It was a few minutes after 5 o’clock when three carriages drove to Dr. McEwan’s residence. From them alighted Mr. Thaw, his mother, Mrs. William Thaw, his brother, Josiah Copley Thaw, and Fredrick C. Perkins. Miss Nesbit came on the arm of her stepfather, C. J. Holman, and was followed by her mother, Mrs. Holman.
Miss Nesbit wore a traveling costume of dark material, which was almost hidden in a light three-quarter opera cloak trimmed with rare lace and ornamented with Persian floral designs. She wore a hat that indicated a slight lingering toward the winter season, and across the silk entwined brim was a gorgeous leather of three shades of brown.
Miss Nesbit did not remove her cloak or hat and the bridegroom laid his headgear and top coat over the banisters before he walked into the drawing-room. When the ceremony was concluded the party left the parsonage. Dinner was served at Lyndhurst, and the bride and bridegroom hastened to the railway station to leave for their journey East.
CHAPTER III.
Story of the Killing That Startled the World.
STANFORD WHITE ASSASSINATED BY CRAZED HUSBAND WHILE ATTENDING THE PLAY—ON ROOF GARDEN OF MADISON SQUARE—THAW WALKED RAPIDLY TO TABLE WHILE GIRLS WERE DANCING—AT LAST NOTE OF SONG HE DREW REVOLVER, LEVELED IT AT WHITE—SAID “YOU HAVE RUINED MY LIFE—YOU MUST DIE”—FIRED THREE TIMES—TWO SHOTS CAUSED DEATH ALMOST INSTANTLY—PANIC IN AUDIENCE AND ON STAGE—BEAUTIFUL WIFE EMBRACED SLAYER—THE ARREST.
The killing of Stanford White by Harry Kendall Thaw, on the roof garden of Madison Square, New York, June 25th, 1906,—just fourteen months after the marriage—startled the world. Millionaires both—the victim a famous architect, the slayer even more famous—the love of a beautiful woman the cause of the crime—is it any wonder the Thaw killing was the greatest sensation in years? It took place just as the musical show, “Mamselle Champagne,” was coming to a close.
There was a big crowd on the roof of the garden; a crowd which pretty well filled the floor. Many people noticed a slightly built young man walking backward and forward in front of the stage, among the tables set here and there in an open space in front of the seats.
He was plainly nervous and very pale. He kept watching the entrance from the Twenty-sixth street side. A few people knew it was Harry K. Thaw and remarked on his peculiar behavior. They thought it queer also that he wore a long, thin coat.
At about 11:05 p. m. several persons noticed Stanford White enter the roof garden and take a seat near the left hand side of the stage, pretty well up to the front, dropping into a chair at a table four rows from the stage.
Young Thaw, who had been watching apparently for White to come in, jumped at the sight of him and made for the table.