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Edna McClure (c. 1888–??) was an American actress whose brief career on Broadway was overshadowed by a sensational murder case and later a tragic family dispute. ==Life and career== McClure was born in California around 1888, 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.〔(Gordon S. Chamberlin – San Francisco Biographies ) accessed July 20, 2012〕〔Edna McClure, age 12; San Francisco; 1900 US Census records; Ancestry.com〕 She first appeared on Broadway at an early age as Elsie Habbicombe in the 1904 musical comedy ''The Medal and the Maid'' 〔(The Medal and the Maid – Internet Broadway Database ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 and a bit later that year as Monty in ''The Baroness Fiddlesticks''.〔(The Baroness Fiddlesticks - Internet Broadway Database ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 In January, 1905 she appeared in the short lived comedy ''The Money Makers'',〔(The Money Makers– Internet Broadway Database ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 and two months later as the wife of General Butin in a burlesque production of the C. M. S. McLellan melodrama ''Leah Kleschna''.〔(Leah Kleschna’ Burlesque – The New York Times; March 21, 1905; pg. 8; ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 McClure returned to San Francisco not long afterwards to attend classes at Caldwell College of Oratory and Acting.〔Dramatic Evening Planned- Berkeley Daily Gazette (Berkeley, California); Tuesday, May 09, 1905; pg. 6〕 She came back to Broadway in August, 1906 to play Eleanor in a successful run of the comedy play, ''The Tourist''.〔(The Tourist- Internet Broadway Database ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 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 25, 1906 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.〔Edna McClure Will ‘O Wisp Witness of Thaw Trial Now Divorcee-New Castle News; November 11, 1910; pg. 3; Ancestry.com〕 Thaw was later sent to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane , initially for life, but was released in 1913 after only five years confinement. 〔Mrs. Thaw Urged Her Husband On- The Washington Post; July 9, 1906; pg. 1〕〔Harry Kendall Thaw〕 On December 1, 1906, McClure married John G. Richardson, a young entrepreneur involved at the time with a mining venture in Tonopah, Nevada. The couple, who had only known each other a few weeks before marrying, divorced in December, 1910 after separating the year before.〔(Edna McClure Divorced-The New York Times; November 5, 1910 ) accessed July 20, 2012〕 Some months after the White murder McClure joined the Frank Bacon stock company at the Theatre Jose in San Jose, California, in a dramatization of the Archibald Clavering Gunter novel ''Mr. Barnes of New York.'' 〔(Mr Barnes of New York, Google Books ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 During this time McClure would attempt suicide twice. The first with laudanum at the Bristol Hotel in San Jose, and the second, in September, 1907, by ingesting a cocaine solution at her parent’s home in San Francisco. Though McClure was never forthcoming about what had driven her to attempt suicide, the press at the time speculated that family pressure to leave the stage was responsible for her depression. 〔(Edna M’Clure Tries Again to End Her Life with Poison-The Evening News (San Jose)-- Sep 28, 1907; pg. 5 ) accessed July 20, 2012〕 McClure's last performances on Broadway came in September, 1911 at the Bijou Theatre in the short lived play ''Modern Marriage'' by Harrison Rhodes,〔(Modern Marriage, Internet Broadway Database ) accessed July 21, 2012〕 and thirteen years later (as Edna M. Chamberlain) playing Buria in ''The Warrior's Husband'', a comedy by Julia F. Thompson that closed after a single performance at the Belasco Theatre.〔(The Warrior's Husband-The Internet Broadway Database ) accessed August 1, 2012〕 Around this time McClure married Gordon S. Chamberlin, a contractor and business associate of her father. A daughter and two sons were born to this union before Chamberlin was fatally injured while inspecting a San Francisco construction site in June, 1931. 〔(Gordon S. Chamberlin – San Francisco Biographies ) accessed July 20, 2012〕 In 1934 a dispute arose between McClure and her 24-year-old daughter Amy over an uncle’s $40,000 estate. During a heated exchange McClure shot her daughter several times with a hand gun, wounding her in the mouth, neck and shoulder. Amy survived and McClure was later found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon (reduced from attempted murder) and given one year probation with the proviso that she and her daughter have no further contact with each other. The judge in the case actually chastised her daughter for filling charges, telling her “A man would not have done it.” 〔Amy Warren is Shot by Mother-The Modesto Bee and Herald News; February 7, 1934; pg. 1; Ancestry.com〕〔Mother Who Shot Modestan is Freed After Posting Bail-The Modesto Bee and Herald News February 22, 1935; pg. 2; Ancestry.com〕〔Mrs. Chamberlain (sic) Wins Probation as Daughter Chided-The Modesto Bee and Herald News; May 10, 1935; pg. 2; Ancestry.com〕 From this point on Edna McClure appears to vanish from the public eye. In 1904 ''Burr McIntosh Monthly'' wrote of McClure’s potential; ''Edna McClure is a little girl who is just beginning her theatrical career, and is at present one of the attractive features in "The Baroness Fiddlesticks." That Miss McClure is an attractive photographic subject cannot be denied, and that she has a future as an actress is admitted by all who have seen her on the stage.''〔Burr McIntosh Monthly; vol. 22; 1904〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edna McClure」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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