page_title: Evelyn Nesbit
section_title: Harry Kendall Thaw
hierarchical_section_title: Evelyn Nesbit / Relationships / Harry Kendall Thaw
caption_attribution_description: English: Evelyn Nesbitt circa 1903
context_page_description: Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model, chorus girl, and actress.
  In the early part of the 20th century, Nesbit's figure and face appeared frequently in mass circulation newspapers and magazine advertisements, on souvenir items, and in calendars, making her a celebrity. Her career began in her early teens in Philadelphia and continued in New York, where she posed for a cadre of respected artists of the era, including James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a "Gibson Girl". She had the distinction of being an early fashion and artists' model in an era when both fashion photography and the pin-up were just beginning their ascendancy.
  Nesbit received further worldwide attention when her husband, the mentally unstable multimillionaire Harry Kendall Thaw, shot and killed the prominent architect and New York socialite Stanford White in front of hundreds of witnesses at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden on the evening of June 25, 1906, leading to what the press would call the "Trial of the Century".
context_section_description: Aside from her relationship with Barrymore, Nesbit was involved with other men who vied for her attention as her sexual relationship with White faded. Among those were the polo player James Montgomery Waterbury, also known as "Monte", and the young magazine publisher Robert J. Collier. Throughout these relationships, White still remained a potent presence in her life, maintaining his position as benefactor.
  The association which would come to dominate Nesbit's life, however, came in the person of Harry Kendall Thaw, the son of a Pittsburgh coal and railroad baron. With a history of pronounced mental instability dating back into his childhood, Thaw, heir to a $40 million fortune, led a reckless, self-indulgent life. Thaw had been in the audience of The Wild Rose, attending some forty performances for the better part of a year. Even before he met Nesbit, Thaw had a burning resentment for White, who he thought had blocked Thaw's acceptance in social circles and was a womanizer who preyed on very young women. Thaw may have even chosen Nesbit as the focus of his attention because of her relationship with White.
  Through an intermediary, Thaw ultimately arranged a meeting with Nesbit, introducing himself as "Mr. Munroe". Thaw maintained this subterfuge, with the help of confederates, while showering her with gifts and money, before he felt the time was right to reveal his true identity. With characteristic eccentricity, the day came when he confronted Evelyn and announced: "I am not Munroe ... I am Harry Kendall Thaw, of Pittsburgh!" She did not react with such surprise as he had expected. She was rather indifferent about his revelation, as she was already used to being the focus of wealthy men's attentions, and the fact that he was wealthy had already been evident.
caption: Nesbit, c. 1903
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5821", "Image ImageLength": "7776", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:29 15:55:44", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "0", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2150"}