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"I know
that Stanford White was a human
monster. I know that much of what Mrs. Harry Thaw has stated as a
witness is
true. I know that Stanford White's den in the "My first
knowledge of this case dates
from the summer of 1905—about a year before the killing, I should say.
One
afternoon a tall, well-dressed, well-bred young man came to me in my
office in
the "A few days
later he came back, still laboring
under strong emotion. He then introduced himself. As nearly as I
can recall he
said: "'I am
Harry Kendall Thaw of
"Our
investigation confirmed to a great
degree what Thaw had told me. Our detectives were astounded at what
they
discovered. We worked hard and I learned a great deal, but of all cases
these
are the hardest to prove under the rules of evidence, and before
risking an
arrest I determined to catch White. "I learned
that his rooms in the tower
were as Mrs. Evelyn Thaw had described them in the trial. Two of our
detectives
endeavored to hire rooms in the same tower in order to watch his goings
and
comings. The deal was almost completed when one of the detectives made
a
bungle. Something which he said or did gave the alarm to the janitor,
and,
although we were on the waiting list for a long time, and although
several times
apartments in the tower were vacant, we were never able to secure a
suite or a
single room. "We were
still vainly trying to arrange a
trap for White from which there would be no escape when he dismantled
his room
in the tower. "I learned
positively of one case of
White’s conduct to a girl only 15 years old almost identically as Mrs.
Evelyn
Thaw describes her own case, but the girl was in the chorus of a road
company,
and we could not reach her and make a witness of her. We got evidence
of other
things—things that convince me that what Harry Thaw's wife now swears
is true. I
believe in her story and base that belief upon what I know of the man. "The last
time I saw Harry Thaw was only
two or three weeks before he shot White. He
appeared to be in a desperate state—like a man
who is well nigh frantic. He said to me wildly, 'You must keep on, you
must
stop this man, he must be stopped now—at once." |