Who knows!
Thaw shot and killed Stanford White as a result of his jealousy over the relationship between his wife, Evelyn Nesbit, and White. After one hung jury, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Years later, White’s son Lawrence Grant White would write, “On the night of June 25th, 1906, while attending a performance at Madison Square Garden, Stanford White was shot from behind [by] a crazed profligate whose great wealth was used to besmirch his victim’s memory during the series of notorious trials that ensued.” via
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich, and numerous public, institutional, and religious buildings. His design principles embodied the “American Renaissance”.
Here are some of Stanford White’s most famous designs:
Second incarnation of Madison Square Garden
now part of Bronx Community College