The Devil in the White City

Book Report (see below)

Why did H. H. Holmes use the aliases he did?

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Mudgett was a schemer and a fraud. He chose to use a different name in Chicago in order to continue his fradualent emterprises. The name "Holmes" came from the novel character who was introduced that year.

He caught a train for Chicago but quickly found that he could not work as a druggist in Illinois until he passed a licensing examination in the state capital in Springfield. There, in July 1886, the year Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced his detective to the world, Mudgett registered his name as Holmes.

Source(s)

The Devil in the White City, pg. 44