The Devil in the White City (51 page)

I do not employ researchers, nor did I conduct any primary research using the Internet. I need physical contact with my sources, and there’s only one way to get it. To me every trip to a library or archive is like a small detective story. There are always little moments on such trips when the past flares to life, like a match in the darkness. On one visit to the Chicago Historical Society, I found the actual notes that Prendergast sent to Alfred Trude. I saw how deeply the pencil dug into the paper.

I have tried to keep my citations as concise as possible. I cite all quoted or controversial material but omit citations for facts that are widely known and accepted. For the two murder scenes I document my reasoning and my approach and cite the facts upon which I relied. The citations that follow constitute a map. Anyone retracing my steps ought to reach the same conclusions as I.

PROLOGUE

Aboard the
Olympic

The date was
: Burnham identified the suite numbers in a diary entry dated April 3, 1912; Burnham Archives, Diary, Roll 2. For information about the
Olympic
and
Titanic
see Brinnin; Lynch; Eaton and Haas; and
White Star
. The last, which reprints articles published in 1911 from
Shipping World and Shipbuilder
, includes detailed specifications of both ships as well as maps and schematics of the
Olympic
’s decks and accommodations.

“This prolonging
: Moore,
Burnham, Architect
, 2:172.

“the greatest event
: Miller, 488.

Part I: Frozen Music

The Black City

“Never before
: Miller, 511.

“The parlors and bedrooms
: Ibid., 516.

“a human being
: Ibid., 193.

“The Trouble Is Just Begun”

It was this big talk
: Dedmon, 221.

“the hawks, buzzards
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 24, 1889.

“The men who have helped
:
Chicago Tribune
, August 2, 1889.

“The gloom
:
Chicago Tribune
, February 24, 1890.

“Gentlemen. I am prepared
: Ibid.

“the records of the Old Central
: Hines, 402.

“I went to Harvard
: Ibid., 11.

“greatest architect
: Ibid., 12.

“There is a family tendency
: Miller, 315.

“My idea
: Sullivan, Louis, 285.

“There is a black sheep
: Letter, Daniel Hudson Burnham, Jr., to Charles Moore, February 21, 1918, Burnham Archives, Charles Moore Correspondence, Box 27, File 3.

“A long wait frightened us
: Monroe,
Poet’s Life
, 59.

“so completely happy
: Ibid., 60.

“probably not equaled
: Miller, 321.

“our originality
: Moore,
Burnham, Architect
, 1:24.

“if,” he said, “the earth
: Ibid., 1:321.

“The building throughout
: Ibid.

“What Chartres was
: Hines, 53.

“who will not have an office
: Miller, 326.

“Daniel Burnham Hudson was
: Starrett, 29.

“Make no little plans
: Ibid., 311.

“I’ve never seen
: Miller, 319.

“His conversational powers
: Ibid., 316.

“I used always to think
: Ibid., 317

“The office was full
: Starrett, 32.

“The work of each man
: Miller, 318.

“that Gordian city
: Lewis, 19.

“a gigantic peepshow
: Ibid., 136.

“I did it
: Burnham to mother, undated, Burnham Archives, Burnham Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 2.

“You must not worry
: Burnham to Margaret, February 29, 1888, Burnham Archives, Burnham Family Correspondence, Box 25, File 3.

“The coroner
: Burnham to Margaret, March 3, 1888, ibid.

“Burnham was not pleased
: Sullivan, Louis, 294.

“smear another façade
: Morrison, 64.

“an innocent
: Sullivan, Louis, 291.

“He was elephantine
: Ibid., 288.

“When may we see you
:
ChicagoTribune
, February 25, 1890.

“The most marvelous exhibit
: Ibid.

“Chicago is like
:
Chicago Tribune
, February 27, 1890.

The Necessary Supply

His height was
: Franke, 24. Franke reproduces an image of a “Rogue’s Gallery” file card with details of Holmes’s weight, height, and so forth as entered by Boston police upon his arrest.

“The eyes are very big
: Schechter, 282.

A telegraph pole
:
Englewood Directory
, 37.

“While at times
: Sullivan, Gerald, 49.

Holmes entered the store
: Mudgett, 22–23; Schechter, 13–17; Boswell and Thompson, 81. See also
Town of Lake Directory
, 217.

“an elemental odor
: Sinclair, 25.

“river of death
: Ibid., 34.

“I had daily
: Mudgett, 6.

“Nor did they desist
: Ibid., 6

“mother’s boy
: Ibid., 199

“twelve-year-old sweetheart
: Ibid., 200.

Mudgett’s only close friend
: Schechter, 12.

“itinerant photographer
: Mudgett, 7.

“Had he next proceeded
: Ibid., 8.

“I kept it for many years
: Ibid., 8.

He enrolled
: Ibid., 14.

“the first really dishonest
: Ibid.,15.

“I could hardly count
: Ibid.,16.

Eventually he came to Mooers Forks
: Ibid., 16;
Chicago Tribune
, July 31, 1895;
New York Times
, July 31, 1895.

“Some of the professors
: Franke, 118.

“In the fall of 1885
: Mudgett, 17.

“This scheme called for
: Ibid.,19.

“the necessary supply
: Ibid.

“This,” he said, “necessitated
: Ibid., 20.

“and for the first time
: Ibid.

The owner of the house
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 31, 1895.

“This,” he wrote, “was my first
: Mudgett, 21.

“The city had laid
: Dreiser,
Sister Carrie
, 16.

“there was such a rush
: Sullivan, Gerald, 14.

In 1868 a Mrs. H. B. Lewis
: Ibid.

“To the business men
:
Catalogue
, 3.

“My trade was good
: Mudgett, 23.

He put up a new sign
: Franke, 210.

“Becomingness”

A friend of Burnham’s
: Ellsworth to Olmsted, July 26, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 13.

“I have all my life
: Rybczynski,
Clearing
, 385–86.

“flecks of white or red
: Olmsted, “Landscape Architecture,” 18.

“I design with a view
: Rybczynski,
Clearing
, 396.

“Suppose,” he wrote
: Olmsted to Van Brunt, January 22, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 22.

“we are always personally
: Roper, 421.

He was prone
: Rybczynski,
Clearing
, 247–48, 341

“My position is this
: Ellsworth to Olmsted, July 26, 1890.

Certainly that seemed
:
Articles of Agreement
, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41; Rybczynski,
Clearing,
387.

“When can you be here?
: Telegram quoted in Olmsted to Butterworth, August 6, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 13.

“Having seen it
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 7, 1890.

a man they could work with
: Codman to Olmsted, October 25, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 57.

“It is to be desired
: Olmsted,
Report
, 51.

“a man of the world
: Sullivan, Louis, 287.

“she patted the mortar
:
Chicago Tribune
, November 2, 1890.

Root, according to a witness
: Miller, 316.

“While in school
:
Chicago Record
, December 16, 1893, McGoorty Papers.

“He got smart
:
Chicago Record
, December 15, 1893, Ibid.

“murky pall
:
Chicago Tribune
, November 16, 1890.

“Don’t Be Afraid”

“Ambition has been the curse
: Schechter, 238.

“His presence
: Franke, 112.

“It is said that babies
: Ibid., 112.

The building’s broad design
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger
, July 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 1895;
Chicago Tribune,
July 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, August 18, 1895;
New York Times,
July 25, 26, 29, 31, 1895.

“There is an uneven settlement
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 25, 1895.

The high rate of turnover
: Ibid.; Schechter, 28–29.

“I don’t know
: Franke, 95–96.

At first, Latimer said
: Ibid., 43.

“In a general way
: Geyer, 26–27.

“
fine physique
:
Trial,
145.

“Come with me
: Schechter, 25.

“Pitezel was his tool
:
Trial
, 449.

Captain Horace Elliot
:
Englewood Directory
, 36.

To the buyer’s chagrin
: Schechter, 36.

City directories
:
Englewood Directory
, 179, 399; Franke, 40.

“He was the smoothest man
: Franke, 42–43.

“I sometimes sold him
: Ibid., 111.

“Don’t be afraid
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 31, 1895;
New York Times
, July 31, 1895; Franke, 110.

Unlike most Americans
:
Chicago Tribune
, July 26, 1895.

An advertisement
: Hoyt, 177.

Pilgrimage

Immediately the directors
: Burnham and Millet, 14–17; Burnham,
Design
, 7–9; Monroe,
Root
, 222–23.

“at once cheap wooden quarters
: Burnham to Committee on Buildings and Grounds, December 1, 1890, Burnham Archives, Box 58, File 3.

“It may not occur to you
: Burnham to Davis, December 8, 1890, Burnham Archives, Business Correspondence, vol. 1.

“cut to the quick
: Monroe,
Root
, 235.

“feeling confident
: Moore, Burnham interview, 3.

“McKim, damn your preambles
: Moore,
McKim
, 113.

“To himself
: Monroe,
Poet’s Life
, 115.

“They all approved
: Burnham to Olmsted, December 23, 1890, Olmsted Papers, Reel 57.

“they said
: Moore, Burnham interview, 3.

“Burnham had believed
: Sullivan, Louis, 319.

“I think he, Adler
: Moore, Burnham interview, 4.

“He said he was tired
:
Inland Architect and News Record
, vol. 16, no. 8 (January 1891), 88.

He was depresse
d: Monroe,
Root,
249.

“He felt that this
: Ibid., 249.

A Hotel for the Fair

In a parody
: Boswell and Thompson, 81.

When Myrta’s great-uncle
: Ibid., 80; Schechter, 235;
Chicago Tribune,
July 27, 1895;
New York Times,
July 29, 1895;
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 29, 1895.

Holmes returned to Englewood
: Boswell and Thompson, 80.

“Beside his own person
: See
Oxford English Dictionary,
2nd ed.

Half a century later
: Cleckley, 369.

People exhibiting
: Millon et al., 124.

“When I went to bed
: Schechter, 235.

“Presently,” Belknap said
: Ibid.

“I refused to open
: Ibid.

“If I’d gone
: Boswell and Thompson, 80.

He planned to install
:
Chicago Tribune,
July 30, 1895.

The manager of the furnace company
: Franke, 94–95

“the necessary amount of heat
: Ibid., 94.

“In fact,” he said
: Ibid.

These clerks
:
Philadelphia Public Ledger,
July 27, 1895.

The Landscape of Regret

The eastern architects left
: Hunt to Olmsted, January 6, 1891, Olmsted Papers, Reel 58.

Two hours before
: Moore,
McKim,
113;
Chicago Tribune,
January 11, 1891.

“It was one
: Moore, Burnham Interview, 3.

“they gazed
: Burnham,
Design,
24.

“remote and repulsive
: Ingalls, 142.

“sandy waste
: Bancroft, 46.

“If a search had been made
: “A Report Upon the Landscape,” 8, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41.

“it became almost
: Burnham and Millet, 45.

The park’s gravest flaw
: “A Report Upon the Landscape,” 7, Olmsted Papers, Reel 41.

“a feeling of discouragement
: Burnham and Millet, 5.

“Do you mean to say
: Hines, 82; Moore, Burnham interview, 4;

“He went down to the office
: Monroe,
Root,
259.

“looking ill
: Starrett, 47.