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Holmes created a financial scandal of his own. When he opened his hotel, he bought everything on credit. “He had no intention of paying his debts and was confident he could evade prosecution through guilt and charm.” Surprisingly, he managed to keep many possessions without spending any real money and didn’t have to face any furniture dealers or anyone “whom Holmes had cheated over the previous five years” for a long time. What ended up happening was that he had to face them all at once. In the fall of 1893 he attended a meeting that had an unexpected “two dozen creditors and their attorneys” to collect the $50,000 that he owed. The issues that were created with these mishandlings of money left a hole in the economy, and both projects contributed to
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Instead, he faced another common problem: money. Though he was not poor, he was only a pharmacist and wished to be able to pay for the construction of a building that would cover the entire block. Just like Burnham, he came up with a solution. He took the role of a very patronizing contractor and “as workers came to him for their wages, he berated them for doing shoddy work and refused to pay them, even if the work was perfect.” When the workers quit, or got fired, Holmes was left with the work the builder had already completed, and the same amount of money. Both men were faced with challenges, and being the geniuses they were, they came up with practical solutions. To set goals and achieve them is the basis of many people’s lives; the only varying aspect is the goals …show more content…
Larson especially illuminated the despair of Mrs. Pitezel, the mother of three children who were murdered by Holmes. He describes her speaking in the courtroom and says, “She wore a black dress, black hat, and black cape and looked pale and sad.” Also, throughout the story there are many explanations of family members searching for their daughters that traveled to Chicago and had stopped communicating back home. Although Larson never elaborates on the reaction of the country to the news of revealing a serial killer that had been hiding in their midst, one can imagine that it was shocking. A new depth of achievement had been reached in America, with the evils even deeper. Burnham and Holmes had done what they came to do, and both left craters in the field of human
Instead, he faced another common problem: money. Though he was not poor, he was only a pharmacist and wished to be able to pay for the construction of a building that would cover the entire block. Just like Burnham, he came up with a solution. He took the role of a very patronizing contractor and “as workers came to him for their wages, he berated them for doing shoddy work and refused to pay them, even if the work was perfect.” When the workers quit, or got fired, Holmes was left with the work the builder had already completed, and the same amount of money. Both men were faced with challenges, and being the geniuses they were, they came up with practical solutions. To set goals and achieve them is the basis of many people’s lives; the only varying aspect is the goals …show more content…
Larson especially illuminated the despair of Mrs. Pitezel, the mother of three children who were murdered by Holmes. He describes her speaking in the courtroom and says, “She wore a black dress, black hat, and black cape and looked pale and sad.” Also, throughout the story there are many explanations of family members searching for their daughters that traveled to Chicago and had stopped communicating back home. Although Larson never elaborates on the reaction of the country to the news of revealing a serial killer that had been hiding in their midst, one can imagine that it was shocking. A new depth of achievement had been reached in America, with the evils even deeper. Burnham and Holmes had done what they came to do, and both left craters in the field of human