The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-03

More and more does it come 70
lseem an inevitable aftermath or any
incident touching the life Of the very
lrfcn Of the cities that the first AMI
moving cause II public scrutiny Il
private life should be swallowed up in
a series If revelations which for q
brief space give point to the rotten
that which We have been pleased to
cali Society
When Harry Thaw, degenerate son
Of Pittsburg millions. hot and killed
Stanford White on the root garden Of
the Madison Square building. H. mad
for the the instructive sym
patty Of the public even in the cir
Of cold-blooded murder,
The words. He ruined my home, nell
ruin any II else's home We're
universal in their appeal 10 the grim
passion Of revenge which sfirs the
mass Of citizenship at such a cause.
Even when il was stated that his wife
had been q chorus girl ana model, -.
innate c~hivalry Of people asserted it
self to say that he still had the right
to protect her, the more since her
past was clouded. There was some
thing fine in the mentaI picture Of the
rich young man who had married in
spite Of convention, in spite even Of
suspicion Of his wife, and was will
ing to risk all to save her from
harm.
n details that come crowding in,
leave however but little Of the dream.
Whatever the motive which prompted
the killing, it was none Of high or
even manly source. The lives of the
dead man and his murderer both
prove that fact. And, in
the sense in which the ordinary
American is accustomed to view the
of marriage, ThaW a no
home" to ruin.
This latest scandal sends ven deep
er roots into conditions by reason of
the fact that one Of the parties there
was 4 man Of undOubted genius.
Stanford White was rich because his
talent had put him in the way of
luxuries. Many buildings of architec-
tural beauty and infinite engineering
skill stand as monuments to his great
talent. The vast Madison Square
Garden on which he met his death
itself the work of his brain. The
great pile, swinging itself into the
airy poise of the light figure hat tops
its tower, was typical Of the mans
cha ~ ~ art ict icc-St rnpo mas
sive and yet with a poets flight Of
inspiration. But the man Who created
and other similar works, met his
death for q cause which was but an
incident in a life whose morals were
as SOrdid and whose instincts were as
base as its intellect and power We're
magnificent.
AS the stories come out of White,
the wonder grows at the possibility OF
production by civilization of a
in SO contrary a mental and a
moral mould. The mind had an al
god-like power; the body was
tbs of an animal without a soul. 1t
the dinner. in which she had
~gauze-clad from the "pie,'
ffteen-year-old girl model Susie
johnson, to play with her for a sea-
only to turn her upon the street.
1t was White who "discoVered' Evelyn
whom Thaw afterwards mar
r ed, a girl model in Philadelphia
under the eve of her mother; who
brought her to New York, introduced
her to the artists of the metropolis and
haunts of "Bohemia"; who Sc
cured her a theatrical engagement,
and who. incidentally, blackened her
soul. Afterwards, when at the drink
ing places and cafes where Thaw was
accustomed to carry his wife, White
would see them together, it was his
to point out the woman and re
for the enjoyment of his cronles
the story of her shame. 1t is sup
posed that it was in mere irritation
at this brutal treatment, rather than
any higher motive, that ThaW
finally goaded himself to commit the
TheSe and numerous other
like escapades, together with the fact
that the post-mortem revealed that
White a already d~iSSipated himself
within two years of the grave but
serve to emphasize that the moral
cancer is deep set in the body of So
ciety and is not, as it is comforting
to a surface eXcrescence of
wealth combined with idleness. White
was not idle. He was, apart from
genius and from power, bad at the
heart.
Thav was a different sort, a sort
for whom there can be q profound
pity regardless of excuse. Thaw was
idle. He went as a boy to school with
spending none of Il thousand dollars
a month He ran away to Europe in
search of a new brand of cigarette.
When he went to a great university
he took courses in p~enmanShip and
tennis His life was spent in fittings
after new designations. He draine1
the poisoned cups to be found in Paris