The Devil in the White City (52 page)

“ill almost unto death
: Monroe,
Poet’s Life,
113.

“After the 15th
: Ibid., 260.

“Oysters
:
Chicago Tribune,
January 11, 1891.

“Gentlemen,” he said
: Poole, 184; Moore,
Burnham, Architect,
43.

“The men left
: Burnham,
Design,
26.

“In talking with them
: Monroe,
Root,
249; Monroe,
Poet’s Life,
113.

Vanishing Point

After years spent
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 1895;
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 22, 23, 27, 1895; Boswell and Thompson, 83–84; Franke, 98–101; Schechter, 39–44.

“I shut the door
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 28, 1895.

“a mysterious disappearances
:
Chicago Tribune,
November 1, 1892.

Fannie Moore
: Ibid.

J. W. Highleyman left
: Ibid.

Cheyenne
: Ibid.

Alone

“Himself not especially
: Sullivan, Louis, 288.

“It soon became noticeable
: Ibid., 320.

“Hell,”
he snapped
: Ibid.

“Burnham came out
: Ibid.

“The natural dominance
: Baker,
Hunt,
398.

“the function created
: Sullivan, Louis, 290.

“In each firm
: Ibid., 288.

“John Root was
: Ibid.

“I haven’t escaped sickness
: Monroe,
Root,
261.

“Mr. Root is quite low
: Burnham to Boyington, January 14, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, Vol. 1.

“am able this morning
: Burnham to Boyington, January 15, 1891, ibid.

“You won’t leave me
: Moore, Burnham interview, 5.

“Do you hear that?
: Ibid.

“I have worked
: Monroe,
Poet’s Life,
114.

“most distinguished architect
:
Chicago Tribune,
January 16, 1891.

“There is no man
:
Chicago Tribune,
January 17, 1891.

“It’s all nonsense
:
Chicago Tribune,
January 25, 1891.

“I was born
:
Philadelphia Inquirer,
April 12, 1896.

PART II: AN AWFUL FIGHT

Convocation

His gout
: Moore, Burnham interview, 6.

“almost in whispers
: “The Organization, Design and Construction of the Fair,” January 7, 1895, 56, Moore Papers.

Its center was an octagon
:
Rand, McNally,
49–57.

“a panorama
: Ibid., 126.

“I don’t think I shall advocate
: Moore,
Burnham, Architect,
47 (In Moore, Burnham interview, 4, the phrasing is slightly different: “I do not think I will advocate that dome, I will probably modify the building.”)

“one grand entrance
: Burnham to Sullivan, February 11, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, Vol. 1.

“the tension of feeling
: Burnham and Millet, 29.

“quiet intentness
: “The Organization, Design and Construction of the Fair,” January 7, 1895, 56, Moore Papers.

“Drawing after drawing
: Burnham and Millet, 29.

“The room was still as death
: Moore,
Burnham, Architect,
47.

“You are dreaming
: “The Organization, Design and Construction of the Fair,” January 7, 1895, 58, Moore Papers.

“I never expected
: Different versions of St. Gaudens’s remark appear in the literature. I’ve combined elements of two. See Burnham,
Design,
39, and Hines, 90.

“We should try to make
: Olmsted to Burnham, January 26, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41.

“What we shall want
: Ibid.

“I mean such as Malay proas
: Ibid.

“mysterious poetic effect
: “Memorandum as to What is to be Aimed at in the Planting of the Lagoon District of the Chicago Exposition,” Olmsted Papers, Reel 59.

“through the mingling intricately together
: Ibid.

“a display of flowers
: Ibid.

“to slightly screen
: Ibid.

The overall effect
: Ibid.

“that army our hundreds
: Olmsted to “Fred” (most likely Federick J. Kingsbury, a friend), January 20, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 22.

“How is it possible
: Lewis, 172.

“We must push this now
:
Chicago Tribune,
February 20, 1891.

“Examination of the facts
: Director of Works Report, October 24, 1892, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 12.

“There will not be a brick
:
Chicago Tribune,
March 20, 1891.

Atwood stood him up
: Moore, Burnham interview, 7.

He was an opium addict
: Ibid.

RUSH
:
Chicago Tribune,
May 16, 1891.

“a family of twelve
:
Chicago Tribune,
February 20, 1891.

“That un-American institution
:
Inland Architect and News Record,
vol. 17, no. 5 (June 1891), 54.

P. T. Barnum died
:
Chicago Tribune,
May 30, 1891.

“I think it quite necessary
:
Chicago Tribune,
February 14, 1891.

Cuckoldry

Lovely, dark Gertrude
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 1895.

“of an easy-going innocent
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 21, 1895.

“Some of my friends
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 1895.

Holmes proposed to sell
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 21, 1895.

Holmes even wanted Ned
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 28, 1895.

“Separation couldn’t come
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 1895.

He heard her footsteps
: Ibid.

“I told her after I left
: Ibid.

At night, after the first-floor stores
: This is speculation, but I base it on the following: In Mooers Holmes was known to pace at midnight, suggesting he was not a restful sleeper. Psychopaths need stimulation. The kiln would have been an irresistible attraction. Admiring it and igniting its flames would have reinforced his sense of power and control over the occupants above.

Vexed

“You must not think
: Burnham to Margaret, March 15, 1892, Burnham Archives, Family Correspondence, File 4.

“Among the trees
: Burnham and Millet, 36.

“practically an unknown
:
Inland Architect and News Record,
vol. 22, no. 1 (August 1893), 8.

They laid a platform
: Ibid.

Edison suggested
:
Chicago Tribune,
May 12, 13, 1891.

General Electric offered
: Baker,
Life,
158–59.

“We are at a dead standstill
: Burnham to Hunt, June 2, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, Vol. 2.

“The delay you are causing us
: Burnham to Hunt, June 6, 1891, ibid.

He ordered
: “List of bedding plants to be ordered either in this country, or from Europe,” July 13, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 59.

“It was bad enough
: Ulrich, 11.

“He is the arbiter
:
Chicago Tribune,
May 14, 1891.

“incongruity
:
World’s Fair,
851.

“President Baker wants
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 21, 1891.

C. F. Ritchel of Bridgeport
:
Chicago Tribune,
October 12, 1889.

“As the cost
:
McComber’s tower idea
:
Chicago Tribune,
November 2, 1889.

The engineer urged
:
Chicago Tribune,
November 9, 1889.

In August 1891
:
Chicago Tribune,
August 5, 1891.

The engineers were outraged
:
Chicago Tribune,
August 16, 1891.

“How soon
: Bloom, 117.

“The more I thought
: Ibid.

“I could not
: Burnham to Dredge, November 18, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, vol. 4.

“The criticism now
: Burnham to Dredge, November 24, 1891, ibid.

“was about as intelligent
: Bloom, 119.

“anxious to get
: Sandweiss, 14.

“You are a very young man
: Bloom, 120.

“I
do
hope
: Allen to Palmer, October 21, 1891, Chicago Historical Society, World’s Columbian Exhibition–Board of Lady Managers Archive, Folder 3.

“When I think of the days
: Weimann, 176.

“‘I think it would be better
: Ibid.

“A severe breakdown
: Ibid.,177.

“I suspect that even Codman
: Olmsted to Burnham, December 23, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 22.

In December
: Burnham,
Final Official Report,
78.

“A few questions of design
: Interim Report on Construction, “To the Editor of the Chicago
Herald,
” December 28, 1891, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 9.

“the failure of the fair
: Lewis, 175.

Remains of the Day

Holmes left no firsthand account of the method he used to kill Julia and Pearl Conner; nor did he describe how he managed to subdue both victims, although he did at one point state that Julia had died of a “criminal operation,” meaning an abortion. I constructed the murder scenes in this chapter using a combination of sources: fragments of known evidence (for example, the fact that he possessed two cases of surgical instruments, equipped his building with dissection tables, and favored chloroform as a weapon and bought large quantities of it); the detective work of other investigators of the Holmes saga (Schechter, Franke, and Boswell and Thompson); statements made by Holmes after the murders; psychiatric research into the character, motives, and needs of criminal psychopaths; and testimony at Holmes’s trial as to how a person would react to an overdose of chloroform. The Conner case and the anatomical moonlighting of Charles Chappell received extensive news coverage. In addition to the specific sources cited below, see
Chicago Tribune,
July 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 1895;
New York Times,
July 29, 1895;
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 23, 27, 29, 30, 1895; Boswell and Thompson, 81–86; Franke, 98–101; Schechter, 39–44.

In November 1891
: Schechter, 43–44.

Julia and Mrs. Crowe
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 29, 1895.

dark amber bottle
:
Merck’s Manual,
28.

She gripped his hand
:
Trial,
166, 420–422.

On Christmas morning
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 29, 1895.

“The gentlemen were acting
:
Chicago Tribune,
February 27, 1890. See also March 2, 1890, for a tantalizing but likely apocryphal story of a St. Louis man buried alive—allegedly in a deep coma—only to have his body stolen by medical students. The students discovered his true condition with the first incision and quickly deposited him on the steps of the St. Louis courthouse, where he awoke with a painful and inexplicable cut across his abdomen. Or so the story went.

“Yes, the party
:
Chicago Tribune,
March 24, 1890.

“The body,” he said
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 29, 1895. The article also cites the $36 price.

They found dishes
: Franke, 101.

“I last saw her
: Mudgett, 33.

A Gauntlet Dropped

The ranks included
: Hines, 74–75.

A rising union man
: Burnham to Geraldine, February 24, 1892, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, vol. 6.

“inaccurate or ‘slouchy’ work
: Burnham to Cloyes, January 6, 1892, ibid., vol. 5.

“it seems to me
: Burnham to Ulrich, January 6, 1892, ibid.

“You will please dismiss
: Burnham to Geraldine, January 6, 1892, ibid.

“Guarded by sentries
: Wyckoff, 248.

“ho, boy
:
Oxford English Dictionary,
2nd ed., 278; Wyckoff, 11.

He “was eminently engaging
: Anderson, 53.

“the architects of America
: Untitled typescript, Ferris Papers, 1.

“cut to the quick
: Ibid.

superintendent of sheep
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 14, 1892.

“We are now organizing
: Burnham to Davis, November 12, 1891, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, vol. 4.

“I think it is pretty well understood
:
Chicago Tribune,
January 5, 1892.

“The time was well spent
: Burnham to Margaret, March 15, 1892, Burnham Archives, Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 4.

Late in March
: Burnham to Margaret, March 31, 1892, ibid.

“Mr. Davis has not been to see me
:
Chicago Tribune,
April 9, 1892.

The congressmen, Burnham wrote
: Burnham to Margaret, March 31, 1892.

“spectacular advertising
: Bloom, 120.

“I could tell
: Ibid.

The Angel from Dwight

In addition to the specific citations below, for this chapter I relied on detailed coverage of the Cigrand case in the
Chicago Tribune
and
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
as well as broader accounts of the case in Boswell and Thompson, Franke, and Schechter.