Wednesday
June 27, 1906
Deseret evening news (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) — Utah, Salt Lake
“The Wedding Murder & the Crime of the Century: When High Society Turned Deadly in 1906”
Art Deco mural for June 27, 1906
Original newspaper scan from June 27, 1906
Original front page — Deseret evening news (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) — Click to enlarge
Full-size newspaper scan
What's on the Front Page

The front page is dominated by the shocking murder of Stanford White, the famous architect, by Harry K. Thaw in New York City. Thaw shot White at point-blank range in front of horrified dinner guests at Cafe Martin, claiming White had 'ruined his home.' The drama deepens with revelations that White had been receiving mysterious threatening letters from Mrs. Thaw, and that White had actually hired detectives to follow Thaw because he suspected trouble was brewing. Police believe Thaw's jealousy over his wife Evelyn was the motive, and alienists are now examining the prisoner to determine his sanity. In a separate but equally dramatic incident, the paper reports a wedding that turned into a tragedy in Comfort, Texas, where Joseph Reinhardt walked into his own wedding ceremony and shot his intended bride Ernestine Kutzer dead in front of all the assembled guests, then turned the gun on himself. The bride died instantly from a shot to the heart, while Reinhardt is not expected to survive his self-inflicted wounds.

Why It Matters

These sensational murder cases reflect America's growing fascination with crimes of passion among the wealthy elite, foreshadowing the tabloid culture that would explode in the coming decades. The Stanford White case particularly captivated the nation because it involved New York high society — White was the architect behind Madison Square Garden and other iconic buildings. The detailed coverage of Thaw's mental state examination also shows how the insanity defense was becoming more sophisticated and medicalized. This was an era when America was grappling with changing social mores, urbanization, and the behavior of the newly wealthy industrial class. These violent outbursts among the privileged would fuel public debates about morality, justice, and whether wealth could buy immunity from consequences.

Hidden Gems
  • Mrs. Thaw was traveling aboard the steamship Minneapolis and was one-third of the way to London when the shooting occurred, completely unaware her husband had committed murder
  • White had become so paranoid about Thaw's threats that he hired his own detective to follow his stalker, and White would amuse himself by approaching the detective and striking up conversations
  • Thaw literally 'jerked' his hat from the waiter's hand after dinner and 'crushed it down over his forehead and eyes' with such violence that the hat was visibly damaged
  • The prison received seventeen letters for Thaw in just one morning's mail delivery, and most of them were from women
  • In the Texas wedding murder, the bride threw up her hands to ward off the danger just as three shots were fired at close range, with the first bullet striking her heart
Fun Facts
  • Stanford White was the architect who designed the original Madison Square Garden — the very venue where Thaw shot him was near one of White's most famous creations
  • The wireless communication technology mentioned for reaching Mrs. Thaw at sea was cutting-edge for 1906 — Marconi had only sent the first transatlantic wireless signal five years earlier
  • Harry Thaw was from Pittsburgh and represented the new industrial wealth of America — his family fortune came from coal and railroads during the Gilded Age boom
  • The 'Tombs' prison where Thaw was held was Manhattan's notorious jail that had housed everyone from Boss Tweed to future notorious criminals — it was considered one of the most grim detention facilities in America
  • This murder case would become known as the 'Crime of the Century' and would be the first to be extensively covered by mass media, setting the template for celebrity criminal trials
June 26, 1906 June 28, 1906

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