Devil_in_the_White_City

H.H. Holmes and the White City In the Devil in the White City, Erik Larson portrays Holmes and the white city in two very different yet parallel ways. Both Holmes and the City are mesmerizing to look at causing a certain orbit drawing people towards them. Though they are appealing to the eye, Holmes and the White City have a dark, dangerous side awaiting their curious prey. As a way for Holmes to lure his victims, “he broke prevailing rules of casual intimacy. He stood too close, stared too hard, touched too much and long and women adored him for it.”(36) In addition to this his deep, blue eyes and ability to persuade both men and women in a flawless way helped him prevail in receiving anything he might have needed at little, or no expense at all. For example when the families of his victims, such as Emiline Cingrad and detective Frank Geyer, would come to him with questions as to where the location of the people who were once in his company, and were suddenly not in contact with their loved ones anymore. This also became apparent in look and reputation of the White City. Other “cities began to see it as a prise to be convected, mainly for the stature it would confer, stature being a powerful lure in this age when pride of place ranked second only to pride of blood.”(16) With all the new attractions such as the Ferris Wheel, beautiful buildings, and diversity of people there, the White City caught the eye of many Americans just by curiosity. Also with rumors of never seen before things, such as belly dancers and actual Indian, people poured into the fair by the thousands for a once in a life time opportunity. Though Holmes and the White City appealed to peoples sense of sight, their inner workings held a deep thirst for blood. Holmes himself was obsessed with suffering of his victims. Its was like that of a sexual high for him at some points. This is apparent when he says, “I was born with the devil in me”, “ I could not help the fact that I was a murder, no more than a poet can help his inspiration to sing.”(109) Everything about Holmes invited young, naïve women into his grasp. It {text:soft-page-break} became almost too easy for him to find his next victim and dispose of the one he already had. He became a true devil in a white city. As for the actual White City “ in August alone, the building took three lives. Elsewhere on the grounds four other men died and dozens more suffered all manner of fractures, burns, and lacerations. The fair, according to one later appraisal, was more dangerous a place to work that a coal mine.”(178) Through long hours of hard labor in unfavorable weather condition many men were pushed beyond their breaking point. Thousands of men worked day and night on low wages in order to finish the fair in time. They worked like this for about a year until a labor law was passed giving them higher wages and Sundays off of work including holidays unless paid double time. Even with this break in luck, it was still hard for the men due to exhaustion, disease, and absence of loved ones for long periods of times.