incarceration three repeated attempts were made by lawyers to secure his release, ,but . all failed. Eventually, however, he escaped, but was recaptured. As for Mrs. Thaw, she left, the country, returning to the stage, where several of the early years of her life were spent. Before this she was an artist's model, and at 15 posed for Charles Dana Gibson's famous picture "The Eternal Question." She now announces her intention of defending divorce proceedings brought by Mr. Clifford.