ipl-logo

The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

620 Words3 Pages

Murderer. The. What traits do you first think of when you hear that word? I doubt any of your first thoughts are about attractiveness. In the non-fiction story “The Devil In The White City,” Erik Larson conveys how H.H. Holmes, a serial killer in the late 1800s, used his attractiveness to lure unsuspecting women to trust him, with his ultimate goal of murdering them. I agree with Erik Larson's argument about manipulation, and today I will be explaining how and why. When H. H. Holmes first arrived in Chicago. He met the owner of a pharmacy named Mrs. Holton. She explained how her husband is dying and needs money and H.H. Holmes offers to buy her store and he changes the name to H. H. Holmes Pharmacy. She later disappears and supposedly moves to California. To this day it is not confirmed, but it is suspected that Holmes murdered her. According to pioneerrx.com “Holmes convinced her to sell the pharmacy directly to him. She was never seen again.” …show more content…

He used the pharmacy to gain access to drugs and chemicals and even got enough cash to purchase a lot across the street nicknamed “The Murder Castle” H.H. Holmes would use his looks and manipulation tactics to marry females and then shortly leave them for his financial gain. According to csp.edu “Holmes used Anna’s money to pay his tuition. The tactic of swindling women out of their fortunes later became a favorite tactic for Holmes”. This shows how he would marry his wife just to get money. In this case even though Anna was not one of his wives, he promised her marriage, and convinced her to transfer the deed to her property, shortly after he left he killed her and used this money to pay for tuition at the University of Michigan. These are some of the ways H.H. Holmes gained enough money to eventually purchase “The Murder Castle” across the street from the

Show More
Related

Forensics Analyst Aeron Klamorick

855 Words | 4 Pages

Maybe they only intended to rob her, and the killing was an accident. According to the Holmes Journal, the murder weapon was an eight-by-two-inch knife. PACO had recently bought a knife with the same

Read More

Who Is James J Hill A Captain Of Industry

967 Words | 4 Pages

James J. Hill was a robber baron as opposed to being a captain of industry. In his early career he had appear to be a captain of industry, as he did provide a boost to the economy of his hometown, but those acts of goodness are overshadowed by the corrupt, or dishonest for personal gain, businesses practices he later exercised. Hill took advantage of immigrants looking to find homes. He attempted to gain complete control over many railroad companies. He and another robber baron, E.H. Harriman, formed a holding company, which is similar to a trust.

Read More

Imagery And Sentence Structure Of Malcom X

1010 Words | 5 Pages

He didn’t have a job in Boston, and needed some way to make money. Someone offered him the idea of hustling, or selling drugs, to the people in Boston. He did this along with beginning to gamble. This was the start of a huge and important point in his life. The author does a great job of describing this, explaining all the guns he needed to carry and when the police planted in his room with the stuff, for them to “find” later.

Read More

The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

1287 Words | 6 Pages

Book Analysis- The Devil in the White City The Chicago World’s Fair continues to be one of America’s defining moments. This is where America proved to the world they had grown up and were able to hold their own. Erik Larson eloquently illustrates the entire fair in little black words on paper. Although he was not alive during this event, Larson is able to reconstruct the story with factual events; he created twists to keep you ensnared into the story.

Read More

Why Did Holmes Choose Chicago

824 Words | 4 Pages

The question is, why did Holmes pick Chicago of all places? Why not somewhere else? Chicago was a place for H.H. Holmes to commit his crimes because the city had a growing population, it was going to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, and because Chicago was a selfish city. H.H. Holmes chose Chicago to commit his crimes

Read More

Devil In The White City By Erick Larson

232 Words | 1 Pages

The book, The Devil in the White City, by Erick Larson includes a chapter called, “Departures.” Thus far the reader has followed H.H. Holmes’ story of gruesome murders and other crimes that took place in Chicago during the late 1800’s. Holmes is a charming man who has manipulated many, including creditors, into doing things his way. After a certain crime, a man named Cowie is suspicious of Holmes. Cowie brings together all of the creditors, and they now realize Holmes’ fraud.

Read More

Herman Webster Mudgett: America's First Serial Killer

2066 Words | 9 Pages

He attempted to build another ‘castle’ there, but there’s no word on whether or not it was actually built. In July of ‘94, Holmes was arrested for selling mortgaged goods in Missouri, but was bailed out rather promptly. While in jail though, Holmes had made conversation with a man named Mario Hedgepeth. Holmes had been planning on taking a $10,000 dollar insurance policy on his own life, and then faking his death. He offered Hedgepeth a $500 commision in exchange for the name of a lawyer who would help him carry out this plan.

Read More

H. H Holmes Papers

1586 Words | 7 Pages

It is speculated that the owner of the store, E.S. Holton mysteriously dies of natural causes. Holton’s wife, who sold the place to Holmes then disappears too. Dr. H.H. Holmes had then continued to scam, earning more money. With more money, in 1888 he was able to lease another property, on the southwest corner of 63 of Wallace. It is here where he commits most of his

Read More

Essay On The Devil In The White City

559 Words | 3 Pages

There was no motive for the police or any officials to question Holmes further succeeding his business. Americas ingenuity was at all time high during the time the Chicago Fair was constructed. With the ability to construct attractions in an area close to water on unleveled ground in an area that was popular for violence was a very risky action. Since the fair was a major success we can infer that American Ingenuity was used for something other than producing industrial machines and products and using their resources to create architecture within America itself. Chicago was not the tier location to construct the World’s fair but in the end it was an intelligent decision for the American

Read More

The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

1335 Words | 6 Pages

The Chicago World’s Fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition, was a world renowned fair hosted by the city of Chicago in 1893. The fair was hosted to glorify the legacy of explorer Christopher Columbus, as the world celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of his discovery of the New World. The events leading up to and during the fair are showcased in precise detail in Erik Larson’s bestseller The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction book written about the World’s Columbian Exposition. Early in the book, the idea to host a fair for Columbus is mentioned.

Read More

Serial Killers: Manson, Manson And H. Holmes

952 Words | 4 Pages

Holmes then goes on to attend medical school at the University of Michigan in 1882 and thus began his life as a con artist (Biography.com Editors, 2017). Holmes exceptional charm was the reason he continuously got away with his fraud. During medical school Holmes reportedly stole dead bodies and used them to fabricate insurance claims, and racked up credit card debit as a traveling book salesmen (Biography.com Editors, 2017). Holmes then uses his charm to secure a job at a drug store in Chicago, later turning the three story building across the street into a hotel. The hotel; now known as the “Murder Castle” was mostly occupied by women for Holmes to pray on, some becoming his wife before they mysteriously go missing (Biography.com Editors, 2017).

Read More

James Holmes Case Study

771 Words | 4 Pages

Holmes is taken to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for supervision. A month later, Holmes Attorneys defended his client, by saying, "Mr. Holmes suffers from a severe mental illness and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained by movie goers on July 20, 2012” (“Colorado Theater”, 2017). Holmes defense to his actions was because he believe the reason he killed everyone is because he was unable to control his actions because of the movie he watched.

Read More

Devil In The White City

602 Words | 3 Pages

Geyer and his partner plotted and searched almost every hotel in Cincinnati. Everytime Holmes would check into a different hotel, he would use different names. Geyer had to keep up with his common aliases, so he would not be fooled by Holmes’s tricks. “Howard was one of Holmes’s more common aliases, Geyer now knew” (Larson 346). Geyer had determination on finding these children, and by doing that he had to know the tricks Holmes had up his sleeve.

Read More

Hh Holmes Accomplishments

1053 Words | 5 Pages

“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.” The infamous H.H. Holmes spoke these spine chilling words. Known as “America’s First Serial Killer”, Holmes lived a secretive and lavish lifestyle. Holmes’s fear of doctors as a young child ripened into a fascination of the human anatomy.

Read More

Now I Walk Into The Wild Analysis

467 Words | 2 Pages

He was picked up as a hitchhiker and his parents hired a private investigator but could not trace him. When he traveled, he would get bored and apply for a job. Once he got the jobs, he would still live life as a “hobo” but then after he felt he needed to move on, he would either give away his money or burn it. With all the money he made from the several different jobs he had, he could’ve had plenty of supplies to

Read More

More about The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

Open Document