He has come down through history as Americaās
first serial killer, the incarnation of pure evil. He was the first of a new breed of American
celebrity ā the handsome, debonair and super intelligent mass murderer. His legend, fueled
by his own insatiable appetite for exaggeration, would turn him into a monster, āthe arch-fiend
of the ageā and the āgreatest criminal of this expiring centuryā. His āMurder
Castleā, situated at the heart of the worldās greatest exhibition, was reputedly the scene
of unspeakable horrors. Yet, the truth about Dr. H. H Holmes is far
removed from the sensationalism that surrounds his name. No one did more to turn the gossip
into legend than Holmes himself, which makes it all the more difficult to get to the truth
about the Devil in the White City. āI was born with the Devil in me. I could
not help the fact that I was a murderer, more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.ā Early Life The man who would come to call himself Henry
Howard Holmes was born with the far less impressive name of Herman Webster Mudget on May 16, 1861
in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. By all accounts his parents were upright and respectable people,
with the childās upbringing being quite unremarkable. Later stories that his father
was a violent alcoholic who would smother his children with chloroform soaked handkerchiefs
to āteach them a lessonā are the result of a newspaper writerās overactive imagination. Yet, there is one incident in Hermanās youth
which clearly did have a profound impact on his later life... When he was about 13, two
older boys dragged him into the local doctorās office ā a place that Herman was terrified
of due to the lurid tales heād been told of the body parts that were left lying around.
The bullies brought the terrified boy face to face with a human skeleton. But rather
than frightening him, the human bones fascinated the child. This fascination grew into an adult
desire to study medicine. Holmes had another early fascination ā women.
By the age of sixteen he was working odd jobs when he fell head over heels in love with
a beautiful young woman by the name of Clara Lovering. Herman met Clara while working on
her fatherās farm. Soon after, they were both at a church social. Clara, though, was
flirting with another boy which made young Herman see red. He promptly marched over to
the other boy and threatened to punch his lights out if he didnāt get lost. This seemed
to impress Clara, with Herman escorting her home, arm in arm. The next day he was telling
everyone that they were engaged. The two ā both seventeen years of age ā were
married by a Justice of the Peace on July 4th, 1878. For the first six months the marriage
was kept a secret, with the couple living apart with their parents. When it was finally
revealed, Hermanās mother wryly commented . . . āShe couldnāt have done much worse and
will probably have to support you.ā Claraās father arranged for Herman to work
in his brotherās grocery store in East Concord. Nine months later, Clara gave birth to a son,
who they named Robert. Becoming a father seems to have inspired Herman to pursue his interest
in medicine. He quit the store and went home to Gilmanton to take up an apprenticeship
under Dr. Wight, the owner of the office in which heād been introduced to the skeleton
6 years earlier. Clara and the baby went to live with her parentsā¦ Medical School After a year, the budding medic took up more
formal studies at the medical school in Burlington, Vermont. During this time, he conducted himself
as a single man. In fact, he carried on a relationship with the daughter of his landlord
that became so passionate that people thought they were engaged. When Hermanās room-mate,
Fred Ingalls, revealed to the girlās father that he was already married, the two-timer
laid a thrashing on Ingalls that left him with a black eye and a scratched face. The wife of the owner of the boarding house
once noticed a foul stench emanating from Hermanās room. On investigating, she was
horrified to find a dead baby under his bed. Upon explaining that he was experimenting
with dissections as part of his āhomeworkā, Herman was warned to never bring dead bodies
into the house again. In 1882, Herman went to Ann Arbor to study
at the University of Michigan. This time he took his wife and son with him. But the marriage
was already on shaky ground. Other residents of the boarding house where they lived later
recalled that the couple often quarreled, with Clara frequently sporting black eyes.
At some point she decided that sheād had enough, returning home to her parents with
baby Robert. The marriage was now effectively over though this would never be formalized... Now unfettered by a family, Herman threw himself
into his studies. He was particularly fascinated with the dissection of human bodies, loving
nothing more than to cut his way into flesh and pull out body organs. Once more he took
to taking home infant corpses to work on during the Spring break. His fellow students remembered
that Hermanās fascination with dissection was unnatural and unnerving. Whether or not Herman participated in the
ruse of faking someoneās death and using a substitute body to defraud an insurance
company during this time is uncertain. In his very dubious autobiography, he claims
that he and his medical student pals spoke of the idea, but never actually did it. And,
given his penchant for self exaggeration, it is unlikely he would have been shy about
revealing the fact. The one scandal from his college days which
can be substantiated involved, unsurprisingly, a woman. Though still married to Clara, he
began courting the woman in whose boarding house he resided. He had promised to marry
her, but then the woman found a letter in his room that was signed by his wifeā¦ This certainly shocked the woman ā but she
should have counted herself luckyā¦ At least it wasnāt a dead baby. Nevertheless, the woman complained to the
Medical School faculty, citing breach of promise. Herman appeared at a hearing and claimed the
woman was lying and that he never promised to marry her. The faculty believed him, and
he was acquitted. A few months later, on being handed his graduation
diploma, Herman approached his professor and said: āDoctor, those things that woman said about
me are true.ā Career After graduating, Herman lived with the family
back in New Hampshire during the Summer of 1884. That autumn he began working as both
a physician and a schoolteacher in Mooers Forks, New York. During this time, he gained
a reputation as a debt defaulter and a womanizer. He proposed marriage to two more women there,
with the latter, Minnie Everett, backing out with the prophetic reflection . . . āThere is something lurking in that manās
character that time will reveal. I do not like him. I firmly believe that he would commit
murder.ā Herman also acquired a reputation as a swindler.
He would use any number of excuses to get out of paying his rent. In the end he left
Mooers Fork suddenly in the middle of the night to escape a mountain of debt. He even
swindled the price of his train ticket out of townā¦ It was May of 1886, and that swindled train
ticket has taken him to Chicago. It was his intention to find work in a drug store, but
he needed a pharmacy license to do so. He went to Springfield and sat a 3-day examination.
It was subsequently announced in the press that āHarry H. Holmesā had passed the
bar. This announcement marked the first time that
the Holmes alias was used. Why he chose to call himself Harry Howard Holmes is unknown
ā contrary to what many think it was not a nod to Sherlock Holmes; Conan Doyleās
most famous creation would not appear for another year. Holmes christened his new name by becoming
a bigamist. On the way to Chicago he had spent time in Minneapolis, where he took up with,
and then married, a young woman named Myrta Belknap. Myrta was rather plain looking, but
her parents had money and that was enough for Holmes. Shortly after moving to Chicago,
he used this wealth to purchase a parcel of land on what was then 701-703 Sixty-Third
Street in Englewood. He had ownership put in his wifeās name, and then into that of
her mother, in order to keep the creditors at bay. Holmes mythology tells us that the bad doctor
needled his way into the employ of a bedridden pharmacist named E.S. Holton, whose young
wife was run off her feet operating the business by herself. Holmes was hired to take over
the operation and shortly thereafter the couple disappeared, with the implication here being
that Holmes murdered themā¦ But this is not the reality of the sitation. Instead, Dr. E. S. Holton was actually the
wife. Her husband, rather than being on his deathbed, was a robust longshoreman. Dr. Holton
took on Holmes and found him to be an ideal asset for the business. When she became pregnant
with her second child in 1887, she decided to sell the pharmacy to Holmes. Rather than
disappearing, the Holtons both lived well into the 20th Century, remaining in the same
neighborhood that whole time. The pharmacy business became a great success,
becoming especially popular with young women who came from afar to be served by the charming,
handsome new doctor. Holmes began taking on assistants, invariably choosing nubile young
beauties who were flocking to Chicago by the trainful. At the same time, Holmes turned his attention
to the vacant lot he owned on the same street as the pharmacy. He planned to construct a
two story building, with retail space on the first floor and residential apartments on
the second. The building had some unusual features ā there
was a hidden compartment between the first and second floors, along with a staircase
between floors that could only be reached from a trapdoor in the second-story bathroom. Far more troubling than these design quirks,
however, was the fact Holmes refused to pay his bills. When the builders, Aetna Iron and
Steel sued in 1888, Holmes claimed that he wasnāt liable because the building was actually
owned by his mother-in-law. When the building company lawyers began to chronicle his involvement
in the project, Holmes alleged that one of the steel beams provided was too short, which
negated the entire contract... Defending himself in court did nothing to
dampen Holmesā passion for swindling. His favorite trick was buying goods on credit
then selling them for cash and not paying the original bill. In one case he purchased
an especially heavy safe on credit and had it installed on the first floor of his new
building, having walls built around it. When the repossession agents came knocking, Holmes
replied . . . Go ahead and take the safe, but I warn you
not to damage the building. The repossessors struggled for hours, finally
realizing that they couldnāt get it out without tearing down a wall. They had to leave
it where it wasā¦ First Murders The
people who worked for Holmes soon got used to his quirky ways. He once invited a worker
to step inside the safe and started yelling when Holmes closed the door to test if it
was sound proof. His housekeeper would regularly catch him tip toeing round at night and the
janitor who worked at the pharmacy recalled a time when Holmes showed him a collection
of fake beards and other disguises. In 1890, Holmes decided to sell the drugstore
business in order to focus on real estate. Unsurprisingly, the sale turned into another
swindle. After the new owner took possession, he was shocked to find that much of the floor
stock had not been paid for, with repossession agents claiming them back. Still Holmes managed
to talk his way out of trouble. In fact, even though he no longer owned the drugstore he
still spent a lot of time there. He happened to be on hand one day when one of the new
investors turned up with important information to share. The man inexplicably collapsed right
outside the drugstore. Homes was the first one to his side, pouring a dark liquid down
the manās throat. Within minutes he was dead... This was the likely the first person to die
at the hands of Dr. Holmes, killed likely because he knew too much about the mad medic,
although weāll never know what that information really wasā¦ In July of 1889, Holmes employed a young couple,
Ned and Julia Connor, who worked in the pharmacy and lived on the second floor of the recently
completed Englewood building. Within a month, Holmes and Julia were engaged in a torrid
affair, even as Myrtle lived under the same roof. This, understandably drove a wedge between
the couple, with Ned filing for divorce and quitting Holmesā employ. Julia now started to entangle herself in Holmesā
financial web. He listed her as the co-founder of a number of businesses and took out numerous
debts in her name. Then, on July 4th 1891, Julia and her eight-year old daughter Pearl
disappeared off the face of the earth. The bodies were never discovered and Holmes
never confessed to murdering them, but it seems quite likely that they were the next
victims of the deadly doctor. Around this time, Holmes started a completely
new business, the Warner Glass-bending Company. Though he actually knew nothing about glass
bending, he convinced those who would listen that he had invented a unique glass bending
technique. To perfect it heād built a furnace in the basement of his two story building
and made a great show of setting to work, though no one actually saw him bend any glass. Serial Killer After the establishment of his basement furnace,
the disappearance of young women who came into Holmesā circle became more frequent.
First there was Emeline Cigrand, who came to Chicago looking for work in May, 1892.
Holmes employed her as a typewriter girl and was soon getting much more for his money...
When the girl disappeared around Christmas time, Holmes dismissed it with what was to
become a common explanation: āSheās gone to Europe to get married.ā By the end of 1892, the whole city of Chicago
was abuzz with the prospect of the approaching Worldās Fair in celebration of the 400th
anniversary of Columbusā landing on the Americas. Never one to pass up an opportunity,
Holmes quickly had a third story put onto his building to serve as a hotel. However,
he never really intended to use the floor as a hotel... The amount Holmes could make renting out rooms
was small potatoes compared with what he could make by convincing others that he was opening
a hotel. With such a venture in the works, he could raise money from investors whoād
never see a penny back. He could also buy up innumerable goods on credit to sell without
paying for them and, as a final windfall, make thousands in insurance money by setting
fire to the building. Despite the popular notion that the Holmes
hotel was flourishing during the Worldās Fair, luring countless women to their death,
there are no records that he even took in a single paying customer. When he set the
structure ablaze on August 13th, 1893, to claim the insurance, the only people on site
were long term residents. The resulting claim would spend years going through the courts,
by which time the claimant would be behind barsā¦ Texas With mounting lawsuits, Holmes decided that
it was time to quit Chicago. His travels took him to Denver, Fort Worth, Texas, St. Louis
and, finally Philadelphia. Along the way he got married once more, this time to a 23-year
old with a two-thousand dollar inheritance. He also fell in with a like minded swindler
by the name of Benjamin Pietzel. Pietzel got himself thrown in jail for passing bad checks
and while he was inside, Holmes began paying the premiums on his life insurance policy.
When he got out, the two joined forces and purchased a vacant lot in Fort Worth. Here
they set about building a replica of the complex that Holmes had built then burnt to the ground
in Chicago. Just like the original building, the Texas
hotel featured a number of strange passages and twists. But just what Holmes planned to
do with the building is unclear. He didnāt hang around long enough to use it. What he
and Pietzel did do was to take out tens of thousands of dollars in mortgages on it, and
then disappear without making more than a couple of token payments. The two moved on to St. Louis where Holmes
bought a drug store for a down payment of $50 and promissory notes that were completely
worthless. Pietzel then approached a drugstore supplier and convinced them that he was interested
in buying the drugstore from Holmes. If they lent him the money, he would use them as his
main supplier. They agreed. This swindle came unstuck when the drugstoreās
rep called in the next day, only to find the place shuttered up. He got suspicious and
called in the authorities. Holmes was arrested and spent three days in jail. Downfall On his release, Holmes headed for Philadelphia
and the swindle that would prove his undoing. Here he planned to make good on those insurance
premiums heād paid for Pietzel a few months back. The two men had long been scheming to
defraud the Fidelity Mutual Insurance Company by faking Pietzelās death and splitting
the proceeds. In early September, however, Peitzel got cold feet and wanted to back out.
An unhappy Holmes agreed to meet up the next day to further discuss the issue. When he
turned up at Pietzelās address, Holmes proceeded to get him drunk. Then he knocked him out
with a cholorform handkerchief, increasing the dosage until his old friend was dead. Holmes then attempted to stage the scene to
make it look like an accident. Then, with his 23-year old wife in tow, he jumped on
a train for Indianapolis, intent on securing the $10,000 insurance payout. In the end the
payout was made to Pietzelās widow but Holmes convinced her that her husband had died owing
him $7,500 for the Texas building. She handed the money over. As an act of graciousness, Holmes agreed to
accompany the three Pietzel children to Indianapolis where they were to stay with their aunt. Before
he could deliver them, however, he discovered that he was a wanted man. Authorities from
a number of states, including Philadelphia, were keen to talk to himā¦ Manhunt and Death Now officially on the run, he moved the children
all over the countryside. At some point, he decided that the children would have to die.
The youngest, eight-year old Howard, was poisoned with cyanide, while the two girls were likely
gassed to death. The bodies were buried in a cellar. By now detectives were hot on Holmesā trail.
They finally caught up with him in Boston and, of all things, arrested him for horse
theft. A raft of further charges followed and in October, 1895, he was convicted of
murdering Benjamin Pietzel. Holmes subsequently confessed to 27 murders
and was hanged on May 7, 1896. His dying wish was for his body to be buried under ten feet
of concrete to prevent grave robbers from stealing and dissecting his body ā a luxury
he denied many of his victims.
Did the boys not do an episode on this? I swear they must have