The Devil in The White City (Pgs. 286 to 388)

Summary:

As The Devil in the White City came to a closing, Holmes took Minnie and Anna to the fireworks display and they were delighted. Holmes also proposed a new plan for Anna to study art, and then they would soon leave, travel east and ultimately end up in Europe. There was a lot of worrying and anticipation that the 200,000 people expected to be at the Exposition would drop drastically. One day Anna and Holmes went to the hotel and he showed her around to some stores and restaurants on the first floor. He also took her to the top floor to show her the view. He later took her to his office and carried on with his plan; he told her to go into the vault for a document that he had forgotten and really needed. He slowly followed behind her and closed the door. Anna was flabbergasted. In the vault it was utterly dark and the air had started to become thicker and warmer. Holmes had the ability to do many things to Anna while she was in there. For instance, he could have opened the door and looked in on her with a smile to show her that it was no accident, or he could have just flooded the vault with gas right then and there. It’s a bit ambiguous but I think he just left her in there to suffocate as he listed to her through some gas pipes. He later went to see Minnie, held her, kissed her, and told her that Anna was waiting for them at the castle.

Quote:

“The true climax occurred after the grounds closed, however. In the silence, with the air still scented with exploded powder, collectors accompanied by armed guards went to each ticket booth and collected the accumulated silver, three tons of it” (Larson 319).

Reaction:

Prior to this quote, it was ten in the morning on Monday, October 9, 1893; it was Chicago day! Ticket takers at the fair's Sixty-fourth Street gate had counted about 60,000 admission only from that gate thus far. That gate had usually accounted for about one-fifth of attendances on any ordinary of the fair. They then estimated that the total number of admissions would be well near 300,000, which was pretty close to Paris' exposition of 397,000 admissions. Ticket-takers were starting to anticipate that something unusual was happening. The rate at which tickets were selling was multiplying. Silver coins had to start being stacked everywhere. It's funny because while Gale Ferris was riding his wheel (how ironic), he was able to look down upon the crowd, and claimed, "there must be a million people down there"(Larson 319). He had nearly gotten it right. The Paris record had been shattered by Chicago's astounding 751,026 attendances; more people than had attended any single day of any peaceable event in history.

The Devil in the White City (Pgs. 185 to 285)

Summary:

In this portion of my reading, the Pittsburgh engineer perseveres in resubmitting his Eiffel-tower like structure. He is given the concession to build the design and the engineer who is awarded this task is George Washington Gale Ferris. Meanwhile, Emeline and Holmes’ relationship seems to be changing. She had disappeared after having produced a wedding announcement and nobody knew why nor expected her to have left without saying a goodbye. Harry Codman had also been in the hospital and meanwhile everyone thought that he was recovering, in fact he did not and died shortly after his appendectomy. Holmes was becoming really successful; he owned a legitimate company in part, and a mail-order company. He had a building for which he had tenants pay him rent and he also owned two houses. There were people on the verge of accusing him of Emeline’s murder. A big problem that Holmes noticed was that his job required a secretary.

Quote:

“Olmsted, in Brookline, got the news by telegram: Harry Codman was dead. Codman, his protégé, whom he loved like a son” (Larson 194).

Reaction:

I thought that this was very unfortunate; Harry Codman was only at the very young age of 29. He had been in the hospital for a while and everyone was expecting him to be recovering. He did not; and died shortly thereafter. It’s interesting how Codman dies and also Emeline disappears. This in-fact does foreshadow for the dangers that have yet to come for Holmes in the near future. What also got my attention from this quote was the method of communication. They used telegrams and we have just finished studying how communication got revolutionized in the mid 19^th century! Telegrams were electronic signals that transmitted Morse code. This kind of communication was vital for people like Burnham and Holmes at the time. Of course, telegrams evolved into the telephone and then things such as the typewriter also emerged.

Devil in the White City (Pgs. 123 to 184)

Summary:

In this portion of my reading Gertrude wishes that she had never come to Chicago, she claims that it is a cruel and dark place. With Gertrude gone, tension between Ned and Julia increased. They almost came close to separating. Ned admired Holmes because he was so successful at under 30 years of age. Holmes proposed to sell Ned the Pharmacy in very generous terms, such that Ned's salary would be increased to make it possible for him to pay it. Meanwhile, the Tribune held competitions that brought forth many proposals for the fair.One of the proposals was a tower. This idea was quickly dismissed by Burnham because he believed that Eiffel had done it first and best. Burnham was very centered around threats that could be brought to the fair. He was especially concerned with crimes and fire.Ultimately, Burnham had come up with an idea of his own—he would create a large police force.


Quote:

"Unlike conventional police departments, the Guard's mandate explicitly emphasized the novel idea of preventing crime rather than merely arresting wrongdoers after the fact"(Larson 138).

Reaction:

When I read this sentence I just felt like it was so well composed. I had to look up the word 'mandate' which means something that is assigned to be done. Ultimately, I was able to connect this sentence to the Science-Fictional movie Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. I'm not entirely sure what Burnham is talking about preventing. However, Minority Report is a movie which takes place in the future in the 2050s and Police officers can see a crime before they happen. In this movie, people will find themselves constantly running. The system by which they are preventing crimes is conceived to be flawless—until it went after them!

The Devil in the White City (Pgs. 75 to 122)

Summary: In this portion of my reading, Daniel is New York bound. He says that he likes beautiful scenery, but that on his trip, he failed to find any; until he reached the praire.  Burnham explains the sheer size of the task of designing the fair. Due to the fair's geographic location, Burnham already knows that the fair will contain hundred of buildings and structures, some of which would be immense. The biggest constraint was time. They don't have much allotted time to complete all that work, and they have had a whole year to think. Holmes had a new idea, which was to turn his building into a hotel for visitors. Strangely enough, he wanted the hotel to appeal to and 'lure' a certain kind of 'clientele' to convince for a large fire insurance policy. When he was done using the building, he intended to burn it and collect the insurance and also destroy the rest of the materials.

Quote:

"He and John Root had considered designing the whole exposition themselves, and indeed their peers jealously expected they would do so" (Larson 77).

Reaction:

I picked this quote, firstly, because I like its sentence structure. That comma before the "and" makes it flow nicely. Secondly, designing the whole exposition themselves would not be an easy feat. One of Burnham's biggest concerns, however, was the architects that he needed to design the Fair's Major buildings, so this necesity would be negated. Ultimately, Burnham as a railroad constructor, and John Root whom drew some plans, must be extremely experienced to even contemplate such a task. We see this in everyday life, for instance, when your in a class in which a student is particularly skilled at, when a hard problem or question is posed, most of the class is jealously turned to such student.