First, Holmes would take out an insurance policy of $10,000. The beneficiary would be Carrie Pitezel, Ben’s wife. Holmes hatched out another plan with Pitezel that would involve an insurance policy on Pitezel’s life. Therefore, the insurance companies suspected fraud, and they refused to pay.īen Pitezel was a long-time employee and friend of Holmes and had been his wingman on a few scams in the past. The fire destroyed the third level, but most of the second floor was still intact, and the ground-floor businesses were unharmed. He had taken out four fire insurance policies on his hotel worth $25,000. Holmes would carry out another scheme for a large sum of money. This version originates from the confessions of Holmes in Holmes’ Own Story). (Note: There are conflicting stories about what happened to Nannie. He then forged Minnie’s signature and collected the life insurance. Out of his lust for money, Holmes traveled to Leadville, Colorado, to shoot her brother. Minnie’s brother had taken out life insurance, and Minnie was the beneficiary. In her belongings, he found an insurance policy. Later that same year, Holmes took Minnie to Momence, Illinois, where he killed her and buried her body in the basement of a house. Subsequently, he faked a letter to make Minnie think Nannie never left the South.
He used his perverse methods to get her to sign over her wealth, and then he quickly proceeded to kill her without a trace. When she arrived, he told Nannie that Minnie was waiting for them and promptly escorted her to his building.
Holmes went alone to the depot to pick her up. In July 1893, the plans were in place for Nannie to visit Chicago, and she had left her Southern home by train. He learned that she also had a sister who was an heiress to a vast fortune, and he urged Minnie to invite her sister for a visit. The couple lived in an apartment together, where Holmes spent a great deal of time getting to know Minnie. It wasn’t long before she was giving him large sums of money and signing her Texas property over to him. Naturally, he wooed her, and before she knew it, he had asked her to marry him. Holmes zoned in on this fact and hired Minnie as his secretary. Unfortunately, she was a naive person with a rather child-like mind, and this made her the perfect victim. However, Minnie had inherited a fortune in Texas real estate. She didn’t have the good looks that most of his previous lovers and spouses possessed.
Holmes met a plain young lady by the name of Minnie Williams. Holmes had worked as a druggist in the past and knew how certain drugs might come in handy. Ingeniously, one of those was a drug store with a pharmacy. The entire first floor consisted of stores and shops. Reports indicated that Holmes’ building had 60 rooms and 51 doors. Therefore, the following description may or may not be factual. Features of the Murder CastleĪccording to History, the newspapers of the day likely published articles embellished with sensational elements about the building. Mudgett said that Julia had died during an abortion. Consequently, Connor walked out on Julia, and she got custody of Pearl.Ĭuriously, Julia and her daughter disappeared in 1891. A romance sparked between Julia and Holmes. He quickly fired his current bookkeeper for no real reason and gave Julia the job. Connor arrived with his lovely partner, Julia, and her daughter, Pearl.
Hh holmes hotel professional#
Holmes hired a professional jeweler and watchmaker, Ned Connor, to help out with this new venture.
One of the stores he opened on the lower level of the building was a jewelry counter. Holmes’ Castle, The World Fair Hotel, 1890s. The budding businessman appointed himself as the architect. Some years after buying Holden out, Holmes brokered a deal to buy some land directly opposite his shop and began construction on a mixed-use, three-story building in 1887. Holmes told police that he bought the store from her and she retired and left the area with no forwarding address. For this reason, when Holden vanished one day, everyone was surprised. It seemed as though he was even attracting new customers to the store. Holden and the customers loved him with his sense of humor and radiant charm. Holmes answered her employment ad and got the job as a clerk. Nonetheless, he married a local woman in Chicago, Myrta Belknap. Although he tried to file for divorce from Clara, the divorce proceedings failed. He took the alias Henry Howard Holmes to avoid detection and finally reached Chicago in 1885. While he was moving to Chicago, he went from place to place, committing many insurance fraud scams. Marriage to Clara did not work out, and she moved home.
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