The Devil in the White City (56 page)

Throughout October
:
Chicago Tribune,
October 29, 1893.

Twenty thousand people
: “Ferris Wheel, Statement of Business by the Week,” Ferris Papers.

“peer cautiously
:
Chicago Tribune,
October 25, 1893.

“Look at it now
: Abbot, 228.

At two o’clock
:
Chicago Tribune,
October 29, 1893.

At three o’clock
:
Chicago Tribute,
December 20, 1893.

In the midst of supper
:
Chicago Times,
December 14, 1893, McGoorty Papers.

“It must have been
: Ibid.

They argued
:
Chicago Record,
December 15, 1893, and
Chicago Daily News,
October 23, 1943, McGoorty Papers.

“Lock me up
:
Chicago Record,
December 15, 1893, McGoorty Papers.

“We are turning our backs
:
Chicago Tribune,
October 31, 1893.

At exactly four-forty-five
: Ibid.

The six hundred carriages
:
Chicago Tribune,
November 2, 1893; Miller, 101.

Harrison had heard them
:
Chicago Tribune,
November 2, 1893.

“The good-by
: Dean, 418.

“Beneath the stars
: Pierce,
As Others See Chicago,
357.

The Black City

“The poor had come
: Herrick, 135.

“What a spectacle!
: Gilbert, 211.

One shows
: Hales, 47.

“It is desolation
: Dean, 424.

George Pullman continued
: Wish, 290.

“more threatening
: Papke, 29.

On July 5, 1894
: Gilbert, 210; Miller, 550.

“There was no regret
: Miller, 550.

“There are hundreds
: Quoted in
Chicago Tribune,
August 18, 1895.

PART IV: CRUELTY REVEALED

“Property of H. H. Holmes”

Detective Frank Geyer
: For details about Geyer, I relied heavily on his book,
The Holmes-Pitezel Case,
a detailed, dispassionate, and above all accurate account of the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, and Geyer’s search for Benjamin Pitezel’s children. Salted throughout are copies of letters written by the children and excerpts of other valuable documents, such as interrogations and confessions. I found additional material about Geyer at the Free Library of Philadelphia in annual reports from the city’s superintendent of police included in the “Annual Message” of the city’s mayor. (See City of Philadelphia, below.) These reports contain valuable bits of information, for example, the fact that for routine detective work Geyer was paired with another top detective, Thomas G. Crawford, the man who escorted Holmes to Philadelphia from Boston. On that trip Holmes asked permission to hypnotize Crawford. The detective refused. Holmes asked again, this time offering to pay $500 for the privilege—a thinly veiled bribe. Geyer and Crawford consistently ranked first or second among the city’s two-man teams of detectives for the dollar value of stolen goods they recovered.

I also mined details from
The Trial of Herman W. Mudgett, Alias, H. H. Holmes,
a word-for-word transcript of the trial, with closing arguments and the appellate court’s opinion. See also Franke, 61–81 and Schechter, 195–205.

Geyer’s assignment
: Geyer, 158–61, 171–74.

Graham had thought twice
: Schechter states, “In March 1895 a fire had consumed Geyer’s home, killing his beloved wife, Martha, and their only child, a blossoming twelve-year-old girl name Esther” (202).

“Holmes is greatly given
: Geyer, 54.

Holmes claimed
: Ibid., 53–57. The first half of Geyer’s book (13–172) provides a richly detailed portrait of the insurance fraud and the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. For still more detail, see
The Trial.

. The coroner
: Geyer, 33–40.

“I wish you could see
: Ibid., 353–54.

“Mamma have you
: Ibid., 355.

“Property of H. H. Holmes
: Ibid., 158.

“it did not look like
: Ibid., 173.

Geyer reached Cincinnati
: Ibid., 174. Geyer devotes pages 173–298 to a nearly day-by-day account of his search.

“There is really
: Ibid., 174.

“I was not able
: Ibid., 180.

“a very wealthy man
: Ibid., 188.

“We are all well here
: Ibid., 269–70.

“And I expect
: Ibid., 271.

“It seems as though
: Ibid., 272.

“evidently heartbroken
: Ibid., 190.

“Holmes said that Howard
: Ibid., 189.

“something seemed to tell me
: Ibid., 190.

Geyer realized
: Ibid., 213–14.

“Tell mama
: Reprinted in Franke, 223–24.

“So when this poor child
: Geyer, 258.

“Howard,” she had written
: Franke, 224.

Moyamensing Prison

“The great humiliation
: Mudgett, 215.

“and to keep my watch
: Ibid., 216.

“Come with me
: Ibid., 5.

It is one of the defining
:
Diagnostic,
646; Karpman, 499; Silverman, 21, 28, 32–33.

“prison diary
: Mudgett, 210. His supposed diary appears on 211–21.

“I was as careful
: Letter reprinted in Geyer, 163–71.

The Tenant

On Sunday, July 7, 1895
: Geyer, 214.

“This seemed too good
: Ibid., 230.

“Only a slight hole
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
August 5, 1895.

“We lifted her
: Geyer, 233.

Nellie’s feet
: Schechter, 224.

“I told her
: Geyer, 244.

“Where is Nellie?
: Ibid., 245.

“Nothing could be more
: Ibid., 250.

“one of the most satisfactory
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
August 5, 1895.

“Had he been placed
: Geyer, 251–52.

A Lively Corpse

In Philadelphia
: Barlow’s attempt to catch Holmes by surprise is detailed in
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 17, 1895.

“and I hardly opened it
: Mudgett, 226.

“genius for explanation
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 17, 1895.

“I was in no condition
: Mudgett, 227.

“My ideas are
: Boswell and Thompson, 112–13.

“All the Weary Days”

“The number of mysterious persons
: Geyer, 268.

“Days came and passed
: Ibid., 269.

at two hundred
: Boswell and Thompson, 87; Franke, 109.

Chicago detectives
: The search of Holmes’s castle conducted by Chicago police was heavily reported in the nation’s newspapers. See
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 1895;
Chicago Tribune,
July 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, August 18, 1895; and
New York Times,
July 25, 26, 29, 31, 1895.

“Do you ever see
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 26, 1895.

One
Tribune
headline
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 20, 1895.

“all,” Geyer said
: Geyer, 283.

“I must confess
: Ibid., 283–84.

“The mystery
: Ibid., 284.

“Holmes’ Den Burned
:
Chicago Tribune,
August 19, 1895.

“By Monday
: Geyer, 285.

“I did not have the renting
: Ibid., 286.

“All the toil
: Ibid., 287.

“that he did not think
: Ibid., 301.

“a large charred mass
: Ibid., 297.

It was Howard’s
: Ibid., 300.

Malice Aforethought

On September 12, 1895
: For news reports on the Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Toronto indictments, see
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
September 13, 1895.

“In conclusion
: Mudgett, 255–56.

“It is humiliating
: Quoted in
Literary Digest,
vol. 11, no. 15 (1896) 429.

Chicago’s “feeling of humiliation
: Ibid.

One of the most surprising
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 30, 1895.

“He is a prodigy
: Schechter, 228.

EPILOGUE: THE LAST CROSSING

The Fair

Walt Disney’s father
: Mosley, 25–26; Schickel, 46.

The writer L. Frank Baum
: Adams, 115; Updike, 84–85.

The Japanese temple
: Miller, 549.

The fair prompted
: Jahn, 22.

Even the Lincoln Memorial
: The fair’s success boosted Burnham’s prestige and helped get him appointed to the federal commission charged with building the monument. His own devotion to classical styles then held sway. See page 389 and corresponding note below. Also see Hines, 154–57.

“our people out
: Moore,
McKim,
245.

“possibilities of social beauty
: Hines, 120.

William Stead recognized
: Whyte, 53.

They asked Burnham
: Hines, 140, 180–83, 188–89, 190–91. See also Burnham and Bennett,
Plan
; Burnham and Bennett,
Report
; McCarthy, “Chicago Businessmen.”

While helping design
: Hines, 148–49.

Other cities came to Daniel Burnham
: Hines, 347.

“If I told you
: Crook, 112. See Crook throughout for an excellent if dry account of Sullivan’s decline after the world’s fair—dry because the work is a doctoral thesis.

“Louis Sullivan called
: Hines, 232.

“To Daniel H. Burnham
: Ibid.

“contagion
: Sullivan, Louis, 321, 324.

“virus
: Ibid., 324

“progressive cerebral meningitis
: Ibid.

“Thus Architecture died
: Ibid., 325.

Both Harvard and Yale
: Hines, 125.

“He needs to know
: Ibid., 254, 263.

“What was done
: Daniel Burnham, “Biography of Daniel Hudson Burnham of Chicago,” Moore Papers, Speech, Article and Book File, Burnham 1921, Proofs and Biographical Sketches.

“It was questioned by many
: Ellsworth to Moore, February 8, 1918, Moore Papers, Speech, Article and Book File, Burnham Correspondence, 1848–1927, Box 13, File 2.

In 1901 Burnham built
: Hines, 288.

Of the twenty-seven buildings
: Lowe, 122.

“Up to our time
: Hines, 351.

“I thought the fair
: Burnham to Margaret, April 7, 1894, Burnham Archives, Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 5.

“If I were able
: Edward H. Bennett, “Opening of New Room for the Burnham Library of Architecture,” October 8, 1929, Burnham Archives, Box 76.

“You’ll see it lovely
: Undated biography, Burnham Archives, Box 28, File 2.

Recessional

“It has today
: Olmsted, May 10, 1895, memory no longer to be trusted.

That summer
: Stevenson, 424.

“the bitterest week
: Rybczynski,
Clearing,
407.

“You cannot think
: Ibid.

He beat the family horse
: Roper, 474.

“They didn’t carry out
: Ibid.

His wife
: Rybczynski,
Clearing,
411.

In the autumn of 1896
: Anderson, 75.

On November 17
: Ibid., 75.

“The request of Mrs. Ferris
: Ibid., 77.

“miscalculated his powers
: Ibid., 75.

In 1903
: For details on the fate of Ferris’s wheel, see Anderson, 77–81.

“But one thing
: Bloom, 143.

The fair made Buffalo Bill
: Carter, 376; Monaghan, 422.

He died in Denver
: Monaghan, 423.

“I went to Jackson Park
: Lingeman, 114.

“It means so much
: Hines, 266–67.

“No one should be
: Prendergast to Alfred Trude (the letter is dated February 21, 1893, but the date is clearly incorrect, as the letter was written after his conviction; the return address is the Cook County Jail), Trude Papers.

“a poor demented imbecile
: Darrow, 425.

“I am sorry for all fathers
: Weinberg, 38.

They dumped
: Darrow, 228.

In New York
: Legend holds that a notorious belly dancer named Little Egypt made her debut at the world’s fair. Sol Bloom says she was never there (Bloom, 137). Donna Carlton, in
Looking for Little Egypt,
says it’s possible a dancer named Little Egypt was indeed at the fair but that many dancers adopted the name. Some sources also claim that Little Egypt’s name was Farida Mazhar. (Half a dozen spellings exist; I’ve chosen this one.) About all that can be said with certainty is that a dancer named Farida Mazhar likely did appear at the fair. Carlton says she “probably performed” (74) on the Midway and cites a source who contends that Farida believed “‘the title of Little Egypt belonged to her.’” George Pangalos, the impresario who brought the Street in Cairo to the Midway, stated publicly that he hired Mazhar to dance at his concession in the Midway and that she was considered one of the finest dancers in Cairo. And columnist Teresa Dean describes a visit to the theater in the Street in Cairo where she saw “Farida, the pretty girl who goes through her contortions” (157). In any event a young woman using the name Little Egypt apparently did pop out of a whipped-cream pie in New York several years after the fair, at a stag party that became so notorious it was called the Awful Seeley Dinner. Its host was Herbert Barnum Seeley, a nephew of the late P. T. Barnum, who threw the party on behalf of his brother, Clinton Barnum Seeley, who was about to be married (Carlton, 65).