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John V. Omlor
Police Constable
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 5
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2003 - 9:51 am: | 
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Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has had the chance to read The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson? It's a book that uses the lives of two men to talk about 1893 and the Chicago World's Fair. One of the men is Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction. The other, though, is H.H. Holmes, a serial killer in the same city, masquerading as a charming doctor. Holmes, it turns out, was responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair. He also used the fair to lure his victims to a hotel where he committed most of his murders. Holmes seems to be an American serial killer working at the end of 19th century and therefore, might be of interest to many of you out there. If you have read the book, I'd be interested in any reactions you might wish to offer.
Thanks,
--John
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Monty
Sergeant
Username: Monty
Post Number: 11
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 12:06 pm: |
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John,
I spotted a copy in my local bookshop.
Passed it over.
I think I shall return tommorrow.
Monty
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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Sergeant
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 11
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2003 - 7:07 pm: |
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John,
I have heard about the book, and hope to buy and
read it eventually. Holmes's career (his real
name, by the way, was Herman Webster Mudgett)
is well known to criminal historians. At least
three books have been written about his career,
and his infamous "Murder Castle" (a "hotel" he
built in Chicago for unwary travellers - with
gas chambers, torture rooms, disecting rooms).
He killed between two dozen and two hundred
people, mostly women. He was hanged in 1895, for
killing an associate (Benjamin Pitezel) in an
insurance fraud in Philadelphia. Other titles
to look for are THE TORTURE DOCTOR by David Franke, and DEPRAVED: THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF
AMERICA'S FIRST SERIAL KILLER by Harold Schechter.
With Chapman, Cream, Deeming, Bury, and (possibly)
Mrs. Pearcey already suggested as candidates for
Jack (or Jill) the Ripper, it should not surprise
you that Holmes was also suggested for the role
at least once. The novelist, Robert Bloch (author
of PSYCHO) wrote a novelization of Holmes's career
called AMERICAN GOTHIC, in which a female detective thinks that the Holmes character might
be the Ripper.
Jeff |
John V. Omlor
Police Constable
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 6
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2003 - 7:13 pm: |
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Hi Jeff,
Many thanks for the fascinating stuff. I did not know about the Ripper connection. Most of the rest of it is depicted in a fairly well-written way in the book. I think you'll enjoy it. And of course, the history in the book (and in the crossing narratives) is extraordinarily interesting.
All the best,
-- John
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Kevin Braun
Sergeant
Username: Kbraun
Post Number: 29
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 10:35 am: |
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For more on Herman Webster Mudgett, see http://www.prairieghosts.com/holmes.html.
Veteran Pinkerton detective Frank Geyer gets his man. Worth reading. |
Jennifer D. Pegg
Police Constable
Username: Jdpegg
Post Number: 8
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 1:47 pm: |
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hi all,
i wonder what you found this classified as in the bookshop (horror i guess)
jennifer |
John V. Omlor
Police Constable
Username: Omlor
Post Number: 7
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 7:24 pm: |
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Hi Jennifer,
I ordered mine from Amazon, so I'm not sure where my local bookshop has it. Most likely it's under "New Arrivals" / "Non-Fiction."
Interestingly, the Amazon blurb begins with a reference to our Jack. It reads:
"Not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of 1888 London, H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett) dispatched somewhere between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women, in the churning new metropolis of Chicago; many of the murders occurred during (and exploited) the city's finest moment, the World's Fair of 1893. Larson's breathtaking new history is a novelistic yet wholly factual account of the fair and the mass murderer who lurked within it."
The book is also the story of the man behind the fair as well. But this opening blurb highlights the more sensational aspects of the work, as blurbs usually do.
All the best,
--John |
Monty
Sergeant
Username: Monty
Post Number: 21
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 8:45 am: |
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Jennifer,
Waterstones in Leicester. The one next to Rackhams, Bowling Green st or Market St (I cant remember). In the New arrivals section as John mentions. 4th shelf up at about eye level.
Enough info ???
Monty
PS If any reps from Waterstones or Rackhams are reading this I do expect a small donation made to the Casebook for the advertising I have just made on their behalf....if there is no intention of doing so then you are both a load of ..... |
Jennifer D. Pegg
Police Constable
Username: Jdpegg
Post Number: 10
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 1:08 pm: |
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i don't think you could have been more spefic
cheers
ill look for it soon
jennifer
ps i hope they dont have a move round before then |
Maura
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 5:32 pm: |
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I remember reading about H.H. Holmes and his fine killing establishment years ago, and what stuck with me was the part about there being trap doors under where a lady might stand in her hotel room, adjusting her jewelry or hat.
Horrors!
Now that is worse than an arm coming out of the wall to strangle one.
I was told some tall tales handed down within my family, as I had long ago relatives who attended this 1893 World's Fair and kept many Columbian Exposition artifacts with which to regale the unfortunate who missed it. Fortunately they stayed at another hotel than the one run by the charming Mr. Mudgett. I just bought The Devil in White City book Monday and look forward to seeing if the trap doors are mentioned as fact. |
Jeffrey Bloomfied
Inspector
Username: Mayerling
Post Number: 151
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 10:15 pm: |
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Hi all,
I just noticed in today's New York Times, an advertisement that THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
has been nominated for the National Book Award.
Best wishes,
Jeff |
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