The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Pregnant, Julia told Holmes he would have to marry her. He agreed, on condition that she have an abortion, performed by himself. Julia put Pearl to bed on Christmas Eve and told their neighbor Mrs. Crowe that they would shortly go to Iowa for a wedding. Holmes put Julia and Pearl to sleep with chloroform. The Crowes awaited them on Christmas Day, but they never appeared. Just after Christmas, an articulator named Charles Chappell helped Holmes dispose of the bodies. Medical demand for corpses was high. The second week in January, the Doyle family moved into Julia’s rooms. Holmes told them Julia’s sister had fallen ill, and Julia had left at once, not to return. 

The new year was a cold one, but progress had been made on the fair. Walt Disney’s father, Elias, was among the craftsmen working on its construction. Labor strife and violence rose as the economy faltered. Forty percent more murders occurred in Chicago in 1891 compared with the previous year. Financial pressures on the works forced Burnham to undertake radical cost cutting measures. Unemployed men gathered in Chicago, hoping to work on the fair, but Burnham was forced to lay some off.