Famous Serial Killer with Links to Dallas
Herman Mudgett, aka H.H. Holmes, had been killing women in his ‘murder’ hotel in the shadows of the 1893 World’s Fair. These women came to the World’s Fair looking for work – with the crush of people coming to Chicago for the Fair, there was a demand for restaurant and hotel workers in addition to sex workers. These itinerant women also needed a safe place to stay and Holmes’ hotel seemed to be popular with single women traveling alone.
Minnie Williams, a rich heiress from Dallas, was lured to Chicago with the promise of secretarial work for H.H. Holmes in his bustling pharmacy. But Holmes went one huge step further – he faux married Minnie using a sham minister. Why? He needed access to her property in Oak Cliff and Fort Worth which he would ultimately mortgage and begin building upon.
Some thought that Minnie might have been on to Holmes’ murderous side – stay tuned.
Pictured: the interior of the Murder Castle (Holmes’ hotel in the Chicago suburbs). The 2nd floor famously had very odd architecture.
