Dr. H. H. Holmes Timeline and Summary
MoreDr. H. H. Holmes Timeline and Summary
- Herman Webster Mudgett arrives in a south Chicago town called Englewood and changes his name to H. H. Holmes after the famed character Sherlock Holmes.
- He buys Holton Drugs from Mrs. Holton and women flock to come see him behind the counter.
- Holmes marries Myrta Belknap, though legally he's married to Clara Lovering.
- He purchases a plot of land on 63rd and Wallace and begins construction on his hotel.
- The hotel opens and he takes a liking to Julia Conner, wife of his employee Ned.
- He promises to marry Julia after she leaves her husband, but he soon kills her.
- Then he writes to Emeline Cigrand after learning about her from his assistant Benjamin Pitezel.
- He promises to marry her too but suffocates her instead.
- Holmes writes to Minnie Williams and asks her to move to Chicago so he can marry her.
- Holmes takes Minnie and her sister Anna to the Chicago World's Fair before killing them both.
- With the fair over, Holmes decides it's time to leave Chicago.
- He tries to burn his hotel to collect fire insurance money, but it doesn't work.
- He acquires Georgiana Yoke, and she and Pitezel flee with Holmes.
- Holmes takes out a $10,000 insurance policy on Pitezel's life.
- Holmes kills Pitezel and kidnaps three of his children, killing them all.
- He's arrested on insurance fraud and kept locked up at the Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia.
- When the Pitezel children are found, Holmes is convicted for the murder of Pitezel and sentenced to death.