Fort Worth's Connection To America's First Serial Killer: Part II

On Tuesday I mentioned a book I'm reading, that being "Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer," by Harold Schechter, and my surprise at the turn in the story that ended up in Fort Worth, where the bad guy did some heavy duty swindling, including some horse thieving.

This had the Texas law after the bad guy, Mudgett/Holmes, most commonly known as Dr. H. H. Holmes.

Well, I've almost finished this book. I'm at the part where the bad guy is now on trial. When he was arrested it was for being caught in an insurance fraud perpetrated in Philadelphia, not Fort Worth.

But, when Dr. H. H. Holmes was caught, Fort Worth was on his mind. Below is the pertinent, somewhat amusing excerpt, in that, who knew, even a century ago, the Texas legal system scared the rest of the country?

Holmes knew the law, in the form of Pinkerton agents and insurance agents, was hot on his trail.

"When he recognized the representative of the insurance company he had swindled, Holmes half-rose from his chair and, extending his right hand, greeted the insurance man cordially, "I guess I know what I'm really wanted for," he said in a tone of almost palpable relief. Infinitely preferring the hospitality of the Pennsylvania prison system to a stint in a Texas penitentiary ("I dislike fearfully to go to Fort Worth to serve a term," he confided to an acquaintance. I would rather be here in Philadelphia five years than one in Fort Worth"), Holmes was not just ready, but positively eager to admit to the insurance fraud and hopefully avoid going to Texas to face horse thief and fraud charges."

Dr. H. H. Holmes never did face Texas justice. The Philadelphia insurance fraud investigation quickly turned into a murder investigation that quickly spread to several states and to Canada. Holmes faced a noose soon after he was convicted of being a murderer. It would seem a more fitting punishment would have been life imprisonment.

In Texas.