RE: [DL] A Survey [so Marguerite has something to read ;-)]

["Derek Bass" <wangenstein@mad.scientist.com>]

> >Actually, someone put Henry H. Holmes, and even though Chicago isn't really
> the Wild West, he >certainly counts as a Villain for the period. He was a
> bad, bad man, custom-made for a Shytown->bound posse to run into.
> 
> I'm unfamiliar with Holmes, so I can't comment.  Can you elucidate?

Elucidate? Hoo boy... most concise thing I can do is reprint the Amazon.com review of "Depraived" by Harold Schechter: "Herman Mudgett, who called himself Dr. H. H. Holmes, seemed the epitome of the late 19th century "Golden Age": he was a well-dressed, charismatic, self-made entrepreneur (think Andrew Carnegie). Unfortunately for his many victims, he was also a liar, bigamist, debtor, con man, and murderer. The setting for several of his murders was the bizarre urban "castle" he built in Chicago--a ramshackle construction with mazelike corridors, soundproof rooms, sealed vaults, oversized furnaces, and chutes leading down to the cellar. Holmes's undoing was an insurance scam in which he planned to use a corpse supplied by a doctor to fake his partner's death, but ended up killing the partner, his wife, and his five children. The Boston Book Review wrote, "[Harold] Schechter's account of this charming, repulsive monster is both an astonishing piece of popular history as well!
 as a near clinical analysis of as sinister a killer as this country has ever produced." 

It's an amazing read, particularly since several murders he committed took place when he rented out rooms during the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition to tourists who no local would ask questions about. He had gas valves installed in the rooms so he could suffocate his victims remotely, while they slept. Nice guy.
> 
> >Alternately, it seems like people such as "Bloody" Bill Anderson and
> William Quantrill fit pretty >well. Politics aside, they were responsible
> for some pretty organized carnage.
> 
> True, but to me they're not really "villains."  Not that I'm saying they
> weren't bad, but it's more like they're killers who happened to be in the
> right place at the right time to fill their lust for blood.  To me, a
> "villain" is someone who has a goal (normally a self-serving goal, but
> occasionally noble), and that person is willing to do *anything* to attain
> that goal.
> 
> That's why I like Hellstrome; he has goal I can relate to.  The thing is, he
> doesn't care who he uses, hurts, kills, or destroys to achieve his ends.
> 
> Once more, it's my definition, but to me that's a "villain."
> 

Ah. Yes, with that definition of a "villain", it is difficult to point to any one person during that time. Maybe Boss Tweed?

> Oh, and as to Tesla, he's not "mad"... he's crazy!  ;-)  Seriously, he's a
> good choice.

He's my hero. :D

Derek D. Bass
Etheric Musings - The Science of the Sons of Ether
http://www.steamenginechaos.com/mage/ether.htm
-- 

_______________________________________________
Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com
http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup

Travelocity.com is giving away two million travel miles.
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;3969773;6991039;g?http://svc.travelocity.com/promos/millionmiles_main/0,,TRAVELOCITY,00.html