The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Discerning something of Holmes’ true character, Emeline told her friends and neighbors, the Lawrences, that she had considered leaving him. She disappeared just prior to Christmas without saying goodbye. When pressed, Holmes stated flatly that she had left to be married, producing a typeset wedding announcement as evidence. News of the marriage reached her family and hometown’s newspaper. Still, Mrs. Lawrence was not satisfied and observed a large trunk leave Holmes’ apartments the day after Emeline had gone missing. Weeks later, her trunk of personal effects arrived at her parents’ home, where it was later assumed that she had died while on honeymoon in Europe. On January 2nd, Holmes had once again enlisted the help of Charles Chappell. A footprint had been etched on the interior of the furnace door.

With just four months to go until Dedication Day, the temperature was 20 degrees below zero, and Harry Codman died of appendicitis. Nothing as heavy as Ferris’ axle had been lifted before. Olmsted recruited a former assistant, Charles Eliot, as his partner and reluctantly delegated oversight of the works to his superintendent, Rudolph Ulrich. The roof of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building collapses under the snow.