Tuesday, June 8, 2004

Desperation

Well, today I'm leaving for Dickinson, then we're off to this cabin in Minnesota for one week, so I won't be around here much at all (not that I was around much anyway--the only way I've been on decently enough lately is because I sneak on).

I plan to play some games when I go to this cabin. I think I've convinced my parents to let me bring my brother's PS ONE with and use that. Otherwise, I'll just read. In fact, last night, I read 100 pages in two books combined, which is odd, because it's hard for me to read most of the time lately.

I was reading Desperation, a book showcasing a murderer who called himself H. H. Holmes in rebuilt Chicago. He was around in the era of Jack the Ripper, and from what this book is saying, he was worse, much worse.

In the era I'm talking about, dubbed by Mark Twain "The Gilded Age," the mantra of the world was getting rich. Being rich, being an entrepenuer, being a tycoon--that was what it was all about.

The book starts off with a forward explaining the "Gilded Age," then goes on to its first chapter, where it tells about Chicago's fire it had. And the rebuilding. Then, quite genius, it centers on the murderer-to-be, back in his home city, some ways away from Chicago, and explains him. This is all in the first chapter, is all true (the entire book is true). I was impressed with this book, it's done in a nice way.

But it isn't fun stuff to read.

Once he moved to Chicago, the man I might as well refer to as H. H. Holmes got a job at a pharmacy. Here there lived a husband and wife, old. And the wife was soon to be a widow. So when Mr. Holmes came in, she was under much strain--her husband dying, customers--and hired him right there on the spot.

What happens next is Holmes works there for a while. The man had a certain flirting charm, a way with the ladies, that brought more to the pharmacy, if it can be called that.

Eventually, Holmes asked to purchase the store from the old widow. She thought it over and decided on it, under one condition: she be allowed to stay and board upstairs. And it was agreed.

Somewhere around this time, Holmes also got married to a woman by the name of Myrta. Now owning the store, Holmes set her up as a cashier, but she cramped his flirtatious style. Holmes had her soon thereafter up in the living quarters, doing domestic tasks. But, up there, there was no old widow.

Holmes hadn't been paying his payments for purchasing the store to the poor old widow, so eventually she decided to take legal action. When that failed, she tried other things, but suddenly, she was silent, and gone. Where would an old widow like that go? Why would she just drop her needed money and plop off out of that store?

To this day, she is still gone.

Myrta, his wife, got pregnant. He sent her off to her parents, where she stayed. She should be considered lucky, because she is one of the few women who knew Holmes personally, and had not disappeared, such as the old widow, previous owner of the store, had.

What follows next is Holmes, embued with the spirit of that day, decided he needed to go larger, needed to get on top, needed to become rich. To do that, he needed a new building, one that would attract a passerby's attention, and make them come in.

It was no coincidence that nearby his now-owned store there was perfect land to purchase to make a building. Holmes had scouted around the area before making the decision to come to the old widow's store, and take work there.

He got a lease on that land, but wasn't getting enough money to build his building. But in his mind, he had a plan.

He began hiring workers: brick workers, laborers, the like. In a quite nefarious, yet clever design, his laborers would come to him. He would fire them right there on the spot, telling them that their work was insufficent, and that he wouldn't pay. And if they picked a physical fight, Mr. Holmes had at his side, endlessly, a six-foot-something coarse-looking man to ease them from wanting any physical endeavor.

In this way, Holmes fired many, many workers, then hired more, then fired more. Building his building took longer than it should have, but it was an equal compromise, worthy of the money Holmes was saving.

Holmes even bought a vault, and when he didn't pay his payments, in his usual fashion, they came to take it from him. The room it was in held the vault, and wouldn't let it come out. Holmes told the men, as they tried to take the vault, that if they damaged his building, he would be getting his money back for it.

The vault stayed where it was.

When the building was all done and completed, about 2 years later, Chicago had no idea what was going to happen. The building was soon given the name "the Castle," and when Holmes was done, his mark left on the city, it would be called "the Castle of Horrors." Or "Bluebeard Castle." Or whatever other name that you could come upon.

The building was rather large, but not in length, but in width. The first floor was set up with whatever shopkeepers set up there. The other floors housed different, more evil, areas.

Mr. Holmes soon sold his old store, which was very crude and small in comparison to his new one. The gentleman who bought the store came in, to talk it over, one day. There was a very nice rush of customers. But unknown to the gentleman, who had high dreams, these customers were actually hirelings hired by Mr. Holmes himself to act as customers, and purchase things.

Why is it so busy here, the gentleman asked Holmes. Holmes had expected to be asked. And gave the right answer.

It was sold.

A few days later, the gentleman and his wife watched across the street as men unloaded and hung a sign on the big building over there. It was a wood sign, beautifully rendered, and in silver letters it said "H. H. HOLMES PHARMACY."

That gentleman was soon gone.

There are other details I could cover, but I am low on time, so let me jump a bit. Eventually, Mr. Holmes hired a person of the name Ned as a Jewler. Ned had a wife, a buxom, 6-foot woman. And a child, called Pearl.

His wife hated him. Ned was a failure, having failed in a plethora of other towns. His wife, full of beauty, would've gotten a divorce a long time ago, but her parents would not allow it. She would have to live with her mistake, is what they told her.

So, the fates had lead them here, to Mr. Holmes's "the Castle." Ned was hired, and the affair the ensued is obvious.

Eventually, Ned left her altogether. Around this time, she became pregnant, she told Holmes, and she also told Holmes he had to marry her. Holmes, already married, told her this, and they argued and argued, until Holmes told her that she must get an abortion, and then he would marry her, because he already had a large load from the other children he had created.

She agreed.

Time went and went, and she continued to put it off. Then they agreed on a date--Christmas Eve.

That day, she was taken down stairs she never knew existed. She kept complaining that she needed to put her child Pearl to sleep, so Mr. Holmes told her he would. Holmes went there, but before he did, he grabbed something, and gave it to the child.

Holmes came back, and told her the child was sleeping. The child was sleeping soundly. And it's sure the child was.

Holmes soon found out that one of his employees could fix skulls. And so, he asked him to get rid of everything on a particular cadaver one evening, and leave just the skeleton. The worker agreed, glad to get the extra work. He was paid an extra $36.

Holmes sold the skeleton for $200, and it was hung upon a wall. The person who had it looked at it and would think, wow, a six-foot tall woman, I wonder what she looked like when she was alive.

I just wonder what took her life--pneumonia, or was it something else--what could it have been that took such a flourishing woman's life?

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I've been playing FF 7, and Unreal Tournament lately. Hopefully I will be able to play FF7 at the cabin, so I can continue my fifth time or so through this game. I also need to start a new game on Final Fantasy Tactics, since I got screwed over even though I was so far.
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