PAGE EIGHT The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing '■iVi<* s COMES OUT OF SECLUSION Evelyn Nes- MtJ the Floradora beauty, recently visited the set •f “The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing,” the Twen tieth Century-Fox Cinemascope production based «n the famous Harry K. Thaw - .Manford White EDITOR’S NOTE: In 1906, the Harry K. Thaw-Stanford White murder case rocked America. Because it involved a man of great consequence, another of great wealth and a girl Evelyn Nesbit —of extraordinary beauty it remains unique in the annals of crime. Because of the new Interest in this passionate story through a CinamaScope motion picture, “The Girl In The Rj*d Velvet Swing,” what follows has been re - created from the actt&l reports of the trial and from personal interviews with Miss NesHR. If By ADELA ROGERS ST JOHN Now that a motion picture has been made of The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Evelyn NeSbit Thaw, her life and times, it is important to review the historical significance of that lush melodrama which is America’s favorite murder. The Thaw case I began reviewing it by going to see Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, now 71- years old. in A bare little studio under the Hollywood Freeway. I wanted to know what the girl who was so beautiful that men killed over her favors was like in old age, what she felt about life, what it was like to remember murder. I didn’t expect her to teil me any thing new about the famous case that filled newspapers around the world for months. But she did. BARES INNER SECRET She told me a secret she had ! kept locked in her heart for 501 years, and that if it had been known then must have changed the course of the trial and of her own life. To understand tha t secret it is j necessary to go back and review ; the case from the moment when j Harry KK. Thaw in her presence, j the presence of his girl-bride Eve- j lyn, shot S.anford White on the roof of Madiso’i Square Garden j whii'e hundreds of fashionable New i Yorkers watched horrifeaied be- 1 cause, as Evelyn was to testify, she had told him that three years be fore, when she wa» only 16, Stan ford White, a married man, had drugged and seduced her. This brought together in one courtroom: *4 ,000,000— the Thaw Pittsburgh fortune. The most beautiful woman in the world—Evelyn Nesbit Thaw. A genius—Stanford White, archi tect of the Pennsylvania Station, the Boston Public Library, Wash ington Arch, millionaire, popular in New York society who, though he's been murdered, was present as the murdered always are. It not only set off the most in 1 comparable newspaper story of crime and passion and. in the mo- { ment when District At.orney Je- j rome tried to break the testimony by which little Evelyn was trying to save her husband from the elec- J trie chair, the greatest battle of , the sexes seen at any trial any j time. STORY OF AN ERA | More than that, the Thaw trial is history is biography, Evelyn’s brings Into brilliant focus the end of the Oay Nineties, the Mauve Decade, it reveals class, religion, art of those times when a lusty young nation fought- back from Civil War and began to Jell Into a j world power. The never-failing ex- j cHement of this case lies as much. passion - murder trial. Here she talks over the script with Joan Collins who portrays the role of the Floradora beauty in “The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing.” in the amazing reaction of the whole nation, coast to coast, bor der to border, as in the tale of madness and millions, love, luxury and death. “I can’t conceive I brought about all that the Thaw case caused," 71- year-old Evelyn Nesbit Thaw said to me m one of our long talks. “Then, I saw only my own pain, the end of my love and happiness, as any other girl would. Now that j girl seems to me as though she was I another incarnation. I remember I most of it, and I can see now that ' she had a dangerous beauty and ! mo experience, no sense with which „to handle it. "That’s the tragedy of young beauty, the gif' comes too soon. It was. I suppose, the same with Anne ; Boleyn when Henry VIII cut off i her silly young head.” So wide-spread, absorbing was j interest in the Thaw trial that LIFE then said, ‘‘Never has a bomb burst with such reverberations in the world of morals’ (its comfort ing. to see how seriously people took their morals at the turn of the century) and added .the shock is so stunning that ad tongues wag. PRESIDENT ACTS In 1906 President Theodore Roose velt called a special Cabinet meet ing to ask if by haliing mailing privileges the countrys population could be kept from devoting ah its time to reading the Thaw murder. Couldn’t be done. On the Bth of February the reasonably conserva tive New York World had two full pages by Irvin S. Cobb, four pages of Evelyn’s verbatim testimony; two other pages. On the 21st, the only other stories to make the front page under enormous headlines • EVELYN NESBIT THAW UNDER FIRE BY JEROME were he race i results and a six-line box that the j Senate had decided to -eat Smoot. I In famous trials of every coun try it’s plain that each age has a I murder which typifies it; Hamlet I or Hauptmann. Jack the Ripper j or Jesse James or the little Prin | cess in the Tower. J Tire Thaw trial could have hap pened only in a country big, young, rich, when the game was more im portant than the rules and people lived big in good, in sin, in right eousness. It’s a period piece; so was the Trojan War which when you look at it it is a violent tale of mad j illicit love and mass murder. A I beautiful bored wife named Helen S ran off with a handsome no-good named Paris and two gangs fought it out for her. The beauty of Heien brought madness. Men who knew Evelyn before her tragedy—Jack Barrymore, Da vid Belasco and Charles Dana Gibson among them, have told me that Evelyn was as beautiful as Helen. Two of her lawyers, Delphin Delmas and Martin Llttieton, told me she had magic, and they were hard-headed men of the law. POSSESSED BY MADNESS Certainly you will see madness possessed Stanford White and o.hers Evelyn remembers vaguely. A man with a yacht, named Gar land. George Lederer whose Casi no Girls were as famous as Follies Girls became later. In their divor ces, 17-year-old Evelyn was named correspondent, she says, today, without cause. “Any man who spoke to me,” she says, “once their wives saw me they thought their husbands were in love with me.” Glamour, magic, black or white, brought violent emotions, love or hate, no one was ever neutral about Evelyn, she was always a storm center. The country split over her. Girls ran away from home to reach and defend their idol, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw. W.omen had meetings in clubs and churches bo condemn her as a home wrecker, a girl who’d sold herself for diamonds. No day passed without thunder from pul pit and press. Rockefeller's Minis ter Evans shouted, "It would be a good thing if there were more shooting in cases like this” but Richard Harding Davis, then the most popular author and war cor respondent said Harry Thaw was a crazy man who had assassinated one of our great citizens. In Bos ton one pastor called Thaw a de- I v SgJB , REV. SAMUEL HARDISON OF DUNN, who celebrated his 59th birthday here Sunday. He is pictured above with his wife and children at the celebration. Left to right, front row, are: Mrs. Corrine Tart of Sanford, Rev and Mrs. THE DAILY RECORD, DUNN, N. a Divorce Jury Hears Wife Accused By Her Own Voice NEW YORK Testimony by human witnesses took a back seat yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court In stead, a tape recorder held the spotlight. And for the first time in legal history here, the mechanical witness sent tapped conversations between two principals in an alleg ed love triangle ringing loudy and clearly through the courtroom. *' In some previous trials, phono graph records had been played, but they were weak, scratchy and often unintelligible. Yesterday’s first use of tape—authorized by Justice James B. M. McNally—was pronounced a signal success by all isteners, except possibly Mrs. Cecil Weiner and her counsel. Listen For Four Hours Out of 100 hours of tapped phone conversations offered by Mrs. Wei ner's blouse manufacturer husband, Albert, the Judge and an ail-male jury yesterday listened effortlessly, for fcur hours to the purported voices of Ceil and Sam Sidroff, a bedding salesman. The voices poked fun at Weiners' vitality and discussed Ceil’s re mark that things were getting com plicated and they might “both end up with a good dose of sleeping pills. The wife also mentioned that her husband had found out about her cashing certain securities and that he had accused her of keeping 'some young fella.” He Seeks Divorce In the double-barreled suit. Mrs. Weiner, a petite blonde, is suing for SSOO weekly alimony and a separ it'cn, charging cruelty. Weiner, short, bald and hidden yesterday behind dark glasses is counter-suing for divorce accus ing her of misconduct with Sid roff a considerably younger man than he. Ceil’s attorney Irving Erdheim, fender of American womanhood while editorials branded hi :n spendthrift and sex sadist. Yet I think now that Teddy Roosevelt, who believed that virtue and morality were pillars without which democracy could not endure, was wrong when he wanted to sup press this story. A Methodist Epis copal rector in Wichita said every line should be published to teach the younger generation tnat the way of the wicked led to hell. Os course vice, luxurious and glamourous, sin in high society, millionaire love nests with red vel vet swings for teen-age girls, had fascination. But never, NEVER IN ALL HISTORY, has evil shown so grim and grisly a face. Never have the wages of sin been collected vith so ruthless and inexorable a hand, never have the wrong-doers paid and paid as in the case of teen-age Evelyn and the man - - Thaw was 34, White past 50 - - who destroyed her and themselves ’or love of her. HAD EVERYTHING* “We had everything,” Evelyn Nesbit Thaw said to me, “fortune, fame, position, prestige, beauty, genius, opportunity. The world saw them brough to hideous ends. The world didn’t see what I remember best, myself on the stand trying to save a husband I didn’t love from going to the chair for killing the man I did love." This was the secret she had kept for years! No one knew Evelyn Nesbit Thaw loved Stanford White, the man she testified had ruined her. I must have showed my amazement for, sitting very quiet, very erect, an old woman with fluffy gray hair and bright bright brown eyes look ing back through "horn-rimmed glasses at the past, Evelyn said ’Bain, "Stanford White was the only man I ever loved.” For months before the trial, shook rocked millions in the Unit ed States. This would have been a greater shock. How could jt have happened like tjiat? Hardison, Mrs. Wallace Norris of Broadway, Route one, Mrs. George K. Turbish of Dunn; back row: Sherwood Hardison, Wallace Hardison, Sherrill Ray Hardison, an of Dunn, and Gflwldlne Hardison, of the home. protested vehemently that the re cordings, made at tne Weiner's former apartment at 450 West E.ii Ave., violated his client’s constitu tional rights, compelling her in effect to testify against herself. Expert Handles Job Justice McNally upheld the con tention of Bernard Phillips, Weiner’s counsel, that the manufacturer, a a ph.ne subscriber, had the right to tap his own line. The playback was handled by Bernard Spindel, the wiretap ex pert who startled a House sub committee earlier this year by de monstrating just how easily elect ronic devices can clamp an invisible enr to anv person’s telephone com munications. It was in a talk commencing at 6:10 P. M.. June 8, 1954, that Mrs. Weiner spoke of sleeping pills ahd confided she had just heard that her husband "claims he’s got an ace in the hole. He says he’s cot BULLETINS CHICAGO (IP) Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, chief of na val operations, said last night the Navy probably will be chosen to handle the government’s earth satellite proj ect. MOSCOW (IP) Former Finnish Foreign Minister Reinhold Svento said today Soviet Premier Nikolai Bul ganin is “quite sick but not dangerously ill.” WASHINGTON (IP- The tentative membership list of the Agriculture Advisory Committee named to help the Democratic Party plan its campaign strategy on farm problems was announced today and includes L. Y, Ballen tine, North Carolina agriculture commissioner. BERLIN (IP) Western observers said today the East German mission to Moscow is the beginning of a possible double cross. BUENOS AIRES (IP) A subversive plot directed a gainst President Juan D. Peron was uncovered only hours before it was scheduled to break today, reliable sources re ported. RALEIGH, N. C. (IP) A downward trend noted ear lier this week in Carolinas tobacco prices appeared check ed today after two days of steady or slightly rising prices. Oddsln (Continued from Page One) pected to be that there should be a percentage reduction across the board, say 10 per cent for pur poses of calculation. The little fellow paying S3OO in come tax annually would get a cut of S3O compared with the S3OO windfall to the taxpayer whose liability had averaged around $3,- 000 a year. The Republican argu ment is that the percentage Sys tem not only is fair to all but would have the added advantage of releasing large sums among the higher bracket taxpayers for pro ductive investment. • Hurricane (Conttnned from Page One) HILDA STRIKES Hilda meanwhile struck the Yu catan eninsula about midway be tween Cozumel and Chetamel and at 11 aun. was centered at Lati tude 19.8, Longitude 88.1. Hilda was moving west-north west at 10 miles an hour and high est winds were down to about 75 something on me,” Sam: Yeah, he claims, huh? She: He found out something from several years*ago. Sam: Yeah, so whai? That’s kid tuff. “Taken Out Bonds” ( She: Who knows, who knows, who knows? He found out that I oad taken out bonds and cashed them and things of that type, and bank, he probably checked on all that. Sam; Yeah, and what? • She: And every time you take out a bond and you cash it— Sam: And what’s wrong with that? She: Well, I used it for one pur pose. He's sure. Sam: What's that? She' Ti keep some fellow. More On Hand Sam: No kidding! She: A young fella. That’s what he told this party. One of Weiner’s charges is that his wife gave Sam money. Later in the conversation, Sam, ->s’red her if she had “kept some fellow." Her answer was, “No.” The trial resumes at 10 A.M. today, with 96 hours more of tap ped dialogue to be played. miles an hour bare hurricane strength. Erwin Students Visit Record The Daily Record was invaded this morning when thirty-three members of an English class at Erwin high school dropped in to study newspaper production and techniques. , They were given a tour of the plant by Jake Bennett, advertising managers Sponsor Thomas H. Pat terson was in charge of the group. Making the visit were Belinda Smith, Helon Norris, Louise Cum mings, Carolyn Jackson, Christine Peterson, Lillian Lue, Wanda Wea ver, Elm a House, Betty West and Patricia Mason. Also Betty Prince Edna Lock amy, James Smith, Kenneth Tem- Just 10 DAYS To CLEAN OUT THE LOT WE ARE UNDERSELLING OURSELVES SO YOU MIGHTASWEUGETINONIT. COME AND SEE AND TRADE OR BUY ANY CAR ON THE LOT. Now Is The Time To Trade And Save USED CAR LOT Auto Sales & Service 201 S. Fayetteville Ave. - Dunn, N. C. - Phone 2307 FRIDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 16, 1953 «niiLWA * 1 % j « Q COSTUMING UNDERWAY With the Harnett County Cen tennial production of Paul Green’S symphonic drama ‘The High land Call,” only three weeks away, one of the big tasks is to make 200 new and specially designed costumes. Here, Miss Suzanne Kram er of Hickory, professional costume designer confers with Mrs. Cora Hight of Buie’s Creek, cne of the many Harnett women who are volunteering their services day and night at the costume shop set up in the Campbell College home economics cottage. Harnett home demonstration clubs are taking turns sewing in a group at the shop. “The Highland Call” wil be presented six nights. October 10-15, In the Paul Green amphitheatre at Buie’s Creek as the feature attrac tion of the Harnett County Centennial. (Photo by D. W. Amburn.) ts-.- m. BOOSTER FOR MULE DAY Janice Pearl Johnson, 8, of Benson, wants all her friends to know one another. Yesterday she introduced a small Mexican burro to a much smaller Jersey pig. Though they didn’t exactly hit it off, Janice believes it’s only a matter of time. “They’ll get along all right,” she said. "You’ll see.” Today being the start of Mule Day activities at Benson, the burro was going to be mighty busy but the pig just headed back to its mother for lunch. (Daily Record Photo by Ted CraiL) ple, Jerry Godwin, Donald Suggs, Ralph Tedder, Jr., G. R. Pope. Jesse Lockamy Bobby Home and Alice Faye Denning. And Meldin Dunning, Jr., Larry Moss, Peggy Hawley, James Sills, Edward Stewart, Seth Wade, Htll da Avery, Larry Turnage, Marie | Morgan, Dwight Autry, and Donald I Royal. t

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view