The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing

Gold Medal Classic Trials #2

by Charles Samuels

Discusses Evelyn Nesbit, and the murder trial in which she was involved.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

Reviews

[Anita Dormer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduction into the life of a very complicated man Stanford White
And a fascinating time of beautiful poor actresses and predators with a lot of gold

[Bonnie Westmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom was born in 1932 and she would talk about this story and book. I finally read it! What a story it is! It’s so dramatic that it’s hard to fathom it’s all real.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets three stars not so much for the writing, but because this is a great yarn, which I learned about because it's part of Pittsburgh lore. In 1906, Harry Thaw, the mentally disturbed scion of a Pittsburgh railroad millionaire's family, walked up to Stanford White, possibly the most famous architect of his day, on a rooftop garden in New York City and shot White to death.

Thaw had married Evelyn Nesbit, a Pittsburgh girl who became famous on vaudeville in New York and who had been "kept" by White when she first arrived in the city. Thus the jealousy and murder.

The subsequent trial apparently involved one of the first uses of the insanity defense. I won't ruin the ending. Fun and quick to read.