The Shadow of the Murder Castle: The Malignant Curse of H.H. Holmes
by M.P. Pellicer | Noir Notebook
The name Herman Webster Mudgett has largely faded into the fog of history, yet he remains one of the most sinister figures of the 19th century. Under the alias H.H. Holmes, this master swindler constructed a three-story architectural nightmare in Chicago known as the “Murder Castle”. This human abattoir contained a labyrinth of shops, apartments, secret passages, and its own crematorium.
Holmes allegedly preyed upon those closest to him, including his bookkeeper, Julia L. Connor, and her daughter Pearl, his stenographer Emeline G. Cigrande, his secretary Minnie R. Williams, and Minnie’s sister, Nana. Authorities captured him in 1895; while awaiting his end, he penned a memoir claiming twenty-seven victims, including men, women, and children. On May 7, 1896, the hangman’s noose claimed Mudgett. At his final request, workers filled his coffin with solid concrete to ensure no grave robbers would ever disturb his rest.
In 2017, investigators exhumed Mudgett’s body. The cement had acted as a macabre preservative, keeping his clothes nearly perfect and his mustache intact. Dental records confirmed the remains belonged to the “Arch-Fiend” himself. While the man was reburied, many believe his malignant influence never truly left the earth.
The Trail of Untimely Deaths
A series of bizarre tragedies struck those instrumental in Holmes’ downfall, leading many to whisper of “Holmes’ Curse”—a prediction the killer allegedly made that anyone involved in his conviction would meet an untimely end.
The Jury Foreman: Only two months after the execution, Linford L. Biles, the foreman of the jury, stepped on a live wire on his roof and died by electrocution before a horrified crowd of neighbors.
The Medical Witnesses: Dr. William K. Mattern, a key witness who identified the remains of a victim, died in 1896 of apoplexy at age forty-eight. Dr. Mattern was the coroner for Philadelphia and testified in Mudgett’s court case when a body was exhumed to verify he was a certain Benjamin F. Pietzel. The man’s burned body had been found in a house at 1316 Callow Hill Street, and was buried in Potter’s Field. H.H. Holmes would go on to be convicted and executed for the death of Benjamin Pitezel. He also killed Pietzel’s children: Howard, Alice, and Nellie.
- Coroner Samuel Ashbridge, whose examination led to Holmes’ capture, survived a near-fatal infection caught from a cadaver he was dissecting. He had worked closely with Dr. Mattern on several cases. He went on to become mayor of Philadelphia and died in 1906 at the age of 57.
The Judiciary: Judge Michael Arnold, who sentenced Holmes, suffered a dangerous illness before succumbing to cancer in 1903.
The Prison Officials: Superintendent Howard Perkins of Moyamensing Prison committed suicide six months after the execution. He arrived early one morning in his office and used a gun once purchased because of threats against his life and those of his family. Perkins complained of insomnia and that medicine did not work. He had been superintendent for 19 years after succeeding his father in the post. He had outlived his parents, four siblings, and his wife. He was 62 years old.
In 1911, at the age of 49, Robert C. Motherwell, who became warden of Moyamensing prison, committed suicide at the front door of his home. He rang the doorbell first, and when his wife and daughter answered the door, they found him there. He’d lost his position with the prison 5 years before, and had been absent from home for the last year. He supervised the county jail where Holmes was housed.
The Victim’s Shadow
Even the families of the dead could not escape the shadow. Peter Cigrand, whose daughter Emeline was murdered and her skeleton sold to a medical college by Holmes, suffered severe burns in a gas explosion on the eve of the execution.
The Rev. Henry J. McPake (McPeake), 30, the assistant priest of the Church of the Annunciation, had been ordained on December 24, 1895. He was a newly minted priest when he attended Mudgett’s hanging, and counseled him spiritually.
Eighteen months after Holmes’ execution, the priest’s body was found at the bottom of four steps under an arch leading to the rear of St. Paul’s Academy on Dickinson and Tenth Streets by the janitress of the building. The academy housed nuns and was a school for children of the parish.
The right side of his skull was fractured, and he’d been dead for some time. His nose was broken, and there were bruises on his forehead, which looked like they were made by sandbags. Blood was splattered on the steps and on the flagging below. His pockets appeared to be hastily rifled through. A watch, a pair of eyeglasses, his stoll, and his wallet were taken; in his other pocket, $9.60 was left behind.
Despite the evidence that Father McPake had been murdered, Dr. Cattell, the coroner, stated that he died of uremia.
He was last seen two days before, and the priests at the parochial residence believed he had been lured to a house in the neighborhood. After robbing him, they dragged him to the rear of the school and then hurled him down the stairs to make it appear he had fallen. Signs of gore were found on the inside of the rear gate.
The police questioned whether Father McPake drank liquor and fell down the stairs, but his fellow priests said he never drank “intoxicants”. The gate to the area where he was found was fastened on the inside. He was in ill health and could not have scaled an 8-foot fence that surrounded it.
The priests pointed out that three months before, Father Donovan of St. Paul’s Church was decoyed to visit a home about 11 p.m. by a bogus sick call. When he arrived at the address, the house was vacant. This is when Father Donovan noticed a man was following him. He headed home and notified a policeman he came across. The man ran off when he saw the police.
Another motive advanced for the murder was that he was killed out of revenge as well as robbery. Four years before Father Hannigan, then curate of St. Paul’s Church, excoriated some Italians who swore vengeance.
The murder was never solved.
By January 1898, Father McPake’s death was being attributed to “Holmes’ Curse”. It was pointed out that he had been on the scaffold with Holmes when he met his end.
Ruin and Fire
The “evil eye” of Holmes seemed to touch every aspect of the trial.
The Legal Team: District Attorney George S. Graham saw his rising political career vanish into obscurity, while his assistant, George Barlow, nearly died of “brain fever” following the trial.
The Jurors: Richard Johnson, another juror, committed suicide in 1912. Reports claimed more than half the jury suffered ruinous financial or domestic losses following the verdict.
The Investigator: A fire almost destroyed the office of O. LeForrest Perry, a key figure in the arrest. Amidst the ash and ruin, only two items remained untouched: a warrant for Mudgett’s arrest and two photographs of the killer.
- The Janitor: After Holmes’ arrest in 1894, the police became acquainted with Pat Quinlan. He had known Holmes since 1890 and admitted to helping Holmes in the strange construction of the building, but then claimed he had no idea how they were being used, since he was only a janitor. He described to the police that Holmes jealously guarded his office on the third floor.
The police suspected he knew secrets about the “castle”, including the trap doors, false partitions, and wires that baffled the detectives. Quinlan and his wife, Ella, returned to Portland, Michigan, and suspicious eyes and whispered gossip made it obvious that many believed he knew more about the murders than he admitted to. Worse of all, the ghosts followed him when he moved to his hometown. On March 7, 1914, Patrick Quinlan committed suicide by drinking strychnine. The note he left behind only said, “I could not sleep.”