NEWS OF THE WORLD

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 July 1920, Page 8

NEWS OF THE WORLD

TRAGIC “ANGEL GIRL.” THAW CASE RECALLED. The tragic h’story of Evelyn Nesbit, the beautiful girl for love of wh mi Harry Thaw shot Stanford White on the roof of the Madison Square Gardens, lias now had another chapter added to it.

Jealousy of the girl he had married caused her first husband to commit the crime which resulted in a lurid light being thrown on the orgies in which a certain section of New York society indulged, and after the minder trial Evelyn Nesbit pressed to England and also appeared on the screen, eventually marrying Mr. Jack Clifford, her former dancing partner. In recent months Mrs. Clifford has been appearing on the screen with her n, Russell Thaw, to whose interests her whole 1 fe since the murder, has been devoted. EVELYN NESBIT’S STORY. Mthough the. murder of Stanford White took place on June 26, 1905, it was not until January 23 of the next, year that the process of choosing the jury was commenced. This lasted until February 2, and the case for the prosecution brgan on February 4. The story was quickly told, and the defence was opened, a doctor, being called with a view tp proving Thaw’s insanity; Mrs. Thaw went into the box on the fourth day. She told of her meeting with Stanford White, and luncheons she had with him in a room luxurious “with rugs and pillows.” Many parties she described “all entirely improper.” There was the supper in the house in 24th Street, New York, after which. Mrs. Thaw alleged, White drugged her, and she awoke in.a room with m'rr rs all roundl the walls and upon the- ced-, ing. She told of the distress of her husband when she related- the story to him years afterwards. ARTIST’S MODEL AND ACTRESS. V On March 26, 1907, a Lunacy Commission was appointed, and on April 4 they declared Thaw to be sane. But the jury, however, could not agree, and

after the trial had lasted eleven weeks they were discharged.

Mrs. Thaw had tu retell her story at the second trial, which commenced in January, 1908.

This was much more brief than rwe previous one. On February 1, the jury returned a verdict of “Not guilty’’ on the ground of insanity, ami Thaw was committed tu the Mattawas Asylum for the criminally insane.

During his incarceration three repeated attempts were made by lawyers to secure his release, but all failed. Eventually, however, he escaped, but was recaptured. As for Mrs. Thaw, she left the country, returning to the stage, where several of the early years of her life wore spent. Before th is she was an artists’s model, and at 15 posed for Charles Dana Gibson’s famous picture, “The Eternal Question.” She now announces her intention cf defending divorce prcc edings brought by Mr. Clifford WEST AFRICAN “ENGLISH.” The following passages occur in a letter received from a West African native by a Manchester firm : “I am greatly regretful to write you this, and ask that my order which was issued to you on June 10 for chemists had not received up to this period. Kindly return to me (lie money, amounting to 10/- if ymr cannot bearresponsible of shipping them to me.”

“Please if you are able or willing to deal with me, vibrate off any sluggish manner in you.”

FIGHT IN OPIUM DEN. Melodrama of the broadest type . marked the arrest of five Chinese ouium smokers in New York. Police watched the men smoking from the roof of an adjoining house, separated by a twelve-foot gap. Then they obtained a plank and carefully'crept across on their hands and knees. Break ing in a skylight they dropped into the room and held up the 'Chinamen against the wall with drawn revolvers. Just then the lights went out, but in the glimmer of a police flashlight they saw a giant enter through a secret door armed with a club. A battle rival ensued, in which police and Chinamen got mixed and pummelled their own parlies’ ribs indiscriminately. While this was on the lights were switching off and on, but after half an hour the Chinamen were subdued and taken to police station.