The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

by Erik Larson

  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.” 374. 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 re
turn 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).

  Holmes

  “There was a red fluid: Trial, 117.

  “I would ask: Ibid., 124.

  “It was an expression: Philadelphia Public Ledger, October 31, 1895.

  “I saw them at Toronto: Trial, 297.

  “the most dangerous man: Schechter, 315.

  “That he fully intended: Geyer, 317.

  “I am convinced: Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12, 1896.

  “Here I left them: Ibid.

  “It will be understood: Ibid.

  His lawyers turned down: Franke, 189.

  The Wistar Institute: Philadelphia Inquirer, May 10, 1896.

  “The man was something: Ibid.

  “Take your time, old man: Philadelphia Inquirer, May 8, 1896. The Philadelphia Public Ledger of the same date offers a slightly different version: “Don’t be in a hurry, Aleck. Take your time.”

  “Holmes’ idea: Philadelphia Inquirer, May 8, 1896.

  Strange things: I derived this account mainly from news clippings gathered as an appendix in Holmes’s memoir. See Mudgett, after page 256. Schechter offers a nice distillation of these strange events on 333–37.

  No stone: My observations.

  In 1997: Stewart, 70.

  Aboard the Olympic

  “But—I know: Burnham to Millet, April 12, 1912, Moore Papers, Speech, Article and Book File, Burnham Correspondence, 1848–1927. Box 13, File 1.

  Hon. F. D. Millet: Envelope, April 11, 1912, ibid.

  The builder of both ships: Lynch, 159.

  “I think it is nothing serious: Whyte, 314.

  “Frank Millet, whom I loved: Hines, 359.

  As he and his family traveled: Hines, 360, 433.

  Both are buried: My observations. See also Hucke and Bielski, 13–30.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Abbot, Willis John. Carter Henry Harrison: A Memoir. Dodd, Mead, 1895.

  Adams, Henry. The Education of Henry Adams. Modern Library, 1999 (1918).

  Adams, Rosemary. What George Wore and Sally Didn’t. Chicago Historical Society, 1998.

  Anderson, Norman D. Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992. Chicago Historical Society.

  Badger, Reid. The Great American Fair. Nelson Hall, 1979.

  Baker, Charles. Life and Character of William Taylor Baker, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition and of the Chicago Board of Trade. Premier Press, 1908.

  Baker, Paul R. Richard Morris Hunt. MIT Press, 1980.

  Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Book of the Fair. Bancroft Co., 1893.

  Barnes, Sisley. “George Ferris’ Wheel, The Great Attraction of the Midway Plaisance,” Chicago History, vol. 6, no. 3 (Fall 1977). Chicago Historical Society.

  Besant, Walter. “A First Impression.” Cosmopolitan, vol. 15, no. 5 (September 1893).

  Bloom, Sol. The Autobiography of Sol Bloom. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1948.

  Bogart, Ernest Ludlow, and John Mabry Mathews. The Modern Commonwealth, 1893–1918. Illinois Centennial Commission, 1920.

  Boswell, Charles, and Lewis Thompson. The Girls in Nightmare House. Fawcett, 1955.

  Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth. “A New World Fable.” Cosmopolitan, vol. 16, no. 2 (December 1893).

  Brinnin, John Malcolm. The Sway of the Grand Saloon. Delacorte Press, 1971.

  Burg, David F. Chicago’s White City of 1893. University of Kentucky Press, 1976.

  Burnham, Daniel H. Archives, 1943.1, Series I–IX, Art Institute of Chicago.

  ———The Design of the Fair. Report. Burnham Archives, Box 58.

  ———The Final Official Report of the Director of Works of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Garland, 1989.

  Burnham, Daniel H., and Edward H. Bennett. Plan of Chicago. Da Capo Press, 1970 (1909).

  ———Report on a Plan for San Francisco. Urban Books, 1971 (1906).

  Burnham, Daniel H., and Francis Davis Millet. The Book of the Builders. Columbian Memorial Publication Society, 1894.

  Carlton, Donna. Looking for Little Egypt. IDD Books, undated.

  Carter, Robert A. Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man Behind the Legend. John Wiley & Sons, 2000.

  Catalogue of 200 Residence Lots. Chicago Real Estate Exchange, 1881. Chicago Historical Society.

  City of Philadelphia. “Report of the Superintendent of Police,” in First Annual Message of Charles F. Warwick, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. (For the year ended December 31, 1895.) Free Library of Philadelphia.

  ———.”Report of the Superintendent of Police,” in Fourth Annual Message of Edwin S. Stuart, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. (For the year ended December 31, 1894.) Free Library of Philadelphia.

  Cleckley, Hervey. The Mask of Sanity. C. V. Mosby, 1976.

  Commager, Henry Steele. The American Mind. Yale University Press, 1950.

  Crook, David Heathcote. Louis Sullivan, The World’s Columbian Exposition and American Life. Unpublished thesis, Harvard University, 1963.

  Darrow, Clarence. The Story of My Life. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934.

  Dean, Teresa. White City Chips. Warren Publishing Co., 1895. Chicago Historical Society. Dedmon, Emmett. Fabulous Chicago. Atheneum, 1981.

  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. American Psychiatric Association.

  Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. The Anatomy of Motive. Pocket Books, 1999.

  ———The Cases That Haunt Us. Scribner, 2000.

  Downey, Dennis B. A Season of Renewal: The Columbian Exposition and Victorian America. Praeger, 2002.

  Dreiser, Theodore. Journalism. Edited by T. D. Nostwich. Vol. 1. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.

  —. Sister Carrie. Penguin, 1994 (1900).

  Dybwad, G. L., and Joy V. Bliss. Chicago Day at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Book Stops Here (Albuquerque), 1997.

  Eaton, John P., and Charles A. Haas. Falling Star. W. W. Norton, 1990.

  Eckert, Alan W. The Scarlet Mansion. Little, Brown, 1985.

  The Englewood Directory. George Amberg & Co, 1890. Chicago Historical Society.

  Ferris, George Washington Gale. Papers. Chicago Historical Society.

  Flinn, John. Official Guide to the World’s Columbian Exposition. Columbian Guide Co., 1893.

  Franke, David. The Torture Doctor. Hawthorn Books, 1975.

  Geyer, Frank P. The Holmes-Pitezel Case. Frank P. Geyer, 1896.

  Gilbert, James. Perfect Cities: Chicago’s Utopi
as of 1893. University of Chicago Press, 1991.

  Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Social Life of Paper.” New Yorker. March 25, 2002.

  Hales, Peter. Constructing the Fair. Platinum Photographs by C. D. Arnold. Art Institute of Chicago, 1993.

  Hall, Lee. Olmsted’s America. Little, Brown, 1995.

  Hawthorne, Julian. “Foreign Folk at the Fair.” Cosmopolitan, vol. 15, no. 5 (September 1893).

  Hendrickson, Walter B. “The Three Lives of Frank H. Hall.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, vol. 49, no. 3 (Autumn 1956).

  Herrick, Robert. The Web of Life. Grosset & Dunlap, 1900.

  Hines, Thomas S. Burnham of Chicago. Oxford University Press, 1974.

  Hollingsworth, Adelaide. The Columbia Cook Book. Columbia Publishing Co., c.1893.

  Hoyt, Homer. One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 1933.

  Hucke, Matt, and Ursula Bielski. Graveyards of Chicago. Lake Claremont Press, 1999.

  Ingalls, John J. “Lessons of the Fair.” Cosmopolitan, vol. 16, no. 2 (December 1893).

  Jablonsky, Thomas J. Pride in the Jungle: Community and Everyday Life in Back of the Yards Chicago. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

  Jahn, Raymond. Concise Dictionary of Holidays. Philosophical Library, 1958.

  Johnson, Claudius O. Carter Henry Harrison I: Political Leader. University of Chicago Press, 1928.

  Karpman, Ben. “The Problem of Psychopathies.” Psychiatric Quarterly, vol. 3 (1929).

  Kiler, Charles Albert. On the Banks of the Boneyard. Illinois Industrial University, 1942.

  Kipling, Rudyard. “Chicago.” Kipling’s Works. “Sahib Edition.” Vol. 6 (undated). Author’s collection.

  Lewis, Arnold. An Early Encounter with Tomorrow. University of Illinois, 1997.

  Lingeman, Richard. Theodore Dreiser. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1986.

  Lowe, David. Lost Chicago. Houghton Mifflin, 1975.

  Lynch, Don. Titanic: An Illustrated History. Hyperion, 1992.

  Masters, Edgar Lee. The Tale of Chicago. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1933.

  May, Arthur J. “The Archduke Francis Ferdinand in the United States.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, vol. 39, no. 3 (September 1946).