Name: The Velvet Swing
Duration: P00H02M15S
Description: This is a sensational story about wealth, fame, perversion, and revenge. Stanford White was actually much older at the time he had Evelyn Nesbit on his velvet swing. This probably added fuel to the fire of Henry Thaw's obsession with purity.

The Velvet Swing

from Weird, Sordid, & Deadly But True Tales of America (1609 - 1906) by Peter Ellis

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This is a sensational story about wealth, fame, perversion, and revenge. Stanford White was actually much older at the time he had Evelyn Nesbit on his velvet swing. This probably added fuel to the fire of Henry Thaw's obsession with purity.

lyrics

3. The Velvet Swing (1906)

Stanford White had no formal training
He learned on the job
Eventually he became an architect
The Vanderbilts were a customer
He married into a rich family
But still he didn’t have it all
On 24th street, he had a place
With a secret entrance
He wooed young damsels
Took them into his secret chamber
Where he would tell them
To swing on his velvet swing
Swing back and forth
Swing up and down
One girl by the name of Evelyn Nesbit
Had the most delicious skill
On and off stage
She swing, swang, and swung for White
Years later she married another millionaire
Henry Thaw who was bothered
By the stories she told him
For years, Thaw couldn’t get
The swing out of his head
White had swung with her first
One evening at
The Madison Square Garden Theater
The finale of a musical performance
Played “I could love a million girls”
Thaw approached White
Shoved a pistol in his face
Told him he ruined his wife
White looked down the barrel
White looked at Thaw’s face
Thought he looked petty and stupid
Before White could convey this sentiment
Thaw fired three rounds
Blowing White’s face clean off
The crowd cheered
At what they thought was a gag

credits

from Weird, Sordid, & Deadly But True Tales of America (1609 - 1906), released January 29, 2015

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about

Peter Ellis Los Angeles, California

When not suffering from moral turpitude, morbid fixations, and delusions of grandeur, I am taking my coffee very seriously.

My favorite albums of 2014:

Ariel Pink's Pom Pom,
Luluc's Passerby, Real Estate's Atlas,
Stephen Malkmus' Wig Out at Jagbags, Pallbearer's Foundation of Burden,
Ty Segall's Manipulator,
and
J Mascis' Tied to a Star ... more

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