H. H. Holmes by Adam Selzer

Author:Adam Selzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

The Times-Herald, yet again, published one of the most in-depth articles yet on Holmes that day. It included diagrams of the second and third floors of the castle. They also included an excellent drawing of Emeline based on her photograph. Strangely, though, the Times-Herald gave little notice to Ned Conner’s stories. Their reporters apparently missed that interview.

As Chicagoans read these latest developments, interest in the city began to center on Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan, who remained at the station. Mrs. Quinlan broke down after seeing her husband and Joe Owens shackled together—which was just the reaction that Badenoch hoped for—and admitted that she knew about the fire insurance schemes over the course of several short interviews throughout the day.113 She was then was placed in a witness cell separate from her husband’s. Rumors among reporters had it that she admitted to impersonating Minnie Williams at an insurance company on La Salle Street when they needed Minnie’s signature, but Minnie herself “could not be produced.”114

Some papers stated that the Quinlans had been arrested, but officially they were still in the cells voluntarily.

“Both Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan showed more markedly at any time before the great strain under which they are living,” a Times-Herald reporter noted upon observing them. “Their faces were drawn and pale and they gave evidence that they were breaking down.” “She has begun to break down,” confirmed Badenoch, “and it will only be a short time before she will tell us everything she knows about Holmes and his crimes. When she speaks, our work will be comparatively easy … she knows enough to clear up many dark places.”115

An old umbrella and a discolored sponge were found in the castle basement on Friday,116 but the most newsworthy discovery was that of a large bench. Police had seen the bench many times but never examined it closely. Now that they did, they found that it was covered in strange stains, with fine lines that could have been knife marks running through them. They theorized that Holmes might have used it to cut up bodies.117 Dr. Robinson said the stains certainly looked like blood but couldn’t tell if it was human or animal.118 It was this bench that, in later retellings, became a “dissection table.”

Stories began to circulate about three more missing persons: Mrs. Kate Gorky, a widow who ran the restaurant in the castle for a time, her daughter, and Kate’s sister, still known only as “Liz,” who was rumored to be the mother of Mr. Quinlan’s illegitimate child. Kate was said to have been in charge of the restaurant before Clarence Phillips took it over, and to have taken sick while staying around the castle for a few days after being bought out. Medicine Holmes gave her helped her improve, and then she moved away and was not heard from again. Dr. Lawrence told a few stories of knowing Mrs. Gorky but didn’t state that she’d been murdered, just that he didn’t know what happened to her after she moved out.

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