Harry Kendall Thaw

Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American businessman William Thaw Sr. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, he is most notable for having shot and killed architect Stanford White in front of hundreds of witnesses at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden on June 25, 1906. Thaw's trial for murder was heavily publicized and called the "trial of the century". After one hung jury, a second jury found Thaw not guilty by reason of insanity.

Thaw had harbored an obsessive hatred of White, believing he had blocked Thaw's access to the social elite of New York City. White also had a previous romantic relationship with Thaw's wife, the model and chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit, that started when she was 15 or 16 (and White was about 46). This affair allegedly began with White plying Nesbit with alcohol (and possibly with drugs) and then raping her while she was unconscious. In Thaw's mind, this relationship had "ruined" Nesbit.

Plagued by mental illness throughout his life (evident even in childhood), Thaw spent lavishly to fund his obsessive partying, drug addiction and sexual gratification. The Thaw family's wealth allowed them to buy the silence of anyone who threatened to reveal Thaw's licentious transgressions. However, Thaw had serious confrontations with the criminal justice system, one of which resulted in seven years of confinement in a mental institution.