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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Published in 2003, The Devil in the White City gives a thoroughly researched, factual account of both Dr. H. H. Holmes, the Devil of the title, and the World’s Columbian Exposition, the White City that stood by Lake Michigan in 1893 on the south side of smoke-blackened Chicago. The Prologue, set on board the ocean liner Olympic on the night of April 14, 1912, presents one of the main characters, the architect Daniel Burnham, who tries in vain to send a wireless greeting to his friend Francis Millet, then traveling across the Atlantic in the opposite direction, toward New York, on the Titanic. The last chapter returns the reader to Burnham on the Olympic and to Millet, who had painted the White City and who died when the Titanic sank. In between, Erik Larson interweaves the stories of Holmes, whose real name was Herman Webster Mudgett, and Burnham, who, more than anyone else, triumphed over a severe shortage of time, the Panic of 1893, political squabbling, wind, fire, and other counterforces and made Chicago’s effort at holding a world’s fair a success–a marvel not only for the city but for the country and the planet.On February 24, 1890, when Chicago learned that it had won the vote in Congress to uphold American honor and try to top the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, with its tower designed by Gustave Eiffel, Burnham and his partner, John Root,
Architectural design
On September 20, 1962, the Port Authority announced the selection of Minoru Yamasaki as lead architect and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects.[16] Yamasaki devised the plan to incorporate twin towers; Yamasaki's original plan called for the towers to be 80 stories tall.[17] To meet the Port Authority's requirement for 10 million square feet (930,000 m2) of office space, the buildings would each have to be 110 stories tall.[18]
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ARCH-EmeryRoth.htm
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Roth was born in the small town of Gálszécs, Zemplén County, in 1871, one of eight children. He was a very bright boy and was particularly fond of drawing. Since his parents owned the town's inn, which also served as the center of the town's social life, the family was relatively prosperous. However, they were reduced to poverty when his father died in 1884. Given the dire circumstances, the family decided that it would be best for 13-year old Emery to seek his fortune in America, the land of opportunity. Therefore, he left home in the company of a certain Aladár Kiss, who was returning to Chicago where he had settled some years previously.
Upon arriving in New York City, Kiss gave money to young Emery for a railroad ticket and told him to follow him. During the trip Roth lost Kiss's address and found himself completely alone in the Windy City. Despite his bleak prospects, Roth was not discouraged. Extremely resourceful and ambitious, he managed to earn a living by doing a variety of odd jobs. While apprenticing in an architect's office, he found his vocation and pursued it relentlessly.
His dream began to take shape when he was hired by Burnham & Root as a draftsman on the architectural staff of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Daniel H. Burnham and John W. Root were two of Chicago's most distinguished architects with a long line of impressive commissions behind them. Working for them on the massive project gave Roth an opportunity to hone and showcase his artistic skills and meet Richard M. Hunt of New York City, the dean of American architects. Hunt was deeply impressed by the largely self-taught youth's abilities. When Roth mentioned that he intended to move to New York at the conclusion of the fair, Hunt assured him that there would be a place for him in his office.
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Death
On April 10, 1912, Millet boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg, France, bound for New York City. He was last seen helping women and children into lifeboats. His body was recovered after the sinking by the cable boat Mackay-Bennett and returned to East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he was buried in Central Cemetery.
In 1913 a fountain was erected in Washington, D.C., in memory of Millet and his friend Archibald W. Butt. A bronze bust in Harvard University's Widener Library also memorializes Millet.
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/peace-men-mourn-their-loss.html
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["]The disaster which befell the Titanic off the Newfoundland. Banks has brought bereavement to hundreds of families on both sides of the Atlantic. To our committee, the calamity means personal loss, for five members, conspicuous in the public life of the English-speaking world, have found a final resting place in the northern sea---John Jacob Astor, Francis D. Millet, Isidor Straus, William T. Stead, and Charles M. Hays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Butt
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Aboard the Titanic
In the early spring of 1912, Butt's health took a turn for the worse; urged to rest by President Taft, he left on a six-week vacation to Europe. He was accompanied for part of his vacation by the American painter Francis Davis Millet. Butt's only known official work during his vacation was a visit with Pope Pius X, during which he delivered to the pontiff a personal message from Taft. Butt booked passage on the RMS Titanic for his return to the U.S. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton, UK on April 10, 1912; his friend Millet boarded the ship at Cherbourg, France later that same day. Butt was playing cards on the night of April 14 in the first-class smoking room when the Titanic struck an iceberg.[1] The ship sank at 2:20 AM the next morning.
http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Grant-Eisenhower/William-Howard-Taft-Legislative-affairs-and-tempestuous-politics.html
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Newspaper headlines, various congressmen, and even his devoted military aide, Captain Archibald W. Butt, saw that he had revealed his lack of proper preparation and ignorance of certain aspects of tariff making. More important, he was standing pat against further tariff revision and, by reading the insurgents from his party, providing them with excellent ammunition for the campaign of 1910. He then added to the animus against him by consorting openly with Cannon and other conservatives. Most important, by aligning himself with conservatives, he opened the door to demands that Roosevelt be reelected in 1912.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F10FE3B5E13738DDDAD0994DC405B828DF1D3
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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F10FE3B5E13738DDDAD0994DC405B828DF1D3
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WHY MAJOR BUTT, THE PRESIDENT AID, WENT TO ROME
By a Veteran Diplomat. ();
April 14, 1912,
, Section Magazine Section Part Five, Page SM2, Column , words
[ DISPLAYING ABSTRACT ]
THAT President Taft has made up his mind to follow the custom of the non-Catholic Courts and Governments in Europe, on the subject of the precedence to be accorded to Cardinals in the United States, no matter whether foreign or native, has been strikingly shown by the fact that when he dispatched his principal Aid de Camp, Major Archibald Butt, to Rome, intrusted with purely private letters to Pius X. and King Victor Emmanuel.
http://www.famguardian.org/TaxFreedom/History/President/1925-TaftsCertiorariAct.htm
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http://www.famguardian.org/TaxFreedom/History/President/1925-TaftsCertiorariAct.htm
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In section 3.1.11.1 we revealed the legislative intent of the Sixteenth Amendment by showing you the Presidential Speech that introduced the Sixteenth Amendment for the first time, given by William H. Taft before Congress in 1909. That speech showed clearly that then President Taft understood that federal income taxes were excise taxes that could not be instituted against other than federal corporations. He introduced the Sixteenth Amendment to Congress in 1909 as a way to circumvent this restriction and broaden the application of federal income taxes to authorize a supposed direct income tax on private persons. Subsequent to the introduction of the Sixteenth Amendment for state ratification in 1909, Secretary of State Philander Knox committed fraud in 1913 by claiming that the Sixteenth Amendment had been properly ratified by ¾ of the states. Knox was Taft’s hand-picked Secretary of State.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_Act_of_1925
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The Judiciary Act of 1925 (43 Stat. 936), also known as the Certiorari Act, was an act of the United States Congress which sought to reduce the workload of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Although the Judiciary Act of 1891 (which created the United States courts of appeals and rendered a small part of the Supreme Court's jurisdiction discretionary subject to grant of writ of Certiorari) had relieved pressure on the Supreme Court's docket, the court remained obliged to rule:
- on the merits all cases appealed to it over which it had jurisdiction … [after the 1891 act, ] Congress gave the Court discretionary review authority over appellate decisions in diversity, patent, revenue, criminal and admiralty cases. Parties wishing to appeal such cases would file a petition for certiorari, which the Court could grant or deny without passing on the merits.[1]
Pushed by Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft, Congress passed the 1925 act, which rendered the majority of the Supreme Court's workload discretionary, by removing the possibility of direct appeal to the court in most circumstances. Henceforth, pursuant to §237(b) of the act, appellants would file petititions for writs of Certiorari with the Supreme Court, which would be accepted at the discretion of four of the nine Justices. "No longer did the Court have to hear almost every case an unhappy litigant presented to it. Instead, for the most part, the Court could select only those relatively few cases involving issues important enough to require a decision from the Supreme Court." [2]
http://askville.amazon.com/progressive-reforms-president-taft-supported/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=5480748
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Wilson continued Roosevelt’s policy of supporting reform. He reduced tariffs with the Underwood Tariff Act. He continued to attack trusts by guiding Congress to pass the Clayton Antitrust Act, which defined illegal business activities with specificity. He supported the establishment of a Federal Reserve System that would help protect the economy by helping banks avoid panics. Finally, he made a strong Progressive statement with his appointment of Louis Brandies, a Jewish Progressive lawyer, to the Supreme Court in 1916.
http://theomahaproject.org/module_display.php?mod_id=80&review=yes
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The Reclamation Act (also known as the Lowlands Reclamation Act or National Reclamation Act) of 1902 (Pub.L. 57-161) is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West.
The act at first covered only 13 of the western states as Texas had no federal lands. Texas was added later by a special act passed in 1906. The act set aside money from sales of semi-arid public lands for the construction and maintenance of irrigation projects. The newly irrigated land would be sold and money would be put into a revolving fund that supported more such projects. This led to the eventual damming of nearly every major western river. Under the act, the Secretary of the Interior created the United States Reclamation Service within the United States Geological Survey to administer the program. In 1907 the Service became a separate organization within the Department of the Interior and was renamed the United States Bureau of Reclamation.
http://usarmyinsigniahomepage.110mb.com/smedals.html
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Civil War Campaign Medal
Established by the War Department on 11 Jan 1905, for those personnel who served in the Union forces during the Civil War.
Dates and names of campaigns:
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Designed by Francis D. Millet
Indian Campaign Medal
 | The original ribbon, left, was red with a thin, dark red stripe at each edge. In 1917, the ribbon was changed to its present colors, right. |  |
the American Indian tribes from 1865 to 1891.
Dates and names of campaigns:
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The original ribbon was red with a thin, dark red stripe at each edge.
In 1917, the ribbon was changed to its present colors.
 | The original ribbon, left, had a wide, center stripe of yellow, flanked by narrow red stripes (denoting the Spanish flag), edged with thin blue stripes. In 1917, the ribbon was changed to its present colors, right, so as not to offend our Spanish Allies in the First World War. |  |
Established on 11 Jan 1905, for service ashore in Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the Philippine Islands
or enroute thereto on the high seas, during 1898.
or enroute thereto on the high seas, during 1898.
Dates and names of campaigns:
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Designed by Francis D. Millet
Spanish War Service Medal
Established by Congress on 09 Jul 1918, for service between 20 Apr 1898 and 11 Apr 1899 in the War with Spain; awarded to those not eligible to receive the Spanish Campaign Medal. Obverse designed by COL J.R.M. Taylor
Reverse designed by Bailey, Banks, and Biddle
Army of Cuban Occupation Medal
Awarded for service with the Occupation Forces in Cuba from 18 Jul 1898 to 20 May 1902. Designed by Francis D. Millet
Army of Puerto Rican Occupation Medal
Awarded for service with the Occupation Forces in Puerto Rico from 14 Aug 1898 to 10 Dec 1898.
Designed by Francis D. Millet
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