Evening journal., 1906-08-04
A DEFENSE OF
STANFORD WHITE
Richard Harding Davis Says
Dead Architects Name Has
Been ShamefuIIy MaIigned
A BIG-HEARTED GENTLEMAN


White was. he must first tell what Sian
ford White was not. But owing to the
manner of his death and to the conduct
of certain newspapers the preface is
necessary. Had Stanford White died In
bed. with his family. friends, and the
1 family physician gathered about him, no
newspaper would have found anything
to say of him save that which was ap-
preciative. true. and kind. In his dea IA
they would have seen only a loss TO tn $
city and to this country. They would have
regretted him as great artist, whose
work, instead of hanging in the drawing
rooms OF the few rich stands where All
men get the good of it, cut Of doors, In
the public streets, in the parks of the
people.
But because his death was violent, and
to the most painful degree sensational,
that part of the press that fattens on
sensation ordered the local rooms go
play it up" to "let It run for all it VIII
stand" to pile horror upon horror. And
TO the truth, which was sad enough, was
added what was absolutely untrue and
absolutely objectionable. Speaking as one
who has been in the newspaper business
for fifteen years and as one who was we
acquainted with Stanford White, I clE
truly say that in those fifteen years /
have never known an attack made upon
any one as undeserved, as unfair, az
! false as the one made upon him. That
within three days the awful charges fell
to pieces of their own rottenness did not
correct the wrong that had been conf
mitted. "a wrong far worse than murder.
1t was three days too late. over all this
country, over Europe, had been sent
broadcast the hideous misshapen image Of
the man we knew to be so different, and
the good that Stanford White had done
was inferred with his bones. II cannot
remain buried. Seeing no other sign Of 1t.
cannot believe that among US fair
play is so dead that men will listen to
those who attack another only when he
is unable either TO defend himself or to
punish them. The just and the fair-mind-
ed will ask why these charges were made
against White only after he was muir
dered; and why, if the newspapers knew
of these things, they did not criminally
fail in their duty to the community in not
sooner making them public. Had the
newspapers done so while Stanford White
| stnl was alive. they would have been as
quickly punished as, since his death, the 7
charges have been dlsproved. These
charges are so impossible that were they
not hideous they would be absurd Had
some of them been true Stanford White
would have been the first to cut his ow.
acquaintance; had others been true h'
would have cut his own throat
Fortunately the testimony TO their false
ness does not come only from those VIII
knew and liked him. but a'so from th'
witnesses called against him by the vel
low newspapers and by the creature wh'
murdered him. The private detectives wh'
for two years were hired to spy upon hi
every movement in that time we're unable
to attain one item Of evidence aga'ns
him; the society which the yellow pres
declared. held among its records evidence
of Whhes misconduct. through its pr 81
dent Indignantly denied that this was 50
or that for such statement there wai
the least foundation: and of three pac
described as studios" rented by White
the owner of each showed that Whit
had never even visited his house, was u.
ltilA uNku0WH 10 AAAiif anu HNAAAaAlANNN tAA''
the newspaper make rctraction. Twen
ty-four hours later without shame IN
newspaper that had accused White O
maintaining three harems regretted it
mistake" Its real regret was that
had made the mistake Of offending livinl
owners of real estate who might ad
e vertise, not that IT had wantonly l!e
n about a man who was dead.
But perhaps what most helped towar
the truth and what i'm New York start
n ed the reaction in Stanford Whites favo
I was the testimony Of the very wome
who, IL what had been said OF Stanton
r. White were So had the best reason to l.
). his enemies.
. II is true that some Of these young pei
sons. TO ge, their pictures in the "Mornin
Telegraph" would talk to the newsparei
T. on almost any subject. But not all &
:. them. And 1t was the evidence given be
A. fore the District Attorney by one Of thes
I latter that first called Shame" to III
n yellow journals. and to those who did nc
know whhe showed the man as he was.
She smoke at a moment when the shoe
;, of his death and the suddenness of III
attack upon his memory had left tho'
who were supposed to be his friends stun
!. ned and silent. and when those who di
not know him were drawing from tn
silence the worst conclusions. NothiH
:, could have been more dramatic than ii
voice of a girl raised In honest indign;
ton against the hysterical shrieks
abuse. Through cigarette pictures, 9
Houri. and as "The Bather," you kno
this girl. but you do not know that und'
" the necklaces of Houri and the jersey
the bather she wears a scapular, and tn
: she is as good a Catholic and as good
n girl as ever came out of ireland, and
i, she does not often go TO the confession
It is only because she has nothing to col
II fess.
She broke the silence, and she broke
i. with an ak. She struck a clean. man
= blow from the shoulder. What she sa
d cleared the air; it rang with honesty, al
/, for the first time people felt that TIN
>. were learning the truth.
Since his death Stanford White has be-
e described as shat beast" as blac
al guard. as an ogre. Bluebeard. and sats
TO answer this by saying he was gre
architect is not to answer it at all.
)f was an architect. but what is more II
\ portant is that he also was most kin
hearted, most consderate, genale al
. manly man, who no more could have do
il the things attributed 10 him than he cou
, hn,e roastod a baby on a spit