On October 28, just two days before the exposition was set to close, Chicago’s recently re-elected mayor, Carter Harrison Sr., was shot and killed by a disgruntled-and deranged-office seeker, Patrick Eugene Prendergast, who believed he was owed a political appointment by the mayor. Holmes quickly became a celebrity, and was paid more than $200,000 in today’s money to pen accounts of his crimes for the Hearst newspaper chain. Although Holmes’ heinous crimes weren’t discovered until after the fair ended, it’s believed that he was responsible for dozens of deaths in Chicago, and may have killed as many as 200 people nationwide before his murderous spree ended with his 1894 arrest. Holmes, was busily luring victims (including a number of fairgoers) to a three-story, block-long building, later known as the “Murder” Castle, where they were tortured, mutilated and killed. For several years before and during the exposition, Herman Mudgett, aka H.H. Unbeknownst to festival-goers, there was a mass murderer in their midst.Ĭhicago was home to a serial killer during the fair. Congress, which was in charge of the selection, awarded the city the exposition. But when Lyman Gage, president of one of the largest banks in the Midwest, arranged for millions more in financing, momentum swung Chicago’s way and the U.S. Morgan pledged to raise $15 million to cover the city’s expenses, with Chicago’s mercantile and meatpacking millionaires Marshall Field, Philip Armour and Gustavus Swift following suit. Big Apple financial titans including Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Waldorf Astor and J. all submitted bids to host the 1893 fair, but the race was soon narrowed to New York and Chicago. Chicago had to beat out a number of other cities to get the fair.
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