The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-01
Even New York is Shocked By Disclosures in Lives of
 ''Men About ToWn''
0MUCH MONEY AND NO RULE
 OF CONDUCT" BASIC CAUSE
Incidents In the Lives of the Two Men and the Beautiful Actress Over Whom the Killing
 Occurred.

New York, June 3o.-(Special. )-Not in years has there been a more sensational murder in this country than the killing of Stanford White, the architect by Harry Kendall Thaw, the young Pttsburg mill lionaire, in the Madison Square roof gar den on Monday night last. It contained }all the elements of a good story from a newspaper standpoint. The actors in the tragedy were prominent persons and the killing was done In most melodra- matic manner on roof garden near the close of the performances The fact that White designed Madison Square Garden completed the strange stage setting for this drama.
 The murder was the Illogical outcome of la certain kind of metropolitan high life" the sort of life that is bred by the pos lsession of much money and no rule of conduct. It was inevitable that some day piarry Thaw should kill Stanford White when he could nerve himself lto do 1t. Thaw was a weakling, dependent sentirely upon the millions of his ances- Tors. The only thing he ever did in the e6 years of his life. that called for any resource of his own, was to marry the tlrl with whom he was madly in love, Evelyn Nesbit except to kill the man who had blighted her life when she was h child.
 Stanford White was the antipodes, In almost every respect, to Harry Thaw. He was big, strong, aggressive He did things in the world. He achieved fame. His death Is distinct loss to the nation. Yet of the many who know, there Is none that does not say Stanford White should not have expected anything else" Mrs. Thaw Had a Past. When Harry Thaw married Evelyn Nesbit. after having had her as his travel ing companion through Europe, it is to \ be supposed that he knew all about her previous history, or as much of it any way as was common gisslp on the Rialto He loved her devotedIy. He was not of strong mind. He brooded and brooded over her previous acquaintance with White He often met the famous archi- tect It is told on Broadway that Stan ford White would laugh in the face of the little millionaire weakling Then liar ry Thaw would drink himself to madness ard drug himself to oblivion. It was only a question of time.
 No touch of scandal clouded the name of Evelyn Nesbit the wife of Harry Thaw She had no acquaintance with White for years. But always deep back in the mind of Harry Thaw was the spectre of Stanford White and when the hig, jovial, bluff, successful man of the world openly jeered at him, the little rich man grlttcd his teeth in mpotent rage.
 So when Harry 1haw, hslf crazed by alcohol and opium, came to the psycho- logical moment, he killed Stanford White. That Is the whole story.
 Recalls Jim Fisk Tragedy.
 It Is this working of the human pas sions common to all, in the setting of this phase of modern metropolitan life. that gives the overshadowing public interest aroused by this staying, rather than the prominence of the persons concerned.
 New York has had such murder story. since the killing of Jim Fisk by Ed Stokes in the old Grand Central hotel raw and crude and bare of the human interest as compared to this case.
 Stokes killed Fisk because each wanted the same woman. Josie Mansfield. to him. self, and she wavered between one and the other. Thaw killed White because he believed that his wife, who was true to him, had been seduced by White before InaW ever saw ner.
 Thaw's Explanation.
 T saw my wife sitting there, pale agi- tated," said Thaw. ''I turned and saw tsat fat scoundrel sitting there, big and healthy" That was the key note of the situation. To his poor, discorded brain, Thaw was fighting a wrong to the woman he loved, and as he undoubtedly consider ed 1t, to himself
 The public life and achievements of Stanford White, descendant of one of the oldest Puritan families of New England were known to the world His private life was known to that world which re- wolves about the bright lights of Broad way. He was the typical New York combination of successful worker and man about town. His studio In the tower of Madison Square Garden, which he designed and where he came to his retri- button, was the envious gossip of the idle and pleasure-loving rich. Scenes that were enacted there were talked about for months.
 Reputation Falls With Him.
 When Stanford White fell on the Madi- son Square roof his reputation fell with him. That is, the reputation with which he was credited by the great public For among the devotees of New York's gay side he was known as a voluptuary. a libertine and a man who for years had pursued with avidity the coarse and darker pleasures of the city.
 White had a private room for months until he was asked to vacate it-in A popular restaurant building
 He was the leading spirit in "club'' whose objects were doubtful and whose membership was composed of men.
 He was president and the ardent pro- ntoter of '~rhe Chorus Girls club hav- Ing for its primary object late suppers hehind closed doors and for it's ultimate aJbiect only what the i'm rs', trsiiits,. co reveal.
 For years his attentions to women had