Famous Serial Killer with Links to Dallas, Part VIII
H.H. Holmes, active serial killer in Chicago during the Columbia Exposition of 1893, has faux married a Dallas-area heiress, Minnie Williams. Not secure in the Williams inheritance, Holmes also enticed Minnie’s younger sister, Nannie, to attend the World’s Fair. It is believed that Holmes orchestrated the visit, posing as Minnie. Nannie, thrilled to see the World’s Fair plus her sister and her sister’s new “husband”, boarded a train in Texas. She arrived in Chicago but never did see the Fair or her sister. Holmes claims to have quickly murdered Nannie nearly as soon as she disembarked – she never even claimed her baggage. It is this unclaimed baggage that is going to be a red flag one year later when the train station in Chicago wrote to Nannie’s friends in the Waxahachie area, asking what should be done with Nannie’s belongings now that 365 days had passed. Her shocked friends began asking questions in earnest.
Pictured: Central Station, which was brand-spankin’ new at the time and built specifically to handle the train traffic for the World’s Fair. Central Station was demolished in the 1970s, but when it was opened, it had the largest train shed in the world and was considered quite the marvel. There is no telling how much of this station Nannie was able to take in before she was killed.
Credit: Chicagology.com
