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Evelyn Thaw’s Own Frank Revelations of Her Kaleidoscopic Career Which Touched
" Life at All Points—The Innocent Little Beauty Who Almost Starved to Death
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.
“There Were some taken with a low neck." 1 said, encour
agingly.
"Was there any further exposure?” be persisted.
“They were very low neck,’* I replied.
Mr. Jerome was getting exasperated. There was one point
• upon which he hoped to shake me from my calm Into a condition
of agitation. That was the question of money which from time
to time Mr. White paid whenever I was out of an engagement.
Again and again he returned to this subject-an unsavory one,
as all questions are into which money enters.
“Brave Little Evelyn!”
I have explained that these sums came to me because Mr.
White acted in a dual capacity towards me. He had taken upon
himself the task of furnishing me with a career. In that capacity
I knew him first and best. That I could remember every detail
was not to be expected by anybody but an attorney who desired
to discredit me.
“Were you informed in January that a sum of money had
been deposited for your benefit?”
"I am not sure of the date.”
"What was the amount?"
"I don't remember."
"Was it large or small?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did it make an impression on your mind?" asked Jerome, in
exasperation.
"No,” I replied.
"When did you begin to doutn that proposition?"
“When I went abroad In 1903."
"When Thaw proposed to you,” sneered Jerome, “and you re
jected him, did you believe yourself to be better than others be
cause of what happened to you?”
I could afford to smile. That was not the way to rattle me.
After my cross-examination the different members of the
Thaw family made a great fuss over me in the witness room and
at the hotel. I was “brave little Evelyn," and “dear little
Evelyn,” and "most courageous girl," and “wonderful, bless her
heart” Had the lawyers told'them I made a bad witness they
would all have shown unmistakable signs of desiring to shake me,
so I am not pleased with their praise. Anyhow, after their en
thusiasm dies down, their feelings will undergo a violent reac
tion.
I do not feel sorry that the Interest of the case has shifted
from Harry to me. I feel more and more confident In myself
That Harry's life is at stake is an Issue seemingly forgotten in
this duel between myself and the public prosecutor, practised in
tearing hidden secrets of lives from witnesses In the chair.
His pitiless rain of questions, however, does not impair the
consistency or truthfulness of my story. Here is a press comment
which me:
"From one point of view, the cross-examination's effect tended
rather to strengthen the defense’s argument as to the cumulative
effect upon Thaw’s mind.
"There was never any faltering, and as her courage rose, more
than one answer having every semblance of candor or innocence
parried Jerome’s questions by producing an impasse."
Jerome did not. like that.
The District Attorney took me to Paris this morning. He is a
great traveller.
“Did you continue to believe that all women were unchaste,
as White told you. until you talked with Thaw in Paris in 1903?”
“Yes. sir,” I said, meekly.
“Do you know a place called the 'Dead Rat’?"
“Yes.” (Poor "Dead Rat!” How terrible you look in Eng
lish!)
My Visit to the “Dead Rat.’’
"Where is the 'Dead Rat’?”
“It is somewhere in Paris.”
"Have you ever been there?*
“Yes."
“What sort of a place is it?”
That Jerome should ask this question! “It Is a case." I
replied.
"Is it. a respectable case?”
"I don't know.”
My "don't knows” and "can't rer--’bers" are worrying
Jerome.
"Did it seem reputable to you?” he demanded ominously.
“I don't know," 1 said. "People were sitting about eating.”
It seemed a respectable thing to do.
"Was there anybody dancing?"
“1 think so.”
“Was It two o'clock In the morning?"
“Possibly."
There seems to be something particularly sinister about
two «A:lock in the morning.
"Did you see the cakewalk being danced?"
“No. I think it was a Russian dance.”
As a matter of tact. I found afterward that it was a cake-
in Forlorn Poverty and Suddenly Burst
Into the Most Brilliant Star That Ever
Illuminated New York’s Gay World
One of the
Photographs
of Evelyn Thaw
Posed by
Stanford White,
Which Mr. Jerome
Brought Into
Court and
Introduced in
Testimony as an
Exhibit.
(From Evelyn Thaw’s Notes
Made at the Trial.]
Mr. Jerome wan’ed to prove
mp elackneie from the moral
standpoint. Be produced some
photographs which had been
taken of me. They were disap
pointingly proper
“Are these fair types of all
the pictures taken that day*
Are there none suggestive of
any more impropriety than
theseT' he asked aggrieved.
“There were some taken
rather more low neck." I said,
encouragingly.
"W<m there any further ex
posuref” he persisted.
“They were very low neck,"
I replied.
/
walk, which, In the ante ragtime days, was considered very
wicked indeed.
Jerotne could not leave the "Dead Rat.” I suppose it
sounded wicked enough, though It was a most Innocuous estab
lishment.
"How many times were you at the 'Dead Rat’?” he de
manded with relish, and was not pleased when I told him only
once.
Who was with me? Again I must whisper names. The
‘‘Dead Rat's” association was almost as bad as association with
myself.
Be it understood that if I speak lightly of Jerome, or if 1
speak a little bitterly. 1 have now no longer any sense of re
sentment.
I realize that he was doing nls duty to the people; that he
was and is a man of great integrity and power, and that he
was actuated by no sense of malice toward myself.
That he probed me cruelly was not his own desire. He bad
a case to make out. and he was prepared to go to extremes to
make out that case.
Jerome Brings Me to Tears.
But there came a moment in his cross-examination when he
broke through all my reserves, and for the first time—and the
last —he brought me to tears.
The line of interrogation which led to this climax was as
follows:
“Did you refuse Thaw solely because of the occurrences in
which White was concerned’”
"It was because 1 had been found out."
"Who told you that you had been caught?"
"Friends of White." »
"So it was not because of the occurrences, but because you
had been found out?’
"It was both together," 1 replied. "I had an Instinct about
it when Mr. Thaw proposed. It was the first proposal I had ever
had. and it struck me very seriously. It all came together.”
"Had you felt the heinousness of the wrong that had been
done you?"
“I did not anything about It at the time."
"It outraged every instinct in you, didn’t It?"
"It did. and that is why 1 quarreled with White.”
"You were very bitter against White when you told Thaw,
were you not?"
“Not then.”
"When you felt that you were giving up Thaw’s love, did
ot you feel bitter against White?"
“Not intensely; not until Mr. Thaw made me realize it.”
It was true that I did not feel enmity against White at
that time.
Eventually we left the "Dead Rat" and came back to New
York.
"Before your talk with Thaw did you believe that mere
tricious relations between men and women were immoral and
wrong?”
"Oh, yes," I answered. It is strange how quickly one gets
to such a condition of mind that such matters can be calmly
discussed.
The Question That Made Me Break Down.
"Did you think them Indelicate and vulgar?" be persisted.
"That is all?"
“That it was bad taste?"
"Yes.”
"But didn't yop think it was
wrong?"
"1 didn't fully realize it," 1 an
ewered, and I spoke the truth.
Jerome pressed me as t 6 ail that
had happened in New York There
was no evading him. He asked me
questions which made me hot and
cold. All the experiences of the pre
vious days were of no avail. There
came a question » ’ • I broke
down!
Jerome came back to the "Dead
Rat." It wields an irresistible fasci
nation over him. Now I understand
why he asked me about inc cake
walk. In my exuberance I uad writ
ten this letter to a friend:
"Your suggestion that the Ten
derloin has immigrated has panned
out Everywhere we go, we find
shady nooks. Shubert and a lot of
others are here. We were dining at
the Case de Paris the other evening
when the whole bunch came in. We
joined parties, and went out to such
harmless places as the 'Dead Rat.'
There was one jolly man who put
things on the blink wherever he goes.
He is fifty years old, but as spry as
a chicken. We took him along for
tun. We made things hum, and
started home when the markets were
getting busy. Harry bought some
strawberries, and 1 spent the next
day cooking them Harry is getting
a new automobile, and as soon as it
is ready we are going to Schweitzer
(cheese) land. Then when we re
turn my voice Is going to be culti
vated Be good, and whirl me an-
other letter soon. Your letters are wonderful."
A letter which 1 Identified as being in Harry's handwriting
also referred to the ‘Dead Rat.’ "where," it ran, “we met Miss
Winchester and got her to do the cake walk at two a. m. It
was a great hit. Rosenfeld and Belmont were there."
There was another break In my evidence to allow a wit
cess to take the stand and I was recalled to face Jerome later
in the afternoon.
We came to White again. White —White —always White!
r -v
Mi.
c'® .x J? Wi? C
life...
i - ***
From an Old Tintype of Harry Thaw and Evelyn
Taken at Monte Carlo During the Trip to
Europe Which Preceded Their Marriage.
It made me grow hard and bitter to bear the name of this man
whose dead hand was laid upon me.
"White had a strong personality,” I said, and Jerotne listened,
his eyes fixed on mine. “Outside that one awful thing, White
was a very grand man. He was very good to me and very kind.
When I told Mr. Thaw this, he said it only made White all the
more dangerous. Before the Twenty-fourth street incident White
never made love to me. He always treated me with the great
est respect and kindness. Everyone liked him. and nobody would
believe these things until they really found them out, and theo
they said they were sorry."
Delmas took me again.
There were letters to be read and Identified —mainly letter*
from Harry. They were sad letters, despondent letters
One was signed: “From one about to die," which was so like
Harry In a certain mood that I almost smiled.
There wore letters In which he boasted of his power in Pitts
burgh, of what he could do there if he wanted. He could control
It politically. This was like Harry, too, only in another mood. He
was troubled about the stories White had circulated. He wrote:
"Alone I cannot settle down. Besides, I have no one worth
doing it for. Twice I had to leave the table so that they could not
see. But in some ways I am a bear at times; In other ways 1 am
more cheerful. I am not responsible now. You must know that
every story is a fake, except one. I saw all those letters and they
are all sham, but I don’t care a little brass. You know me better
than any one. If you don’t trust me, and know that lam true
and unselfish compared with most men, then there is no hope for
me. I am changed now, but not in truth, faithfulness and cour
age. Promise me one thing. Don’t drink champagne. lam too
poor, and must live at home. I can't pay for your ring now. Os
course. If you are in need, I can get loads of money, but it would
make trouble. I must stay here or get a cheap ticket East Os
course, don't say anything about this.’’
I Am Told to Omit Certain Names.
There was. of course, no truth in the story of his poverty.
But it was Harry's way to go the limit either in joy or sorrow.
Delmas wanted to know about my association with White after I
returned from Europe, and I told him all thr t I have set forth in
this book
I note that even friendly lawyers have a habit of going back
ward and forward as the mood takes them. Mr. Delmas would
return from America with startling abruptness and reappear in
London with breathless speed.
“Did Mr. Thnw, while you were in London, take you to see
his sister, the Countess of Yarmouth?”
"Yes.”
“Where?”
“At her home in Berkeley Square.”
"How were you received?”
“Very kindly.”
Mr. Jerome shot a few questions at me, and then Mr. Delmas
arose and made a clever move.
Mr. Delmas —Mrs. Thaw, will you permit me, right here—
you have mentioned the name of a certain lady whom I do not
know, and 1 would request of you, if the request meets with the
approval of the district attorney, that in giving your narrative
you omit, unless he shall Insist on it, the name of any other
person connected with any of these events except that of Stan
ford White.
Mr. Jerome—l think that is a very proper request. I concur
thoroughly with you in that. I think it is most eminently proper.
Mr. Delmas—l bad intended making that request before
Mr. Delmas. it will be observed, was clever enough to get
tell—after 1 had saved Harry's life. And only by reading how
these influences affected me can you get a proper perspective
upon the attitude of the Thaws then and now
Next Sunday Evelyn Thaw Will Tell of Her
W" “"W*" Trying Ordeal as District Attorney Jerome,
Without Mercy, Pried Into the Innermost Se
crets of Her Life with Harry Thaw.
ahead of Jerome in making this tact- •
fu) request, thereby bringing upon
himself the undying gratitude of cer
tain "prominent persona” who were
in an agony of fear lest their names
be dragged into the affair.
At the close of each court session
Judge Fitzgerald admonished the
long-suffering jury thus:
The Trial Drags On.
"Gentlemen of the jury, allow me
to again repeat the Instructions given
you, that you must not form or ex
press any opinion regarding the guilt
or innocence of the accused until
the matter is finally given to you at
the close of the case, and you must
not discuss the subject among your
selves.”
With what weariness I await this!
1 believe I recite ft in my sleep.
The day’s sitting dragged through.
There were constant interruptions
in the giving of my evidence. Je
rome must protest and Delmap offer
solemn explanations, and at the end
of the day I found myself a thousand
miles, so it seemed, from the end of
the business.
When the court rose the door
through which I had to pass was
blocked with people, qnd I bed to
■wait. J was very tired and dispir
ited.
Next Sunday I shall pass on to
more notes of the trial. I do this
because I want to show clearly what
I had to undergo. Only so can you
who read understand why I did the
things that I did do —and that I shall