Afterword
Story Genesis
I first became aware of Herman Webster Mudgett, aka Doctor H. H. Holmes, and his nefarious activities when I read Depraved by Harold Schechter. The idea that Holmes was active during the World’s Fair and used his hotel to lure victims into his murderous clutches intrigued me. I had already considered a story involving Buffalo Bill Cody and his show, so had done some research along those lines as well. When I realized the Wild West Show was in Chicago at the same time that Holmes was active, the kernel for this story took root.
I wasn’t yet ready to tackle the project, though. I made a lot of excuses, a few of which were even valid reasons, and it wound up sitting on a back burner for years. It kept cropping up, though, like an itch I couldn’t quite scratch.
A friend and mentor of mine, Joe R. Lansdale, began posting on Facebook about his personal approach to writing. I found his posts very inspiring and decided to turn my vague interest in writing fiction into a commitment. This story had kicked around my unconsciousness for several years, and it came leaping to the forefront like a hungry hyena scenting a freshly dead zebra.
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Amazing Backdrop
As I began my research for this story, I began to realize how amazing the year of 1893 was. Especially in Chicago but, really, the whole world perched on the cusp of some pretty amazing changes. To name a few, some of which even made it into my story:
Thomas Edison completed the world’s first movie studio and filmed the first movie close-up. In fact, in 1894, Edison shot a short film of Annie Oakley in action, which you can now find on YouTube.
Edison and General Electric, proponents of direct current electricity, vied with George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla and their alternating current method for electrifying the Chicago World’s Fair. Westinghouse and Tesla won the contract. They also won several other big contracts and, ultimately, won the “War of Currents,” and alternating current became the standard in the U.S.
The Wright Brothers opened Wright Cycle Exchange in Dayton, Ohio, and their experiences repairing bicycles proved valuable in their development of a successful airplane. The New York Stock Exchange crashed and caused the Panic of 1893. Mahatma Gandhi performed his first act of civil disobedience. A jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of the murder of her parents. The first Ferris Wheel premiered at the World’s Fair. Commodore Perry arrived in Japan. Colorado accepted female suffrage, and much, much more.
Over the next fifty years, the whole world underwent drastic changes. Electricity, telephones, airplanes, and automobiles grew from new and novel ideas and inventions to tried and true technologies around the world. In short, the incredible year of 1893 launched the world into a whirlwind of technological and engineering marvels.
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Alternate History
Many of the background elements in this story are historically accurate. The World’s Fair, called the World Columbian Exposition in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage, took place in Chicago.
The centerpiece of the fair, the White City, amazed visitors. This beautiful marvel of architecture and technology, along with many other displays at the fair, heralded some of the amazing changes soon to sweep across the world.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, denied a place inside the fair, rented property a couple of blocks south of the Midway Plaisance. The show had tens of thousands of spectators and brought in a lot of money, none of which had to be paid to the fair, much to the chagrin of the fair’s organizers. This would mark the pinnacle of the Wild West Show’s success.
I found a picture of Annie Oakley, taken during the World’s Fair, seated in a rocking chair outside her tent reading a book near what is now the intersection of Park Shore East and South Blackstone Avenue in Chicago. I used this photo as a guide when I described the interior of Annie’s tent.
Sitting Bull, the famous Hunkpapa Lakota holy man and tribal chief, performed as a member of the Wild West Show in 1885. He believed the Creator had bestowed Annie’s shooting prowess upon her as a supernatural gift.
He and Annie became so close he symbolically adopted her as a daughter and named her, Little Sure Shot. She proudly used that name throughout the rest of her professional career.
During my research, I was amazed to learn the fair had transported the cabin where Sitting Bull met his untimely demise and placed it on the Midway, no more than three miles from Annie’s tent. I found no evidence to suggest Annie did, in fact, visit the cabin, but I believe she would have.
I put a lot of effort into imagining how difficult it must have been for her, and I hope my brief mention of it does the memory of both her and Sitting Bull some measure of justice. Grieving the loss of a loved one is always personal, and each case is unique. The experience, though, is nearly universal.
I took some liberties with the layout of Holmes’s Murder Castle in my story. In my research, I found conflicting information about its interior.
These conflicting reports confused me at first but, they make sense when taken in context. Only Holmes really knew the details of the layout and, as near as I can tell, a lot of people at the time were so shocked and repulsed they didn’t want to investigate very thoroughly.
A mere five years before this story’s time line, and six years before authorities actually captured Holmes, news out of London about Jack the Ripper had rocked the world. It horrified many people in America, and they were relieved to think no such monster existed in their land. To find out such a murderer had, indeed, been active for at least a decade was quite a shock. Many Americans refused, at least on a subconscious level, to accept it.
To my knowledge, Annie never met Holmes and didn’t personally know any of his victims. They did, however, spend six months in close proximity. Annie’s tent sat less than two miles from Holmes’s pharmacy.
This fact led me to ask What if? which is the lynchpin of alternate history. Through my research, I learned a lot about Cody and Annie and gained a lot of respect for both of them. In my mind, they evolved from historical icons into actual people, and the act of visualizing them, developing them as characters, deepened this respect even more.
Years after writing this story, I visited a museum in Greenville, Ohio. Annie grew up in Darke County, near Greenville, and the museum has a room devoted to her. Visiting that room, walking among Annie’s possessions, and reading the plaques with facts about her life felt like spending time with an old friend.
I hope the real Cody and Annie, if they could read this story, would deem my portrayal respectful and consider the story plausible within the context of its What if.
Most importantly, though, I hope you, the reader, enjoyed this walk with me through my version of 1893 Chicago.