The Devil in the White City is a fantastic crime non-fiction about America’s first serial killer Dr. Herman Webster Mudgett otherwise known as H. H. Holmes (one of his various aliases). The author, Erik Larson, traces the beginnings of Holmes, how he murdered people in his Chicago Murder Castle, and how he was captured because of his insurance fraud. If you’re into true crime, you’ve no doubt run into threads, books, or articles about Holmes. Larson’s book is just one of many that shed a light on the killer’s origins and heinous activities.

It’s necessary for me to share the most significant details of his research and reporting. Larson structures his book by splitting the storytelling between the life of Holmes and the creation of The World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 led largely by the architect Daniel Burnham. The juiciest part of the book is when it talks about Holmes. The story of the world’s fair is that Burnham and a cadre of other architects had to build and design an entire fair within an impossible time frame in Chicago. They were plagued with setbacks, union strikes, and weather related disasters, but ultimately succeeded. Despite the loads of research that Larson put into retelling the story of the fair, the intrigue and mystique of Holmes steals the spotlight and had me rushing through the architecture sections. (Don’t get me wrong. Larson’s description of the actual fair is wonderful and eye-opening to the culture of the 1890s, but becomes repetitive.)

When the parts of Holmes appeared in the pages, they always left me wanting more. In fact, even at the end of the book I’m left craving more information about Holmes and his charming persona that helped him avoid suspicion for years. While he confessed to killing twenty-seven people, there are only nine confirmed killings according to Larson’s research.

The book is also being adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese with Leonardio DiCaprio supposedly cast for Holmes.

I’ve gone through the entire book and taken out direct quotes from people in that time period in regards to Holmes or the investigation of Holmes. It’s important to note that Larson is unique in his research in that he only relied on primary sources thus never used the internet. Everything he wrote can be traced back to a primary source from that era whether it’s an article blurb, court documents, or Holmes’ memoir. Though Larson wrote two passages in which he recreates the murders of two of Holmes’ victims. As thorough as his research is, it is purely speculative which is better way of saying fictitious since no one witnessed the murders first hand. Larson also tends to assume the thoughts and feelings of the historical figures he talks about. I avoided including pieces of information that fell to his speculative habit. Anything in quotation marks below can be traced to a primary source, otherwise it is me summarizing and paraphrasing the words of Larson from his book.

Young Holmes and Miscellaneous Information

From Holmes’s confession in 1896:

“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing”

Holmes’s main killing ground was Chicago during a time when naive young women came to the city in unprecedented numbers and from small towns with little understanding of city life.

There existed a place named the Whitechapel Club in Chicago, named after the same London slum where two years earlier Jack the Ripper committed his murders. The club’s decor involved a coffin in the center of the room used as a bar, skulls mounted on walls, a hangman’s noose dangling from the wall along with bloodied weapons. The president of the club was known as the Ripper. The bloodied weapons were from actual homicides in the city provided by the Chicago police. A primitive version of a psychologist, an alienist, provided the skulls. The coffin in the center was used to transport the body of a former club member who committed suicide. The members of the club would kidnap celebrities and put them into a black coach with covered windows for fun.

One of Holmes’ signature childhood memories: he was taken by two older children and forced into a room with a real cadaver, something Holmes feared but overcame the moment he faced the corpse. This incident motivated him to pursue medicine as a profession. (A story Holmes claims is true.)

He was born in Gilmanton Academy, New Hampshire and considered himself “a mother’s boy”. His only close friend “was an older child named Tom, who was killed in a fall while the boys were playing in an abandoned house.”

Graduated from school at 16 and taught as a teacher in Gilmanton and later in Alton, NH. In Alton he met Clara A. Lovering.

July 4, 1878: At age 18 Holmes asked her to elope and she agreed. Eventually Holmes would leave the home for long periods of time until he never returned, yet they remained on paper legally married.

At 19 or 20 he enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. During the summer of his junior year he became a traveling salesmen for a book publisher but kept all the profits of his sales.



Became a principal of a grade school in Mooers Forks, New York because the trustees were impressed by his “gentlemanly manners” and he stayed principal until he opened his own medical practice.

“In Mooers Forks there were rumors that a boy seen in his company had disappeared. Mudgett [Holmes] claimed the boy had returned to his own home in Massachusetts. No investigation took place.”

Around 1885 Holmes was desperate for money and resorted to a convoluted insurance fraud scheme that he brainstormed with a classmate during his time at medical school. His plan was to recruit other accomplices, then fake the death of a family of three and substitute the bodies with cadavers. Everyone would divide the $40,000 death benefit among one another (40k in 1880s was equal to about 1 million in the 21st century). Holmes and his helpers agreed to each provide their own stolen cadaver. Holmes allegedly stored bodies in New York in a “safe place” and in a warehouse in Chicago. He abandoned the plan after supposedly reading an article about how insurance companies detected fraud. However he lied about the article because at the time there was no way to identify “burned, dismembered, or otherwise disfigured corpses.” He also lied about being poor as alleged by the owner of the house that Holmes boarded at in Mooers Forks. The owner noted that Holmes “often displayed large sums of cash”.

He left Mooers Forks in the middle of the night, without paying his rent and moved to Philadelphia where he failed to work in a drugstore. He took a job as a “keeper” at the Norristown Asylum.

He wrote that “My first experience with the insane persons, and so terrible was it that for years afterwards, even now sometimes, I see their faces in my sleep.”

When he finally did find a job at a Philadelphia drugstore, a child died shortly after taking medicine bought at that store. Holmes left the city immediately.

Chicago, Mrs. Holton, and the Beginning of Holmes’ Englewood Castle

He moved to Chicago and because he couldn’t work as a druggist until he had a license he adopted the false name Holmes, a popular name in July 1886. Holmes lived in the Englewood suburb in Chicago which was a booming community. Residents of the suburb commonly attended meetings of the Masons and forty-five other secret societies.

He established himself in Chicago by visiting a drugstore called Holton Drugs and convinced an old Mrs. Holton to open up to him about her troubles (her husband was fatally ill) and explained that he could help the business thrive. After Mr. Holton died the widow Mrs. Holton agreed to hand over the deed to the drugstore to Holmes as she was convinced he could get the business to prosper and keep her on staff without the stress of running the pharmacy.

He took out loans on the business with high interest rates and renamed the drugstore H. H. Holmes Pharmacy. Supposedly young women visited the store more often once news broke that it was under management of a charming young man.

Long time customers knew the ownership changed but asked where Mrs. Holton went to because they had not seen her for a while. Holmes said that she left to visit relatives in California, something she could do with her newfound money and free time. Eventually Holmes altered the story and said that Mrs. Holton moved there permanently.

January 28, 1887: Though he was still married to Clara he courted another woman in Chicago named Myrta Z. Belknap from Minneapolis and married her.

Spring 1888: Holmes lived in the second floor apartment of the drugstore where the Holtons used to live. Myrta became pregnant. Myrta would help Holmes in the store and soon found the swarm of young women Holmes attracted annoying. Myrta eventually became jealous of Holmes’ flirtatious attitude with young women.

Myrta once said: “In his home life I do not think there was ever a better man than my husband,” and that “he never spoke an unkind word to me, our little girl, or my mother.”

Holmes noticing his wife’s alert behavior decided to give her the job of managing the store’s books upstairs away from the customers. Out of sadness and a strained relationship, she moved back in with her parents in Wilmette, Illinois and gave birth to Lucy, Holmes’ daughter.

Holmes visited Myrta sparingly, but was said to bring warmth and gifts to Myrta and her parents. It is said that Holmes adored kids so much that in public he’d ask Myrta, “Go and see if they won’t lend you that baby a little while,” during a train car ride. “He had them sound asleep or playing as happily as little ones can.”

Summer 1888: Holmes purchased a plot of land across from the drugstore, registering it under the false name H.S. Campbell. This is when he began sketching the designs of his future murder castle (pictured below).

At first the design was basic, storefronts on the first floor, apartments on the second and third floor. Included in the design was a wooden chute that descended from a hidden location on the 2nd floor all the way to the basement, a large airtight vault in his office with a gas jet built into his closet wall leading to the vault as would other gas jets be built into throughout various rooms. Some rooms were made airtight with no windows. To keep costs down he accused the workers of shoddy work, even if it was perfect, until he fired them or they quit. With a high turnover rate of builders few understood the complete purpose of the building.

One man working for Holmes, George Bowman a bricklayer, was asked by Holmes if he’d “drop a stone on that fellow’s head while you’re at work and I’ll give you fifty dollars.” Holmes’s trivial tone unnerved Bowman. He did not take up the request and later quit.

Holmes recruited accomplices through the creation of his building. The most significant of which was Benjamin Pitezel (pictured above). When Pitezel was arrested for forging checks, Holmes bailed him out.

Holmes’ building was built in the same period as when Jack the Ripper began his killings in England.

The first of Jack the Ripper’s murders occurred on August 31, 1888. The last on Nov. 9 1888. Holmes likely read articles about the killings.

May 1890: The building was almost finished. The second floor had 6 corridors, 35 rooms and 51 doors, the third floor had 3 dozen rooms. Holmes moved into his new building and sold his drugstore to a buyer assuring him that he would have little competition. Holmes then opened a drugstore on the first floor of his new building. Holmes invested into his building by purchasing furniture and fixtures on credit with no intention of paying the debt, relying on his charm and false aliases to evade creditors.

C. E. Davis, an employee of Holmes, said that he was “the smoothest man I ever saw.” He recounted that creditors would “come here raging and calling him all the names imaginable, and he would smile and talk to them and set up cigars and drinks and send them away seemingly his friends for life.”

Holmes could easily pay his debts as Davis estimated that he made up to $200,000 through his business. Additionally, Holmes engaged in fraudulent ventures such as selling a machine that turned water into natural gas. Holmes also engaged in mail-order medicines and sham medicines that supposedly cured alcoholism and baldness.

Holmes used to purchase chloroform 9 to 10 times a week in large quantities from a druggist named Erickson. Holmes never gave a good answer about why he needed that much chloroform until Erickson refused to sell him the chemical unless Holmes explained. Holmes told him it was for scientific experiments. Later, when Erickson asked how the experiments were going, Holmes said he wasn’t conducting experiments.

Holmes offered his laundress, a woman named Stowers, $6,000 if she took out a $10,000 life insurance policy and name him beneficiary. Holmes explained that he would make a $4,000 profit meanwhile Stowers could spend $6,000 anyway she liked. Stowers was about to accept the offer until Holmes said “Don’t be afraid of me.” She declined.

With the news of the Columbia World Exposition coming to Chicago, Holmes added additional construction into his building and formed it into a hotel to capitalize on tourists and victims. Holmes kept a good relation with police who patrolled the neighborhood during construction, offering them free meals, cigars, a cup of coffee, and his charm.

Myrta’s great-uncle Jonathan Belknap, whom Holmes discovered to be moderately wealthy, visited Myrta once. Holmes visited Myrta and her family more often. He built up enough respect with Jonathan to ask for a $2,500 loan to build a new house in Englewood. Jonathan was cautious of Holmes, but gave him the loan. Holmes forged a second note of the loan with the same amount that would go toward his hotel construction.

Belknap was invited by Holmes to tour the hotel. He rejected the offer at first but accepted from pressure by the married couple. During the tour Holmes asked if Jonathan wanted to see the roof under construction. Belknap lied and said that he was too old to climb the steps. Holmes asked again by highlighting the wonderful view from the roof, Jonathan rejected again however he spent the night at the hotel. Sometime during the night Jonathan heard someone try to open his locked door. He then heard a key inserted into the keyhole and Jonathan called out to the strangers outside his door. He heard feet running down the hallway and believed two people had been at his door. When he called out again Patrick Quinlan answered, the caretaker of the hotel. Quinlan insisted on entering the room and Jonathan refused several times. Jonathan discovered Holmes’ forgery and confronted him. As usual Holmes was able to calm Jonathan’s anger though his mistrust remained alive.

Holmes had a man from a furnace company install a kiln in the empty basement that ran the length of the entire building. The man installed the furnace and noted that it wasn’t good for glass bending. It wasn’t until later that the man, who remained nameless, realized that the kiln worked better as a crematory.

Murder of Julia and Pearl Conner

Holmes hired several young women as clerks. One woman in the neighborhood said that the clerks would often leave without saying a word, sometimes leaving their personal belongings behind in their rooms.

A jeweler by the name of Ned Conner was hired by Holmes. He moved to Chicago with his wife Julia who Holmes also hired as a clerk. Later on Ned’s sister-in-law, Gertrude, moved to Chicago who Holmes also hired. Holmes charmed both of them. Julia became withdrawn from Ned as she developed affection for Holmes as did her sister Gertrude. Ned was ignored by all except his daughter Pearl. One night Holmes asked Ned to help test the vault. Holmes stepped inside and closed the vault and asked Ned if he could hear his shouts. Ned heard nothing. Then Holmes asked Ned if he’d step into the vault and shout as he did. Holmes closed the vault door and reopened it soonafter, Ned got out quickly.

Holmes would likely had been investigated sooner if Chicago wasn’t a city of missing persons altogether. At one point, half the police force was looking for missing people in the city. This was the perfect setting for Holmes’s murders.

One day Gertrude came crying to Ned telling him that she could no longer stay. She never told Ned why and she left for Iowa but fell ill and died soonafter. Ned was warned by his friends that his wife and Holmes were having an affair, but Ned did not believe it. Toward the end of Ned and Julia’s marriage Holmes offered Ned the entire sale of his pharmacy. To help Ned pay for it Holmes would raise Ned’s $12 weekly wage to $18 so that Ned could pay $6 a week to pay for the purchase of the store. Holmes would deduct the $6 from the salary so Ned wouldn’t have to worry. Ned accepted the deal. As Ned and Julia’s fights escalated, Holmes would tell Ned that their marriage was salvageable and that they would overcome their distance despite being the source of their marital rupture. He even told Ned that he should insure his life along with his daughter’s and that he’d pay for the premiums. Ned declined. Once the pharmacy was under Ned’s ownership creditors demanded payment of the store’s debts. It was part of Holmes’ plan to transfer the debt to Ned. The marriage exploded and Ned moved out, leaving Julia and Pearl in the hands of Holmes. Once they divorced Holmes lost interest in Julia and Pearl despite promising Julia that he would marry her.

November 1891:Julia tells Holmes that she’s pregnant and that Holmes must marry her. He agreed only to marry her if she aborted their child and that he would perform the abortion, supposedly a procedure he’s done before. He scheduled the abortion for Christmas Eve.

Before the abortion, Julia had a conversation with a neighboring apartment dweller, Mrs. Crowe. She helped Crowe decorate a Christmas tree meant to surprise Pearl in the morning. Julia talked about the things her and Holmes would do on Christmas with Pearl. Later on Crowe recalled that after Julia had left “there was nothing about her conversation that would lead any of us to think she intended going away that night.”

As mentioned earlier, there is no proof for how Julia or Pearl Conner was murdered, but this is how Larson speculates it happened. He believes Holmes killed Julia first with chloroform, then did the same to Pearl.



Throughout Christmas day Crowe and her husband hadn’t seen Julia or Pearl. When they asked Holmes he said that they left to Davenport, Iowa for a wedding earlier than expected.

Holmes had an associate, Charles Chappell, who knew how to strip the flesh from a body and produce a skeleton for doctor offices and medical schools. At the time medical schools were in great need of cadavers to teach each incoming wave of students, so doctors and professionals would grave rob or purchase skeletons from any seller without asking questions.

After Christmas Holmes sold the body to Chappell for $36 for articulating (the process of preparing a body into a skeleton for demonstrative purposes), though it was partly dissected. Holmes received the female skeleton back then sold it to the Hahneman Medical College, the Chicago school.

January 1892: New tenants arrived, the Doyle Family, to the abandoned apartment that Julia and Pearl lived in. They asked Holmes about it and he said that Julia needed to tend to her ill sister so they abruptly left. Later on Holmes changed the story to say that he last saw her on January 1, 1892 when she came to settle her rent and that she told everyone she went to Iowa to mislead her husband from finding her.

The Murder of Emeline Cigrand

Spring 1892: Holmes sent his assistant Benjamin Pitezel to the city of Dwight, Illinois in order to cure his alcoholism at the famous Keeley Institute. There they’d inject patients with an unknown concoction of red, white and blue liquid (nicknamed barber pole) in the arm three times a day. Holmes may have sent Pitezel there to collect information on the secret formula because later Holmes opened his own curative center on the second floor of his Englewood building and called it the Silver Ash Institute.

When Pitezel returned to Holmes he told him of a stunning stenographer, Emeline Cigrand, that worked at Dr. Keeley’s office. Holmes sent her a letter and hired her at twice the salary she made with Keeley. She accepted the offer and left in May and moved into a boardinghouse near Holmes’ building. One day Ned Conner returned in search of Holmes and met Emeline. He wasn’t in the office that day but the two talked about Holmes. Ned noticed how infatuated she was with him and warned her. “I told her I thought he was a bad lot and that she had better little to do with him and get away from him as soon as possible,” recalled Ned.

May 1st, 1892: Doctor M.B. Lawrence and his wife moved into an apartment in Holmes’ building where they often saw Emeline chatting frequently with Holmes. Lawrence has said, “I_t was not long before I became aware that the relations between Miss Cigrand and Mr. Holmes were not strictly of an employer and employee, but we felt that she was to be more pitied than blamed.” _

Emeline was deeply infatuated by Holmes. He pretended that he was an English Lord and confided the secret in her, which increased the aura of mystery around him.

October 1892: Her two cousins, Dr. B.J Cigrand and Mrs. B.J Cigrand visited her and toured Holmes’ Englewood building. They never saw Holmes during their visit however. After her cousins left Holmes asked Emeline to marry him, which she of course accepted and he promised her a honeymoon in Europe where they would visit his father, a lord.

December 1892: Emeline had a discussion with Mrs. Lawrence where she confessed her fading love for Holmes and that she planned to visit her family in Indiana. Lawrence believed that Emeline “had found out to a certain extent the real character of Holmes and determined to leave him.” Eventually Emeline stopped visiting Lawrence altogether with no goodbye. When she asked Holmes about her disappearance she recalls Holmes saying, “Oh, she’s gone away to get married.” Lawrence felt shocked at the news and replied, “I don’t see why she didn’t mention something to me about getting married.” Holmes claimed it was a secret between him, Emeline, and her betrothed. But her abrupt disappearance made no sense for Lawrence. Holmes handed Lawrence an envelope containing a wedding announcement.

Holmes added, “some days after going away she returned for her mail and at this time gave me one of her wedding cards, and also two or three others for tenants in the building who were not then in their rooms; and in response to inquiries lately made I have learned that at least five persons in and about Lafayette, Ind., received such cards the post mark and her handwriting upon the envelope in which they were enclosed showing that she must have sent them herself after leaving my employ.” Emeline’s family and friends did receive copies of the announcement through the mail and it was addressed by Emeline herself. But it’s largely believed that Holmes forged the letters or tricked Emeline into preparing them herself.

Lawrence was not convinced by Holmes’ answers or by the letter. She pushed Holmes for more information on her betrothed and Holmes replied, “Oh, he is a fellow Miss Cigrand met somewhere. I do not know anything about him except that he is a traveling man.” Lawrence persisted in questioning Holmes about Emeline but he answered less and less. This caused her to note a change in Holmes’ behavior after Emeline’s disappearance. She remembered at “about 7 o'clock in the evening Holmes came out of his office and asked two men who were living in the building if they would not help him carry a trunk downstairs.” Holmes emphasized that they must be careful with the trunk as they moved it. An express wagon came to pick it up. By that point Lawrence believed Holmes had killed Emeline, but did not inform the police. Emeline’s parents didn’t alert police either, nor Ned Conner, nor Julia’s parents about their missing loved ones. Her parents did not believe she was murdered but that “She must have died in Europe and her husband either did not know our address or neglected to notify us,” said Peter Cigrand (her father). Emeline’s trunk, that she brought with her when she went to work in Dwight, arrived back to her hometown filled with her belongings.

December 8, 1982: Emeline’s hometown newspaper reported about the marriage. The item described Emeline as a “lady of refinement” who “possesses a character that is strong and pure. Her many friends feel that she has exercised good judgement in selecting a husband and will heartily congratulate her.” It even included a biographical detail that said she was employed as a stenographer and “she went to Dwight, and from there to Chicago, where she met her fate,” alluding to her marriage–not death.

January 2, 1893: Holmes called on the help of Chappell, the articulator, sending him a trunk containing the corpse of a woman to be stripped into a skeleton. A few weeks later LaSalle Medical College of Chicago received a skeleton.

In Holmes’ vault there lay a footprint etched on the inside of the vault door, two feet above the floor. The footprint was so clear there was little doubt that it was that of a woman’s. It was engraved so neatly and permanently into the vault door that water, soap, and cloth could not erase the mark. It’s believed that the footprint was that of Emeline’s herself and that Holmes used an acid on the floor to consume the oxygen in the vault and choke Emeline of air.

Early 1893: Letters from concerned parents of the disappearance of their daughters and private detective finally arrived for Holmes. However, they did not suspect him and asked for information that could lead to the missing women. The Cigrand and Conner families each hired private detectives to find their daughters.

The Murder of Minnie and Anna Williams

March 1893: Holmes needed a new secretary and there were plenty to pick in Chicago’s booming infrastructure due in part to the Chicago World’s Fair set for later that year. Holmes specifically chose to hire pretty, young, and naive women who were new to the city.

March 1893: Minnie R. Williams is hired by Holmes, a woman Holmes had met before in Boston and tried to court. Minnie was born in Mississippi and an orphan along with her sister, Anna. She was adopted by her guardian-uncle who lived in Texas and held an estate worth $50,000-$100,000 (worth 1.5-3 million in today’s currency). When he died while Minnie was enrolled at the Boston Academy of Elocution she inherited his estate. During his initial courtship of Minnie, Holmes had to travel all the way to Boston and tired of the distance. He dated her under the name Harry Gordon. Eventually he stopped sending letters and she was heartbroken. Minnie then graduated and moved to Denver where she tried to make her own theatrical company and lost $15,000 in the process. Minnie moved to Chicago on February 1893 and wrote to Holmes. Holmes and Minnie’s relationship resumed, Minnie as Holmes’ personal stenographer and living in the same Englewood building. As the love rekindled Holmes asked Minnie to marry him. Excited about their wondrous future together, Minnie wrote to her sister Anna who she kept a close correspondence with though Anna had doubts about Holmes’ authenticity. Just as Holmes promised Emeline, he promised Minnie a luxurious voyage to Europe, but that he first needed to settle some financial accounts.

Mid-March 1893: Holmes receives another letter from Peter Cigrand asking for help in finding Emeline. The letter was dated March 16th and Holmes responded on March 18 informing him that Emeline left her job there on Dec 1, 1892.

April 18, 1893: Minnie transfers her deed over to a man named Alexander Bond through Holmes’ persuasion. Bond then signed over the deed to Benton T. Lyman, which Holmes notarized. Alexander Bond was one of Holmes’ aliases. Lyman was an alias for Pitezel. Holmes duped Minnie out of her inheritance with the promise of a voyage, despite Holmes technically being still married to two other women, Clara Lovering and Myrta Belknap, with a child from each marriage. Afterward, Holmes established Campbell-Yates Manufacturing Company, described as a company that bought and sold everything. The five officers of the company were H.H. Holmes, M.R. Williams, A.S Yates, Hiram S. Campbell, and Henry Owens. Owens was a porter hired by Holmes. Campbell was the fictitious owner of the Englewood property. Yates was another fictitious name fabricated by Holmes. And M.R. Williams was Minnie. The company existed to hold all of Holmes’ assets.

Holmes convinced Owens to sign an affidavit that claims he had personally met with Yates and Campbell. Owens later said, “He induced me to make these statements by promising me my back wages and by his hypnotizing ways, and I candidly believe that he had a certain amount of influence over me. While I was with him I was always under his control.”

Holmes had a discreet marriage ceremony with Minnie however no record of their marriage registry appeared in Cook County, Illinois. He likely held fraudulent ceremony.

Holmes knew that Anna was suspicious of him and invited her to Chicago to visit to quell her skepticisms.

June 1, 1893: Minnie moves into the new apartment flat that Holmes arranged for them to live in far from the Englewood building. Holmes sought to reduce Minnie’s presence in the office as the guests began inhabiting the hotel. Holmes hotel guests mainly stayed in their rooms due to the absence of any common amenities that hotels had at the time such as libraries, game parlors, and writing rooms, nor a darkroom for amateur photographers known at the time as “Kodak Fiends”.

People disappeared from the hotel. A waitress vanished from Holmes’ restaurant with no explanation. A stenographer Jennie Thompson disappeared as did Evelyn Stewart who either worked for Holmes or stayed in his hotel. A male physician who was friends with Holmes also disappeared without a word. Inquiries over missing people continued from family and friends, but the police had yet been involved. In a footnote it is reported that about fifty missing people’s trail lead to the Englewood castle. It is unclear just how many fell victim to Holmes as his hotel was usually filled to capacity.

Holmes’ MO: He preferred the use of chemicals with the close proximity of his victim. He’d either fill a room with gas via installed valves in the walls and kill the victim at a distance or he’d sneak into the room with a master key and used chloroform rags. He usually hired Chappell to articulate the bodies otherwise he got rid of bodies using his furnace in the basement and vats of acid.

When Anna arrived she quickly fell for Holmes’ charm and even called him “Brother Harry” after some time. He invited her to stay for the summer and join them on their trip abroad. Anna wrote to have her trunk delivered to Minnie’s apartment. As they prepared for their departure Holmes had Minnie ready the flat for the next tenants and went to the Englewood hotel to give Anna a tour of the building alone together. The other theory is that he just asked for clerical help from Anna while Minnie readied the flat. It is speculated that Holmes killed both Minnie and Anna inside the vault according to police reports and the understanding of Holmes psyche. However there is no true way to tell. The Devil in the White City speculates that Holmes locked Anna in the vault first, gassed her, then did the same with Minnie afterward.

July 7, 1893: The Oker family receives a letter from Henry Gordon (Holmes) stating that he will not be residing in that apartment anymore. Lora Oker checked the flat and said, “I do not know how they got out of the house, but there were evidences of hasty packing, a few books and odds and ends being left lying about. If there had been any writing the books all traces were removed, for the fly leaves had been torn out.”

July 7, 1983: A Wells-Fargo agent tries to deliver a trunk for Anna but is returned to the office because neither Williams or Gordon is located. No one claims the trunk.

Holmes contacted an Englewood resident named Cephas Humphrey, who worked delivering and transporting furniture. He asked Cephas to come after dark to pick up a box because he did not “care to have the neighbors see it go away.” Humphrey arrives but the Englewood castle gave him bad vibes. “It made my flesh creep to go in there. I felt as if something was wrong, but Mr. Holmes did not give me much time to think about that.” In total Cephas delivered two boxes: a rectangular wooden box the size of a coffin to be picked up by an express agent at the Union Depot and a trunk that was believed to be sent to the home of Chappell. Later Holmes gave Pitezel’s wife a “collection of dresses, several pairs of shoes, and some hats that belonged to his cousin, a Miss Minnie Williams.” He gave his caretaker, Pat Quinlan, two trunks each with the initials MRW.

Georgiana Yoke and Holmes on the Run

Holmes took up with yet another woman, Georgiana Yoke, young, blonde and enchanted by his persona. He asked her to marry him on the condition that she refer to him as Henry Mansfield Howard. The name was supposedly that of his uncle who left him a Texas estate on the promise that Holmes adopt the name. Georgina would likely have been Holmes’ next victim were it not for the persistence of creditors and investigators.

The scrutiny toward Holmes escalated by both creditors and families investigating the disappearance of their loved ones. It was time for him to leave and so he set the top floor of his hotel on fire and filed a claim for $6,000 from a policy he registered for under the name Hiram S. Campbell. An investigator from the insurance company F.G. Cowie was suspicious but could not find proof of the self-sabotage. He told the company to only pay out the money if Campbell showed up in person. Cowie knew how Holmes looked so Holmes could not pretend to be Campbell. He’d likely hire someone to pose as Campbell, but it was risky considering the pressure around him.

The guardians of Minnie Williams hired an attorney, William Capp, to search for Minnie and protect her inherited estate. Anna’s guardian, a reverend by the name of Dr. Black hired a P.I. to visit Holmes and letters persisted from the Cigrands and Smythes and others. Holmes was not accused of anything yet, but eyes were drawn toward him and his hotel of horrors.

Cowie’s pursuit of Holmes generated a greater effect. They bridged communications between all the creditors and businesses that Holmes owed a debt too. Furniture dealers, iron suppliers, bicycle manufacturers, and contractors that Holmes had scammed throughout the last few years all became aware of one another. Together they hired an attorney, George B. Chamberlin who was originally hired to pursue Holmes for never paying the urnace (which he used to dispose of bodies). Chamberlin later claimed to be the first person to suspect Holmes of criminal behavior.

Fall 1893: Holmes was contacted by Chamberlin for a meeting, believing it to be 1-on-1, Holmes accepted, likely hoping to sway him with his signature manipulation. When he arrived, two dozen creditors, attorneys, and a police detective were waiting for him. According to the book, Holmes was not fazed or disturbed by their plot. He shook the hands of each man he owed a debt to and stayed level-headed. Chamberlin told Holmes that he owed $50,000 altogether. Holmes put on a facade to garner empathy and explained his large debt. He cooled the anger of the men in the room and even received nods of sympathy. Holmes offered to settle his debt by offering a mortgage to the group secured by the properties he owned. One lawyer suggested that they accept the deal though Chamberlin laughed at the offer. They deliberated and told Holmes to wait in the adjacent room and he obliged them. The attorney who wanted to accept Holmes’ offer entered the room where Holmes waited, supposedly for a drink of water. They supposedly also talked, of what, no one is sure. When the attorney returned with the rest of the creditors, attorneys, and police man, Holmes left. It is believed that Holmes knew that the group was leaning toward arrest again and that the attorney aided in giving him this information.

Holmes left for Fort Worth, Texas where the estate he stole for Minnie resided. He intended to build another murder castle like the one in Englewood. He brought his loyal assistant, Pitezel, and his current wife, Georgiana Yoke. Before he left, Holmes had Pitezel buy a life insurance policy of $10,000 from the Fidelity Mutual Life association of Philadelphia.

Detective Frank Geyer and the Missing Pitezel Children

Hundreds went missing in the city of Chicago during the time of the World’s Fair. The amount who were victim to Holmes’ Hotel is unknown to this day, but the truth of his murderous streak was revealed by the persistence of Detective Frank Geyer (pictured below). Frank Geyer was a Philadelphia detective, one of the top in the city who investigated over two hundred homicides in his career before he pursued Holmes.

June 1895: Holmes was finally in custody. Leading up to his arrest he traveled from Texas to St. Louis, then Philadelphia scamming along the way with Pitezel. Holmes collected a $10,000 life insurance policy by faking the death of his associate Pitezel. The insurance company hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (known as the Eye That Never Sleeps) to investigate Holmes. They trailed him all the way to Burlington, Vermont, followed him to Boston and had arrested him there. Holmes confessed to fraud and agreed to be extradited to Philadelphia for a trial. The case was closing until evidence emerged that Holmes did not fake Pitezel’s death but actually killed him, but made the scene seem faked. Three of Pitezel’s five children, Alice, Nellie, and Howard were missing, last seen with Holmes. This is where Frank Geyer picked up the case, though Holmes was already in custody. He was to find the missing children. (Pictured below: Alice)

When Frank interrogated Holmes, Holmes said that the children were with Minnie Williams headed for Pitezel’s hideout. The detective saw through Holmes’ deceptive personality. Holmes claimed that he found a corpse matching Pitezel’s description in which he used to falsely claim the life insurance policy. He rented out a house, that was conveniently located behind the city morgue, poured a liquid on the body, and set it on fire. The corpse was far too combusted to be recognized. Pitezel’s wife, Carrie, was too ill to come to Philadelphia to identify the body so she sent her daughter, Alice, who was 15 at the time. She only saw the teeth of the body, but felt confident that it was her father’s. Holmes then traveled to St. Louis where Pitezel’s family was and convinced Carrie to let him take two more of her children to see their father that allegedly in hiding. He took, Nellie, 11, Howard, 8, and Alice with him. Holmes allowed the children to write letters back to Carrie to update her on their travels, though he never sent letters. He stored all the letters in a tin box that officials discovered after his arrest. (pictured below: Nellie)

September 20, 1894: Alice writes, “I don’t like him to call me babe and child and dear and all such trash.” The next day, “Mamma have you ever seen or tasted a red banana?I have had three. They are so big that I can just reach around it and have my thumb and next finger just tutch.” Alice worried for her mother and finally wrote, “Have you gotten four letters from me besides this? Are you sick in bed yet or are you up? I wish that I could hear from you?”

Mrs. Pitezel was told that her children were with Minnie in London England. Scotland Yard found no trace of them there.

June 26, 1895: The letters confirmed that the children were with Holmes and that their first stop after leaving St.Louis was in Cincinnati.

June 27, 1985: Frank arrives in Cincinnati with little hope that he would find any trail leading to the missing children.

With the help of another detective, John Schnooks, Frank recreated the journey the children took. They visited every hotel near the railroad stations, inquiring about the registrations and carrying photos of the children and Holmes to see if anyone could identify them. This was almost a half of year after the children had been last seen or heard from. At the Atlantic House Hotel their determination paid off. They flipped through the registry booklet to September 28, 1984, the date they believed he arrived in Cincinnati and found the name Alex E. Cook, a guest traveling with three children. Holmes had used the name to rent a house in Vermont and the writing seemed familiar to Holmes’. The Cook party stayed one night, but Frank knew that the girls stayed two nights in Cincinnati according to the letters.

At another hotel, The Bristol, a party by the name of A. E. Cook registered at the hotel on September 29, 1894 with three children too.The clerk confirmed the party by photographs too and said they checked out the next morning September 28, 1894, coinciding with the children’s letters.

Holmes’ prior property rental pattern led Frank to inquire about rentals in Cincinnati. The realty office of J.C. Thomas confirmed the identity of Holmes by the clerk and Thomas himself. They told Frank he rented a house on 305 Poplar Street under the name of A.C.Hayes, making a substantial advanced payment, holding the home for two days. They suggested Frank contact Henrietta Hill the next door neighbor to the house. Henrietta noticed that on September 29 a furniture wagon stopped in front of the rental house. A man and a boy came out of the wagon and the only piece of furniture in the wagon was an iron stove too large for a private house. Holmes stopped by the next morning to tell Henrietta that he would not stay after all and offered her the stove.

Frank then moved onto Indianapolis as the letters suggested. Frank recruited another detective partner, David Richards. In one of Nellie’s letters she wrote, “We are at English H.” Frank knew which hotel that referred to: The Hotel English.

Frank found an entry for three Canning children, Carrie Pitezel’s maiden name, on September 30, 1984. But the children checked out the next day on October 1, 1984. Frank knew based off the letters that they stayed in the city. The same pattern that Frank discovered in Cincinnati was playing itself out in Indianapolis and he conducted the same search.

At the Circle Park Hotel he discovered an entry for Georgiana Howard, Howard, a common alias for Holmes. It turned out that Holmes directed his latest wife Georgiana Holmes to stay at the Circle Park for four nights beginning on September 30. The hotel’s proprietor recognized the photographs of Holmes and Yoke and revealed that she had befriended Yoke who told her that her husband, “Mr. Howard” was wealthy and held an estate in Texas. However there was no mention of children. Holmes managed to check the children into a different hotel without letting his wife know presumably. On a second search of hotels, Frank tracked down a closed down hotel called the Circle House, found the former registry and found that on October 1, 1895 three Canning children were checked into the hotel. It also noted that the children were all from Galva, IL, the hometown of Mrs. Pitezel. Frank tracked down the former hotel manager Herman Ackelow and confirmed Holmes’ identity. Herman recognized Holmes, but moreso the children.

The letters Frank had retrieved from Holmes offered an insight into the dwindling conditions of the children, especially Alice who wrote on October 6 to her mother, “And I expect this Sunday will pass away slower than I don’t know what….Why don’t you write to me. I have not got a letter from you since I have been away and it will be three weeks day after tomorrow.”

Holmes allowed one letter of their mother to reach them to which Alice responded quickly (Holmes never sent this letter either). Alice wrote, “One morning Mr. H told me to tell Howard to stay in the next morning that he wanted him and he would come and get him and take him out.” But when Holmes came for him, the boy was nowhere to be found which angered Holmes.

Alice also wrote about happy moments that Holmes allowed them: “Yesterday we had mashed potatoes, grapes, chicken glass of milk each ice cream each a big sauce dish full awful good too lemon pie cake don’t you think that is pretty good.”

Herman, the hotel manager, recalled that when he sent his son to call them for their meals that he’d overhear them crying. He also recalled Holmes saying that “Howard was a very bad boy and that he was trying to place him in some institution, or bind him out to some farmer, as he wanted to get rid of the responsibility of looking after him.”

The detective observed that while it was Holmes’ objective to murder the children, he nonetheless bought them each a crystal pen, taken them to the Cincinnati Zoo and given them lemon pie and ice cream, all of which was contrary to the behavior he’d expect from a serial killer.

Frank left to Chicago and contacted the police force, by then the police still had no information on Holmes. He then moved onto Detroit the last location Alice’s letter was dated from.

With the help of another detective Frank executed the same searches he had in Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Frank discovered the same registry of Yoke and Holmes, the children, and the surprising registry of Carrie Pitezel and her two other children. Holmes was moving three parties all at once and each party was not aware of the others nearby. It was the closest the children had been with their mother since they left with Holmes. Holmes had the children and Carrie placed in hotels only three blocks apart.

Oct 14, 1895: Alice’s final letter to her grandparents, the same day Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie, and baby Wharton checked into Geis’s Hotel. Alice wrote that her and Nellie had colds and that Holmes did not provide warm clothing for the cold weather forcing them to stay in their room all day. She wrote: “I wish I could see you all. I am getting so homesick that I don’t know what to do. I suppose Wharton walks by this time don’t he I would like to have him here he would pass away the time a goodeal.” Her mother was only 10 minutes walking distance away for the next five days. One final phrase stuck out for Frank that Alice included in her letter, “Howard is not with us now.” Holmes had murdered Howard before arriving to Detroit. (Pictured below: Howard)

Holmes, during his incarceration, said, “The great humiliation of feeling that I am a prisoner is killing me far more than any other other discomforts I have to endure.” In his jail cell he was given a writing table where he wrote his memoir filled with lies, half-truths, and inconsistencies.

He also wrote in his memoir about his innonce:

An exerpt from the letter Holmes wrote to Mrs. Pitezel claiming that the children were still alive:

July 7, 1895: Frank moves onto Toronto assisted by Detective Alf Cuddy. He found that Holmes was still moving three parties with no knowledge of the other within the city. Holmes and Yoke stayed at Walker House as G.Hose and wife, Columbus. Mrs. Pitezel at the Union House as Mrs. C.A. Adams and daughter, Columbus. The third party now had one sibling missing. It was just girls at Albio as Alice and Nellie Canning, Detroit. They again canvassed the city’s real estate for Holmes rental pattern. On July 15, 1895 Frank and Cuddy received a tip from a resident named Thomas Ryves who read about Holmes in the newspaper in October 1894 who rented a house next door to him.



Throughout his investigation the newspaper reported on Frank’s journey through the midwest and little by little he became a celebrity among the U.S. People read updates about Frank every day, especially since the crime Holmes committed during the time were the first of their kind to be exposed on a national level, even to Frank it did not fit the hundreds of murder cases he investigated before.

When both detectives talked to Thomas Ryves he told them that Holmes caught his attention because he arrived at this rental with only a mattress, an old bed, and an unusually large trunk. Holmes asked Ryves if he could borrow a shovel to bury potatoes in his cellar. He returned the shovel the next morning, the next day he left with the trunk and was never seen by Ryves again. Frank confirmed the ID of Holmes with the realtor, returned to Ryves and asked to borrow the shovel (the very same shovel Holmes buried the girls with)

The home had a new tenant, a lady by the name of Mrs. J. Armbrust. Frank introduced himself and explained the situation. She let them in and they went straight to the cellar. Frank and Cuddy touched the ground with the spade and found a soft spot in the southwest corner of the cellar. They dug and at three feet they discovered a human bone.They had the help of an undertaker, B.D. Humphrey to help recover the remains. Coffins arrived and were set in the kitchen above the cellar. The bones of Alice and Nellie were uncovered. Both bodies were in a decomposed state and tough to remove. They noted that Nellie’s feet were missing, Holmes likely removed her foot because it held a distinct feature as it was a clubbed foot. Mrs. Pitezel was given the news by newspaper and left Toronto by train. She identified both bodies as those of her daughters when she arrived at the morgue, with the assistants tried to hide the grotesque nature of the corpse.

There were no signs of violence on the corpses aside from the cut off feet belonging to Nellie. The police theorized that Holmes stuck both children in the trunk and choked them with gas. When the trunk was found, there was a little hole in the side of the box with a makeshift patch. If Frank had never been sent on his investigation, these murders could have gone unfounded.

The discovery of the bodies was reported in the newspaper. When Holmes read it he wrote in his memoir that he believed Minnie Williams killed the children with the help of an associate called ‘Hatch’. When interrogated at the DA’s office, he refused to talk and accused Minnie and Hatch of killing Howard. Holmes finished up his memoir and found a publisher through a journalist, John King. He instructed the journalist on how to approach marketing the book and even suggested that when he travels to market the book to go to Chicago and collect proof from his hotel that Minnie stayed there long after her supposed murder via affidavits.

July 24, 1895: Frank returns to Indianapolis where he believes the remains of Howard are buried. He called on the press for tips from the public but those mostly led to nothing. On July 19, 1895 police in Chicago began searching inside Holmes Englewood castle.

In the basement they found a vat of acid with eight ribs and part of the skull at the bottom, piles of quicklime, a large furnace, and a dissection table stained with blood, surgical tools, and heeled shoes. They found eighteen ribs from the body of a child, several vertebrae, a bone from a foot, one shoulder blade, and one hip socket. They found clothes from walls and in the dust of ash, a girl’s dress among them and blood stained overalls. They also found two buried vaults full of quicklime and human remains, believed to belong to Minnie and Anna. In the ash of a stove they discovered a chain that resembled one that Minnie was given by Holmes corroborated by a jeweler in Holmes’ pharmacy. They found a chamber beneath the massive cellar in the southwest corner. Holmes’ former associate Chappell helped police find it and cooperated with them in retrieving four skeletons he articulated for Holmes.

The uncovered child skeleton was not that of Howard though. An inspector ruled it to be a girl’s skeleton and believed it was Pearl Conner’s.

On August 7, 1895 Frank and an insurance investigator from Fidelity Mutual, W.E. Gary set out on another wave of canvasses in Chicago, Indiana, Logansport, Peru, Montpelier Junction, Ohio, and Adrian,Michigan. They searched the records of every hotel, boardinghouse, and real estate office to no fruition. He returned to Indianapolis for the third time on a hunch.

August 19, 1895: Holmes’s Englewood castle burned to the ground; no one was arrested for the arson.

August 27, 1985: With the help of the insurance inspector, Frank investigated over 900 tips leading them to small towns outside of Indianapolis. Irvington was the final town Frank canvassed. Both arrived and went to the real estate office of Mr. Brown, who recognized Holmes’ photograph because Holmes demanded the keys to a rental house in a disrespectful manner. Through a court procedure it was later revealed that Holmes was aided by a man named Elvet Moorman in setting up a woodstove in the rental. When Elvet asked why Holmes didn’t use a gas stove instead he replied that “he did not think gas was healthy for children.” The owner of a repair shop in the city testified that Holmes came into the store on Oct 3, 1894 with surgical instruments to be sharpened and came three days later to pick it up. Frank would go on to testify that in the chimney ash that extended from the cellar to roof he found teeth, a jaw fragment, and a “charred mass” containing a stomach, liver, and spleen burned by the chimney fire but too compacted to burn thoroughly. Mrs. Pitezel identified the charred remains which contained Howard’s overcoat, scarf pin, and a crochet needle belonging to his sister Alice. Finally the coroner showed her a toy that Frank found in the house. It was the toy of a tin man that Mrs. Pitezel loaded into the children’s trunk before they set off.

Conviction and Hanging of H. H. Holmes

September 12, 1895: A grand jury voted to indict Holmes for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. Two witnesses presented evidence, L.G. Fouse, president of Fidelity Mutual Life, and Det. Frank Geyer. Throughout the trial Holmes continued to accuse Minnie Williams of killing the children with the help of ‘Hatch’. The Indianapolis grand jury indicted him for the murder of Howard Pitezel and Toronto for the murders of Alice and Nellie. Holmes received the death sentence from Philadelphia.



Chicago policed had no inkling of Holmes’ activity and in fact their chief of police represented Holmes in commercial lawsuits in his prior legal career.

The Chicago Times-Herald wrote: “He is a prodigy of wickedness, a human demon, a being so unthinkable that no novelist would dare to invent such a character. The story, too, tends to illustrate the end of the century.”

Fall 1895: Holmes went on trial for the murder of Mr. Pitezel. DA George Graham planned to use 35 witnesses connecting all the evil deeds, but the court ruled he can only bring forth witnesses in regards to Pitezel’s death. During the trial, Graham brought a wart that Holmes removed from Pitezel’s corpse and a box containing Pitezel’s skull. Gruesome testimonies ensued over the decomposition and the use of chloroform on a post-mortem body.

At one point Holmes suggested that the court “be adjourned for sufficient time for lunch.” Holmes reportedly showed no emotion during the trial even when Mrs. Pitezel came to the stand to testify on the letters that her kids wrote that were not revealed to her–until the very moment she testified. Holmes was found guilty. His attorney appealed and lost.

Holmes wrote another confession in which he claims to have murdered 27 people but was incongruous since some he claimed to kill turned out to be alive after all. The only certainty is that Holmes killed 9 people: Julia and Pearl Conner, Emeline Cigrand, the Williams sisters, and Pitezel and three of his children. Estimates range from as far as 200, though that famous number is believed to be exaggerated, and above 9.

Holmes also wrote: “I am convinced that since my imprisonment I have changed woefully and gruesomely from what I was formerly in feature and figure….My head and face are gradually assuming an elongated shape. I believe fully that I am growing up to resemble the devil–the similitude is almost completed.”

He described his killing of Alice and Nellie in a large trunk with an opening on its top: “Here I left them until I could return and at my leisure kill them. At 5 p.m. I borrowed a spade of a neighbor and at the same time called on Mrs. Pitezel at her hotel. I then returned to my hotel and ate my dinner, and at 7:00 p.m. I again returned to the house where the children were imprisoned, and ended their lives by connecting the gas with the trunk, then came the opening of the trunk and the viewing of their little blackened and distorted faces, then the digging of their shallow graves in the basement of the house.”

Of Pitezel he wrote: “I will be understood that from the first hour of our acquaintance, even before I knew he had a family who would later afford me additional victims for gratification of my blood-thirstiness, I intended to kill him.”

The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia wanted Holmes’ brain for examination. Holmes refused the autopsy and instructed his lawyers on how to bury his body.

May 7, 1896: Before 10 a.m. Holmes ate a breakfast of boiled eggs, dry toast, and coffee and later was escorted to the gallows at Moyamensing Prison. As Richardson, the assistant superintendent, prepared the noose, Holmes turned and said, “Take your time, old man.” At 10:13 a.m. the floor trap was released and Holmes was hanged.

From the instructions he left, his coffin was filled with cement, his body placed inside, filled it with more cement and taken to the Holy Cross Cemetery a catholic burial ground south of Philadelphia. His body was taken to the cemetery’s central vault, the next day workers made a double grave and filled it with cement too before inserting Holmes’ coffin, placing more cement on top before closing it, his grave left unmarked. All to prevent anyone from tampering with his body.

Strange things supposedly happened surrounding Holmes’ case: Frank became seriously ill, warden of the Moyamensing prison committed suicide. A jury foreman was electrocuted in a freak accident. The priest who delivered Holmes’ last rites was found dead on the ground of his church of mysterious causes. The father of Emeline Cigrand was grotesquely burned in a boiler explosion. And a fire destroyed the office of DA George Graham, leaving only a photo of Holmes unscathed.