Devil in the White City property of H.H. Holmes

Nothing like a little time jump in order to get on with the story of the devious devil that is H.H Holmes. At the beginning of this section, it is June 1985, two years after the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Frank Geyer, an experienced detective of the Philadelphia police department, is introduced as having been assigned the case of one unusual suspect who was in police custody for insurance fraud. This subject, of course, was none other than one Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes. He was recently picked up by the Philadelphia police department for faking the death of his longtime associate Benjamin Pitezel and attempting to swindle the insurance company out of $10,000 for the life insurance policy he had taken out of Pitezel. While it had appeared clear to everyone that this was the extent of Holmes’s crimes, as he had confessed and awaited trial, to Geyer it slowly became clear that he had not faked Pitezel’s death, but that he killed him and made it look like an accident. As if that was not grave enough, three of Pitezel’s five children were now missing as well, all of which were last seen in Holmes’s company. As a result, it becomes Frank Geyer’s assignment to find the children, and awaiting him is much more than he ever could have expected.     

Geyer is aware of Holmes’s ownership of the World’s Fair Hotel in Chicago during the exposition, as well as the fact that he moved to Texas after the Fair’s conclusion before traveling around a bit to St. Louis, and finally Philadelphia, all the way committing frauds. To learn even more he goes to Holmes’s cell to interview him, but learns nothing new given Holmes’s aptitude for lying and charming people. Apparently the three young children- Alice, Nellie, and Howard- had been traveling with Minnie Williams on their way to England the last time Holmes had seen them. The only other information Geyer gets before going on his way is a collection of letters from Alice and Nellie to their mother, outlining parts of their journey, that were intercepted by Holmes so that they never reached her. He uses these letters to retrace the steps of their seemingly simple journey, before learning along the way that it is much more complex than he envisioned. Geyer begins in Cincinnati, then travels to Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit, along the way finding several hotels and even houses that Holmes took residence in along his journey, and picking up many key pieces of information. By the time that he gets to Indianapolis, Geyer learns that Holmes’s latest wife, Georgiana Yoke, had been traveling with him at the same time as the children. What was bizarre, however, was the fact that Holmes seemed to manage to keep the two parties separate, his wife and the children. He is hesitant to leave Indianapolis for Chicago, feeling from the girls’s letters that, “Howard had never left there alive” (Larson 348). Upon his arrival in Chicago, surprisingly enough, the detective learned minimal about Holmes and quickly moved forward to Detroit. By the time he gets to Detroit, “Geyer was getting a feel for his quarry. There was nothing rational about Holmes, but his behavior seemed to follow a pattern” (Larson 349). He becomes surprised further to find that Holmes was now moving three separate parties, his wife, the children, and Mrs. Pitezel, and kept them all separate from each other. The most startling information was found in Alice Pitezel’s letter, however, which said, “Howard is not with us now” (Larson 350). It would appear that Frank Geyer’s worry from Indianapolis might be a reality.          

As Geyer is off exploring and investigating Holmes’s crimes, the devilish doctor remains in his cell in Moyamensing Prison and becomes “the model of a model prisoner” (Larson 351). While it seemed like this, the fact is that he was manipulating the guards in order to get what he wants, namely a newspaper that allows him to observe Geyer’s search and his own growing fame. Beyond this, Holmes begins to compose a diary of his time in prison, as well as a memoir of his own life, both of which were inventions of his twisted mind in order to bend the truth in his favor. In addition, Holmes composes a letter to Mrs. Carrie Pitezel, likely with the intent of backing the story he told Geyer about Minnie Williams taking the children to England. Meanwhile, Geyer goes to Toronto, again realizing that Holmes kept the groups in three different locations. Here he gains a valid tip from a man who believes Holmes rented the house next to his for only a day, borrowing a shovel and leaving with a trunk indefinitely. Upon this information, the detectives immediately check out the house next door, traveling into the cellar where they make an alarming discovery: “Only a slight hole had been made when the gases burst forth and the stench was frightful. At three feet they uncovered human bone” (Larson 357). What they found was the decaying, naked remains of Alice and Nellie Pitezel, who were identifiable only by Alice’s teeth and Nellie’s long black hair. It is discovered that Holmes put the girls in a trunk before cutting a hole in the side and pumping in gas to kill them. Howard is not found and Geyer remains hopeful that he could still be alive in Indianapolis somehow.    


As the news of Geyer’s discoveries breaks out into the papers, Holmes manages to find out despite the efforts of the police to keep the papers out of his hands. He will not talk to the District Attorney when summoned there for questioning and even makes up a story about Minnie and a man named Hatch plotting to kill the children in order to keep his innocence alive. After putting this in his memoir, Holmes communicates with journalist John King to attempt to publish it. Meanwhile, Geyer’s search for Howard Pitezel takes him back to Indianapolis, where he first has no leads. As this is happening, the discovery of the girls cause Chicago police to investigate what would soon be known as Holmes’s murder castle in Englewood. Here they find overwhelming evidence that suggests that Holmes murdered several young women, including 8 ribs, part of a skull, 18 ribs from a child, several vertebrate, a foot bone, a shoulder blade, a hip socket, as well as many female clothing items. The police seem to identify a few of the victims before the hotel mysteriously burns to the ground one night, destroying much unexplored evidence. Back in Indianapolis, Geyer finally goes to the only area he hasn’t yet searched, Irvington. Here he uncovers Howard’s remains, along with evidence and witnesses that clearly point Holmes as the killer. As a result from all of this Holmes is indicted in many cities, including Philadelphia, Toronto and Indianapolis, for murders. He will likely be convicted in at least one state for murder and his book is published. His horrendous acts were described by one newspaper which wrote, “He is a prodigy of wickedness, a human demon, a being so unthinkable that no novelist would dare to invent such a character” (Larson 370). When Holmes finally goes to trial, he is convicted and given the maximum sentence of the death penalty, He confesses to killing many people, although the exact number is never known as he gives three different confessions. In one confession, Holmes described himself in a seemingly bizarre manner saying, “My head and face are gradually assuming an elongated shape. I believe fully that I am growing to resemble the devil- that the similitude is almost completed” (Larson 385). This claim seems absurd until after his hanging, at which he seemed very calm and collected. After he is killed, strange things happened to those connected to his conviction. Frank Geyer became very ill, the warden of the prison committed suicide, a jury member was electrocuted, the priest who delivered his last rights was found dead of mysterious causes, Emeline Cigrand’s father was grotesquely burned, and the DA’s office burned leaving only a picture of Holmes unscathed. All of these bizarre occurrences only contributed to the mysterious menace that was Dr. H.H. Holmes.



Beyond the interesting end of H.H. Holmes, the end of the novel sheds light onto what happens with the various members that helped make the World’s Columbian Exposition possible. The Fair undoubtedly has a lasting impact on Chicago, the US, and the world. It inspired people like Walt Disney, L. Frank Baum and his creation of Oz, and Frank Lloyd Wright. It also spurred the career of Daniel Burnham, who became a highly recruited architect. across the country. After the Fair, however, it was not all good news for the key components. Daniel Burnham begins to suffer from a declining health level, Olmsted dies in an institution he desperately did not want to be in, George Ferris dies of typhoid fever in 1896, and Sol Bloom, the midway manager, loses everything in a bad investment. Lastly the novel returns to where it began, with Daniel Hudson Burnham aboard the Olympic, attempting to contact Frank Millet on the sister ship, the Titanic, in the year 1912. Unfortunately Burnham is disappointed as he learns of the ship’s sinking and that his dear friend did not survive. Regardless of the Titanic’s tragic end, the Olympic continues its course for Europe. In a tragic twist Daniel Burnham lives only 47 more days as he slips into a coma and dies, before later being buried nearby John Root in Graceland, Chicago.

Overall I believe that The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is truly a masterful literary work. Larson somehow is able to blend historical truths with his own imagination to create a historical fiction novel that reads like a piece of fiction. From the intricate details and images used to describe the White City that rose triumphantly in the Black City of Chicago, to the details into the psychotic mind of H.H. Holmes, Larson creates a text that is interesting nd informative. The part that easily was more intriguing personally was the story of H.H. Holmes and the tales of his terror and murder. The novel turned out to be everything that I had hoped it would be upon choosing it and it will be one that I remember reading throughout my life. I will definitely be anticipating the release of the movie version of the novel, in which Leonardo Dicaprio has been casted to play the devilish H.H. Holmes.  

The concluding months of the World’s Columbian Exposition are certainly interesting ones, full of unexpected twists and turns that cause chaos. Given what has happened thus far, however, this cannot be surprising, and it does not come without some well deserved glory and triumph for Daniel Hudson Burnham and the city of Chicago. By the end of June, average daily attendance has risen to the point where it has more doubled from the anemic figures of May, rising from 37,501 to 89,170. On July 4th, the paid attendance even spike to a record of 283,273, a number greater than the entire first week of the Fair. Despite the increase, the numbers are far below the number originally desired by the planners, 200,000 daily, but still the trend is promising. Daniel Burnham, and even Frederick Law Olmsted, were fairly happy with the increasing signs and the quality of the Fair at this point. The Fair seemed to be even more mesmerizing now and desirable than before, as one historian described, “Call it no more the White City on the Lake, it is Dreamland” (Larson 282). There is was even surprisingly little crime and misbehaving found and punished on the Fair grounds, although the exposition hospital did develop quite the list of serious, and even comical, treatments: “820 cases of diarrhea, 154 of constipation, 21 of hemorrhoids, 434 indigestion, 365 foreign bodies in the eyes, 364 severe headaches, 594 episodes of fainting, syncope and exhaustion, 1 case of extreme flatulence, and 169 involving teeth that hurt like hell” (Larson 284). Several famous individuals could be found at the Fair as well, ranging from Houdini, Tesla, Edison, Joplin, Darrow, a Princeton professor named Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, and a sweet old lady named Susan B Anthony. Naturally much of the attendance boost was attributed to the spectacle that was the Ferris Wheel, with thousands riding it every day. Stories of its unsafety persisted, however, including a sensationalization of a man who became dizzy and was subdued by a woman removing her skirt and placing it over his head. You really could see everything at the fair and the marvels seemed endless.     

Of course it could not be expected that the Fair would proceed without some physical damage and malfunctions. Midway through the month of July, a violent storm comes to Chicago and wreaks havoc on the Fair. The wicked weather is so powerful that causes glass to fall from the roof of the Agriculture Building, as well as damage to the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building, the Machinery Building, and the Hungarian Café. Probably the most terrifying place one could possibly be for this storm was in the Ferris Wheel, as it gave view to the formation of a funnel as it danced across the Fair grounds. Despite the terror in the passengers as they viewed the storm mounting, the wheel continued to turn as if nothing was occurring and they felt only a slight vibration. The storm did, however, shred a hot air balloon to pieces and “cast shreds of its nine thousand yards of silk as far as half a mile away” (Larson 301). As if the storm was not enough, the next day as Daniel Burnham is monitoring repairs, a second fire breaks out in the Cold Storage Building. The first was minor due to a execution defect in the design, but it went completely unknown to Burnham about a month earlier, which turned out to be a gigantic problem. As the alarm sounds, the Fair’s fire department responds, but several firefighters become trapped on a tower as they enter the blaze. As the fire consumes the building and the rescuers, viewers from the Ferris Wheel have a horrific view of the scene, later described as, “Never was so terrible a tragedy witnessed by such a sea of agonized faces” (Larson 302). In all the blaze killed twelve firemen and three workers, but for the next day Fair attendance exceeded 100,000. Apparently the rubble that was the Cold Storage Building was something tantalizing and intriguing to the public.     

Finally a truly historic day for the World’s Fair can be found. Monday, October 9, 1893, also known as Chicago Day at the Fair turned out to be the day the planners had hoped for. When originally planning for the Fair they hoped to break the record set by Paris’s exposition of 397,000 people. Even the Mayor Carter Henry Harrison requests that businesses shut down in celebration of Chicago on their designated day. Upon riding his own wheel on that day, George Ferris looked down and remarked, “There must be a million people down there” (Larson 319). It would turn out that while Ferris was off with his estimate, he was not too far off as the Fair welcomed 751,026 visitors to Jackson Park that day, shattering the record set by Paris and any number set by a peaceable event that had taken place in history. Even better news came the following day, when exposition officials declared that the previous day had brought the fair out of debt, and now Daniel Burnham and other stakeholders could truly celebrate what they had accomplished.          


Despite all of the initial troubles with completion and attendance and disasters, the outlook finally looked bright for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Frank Millet plans for the closing ceremony to be even bigger than Chicago Day and hopefully draw more visitors. Throughout October, the final month of the Fair, attendance rose sharply as people realized that this would truly be their last chance to see the White City. By October 22, paid attendance totaled 138,011, and only two days later it reached 244,127. Everyone hoped and believed that October 30 and the closing ceremony would break the record set by Chicago Day. Everything was looking up until the tragic day that became October 28, 1893. On this day Mayor Carter Henry Harrison was assassinated by the most likely mentally ill Patrick Eugene Prendergast. Claiming that Harrison had promised him a position in government when he really never had, Prendergast confessed to the police shortly after still holding the gun in his hands. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, the tragic death of the mayor caused the Exposition Company to cancel the closing ceremony. None of the festivities that had been planned for the grand day would take place, and there would be no opportunity for a new attendance record to be set. With the performance of Harrison’s funeral, the Fair was over. Everywhere the white flags that had symbolized the White City hung at half mast and the six hundred carriages that made up Carter Harrison’s cortege stretched for miles. The ride to the burial site was a difficult one, especially for Burnham who had traveled the same way before to bury John Root, his beloved partner. “The fair begun with death, and now it had ended with death” (Larson 332). The murder dredged the city and covered it “like a heavy curtain,” as all of the excitement that had taken the city by storm due to the Fair ended. The scene that evening was perfectly described by William Stead, who wrote, “Beneath the stars the lake lay dark and sombre, but on its shores gleamed and glowed in golden radiance the ivory city, beautiful as a poet’s dream, silent as a city of the dead” (Larson 333). Immediately Chicago returns to its dark past as “The Black City,” and it becomes a changed place. Without the exposition being able to provide the numerous jobs it had, as well as bringing consumers to Chicago, the economy takes a turn for the worse. More and more people lose their jobs and unions strike all over. It becomes so bad that President Cleveland even has to send troops to Chicago in the following year to keep the peace. Unfortunately much of the exposition is illegally set ablaze and burns down. Even later, in the next year, people began to finally wonder about the hundreds of people that went to Chicago to see the Fair and were never heard from again. Questions began to arise about Dr. H.H. Holmes and his Englewood Castle and why his bizarre structure was built where it was.

Before the Fair’s end, however, Holmes performed several more devious and illegal acts on those women who surrounded him. Just like many thousand others, Holmes and the Williams sisters, Minnie and Nannie, travel to the Fair for Independence Day, and upon their return to the flat away from the hotel, Holmes makes them an incredibly generous offer. He wants to take them to the East coast and then over to Europe, a plan that the girls agree too instantly. The next day Holmes takes Nannie to his hotel for a tour, while Minnie stays and packs, in an evident step in his seemingly unavoidable plan to kill them both. He takes her into his pharmacy and then his office, before locking her in his vault knowing that almost everyone else would be away at the Fair. While Nannie believes that she is accidentally locked in the vault, Holmes is outside listening the entire time, listening to her knock and cry for help, gaining what seemed to be a calm feeling from it. As her panic grows, Holmes enjoys what he hears and debates several psychopathic methods of ending her life. He could open it and hold her just before the certain tragedy, he could simply open the door and smile at her to let her know it was no accident before closing the door and returning to listening, or he could even flood his vault with gas, a method he eventually chose. After this he returns to his other flat and picks up Minnie, telling her that they will simply meet Nannie at the pharmacy after they go to the building. It seems that Holmes kills Minnie next, as the owners of the flat recieve a letter a few days later saying that Holmes will no longer need it. A hired resident picks up a box and trunk for him, delivering the box to the train station and trunk to another man, Charles Chappell, who makes skeletons. In addition, he gives his associate, Benjamin Pitezel, and his family belongings from the Williams sisters, making the crime that much more sinister.                        

Before the section’s end, Holmes, newly free and rich in land acquired from Minnie’s death, brings a new woman, Georgiana Yoke, to the Fair. Before the end, he asks her to be his wife and she agrees, as she is infatuated by his uniqueness as every other woman in the past has been. Apparently Holmes decides that it is time to leave Chicago, as the pressure from debt collectors he had so expertly avoided in the past amounted more and more. In part of his leaving process he sets fire to the top of his castle, and while it does minimal damage, it does allow him to collect several thousand dollars for insurance claims. A snag occurs, however, when the company requires the owner, Hiram S Campbell to pick up the money, but that was simply an alias utilized by Holmes, and so he never collects. This causes a stirring of his creditors, who ambush him in a meeting that even he cannot talk his way out of. With all this, he flees with Georgiana Yoke to Texas to better utilize Minnie’s land in that area, planning to build another structure similar to the one in Chicago. Before leaving, however, he did acquire a life insurance policy to insure his associate, Benjamin Pitezel’s life for $10,000. This is an odd action and only makes me think that Holmes plans to kill Pitezel just as he has killed so many of his other close friends and acquaintances. The actions of Holmes are certainly diabolical and make the novel that much more interesting, and it seems as if his plans and secrets are slowly beginning to unravel. I personally cannot wait to see what fate awaits the serial killer that is Dr. H.H. Holmes.                        

At last the time has arrived for the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. After many months of grueling, strenuous work and planning the Fair is finally open to the public. May 1, 1893 marks the grand opening, headlined by various important people, including President Grover Cleveland who speaks at the opening ceremony. From the first day at the fair, the feeling is that it had turned out to be a great success, despite its various problems and snags along the way. Despite the fact that Olmsted needs to continue and improve his efforts on maintaining the grounds, and Ferris “needed to finish that damned wheel,” as Daniel Burnham put it, attendance for opening day had come in somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 people (Larson 239). Every indicator from the first day seemed to point to the fact that the Fair would be a tremendous success; however, that optimism lasted for all of twenty four hours. On May 2, only ten thousand people were recorded as having attended the Fair. Probably sparked in part by economic failure around the country and worldwide, this fact sparks great concern into Daniel Hudson Burnham’s mind. He begins to push Olmsted and Ferris to improve their efforts, and assigns Francis Millet the job of advertising and promoting the Fair to boost attendance because without it, the Fair cannot possibly profit. Come the end of the first month average attendance was only 33,000, a number far below what had been expected by Burnham and the committee, so only one question can be asked: Will the Fair ever profit?

Despite its incompleteness and the lack of attendance at the Fair, those who decide to attend can experience some truly remarkable things upon their arrival. It is full of newfound inventions and many first time attractions. There is even a daycare for children, where there parents can drop them off and receive a claim check in return. Spectators could view the first ever moving pictures on Edison’s Kinetoscope and were stunned by the sight of lightning chattering from Nikola Tesla’s body. The marvels are seemingly endless, with the display of the first zipper and first ever all electric kitchen, complete with an automatic dishwasher and the first box of Aunt Jemima’s instant pancake mix. Fairgoers could sample an odd tasting new gum called Juicy Fruit, a bizarre snack food labeled Cracker Jacks, and Shredded Wheat, or “shredded doormat” as some called it, which seemed unlikely to profit. The attractions and wonders seemed to never end and as a result two weeks was the recommended time that visitors spend in order to cover it all. Despite the interesting splendor of exhibits and buildings, attendance could not be boosted. Perhaps what was needed was the finishing of the grand attraction that was feared yet anticipated: The Ferris Wheel.           

Finally, come the first week in June, the actual wheel itself was completely put up and. None of the 36 cars were hung yet, but the wheel was ready for its first rotation. Standing alone, unsupported, the wheel looked incredibly fragile due to its lack of visual support. It was decided that the wheel would take its first cargo-less test spin in a nerve wracking move. Luckily, the test was a success and everyone in sight was relieved that no drastic casualties were drawn, including Ferris’s wife who telegraphed her husband who had been unable to attend after. Almost no time was wasted before the gigantic cars were hung on the wheel, and by June 11, six of the wheels are hung and up for a test run with passengers. Yet again it is successful and the experience proves to be an awe inspiring one. When the cars first reached the top, a mighty 264 feet up, the people crammed into the cars roared but were quickly silenced upon realizing just what they were experiencing. The true power of the sight was described by one of the passengers as, “It was a most beautiful sight one obtains in the descent of the car, for then the whole fair grounds is laid before you. The view is so grand that all timidity left me...the sight was so inspiring that all conversation stopped, and we all were lost in admiration of this grand sight. The equal of it I have never seen” (Larson 270-271). The majesty of the Ferris Wheel was in no doubt upon the test day, and after the remaining thirty cars were attached, the wheel was finally opened on June 21, 1893. The ceremony was headed by Mister George Washington Gale Ferris himself and was attended by his wife, the mayor of Chicago, and many spectators and eager riders. While safety fears were obvious, the enjoyment was unarguable and one can only hope that it will give Fair attendance a boost that it desperately needs.               

Naturally with all the excitement generated by the Fair, many people are infiltrating the city of Chicago and no one enjoys it more than our old friend Dr. H.H. Holmes. In typical Holmes fashion, the owner of The World's Fair Hotel denies admission to men, claiming the rooms to be full, when they truthfully aren’t, and accepts numerous young women that he finds “intoxicating.” With each new female guest, however, his new wife Minnie becomes increasingly jealous, and as a result, Holmes decides to rent a flat relatively far away from the hotel, claiming it will be better for raising a family. The move allows Holmes to enjoy himself at the hotel, and enjoy his fruitful company of female guests that may have found the hotel dreary, but did not mind because of the danger of Chicago and the warm, charming owner. Often times guests checked out without paying their bill however, seemingly disappearing without notice, but Holmes never minded and even payed for the stays. Without doubt, Holmes is behind the various disappearances, likely selling more skeletons for medical use in his sick and twisted fetish.   

Some of Holmes’s tactics he uses for making guests disappear are even discussed in this section of the reading. Several guests are counted as having disappeared, including a waitress, a young stenographer named Jennie Thompson, another woman named Evelyn Stewart, and even a male physician. The hotel is described as smelling of chemicals, specifically of gas, cleaner, and medicine, but this was to be expected given Holmes ran a pharmacy downstairs. Holmes never killed to the face surprisingly enough, but he did enjoy proximity, and enjoyed being close enough to hear the panic in his victims as death approached them. He would use either his vault or chloroform to subdue his victims, before disposing of the bodies by burning them in his kiln, dissolving parts in pits of quicklime, or even skinning the bodies and selling them as skeletons for science. Regardless of the method, H.H. Holmes was becoming a very skilled serial killer who enjoyed his craft.        


During Holmes’s last section of the reading, Minnie’s sister from Texas, Anna “Nannie” Williams, arrives upon accepting Holmes’s invitation to visit the World’s Fair in last week’s reading. Despite her initial skepticism upon hearing of Minnie’s impromptu marriage early on, Nannie is immediately charmed and trapped by Holmes’s typical, charming demeanor, as well as his affection for her sister. Nannie accompanies Holmes and Minnie on tours of downtown Chicago, the Union Stockyards, where the sight of pigs being slaughtered left Holmes notably “unmoved” and the girls disgusted yet thrilled (Larson 265). The three of them visit the Fair for many days and the women are thoroughly enamored with it. Finally, Holmes invites Nannie to stay for the entire summer and she requests her already packed trunk to be sent from home. Obviously Holmes has taken some interest in his bride’s sister, so it will be interesting to see if she will come upon the same fate as many other women have under the company of Dr. H.H Holmes. Will Nannie survive the summer? I guess we will have to wait to find out.           

Finally the idea for “out-Eiffeling Eiffel” has presented itself. The young engineer from Pittsburgh that had already twice proposed ideas to the World’s Fair committee, only to be shot down both times, found a winner with his third attempt. His name was none other than George Washington Gale Ferris, and he proposed to build “a vertically revolving wheel 250’ in dia” (Larson 185). Upon their approval, not even the committee knew what his true plans were for his monumental project. His idea was that the wheel would have thirty-six cars, each one the size of a Pullman train car, equipped with a lunch counter. As if that wasn’t enough, when it was filled to capacity, the wheel would carry 2,160 people at a time about three hundred feet above the World’s Fair, a height slightly above the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Attempting this already audacious task would be difficult given normal circumstances, but given the fact that the Fair was scheduled to open a mere four months from the day approval was granted to Ferris. Due to the timing, work had to begin in the cold Chicago winter, meaning the frozen earth would have to be dealt with when laying the eight 140 foot towers for support. In addition to needing an enormous amount of steel from various companies across the United States, Ferris ensured that each part her ordered was thoroughly inspected. After all because the wheel was “a complex assemblage of 100,000 parts that ranged in size from small bolts to the giant axle...absolute precision was necessary,” because any slight error could prove to be catastrophic (Larson 193). With the combined size of the wheel and the fact that its design called for what was essentially two giant bicycle wheels connected to the axle by two and a half inch, slender metal rods, the wheel caused great concern to Daniel Burnham in the area of safety. Not to mention that the axle, weighing in at 142,031 pounds, was the heaviest thing that had ever been lifted, and to such an extreme height. Whether or not Ferris’s marvel will be completed in time for Opening Day of the Fair has yet to be seen, but to pull it off would require a magnificent effort and a large amount of luck.      Despite the optimism found in other parts of this section, final preparations for the Fair seem to have caught some snags. Frederick Law Olmsted is a particular individual that cannot seem to catch a break despite all his good intentions. Harry Codman, his protégé and his unofficial son whom he had left in charge in Chicago due to his health problems, has died. Great grief strikes Olmsted because of this, and he returns to Chicago, feeling as if he is, “one standing on a wreck and can hardly see when we shall be afloat again” (Larson 194). He feels less up to the task than ever, but continues to work in Chicago until his health begins to fail him again and he is forced to leave. As a result, he sends a new assistant, Rudolf Ulrich, whom he no longer truly trusted, but nonetheless sent, hoping desperately that he would stay on task. As the section concludes, Olmsted continues to experience dismal health, as well as depression, partly spiked by concern that his beloved grounds would not be up to his standards come Opening Day.  This is truly the feeling of Daniel Hudson Burnham as well. Despite the fact that he and Olmsted agree on several aesthetic aspects of the Fair, both men are aware that while the progress made is above what they thought could be accomplished at first, it is nowhere near what it needs to be to surpass the Paris Fair.  As always, our old friend Dr. H.H. Holmes is scheming and finding pleasure in his serial killer lifestyle. His personal secretary that he acquired in last week’s reading, Emeline Cigrand, mysteriously disappeared. While she told Mrs. Lawrence, another tenant of Holmes’s that she was going back home to Indiana to stay, Mrs. Lawrence has a growing concern for Emeline’s whereabouts. As a result she confronts Holmes, who tells her she went off to be married, something particular odd because she never mentioned it to anyone. Despite Holmes’s production of a wedding announcement he “received,” Mrs. Lawrence’s suspicion grows to the point where she believes Holmes killed her. Oddly enough, however, she never went to the authorities. No one ever did with Holmes, which is absolutely mind blowing. Why would they not report their suspicions? It wasn’t just Mrs. Lawrence either, it was Emeline’s parents, Ned Conner, and Julia’s parents too. Will no one ever investigate Holmes, or will he simply continue wiping out poor innocent girls? As if it was not bad enough that he killed her, he actually skins Emeline from the waist up, puts her body in a trunk, ships it too an articulator who processes the body further, and then sells her skeleton to medical science at LaSalle Medical College of Chicago. One key piece of information that no one, not even Holmes is aware of, however, is that her footprint was left in his vault that he likely killed her in. Will this piece of evidence later bring down the devilish H.H. Holmes? It will be interesting to find out for sure.   In addition to Holmes’s horrific disposal of Emeline Cigrand, he begins to court another young lady, this time one from his past. Minnie Williams, a past lover from Boston whom Holmes toyed with in his past, moves to Chicago and contacts him. He asks her to come be his assistant, knowing that he will be able to “acquire Minnie,” and she delightfully accepts his offer. It is not long before Holmes asks her to marry him, to which she agrees of course. Before she knows it, he convinces her to sign over her fairly valuable inherited fortune to a man by the name of Alexander Bond, one of Holmes’s many aliases. Not only did Holmes now possess Minnie’s wealth, but there also is no legal record of their marriage found in the marriage registry of Cook County, Illinois. No one can possibly know what Holmes plans to do with poor Minnie Williams next, but hopefully she can escape the same fate that has captured several girls before her.

The Eiffel Tower. Without argument one of the greatest man made structures ever built, and one of the most popular tourist attractions found worldwide. Built by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel between 1887 and 1889, for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, France, at first it was widely regarded with skepticism. From the point of its reveal to today, however, it is considered an architectural wonder, attracting more visitors than any other paid tourist attraction in the world.  


At the time leading up to the Chicago World’s Fair, the opinion of the Eiffel Tower was no different. It was a wonder, “that not only assured the eternal fame of its designer, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, but also offered graphic proof the France had edged out the United States for dominance in the realm of iron and steel” (Larson 15). From that time forward, there was a national cry to “out-Eiffel Eiffel,” meaning that the United States’s most brilliant and gifted architects had to come up with a plan to best Eiffel’s tower and France. Not only did this desire to one-up the outside world fuel the idea for the World’s Columbian Exposition, but it was a necessary element to the event that constantly is found in the forefront of Daniel Hudson Burnham’s mind. Unfortunately, up until this point, a worthy idea to accomplish this task has eluded him, with Opening Day only months away. Despite his dire urging to his fellow American architects that something must be done to surpass the Eiffel Tower’s greatness, none of them seem to be going after it. Even the ones that do attempt a design are simply thinking in terms of towers, a direction that Burnham believes to be incorrect, saying, “Eiffel had done it first and best...To build a tower would be to follow Eiffel into territory he already had conquered for France” (Larson 135). So if not a tower what would the next great idea be and who could it come from? It seems none other than Eiffel himself would attempt it, as he submitted a design for a tower that was essentially taller than the one he had done in France. The fact that he seemed to be winning the race to have the task outraged American architects, an emotion Burnham welcomed as he politely rejected Eiffel’s offer.               

As Dedication Day approached, it appeared that a young architect from Pittsburgh would be preparing to make an attempt at “out-Eiffeling Eiffel.” What he would propose remains a mystery, however, but in order to finally get the approval from the World’s Fair commission, it would have to prove to be something truly tremendous. He seemed to be putting in full effort to come up with an inspiring design, spending $25,000 on drawings and other specifications for the attraction, and so I am personally very interested as to what he will come up with.


Aside from the problems surrounding creating an awe inspiring focal point for the World’s Fair, there have been a few other issues. Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous designer of Central Park, and the landscape architect for the fair, has become increasingly ill and it has affected progress. In addition, he is very displeased with the progress that has been made on the grounds come Dedication Day. Due to his declining health, he decides to take time off to travel to Europe, where he explores the Paris World’s Fair site. Seeing this makes him only more concerned that the American exposition is not sufficient, specifically in regards to building design. In addition, his drives through the countryside create feelings of anxiety and worry about Jackson Park, saying “ There is nothing in America to be compared with the pastoral or with the picturesque beauty that is common property in England” (Larson 171). Despite all of this, Olmsted remained confident that his landscapes in Chicago would succeed. Unfortunately, his health appears to constantly be dwindling so it will be interesting to see how and if he can recover. The fate of the World’s Columbian Exposition certainly is very dependent on how well Olmsted’s condition improves. 


Naturally our old friend Dr. H.H. Holmes has been up to some questionable activities lately that warrants a reflection. Altogether in this section, it appears that Holmes has killed 3 more women, Gertie Conner, Julia Conner, who was supposedly pregnant with she and Holmes’s baby, and her daughter, Pearl. Not only did Holmes likely kill Julia, but he also drove her away from her husband, Ned, who also becomes a pawn in Holmes’s scheme. The disappearances are beginning to rise slight suspicions in observers, however, including Ned and Mrs. Crowe, another building tenant. It is perplexing to wonder if anything will be done to investigate these suspicions because it does not appear that they will be taking any action at this point. Another interesting development is Holmes’s courting of yet another woman, this time Miss Emeline Cigrand. He steals her away from her other job by offering her double her salary to be his assistant, and they almost immediately become involved. At the end of the chapter it is clear that Holmes has asked Cigrand to marry him, so one can only wonder if she will fall into the same terrible fate that the other women have thus far.            

What would a novel be without some dark, unexpected turns? After all, consistent, positive progress cannot really be expected in real life can it? According to Erik Larson, the answer is apparently not, as the progress of the World's Fair begins to encounter more and more road blocks as the already strict time constraints begin to wind down. John Root has his rough design for the 1983 Chicago World's Fair approved, finally, and while that may seem like good news, much more complexity follows. Now, the duo of Daniel Burnham and John Root must contact other architects to assist in the development, and interestingly, they choose to go with ones from New York, Boston, and Kansas City, rather than Chicago. Not only does this decision cause an uproar in the city of Chicago, but the outsiders contacted are not all enthusiastic concerning participation. Only Henry Van Brunt agrees at first, so Burnham travels to New York to attempt and entice the others into joining. Only Robert Peabody of Boston agrees to Burnham, who is noticeably less confident without his partner, as well as Frederick Law Olmstead, another well-known architect involved in the project. Upon his return, not only is he disappointed with the results, but the city of Chicago is in an angry state over the betrayal, so Root and Burnham quickly decide to bring on five Chicago firms to the committee. Finally, some good news is found when the other holdouts agree to join upon the Committee on Grounds and Buildings offers to pay each $10,000, but their concerns with the project were not diminished. After all, "they still had not seen Jackson Park" (Larson 84), the decrepit park chosen for the site of the Fair.

Dubbed "The Landscape of Regret" by the chapter title, Jackson Park was not a welcome sight to the architects. As a matter of fact, upon viewing it, "The architects were stunned: 'they gazed,' Burnham said, 'with a feeling almost of despair'" (Larson 95). The sheer desolated look of the park was enough to scare almost anyone off, except for Burnham and Root, who believed they could make something extraordinary out of, "one square mile of desolation, mostly treeless...it was ugly, a landscape of last resort" (Larson 95). Unfortunately, the site, in all honesty, was even worse than it appeared, as many of the oak trees were dead, the root systems were badly damaged, and the soil was almost like quicksand, which spelled trouble for the buildings's foundations. This realization of the architects from outside of Chicago hit them so gravely, that one even remarked that the project could not be completed on time, to which Burnham simply replied, "That point is settled" (Larson 96). While Burnham may have been putting on a brave face, even he did not truly know if their goal could be accomplished.

As if the circumstances surrounding the World's Fair were not already incredibly difficult on Daniel Hudson Burnham, they were about to get much, much worse. While Burnham gathered the eastern architects in order to attempt to ease their concerns about the task at hand, the recently weakened John Root is officially diagnosed with pneumonia and takes a turn for the worse. Burnham leaves the meeting to go to his partner's bedside. He arrives in time to spend much of Root's last moments with him, but Root cannot be saved and he passes away, leaving behind a stunned Daniel Burnham. He even considers quitting the project altogether, but decides to stay and take on the ever daunting challenge with full enthusiasm. Part One ends here, leaving the reader in suspense, a technique mastered by Larson throughout his novel, whether it is from chapter to chapter, or between sections.

In addition to the traumatic events occurring in the life of Daniel Burnham, we revisit the adventures of Dr. H.H. Holmes. While his activities are less frequent in this section, we do note that his building is being developed with a kiln in the basement. While it is supposedly for his Warner Glass Bending Company, it noticeably took the form of an oven used in a crematorium, and could easily fit dead bodies. This detail is of extreme importance given the dark mystery that surrounds Holmes and the people that seem to disappear once they come around him. At the end of the section, we see two new females, Gertie and Julia Conner, enter Holmes's life and they are noticeably appealing to him. I am personally interested to see what will become of them as the novel moves forward. The most intriguing element of this entire section to me personally, lies in the final words of the section. They read, "Closer at hand a far stranger creature raised his head in equally intent anticipation. 'I was born with the devil in me,' he wrote. 'I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing'" (Larson 109). It is fairly clear that the person being discussed here is Dr. H.H. Holmes, and it left me with a sense of anticipation for the events to come. I am thoroughly interested to learn of what other devious acts Holmes will commit, as well as how the Fair will move along without John Root, and Larson's use of suspense allows this feeling to be evoked. It is something that not only excited me, but angers me as well, because I have to wait to learn what is coming.

Immediately, the novel begins with world-renouned architect Daniel Hudson Burnham traveling aboard the R.M.S. Olympic in the prologue. Through inference, the reader learns the the Olympic is the sister ship of the Titanic, and that this day is the very day that the Titanic sinks tragically. We learn that Burnham's close friend, Francis Millet, is aboard the Titanic, and Burnham's attempt to contact him is unsuccessful for reasons unknown to him. As Burnham returns to his room, he opens his diary and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair floods back to him as clear as day.

As the city of Chicago is described during the time leading up to the World's Fair, it becomes clear that it truly was a "black city." The crime rates are rapidly increasing and the level of morals is dropping just as rapidly. For some reason there is an influx of young women to the Chicago area. The rapid rate of murders and disappearances is shocking and the culture of parts of the city is becoming dangerous. The very first line of the actual story is one that sent chills up my own spine as I read it: "How easy it was to disappear" (Larson 11). Almost instantly the Erik Larson sets the tone for the entire story as a novel concerning shady disappearances and even serial killing. The end of the first chapter ends, fittingly, with the entrance of, "a young handsome doctor...[who] entered a world of clamor, smoke and steam, refulgent with the scents of murdered cattle and pigs. He found it to his liking" (Larson 12). This devilish man we later learn to be known as H.H. Holmes, the other focal character of the novel, alongside Burnham.

The similarities and differences between the two main characters, Burnham and Holmes, are clearly illustrated by the author throughout the beginning portion of the novel. Daniel Burnham is the 43 year old talented architect who is assigned the herculean task of controlling the design of the Chicago World's Fair, alongside his partner, John Root. While Burnham may not have the prestigious educational background that some of the other well known architects possess, he does have the pride and determination to tackle the enormous task presented before him. While he is a very skilled architect himself, Burnham generally handles the business aspects of his company, as well as customer relations, and he leaves more of the structural designs to Root. Contrary to Burnham's desire to do great things for the city of Chicago and to better the world around him, Dr. H.H. Holmes possess a more cynical outlook on life. From the early stages of his life, Holmes exhibits the warning signs that he will become a serial killer, including being present at the "accidental" death of a childhood friend. As he grows up, he moves all around the country before being hired by Mrs. Holton, the aging owner of a pharmacy, who shortly disappears. As he takes control of the drugstore and buys more and more property, Holmes notably gets unnatural attention from female customers, much to the dismay of his wife. He has a bizarre, yet well thought out plan of building his new building that appears to hold sinister purposes still unknown to the reader. While much about H.H Holmes is still unknown at this point, it is clear that he is a shady individual who will certainly be playing a major role in the novel as it progresses.

From what we know about the two main individuals in the story thus far, you can clearly tell that they differ when it comes to morals and what they believe in. However, these two men do share one characteristic that sets them apart from others around them: their commitment to what they set their mind to. Obviously both of these men are extremely determined to achieve whatever goals they set for themselves. Whether it is Daniel Burnham setting out to build the greatest World's Fair ever, or it is H.H. Holmes who is determined to be a serial killer and build his mysterious building in order to perform his devious actions, both men can and likely will accomplish what they mean to because of their determination and their pride. Given how much drive these two individuals have, I am personally curious to what will happen if and when their lives intertwine. Thinking about all of the possible things that could go wrong if these two men's paths cross is definitely an intriguing thought. The possibilities are seemingly endless and it will push me to continue reading to see if anyone important will begin to disappear.

Aaron Jones

Great with sarcasm. Mediocre with everything else.

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