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 CHAPTER I.

Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, the "Woman in the Case."

FAMED FOR BEAUTY EVEN AS A LITTLE CHILD—BORN IN LITTLE PENNSYLVANIA TOWN—WHEN ONLY 13 YEARS OLD SHE BEGAN AS AN ARTIST'S MODEL—SOUGHT OUT BY FAMOUS PAINTERS—ENGAGED AS A CHORUS GIRL BECAUSE OF HER BEAUTY—LURED FROM INNOCENT CHILDHOOD BY STANFORD WHITE, MILLIONAIRE ARCHITECT—FORMED THE ACQUAINTANCE OF HARRY THAW, RICH YOUNG PITTSBURGH MAN—SENT AWAY TO SCHOOL BY WHITE—SNUBBED BY FELLOW STUDENTS—FORCED TO QUIT SCHOOL.

Evelyn Nesbit, later to be known as "the most beautiful artists' model in the world," was born in Tarentum, Pa., a little village near Pittsburg, in 1884. Even as a baby she was surpassingly pretty, and her face, like that of a dark-haired cherub, attracted hundreds of visitors to her parents' humble home, a little two story frame cottage worth less than $2,000.

Evelyn's life was like that of most young girls in country towns. She went to Sunday school regularly, and at the age of five made her first public appearance in a Sunday school entertainment.

The family moved to Pittsburg, and Evelyn was still a schoolgirl when the death of her father, Winfield Scott Nesbit, a struggling lawyer, left her mother and herself almost destitute. Incumbrances