The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America by Larson Erik

Author:Larson, Erik [Larson, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7631-4
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2004-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

Patrick Prendergast, the young mad Irish immigrant, took pride in Harrison’s renewed popularity and believed his own efforts at promoting the ex-mayor for reelection had had a lot do with the campaign’s new momentum. An idea came to Prendergast. Just when it entered his brain he could not say, but it was there, and it gave him satisfaction. He had read extensively into law and politics and understood that political machines operated on a first principle of power: If you worked to advance the interests of the machine, the machine paid you back. Harrison was in his debt.

This notion came to Prendergast initially as a glimmer, like the first sunlight to strike the Masonic tower each morning, but now he thought of it a thousand times a day. It was his treasure and made him square his shoulders and raise his chin. When Harrison won, things would change. And Harrison would win. The great upwelling of enthusiasm in the wards seemed to assure Harrison’s victory. Once elected, Prendergast believed, Harrison would offer him an appointment. He would have to. It was the law of the machine, as immutable as the forces that propelled the Chicago Limited across the prairie. Prendergast wanted to be corporation counsel. No more dealing with newsboys who did not know their place; no more walking in the yellow stew that bubbled between pavers; no more having to breathe the awful perfume of mortified horses left in the middle of the street. When Harrison took office, salvation would come to Patrick Prendergast.

The idea caused moments of exultation. Prendergast bought more postcards and sent exuberant notes to the men who soon would be his associates and clubmates—the judges, lawyers, and merchant princes of Chicago. He of course sent another card to his good friend Alfred S. Trude, the defense attorney.

“My Dear Mr. Trude,” he began. He intended the next word to be “Hallelujah!” but certain words gave him trouble. In his fever to write, he plunged ahead.

“Allielliuia!” he wrote. “The attempt of the Herald gang to prevent the manifestation of the popular will has been checked—& Carter H. Harrison the popular choice will be our next mayor. The newspaper trust has been ingloriously sat down upon. What do I know about the candidacy of a Washington Hesing poor fellow—he has the ‘tail end’ of my sympathy. In his present trouble I hope it will not overcome him—& the noble newspaper trust. Glory to The Father Son & Holy Ghost!” He rambled on for a few more lines, then closed, “Friendship is the true test of character after all Sincerely,

“P. E. J. Prendergast.”

Again something in the card drew Trude’s attention. Many other recipients of Prendergast’s cards also took note, despite the crush of mail each received from his true peers, this being a time when everyone who knew how to write did so and at length. In that glacier of words grinding toward the twentieth century, Prendergast’s card was a single fragment of mica glinting with lunacy, pleading to be picked up and pocketed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.