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

Erratic attendance figures had the fair organizers concerned about its solvency. The fair needed to sell 100,000 tickets a day for the rest of its run. With the economic depression worsening, this seemed unlikely.

Holmes locks Anna in the vault and fills it with gas before fetching her sister. Two days later he informed their landlord that he no longer needed the apartment. Holmes arranged for a furniture mover to take the coffin-sized case to the train station and leave it on the platform. Holmes gifted Pitezel’s wife with clothes from a cousin of his, Minnie Williams.

High winds preceded a fire at the Machinery Building on June 17th. The building burned to the ground, but the next day attendance topped 100,000. On July 18th, the coroner ordered Burnham’s arrest. He feared the Retrenchment Committee would cripple the fair commercially.