Arrest For Assault
In 1916, Thaw was charged with the kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of nineteen-year old Frederick Gump of Kansas City. His acquaintance with Gump dated to December 1915, and Thaw had worked to gain the trust of the Gump family. Thaw had enticed Gump to come to New York under the pretense of underwriting the teenager’s enrollment at Carnegie Institute. Thaw reserved rooms at the Hotel McAlpin awaiting Gump’s arrival. In a New York Times article titled “Whipping of Boy Starts Hunt for Harry K. Thaw,” dated January 12, 1917, it was reported that Gump in the hotel room was confronted by “Thaw, armed with a short, stocky whip rushing for him.” After his assault of Gump, Thaw fled to Philadelphia with the police in pursuit. When apprehended he was found to have attempted suicide by slashing his throat. Initially, Thaw tried to bribe the Gump family, offering to pay them one-half million dollars if they would drop all criminal charges against him. Ultimately, Thaw was arrested, jailed and tried. Found insane, he was confined to Kirkbride Asylum in Philadelphia where he was held under tight security. He was ultimately judged sane and regained his freedom in April, 1924. Thaw's obituary printed in The New York Times the day after his death in 1947, implies that Thaw's mother and the Gump family arrived at a monetary settlement.
Read more about this topic: Harry Kendall Thaw
Famous quotes containing the words arrest for, arrest and/or assault:
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)
“Whenever reality reinforces a child’s fantasied dangers, the child will have more difficulty in overcoming them...So, while parents may not regard a spanking as a physical attack or an assault on a child’s body, the child may regard it as such, and experience it as a confirmation of his fears that grown-ups under certain circumstances can really hurt you.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)