Informational

Biography

Herman Webster Mudgett, commonly known as the notorious 1800s criminal H.H. Holmes, was born May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Holmes was born into wealth; his parents were Theodate Page Price and Levi Horton Mudgett (H.H. Holmes, 2017). Herman Mudgett was abused as a child along with his three other siblings, Ellen, Arthur, and Henry. His parents would lock him in rooms for long periods and gave him little food. If he would cry too much, his father would hold kerosene-soaked rags to quiet him down. As a response, he would run away to nearby woods where he would practice surgery on small animals. This is where he developed an interest in dead things. Herman Mudgett’s at-home situation is a main reason why he grew up to be the man he was, H.H. Holmes (10 Horrifying Facts, 2017).

Mudgett developed an interest in medicine and showed a high level of intelligence at a young age. He graduated high school at age 16 and proceeded his education in medical school at Michigan University. To pay for school, he would steal the cadavers from the university and mutualize them to appear as if the bodies have been in a horrendous accident (Benzkofer, 2016). He would them claim life insurance on the bodies. He has made $12,000 on a single scam, while most workers in the late-1800s made less $20 per week. He graduated in 1884 and led his life as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes (10 Horrifying Facts, 2017)

In 1886, H.H. Holmes moved to Chicago and acquired a job at a local drug store, later becoming the manager of the establishment once his predecessor “mysteriously disappeared.” Holmes proceeded to carry out his frauds there, in which he managed to obtain a piece of land across the drug store at 63rd and Wallace Street (Benzkofer, 2016). He built a three-story hotel; locals called it “The Castle”. Holmes would hire contractors to build one room or staircase and then fire them so no one except for him knew the blueprint to the building. Once finished, the Castle was a labyrinth that had over 100 rooms with no windows. He would trap his victims in his maze of rooms, kill them, and then send them down a chute. The chute led to his medieval style basement where he would torture, mutualize, and cremate his hotel guests. Holmes would make skeletons out of these bodies and sell them to local medical schools (Borowaski, n.d.).

H.H. Holmes first drew headlines from insurance fraud in 1894. He plotted with another conman Benjamin Pitezel: Holmes would turn in a disfigured corpse and identity it as Pitezel where both split the insurance money of $10,000. Instead of fulfilling the plan, Holmes killed Pitezel and claimed all the money for himself. Holmes told his wife, Carrie Pitezel that Benjamin was in Toronto to avoid suspicion and desperately wanted to see their children. Carrie sent three of the five children to take a train with Holmes to Toronto. Alice, Nellie, and Howard Pitezel accompanied Holmes and never returned to their mother (Torontoist, 2014). Howard's body was found on the outskirts of a home in Indianapolis. Alice and Nellie’s bodies were found in a cellar of a Toronto home, the cause of their death was suffocation by gas. Each body was found by detective Frank Geyer (Alice Pitezel, n.d.).

Holmes’ told his former cellmate, Marion Hedgepeth, of his plan and promised Hedgepeth $500 if he found Holmes a suitable attorney. Hedgepeth got none of the money he was promised and ended up telling the cops of Holmes' plot (9 Things, 2017). The case was led by detective Frank Geyers. The police apprehended H.H. Holmes in Boston on November 17, 1894. Holmes admitted to killing 27 people, however some believe to him murdering around 20 to 200. Multiple older cases of disappearances were opened and led to his murder Castle. Holmes was convicted in 1895 and executed at the gallows in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 7, 1896 (Benkofer, 2016). H.H. Holmes was a very successful and intelligent murderer and is known today as America’s first serial killer. Today, a post office stands where Dr. Henry Howard Holmes’ murder Castle once stood.

End notes: This piece was used to show the development of H.H. Holmes mind and to teach the people why he turned out to be the man he died. I used the sources of mentalfloss.com, listverse.com, www.biography.com, www.chicagotribune.com, torontoist.com, and the documentary on H.H. Holmes to gather information about his childhood and development until death. The biography is also an important piece included because it lays out his entire life from start to finish.

Obituary

Herman Webster Mudgett died this Tuesday, May 7, 1896. He was executed at the gallows at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia, PA. Muggett went by many names during his years as a con-man, his most famous being H.H. Holmes (Benzofer, 2016).

Herman Mudgett was born to Theodate Page Price and Levi Horton Mudgett on the 16th of May, 1861. He grew up with his family in home in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Along with him were his three siblings: Ellen, Arthur, and Henry.

Mudgett graduated high school at age 16 and continued his education at the University of Vermont and University of Michigan medical school. After he graduated, Mudgett moved to Chicago, Illinois and found work at a pharmacy, becoming manager later on (H.H. Holmes, 2017).

He acquire a portion of land across from the pharmacy where he built a hotel. The hotel, nicknamed “The Castle,” is where he carried out his devious plans. Mudgett rigged his castle to kill his guests and employees, then sell their skeletons to local medical schools. Mudgett has thought to have killed up to 200 victims. He has confessed 27 of them before his execution. He was an intelligent conman and knew what he was doing (Borowaski, 2004)

Mudgett was apprehended in Boston, MA two years before his death by detective Frank Geyer after an insurance scandal and the murders of the Benjamin, Alice, Nellie, and Howard Pitezel (Alice Pitezel, n.d.). Sentenced the death penalty by the state in 1895. Holmes requested, before his death, to be buried in concrete ten feet under (9 things, 2017)

End notes: This piece was used to show what people in the late 1800s would have seen in a news paper of the notorious killer. I used the sources of Listverse.com, www.findagrave.com, H.H. Holmes Documentary, chicagotribune.com, and mentalfloss.com to complete this obituary.