So far in Devil in the White City, the issue seems to be dirtiness, crime, illness, and general disorderliness from overpopulation in a city without the manpower to find order yet. The very first line “How easy it was to disappear:” creates a very dark mood from the beginning. On page 28, it reads “In poor neighborhoods garbage mounded in alleys and overflowed giant trash boxes that became banquet halls for rats and blue bottle flies. Billions of flies. The corpses of dogs, cats, and horses often remained where they fell.” Root married a woman who was sick. Page twelve states “Anonymous death came early and often…And there was murder…Men shot women, women shot men, and children shot each other by accident.” It is clear that although the city brought opportunity and experience, it clearly brought danger and despair too.

 

I think Larson wants to intertwine the fair with Holmes because in the midst of the fair, it was easy for people to disappear. Even easier than normal. It brought even more people in as victims, and it is a hunting ground for criminals. As Major McClaughtry states on page 122 “….the authorities should be prepared to meet and deal with the greatest congregation of criminals that ever yet met in this country.”