Saving Sin City: William Travers Jerome, Stanford White, and the Original Crime of the Century

In June 1906, Harry Thaw, scion of a wealthy Pittsburgh family, shot architect Stanford White in a jealous rage over chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit. The collision of beauty, money, passion, and murder was catnip for the press, who called it the Trial of the Century. This oft-told tale still fascinates, and historian Cummings finds a new way of examining the case and its implications, delving deeply into the life and work of William Travers Jerome, a crusading lawyer and political hopeful whose prosecution of Thaw was thwarted by the very climate of corruption he fought for years. Born into the same wealth and privilege as White, Travers became a crusader for reform, taking on the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine with varying success. Frustrated in his efforts to bring down the mighty, he saw the high-profile Thaw case as the make-or-break point for his career. The attempt failed, and the man who once sought the governor's mansion became barely a footnote in history.