Edna McClure (c. â€"??) was an American actress whose brief career on
Broadway was overshadowed by a sensational murder case and later a
tragic family dispute.McClure was born in California around , the only
child of Henry McClure and Amy Hodges. Her father, a building site
contractor, was born in Vermont to Scottish immigrants, while her
mother was a native Californian whose family originally came from the
Carolinas.She first appeared on Broadway at an early age as Elsie
Habbicombe in the musical comedy The Medal and the Maid and a bit
later that year as Monty in The Baroness Fiddlesticks. In January she
appeared in the short-lived comedy The Money Makers, and two months
later as the wife of General Butin in a burlesque production of the C.
M. S. McLellan melodrama Leah Kleschna. McClure returned to San
Francisco not long afterwards to attend classes at Caldwell College of
Oratory and Acting. She came back to Broadway in August to play
Eleanor in a successful run of the comedy play The Tourist. At some
point during her time in New York, McClure fell into the orbit of
friends surrounding the model turned actress Evelyn Nesbit and her
millionaire husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.On the night of June , , Thaw
shot dead the noted architect Stanford White at the rooftop restaurant
atop Madison Square Garden during a performance of the Edgar Allan
Woolf musical comedy Mam'zelle Champagne. McClure reportedly told
police investigators that over the two years leading up to White’s
murder she had frequently witnessed Thaw fly into a rage over the
mention of his wife’s former lover, and that she seemed to encourage
these outbursts by urging him to do something. During Thaw’s trial
the prosecution’s decision not to call McClure to testify prompted
the press to name her the 'will ‘o wisp witness' of the trial. Thaw
was later sent to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally
Insane, initially for life, but was released in after only five years
confinement.
Broadway was overshadowed by a sensational murder case and later a
tragic family dispute.McClure was born in California around , the only
child of Henry McClure and Amy Hodges. Her father, a building site
contractor, was born in Vermont to Scottish immigrants, while her
mother was a native Californian whose family originally came from the
Carolinas.She first appeared on Broadway at an early age as Elsie
Habbicombe in the musical comedy The Medal and the Maid and a bit
later that year as Monty in The Baroness Fiddlesticks. In January she
appeared in the short-lived comedy The Money Makers, and two months
later as the wife of General Butin in a burlesque production of the C.
M. S. McLellan melodrama Leah Kleschna. McClure returned to San
Francisco not long afterwards to attend classes at Caldwell College of
Oratory and Acting. She came back to Broadway in August to play
Eleanor in a successful run of the comedy play The Tourist. At some
point during her time in New York, McClure fell into the orbit of
friends surrounding the model turned actress Evelyn Nesbit and her
millionaire husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.On the night of June , , Thaw
shot dead the noted architect Stanford White at the rooftop restaurant
atop Madison Square Garden during a performance of the Edgar Allan
Woolf musical comedy Mam'zelle Champagne. McClure reportedly told
police investigators that over the two years leading up to White’s
murder she had frequently witnessed Thaw fly into a rage over the
mention of his wife’s former lover, and that she seemed to encourage
these outbursts by urging him to do something. During Thaw’s trial
the prosecution’s decision not to call McClure to testify prompted
the press to name her the 'will ‘o wisp witness' of the trial. Thaw
was later sent to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally
Insane, initially for life, but was released in after only five years
confinement.
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