At Last
At three-thirty P.M.: Anderson, 62; Barnes, 180.
“No crank will have: Alleghenian, July 1, 1893.
“wheels in his head: Untitled typescript, Ferris Papers, 6.
“Built in the face: “The Ferris Wheel Souvenir,” Ferris Papers, 1.
“In truth, it seems too light: Alleghenian, July 1, 1893.
Rising Wave
By the end of June: Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1893.
The Roof Garden Cafe: Weimann, 267.
Mrs. Lucille Rodney: Badger, 162.
“Call it no more: Besant, 533.
The failure of this: Olmsted, “Landscape Architecture.”
In the six months: Rice, 85.
In his official report: Ibid., Appendix I, 2.
Over the life of the fair: Burnham, Final Official Report, 77–80.
“half-boor, half-tightwad: Dedmon, 232; May, 334–35, 340–41.
Frank Haven Hall: Hendrickson, 282.
“he would learn far more: Weimann, 566.
When Cody learned of it: Badger, 163–64; Weimann, 565– 66. 286. “as enthusiastic as a girl: Weimann, 566.
There was tragedy: Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1893.
In the week beginning: “Ferris Wheel, Statement of Business by the Week,” Ferris Papers.
“short on news: Untitled typescript, Ferris Papers, 7.
Wherritt staggered: Anderson, 66.
“He seemed to take: Polacheck, 40.
“Existing conditions: Inland Architect and News Record, vol. 22, no. 2 (September 1893), 24.
In June two businessmen: Chicago Tribune, June 4, 1893.
“Everyone is in a blue fit: Steeples and Whitten, 1.
“What shall we do: Muccigrosso, 183.
“everything will seem small: Weimann, 577.
Independence Day
“For half a mile: Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1895.
One man began singing: Ibid.
Red lights glowed: Ibid.
“Home Sweet Home: Ibid.
At nine o’clock: For details about the night’s fireworks displays see Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1895; Burg, 43; Gilbert, 40.
That night the Oker family: Franke, 108.
“Sister, brother Harry and myself: Boswell and Thompson, 88. This letter is quoted also in Franke, 106, and Schechter, 62.
“Anna had no property: Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1895.
Holmes had announced: Schechter proposes the scenario wherein Holmes invites Anna, alone, to accompany him on a tour of the hotel. It seems likely. Another possibility is that Holmes asked for Anna’s help with some last-minute clerical work at his office and recommended that Minnie stay behind in the apartment to handle final preparations for their mutual journey. Certainly Holmes would have wanted to separate the women, for he was not physically strong. His power lay in persuasion and cunning. Schechter, 62.
Worry
At the fairgrounds: See daily attendance statistics in Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1893.
But the next day: Ibid.
The fair’s auditor: Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1893.
The bankers were pressuring: Chicago Tribune, August 2, 3, 1893.
Estimates held: Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1893.
Claustrophobia
Police speculated that Holmes killed Nannie and Minnie Williams in his vault. Schechter proposes this scenario: “As they got ready to leave, Holmes paused abruptly, as though struck by a sudden realization. He needed to fetch something from his vault, he explained—an important business document that he kept stored inside a safe-deposit box. It would only take a moment.
“Grasping Nannie by the hand, he led her toward the vault” (62).
Something like this must have occurred, although I think my proposal that Holmes sent her into the vault on a false errand, then followed her and shut the door, would have suited more closely his temperament. He was a killer but a cowardly one. See note above from p. 292.
That Holmes killed the women on July 5 is supported by a March 14, 1895, letter from an attorney, E. T. Johnson, who had been dispatched to hunt for the missing women. He states they left the Wrightwood house “about July 5, 1893, and none of us have ever heard from them any more” (Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1895). Taken together, this letter and Anna’s happy letter to her aunt written on the evening of July 4, cited above from page 292, provide evidence that the murders did indeed occur on July 5.
Two days later: Franke, 108.
“I do not know how: Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1895.
Also on July 7: The Chicago Tribune of July 20, 1895, identifies the express company as Wells-Fargo. The Philadelphia Public Ledger of November 23, 1894, states that the trunk was shipped from Midlothian, Texas, on July 7, 1893.
The trunk was addressed: Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, November 23, 1894.
A Wells-Fargo drayman tried: Ibid.
“I want you to come: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 29, 1895.
“It was an awful looking place: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 29, 1895.
“Don’t do that: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1895; Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 29, 1895.
He gave Pitezel’s wife: Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1895.
Holmes also surprised: Ibid.
Storm and Fire
The balloon: Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1893.
The sky seemed to reach: Ibid.
In the Agriculture Building: Ibid.
“It took the combined effort: Anderson, 66.
“I got some pleasure: Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1893.
The tower: Chicago Tribune, July 11, 12, 1893.
